Why is my ph01 not detecting cigar smoke? | Dyson Community
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Why is my ph01 not detecting cigar smoke?

  • 18 September 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 466 views
S

We own ph01 machine that we purchased in 2021 and we moved to a new apartment where the neighbor under us smokes quite a lot during 6:30-7:30 in the morning and 21-22 in the evenings on her balcony under us. We have cats so they like spending their time outside on balcony, otherwise we would just keep it closed.

The problem is that dyson does not even register or reacts to cigar smoke/smell. This morning we could smell it in the whole apartment and that’s what woke us up as it was quite bad while dyson, which is sitting next to balcony doors did not change the speed of fan or anything while in auto mode. NO2 levels remained the same during the whole “incident” where they should be shooting through the roof. 
 

We cleaned the filter/particle detector thing, removed dust from filters, cleaned the whole machine but PH01 just stays in idle mode. We are really running out of ideas

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Best answer by DavidTaylor 18 September 2023, 13:58

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5 replies

DavidTaylor
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Hi @serda88, 

An interesting topic for conversation. 

Officially Dyson don’t sell their products as medical aids, there may therefore always be an amount of passive smoke and other toxins that make up the tobacco that their purifiers will not help neutralise, these may not even be detected by the unit and therefore it would remain in an idle state. 

That said, they do state that NO (tobacco) should be removed when using their latest technology. If there is no recorded change the times you’ve recorded, this could be the result of a faulty sensor or mis-match software. Here are two things for you to try troubleshooting: 

  1. Cleaning the sensor(s) on the air treatment machine
  2. Reverting your air treatment machine back to it's factory settings

Bear in mind my opening statement, some toxins that make up the smoke may not be removed. You’re best option here would be to ask the neighbour to move to another area of the building or close the doors between these hours, avoiding the smoke altogether.

David.

David.
Stuart
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Hi @serda88, 

A great question - I am sure we’ll start seeing a healthy discussion on the subject. Forgive the pun! 

Further to David’s reply, our What are the common household pollutants? should be able to answer what pollutants are captured by Dyson Purifiers. Secondly, the ‘Related topics’ on the article should help to answer any follow up questions on the subject of Air Quality. 

In regards to further Troubleshooting, I have two follow up thoughts:

  1. If the machine is in a constant draught or doesn’t have clearance each side, it may struggle when identifying pollutants. Refer to our Is there a best place for your Purifier? article for guidance.
  2.  Should cleaning the sensors or reverting the machine to it’s factory condition not resolve the matter, please visit our online diagnostics - the diagnostic route may make other suggestions on areas to check. Start by Visit Dyson.com and clicking ‘Support’.

Thanks, 

Stuart

Stuart - Dyson
S


Hi David and Stuart,

Ok, I was under the impression that tobacco smell is registered as NO2 but when checking the data from yesterday, I can see that VOC jumps to 2-3 during the “critical” hours as well as PM2.5 and PM10 (they both jump to 15-25). I know these values don’t seem high but when my neighbor is not smoking, these values are usually between 0-2. So it is basically 10x higher value. I spent quite some time yesterday reading more about how Dyson filter works and new filters HEPA H13 (which I have) for PH01 model have also active carbon filter and should be able to catch particles as small as 0.3 microns (https://www.dyson.com/air-treatment/air-purifier-filters)

Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, there is nothing blocking the air sensor and there is a plenty of room behind it. It has also been cleaned several times so no dust stuck in it.

So what I personally think in my non expert opinion is that no tobacco smoke comes in since my balcony is glassed but small particles do, together with tobacco odor. While Dyson’s HEPA filter can filter particles as small as 0.3 microns, it can’t do anything for particles which are 0.1 microns (these are I guess H14 and cHEPA filters). Another thing that I found yesterday is that active carbon part of the filter is in charge of removing the odors but in order to remove the odor, active carbon part needs to be much larger.

Which basically means that solution of my problem would be having 3 air purifiers, one with large active carbon filter on balcony itself, Dyson in the living room next to balcony doors and (optionally) medical filter to isolate any particles of 0.1 microns next to the sitting area.

Having a dialogue with my neighbor is not an option because I had the same problem in one of the previous places and when I tried with talking, they would just get angry and defensive. Basically, trying to reason with smokers and explaining that their smoking is also affecting you is not possible.

DavidTaylor
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

In the scenario where the smoke had been pulled directly into the intake, it should appear under the NO reading. The mixture of other chemicals would no doubtable be recorded in the other pollutant range. As the smoke was dispersed in the air before reaching the intake/filter, I guess this is why there wasn’t an uptake in NO detection. 

I was under the assumptions that their HEPA H13 and activated carbon filtration captures gases and 99.95% of pollutants as small as 0.1 microns. Maybe the 00.05% difference is the range where odours like tobacco lives.

It is a shame you’re unable to have the discussion with the neighbour, reasoning or making requests against their normal lifestyle can be seen as being intrusive. It of course depends on how perceptive they are.

David.
S

In the scenario where the smoke had been pulled directly into the intake, it should appear under the NO reading. The mixture of other chemicals would no doubtable be recorded in the other pollutant range. As the smoke was dispersed in the air before reaching the intake/filter, I guess this is why there wasn’t an uptake in NO detection. 

I was under the assumptions that their HEPA H13 and activated carbon filtration captures gases and 99.95% of pollutants as small as 0.1 microns. Maybe the 00.05% difference is the range where odours like tobacco lives.

It is a shame you’re unable to have the discussion with the neighbour, reasoning or making requests against their normal lifestyle can be seen as being intrusive. It of course depends on how perceptive they are.


Hi David,

 

What I understood is that Hepa H13 filter captures particles of up to 0.3 microns while H14 captures particles of up to 0.1 microns. I haven’t managed to find any Dyson machine which uses H14 filter which would help me with capturing those smallest and most dangerous particles that cigar smoking produces.

Unfortunately cigar smoke smell is not a particle but odor and as such is not filtered at all. That’s why I am now looking into placing some air filter with active carbon which I would just keep on my balcony.

 

I agree, it makes me so frustrated that now I have to spend hundreds, if not thousands of euros just because these guys don’t care about anyone else. 

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