Now that fall is in full swing and winter is just around the corner, it’ll soon be time to bust out your humidifier again. Adding some moisture to the air in your home is crucial if you hope to stave off the chapped lips, dehydrated skin, blocked sinuses, nosebleeds, and other annoying afflictions caused by dry winter air.
The only problem is that traditional humidifiers can be a double-edged sword. Despite the health benefits they offer, they often help breed bacteria, which is then distributed directly into your home’s atmosphere. Obviously, this isn’t ideal.
To remedy this problem, Dyson’s new humidifier takes a novel approach: it blasts the water inside its reservoir with high-intensity UV light to murder 99.9 percent of bacteria before anything is pumped into the air. Think of it like one of those SteriPen water sanitizers that hikers and backpackers use, just scaled up and hooked into a high-performance misting machine.
Dyson also went the extra mile to solve other problems faced by traditional humidifiers, and make sure that its unit distributes moisture throughout your home more efficiently. Rather than blasting a column of vapor into the air, Dyson’s humidifier uses a piezoelectric transducer (vibrating up to 1.7 million times a second) to produce microscopic airborne water particles, which are then drawn up through the machine’s loop amplifier and projected throughout your space using Dyson’s Air Multiplier fan technology.
On top of that, it also has an intelligent climate control function that can measure both the temperature and moisture of a room. With a single press of the remote, the machine can take both of these factors into account, and then automatically adjust its moisture output to create the most comfortable environment possible.
Don’t expect relief this winter, though, unless you live in Japan. Unfortunately, Dyson is holding off on the U.S. release until next year, and the new humidifier isn’t expected to hit stores here until the fall of 2015.