Air purifiers, filters, & dehumidifiers

Your best bet may well be to contact Breville directly and politely explain your problem. Tell them that you’ve been using the product but it has done little to relieve your symptoms. Ask if there’s anything else you can do to improve your air quality.

It’s extremely unlikely that they will offer you your money back or anything. But they may well come up with some other offer if you ask without directly saying ‘your product is shit’

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I think if they have relied on a claim and that claim hasn’t been met they may still have a case under ACL for a refund as the ACL states a refund is possible if “it doesn’t do what you asked for and can’t easily be fixed within a reasonable time”. Reliance by the purchaser that they would “Breathe easy and sleep well” while puffery (and I am against this type of puffery) still is a claim made by the manufacturer and should to some extent be able to be relied upon for ACL purposes. This of course should be stated as a reason why a refund is being sought to firstly the retailer as they should be the first point of contact if possible.

If paid for by Credit Card they may also be able to seek a chargeback, if paid by PAYPAL™ they may also be able to claim using “Buyer Protection” if they are able to satisfy those terms particularly relating to “materially different”.

Please note that PAYPAL’s™ terms are not the same as ACL’s:

(from https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full#Schedule_1_PayPal_Seller_and_Buyer_Protection_Policies)

"Significantly Not as Described claims

An item will be considered Significantly Not as Described if:

  • The item is materially different from the seller’s description of it.
  • You received a completely different item.
  • The condition of the item was misrepresented. For example, the item was described as “new” but the item was used.
  • The item was advertised as authentic but is not authentic (i.e. counterfeit).
  • The item is missing major parts or features and those facts were not disclosed in the description of the item when you bought it.
  • You purchased a certain number of items but didn’t receive them all.
  • The item was damaged during shipment.
  • The item is unusable in its received state and was not disclosed as such.

An item will not be considered Significantly Not as Described if:

  • The defect in the item was correctly described by the seller in its description of the item.
  • The item was properly described but you didn’t want it after you received it.
  • The item was properly described but did not meet your expectations.
  • The item has minor scratches and was described as “used."
  • It was listed as used condition and you picked it up in person."
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In my opinion, if the main problem is mould, you have to buy a dehumidifier. If I would you, I would use a hygrometer for understanding the humidity level in your room/house. And then, if it is too high (higher than 40-50%), I would buy a dehumidifier. Here’s the difference between air purifiers and dehumidifiers:


If you are allergic, the best option is to buy an air purifier in addition to a dehumidifier. Or if you have pets. Or you have smoking people in the house. For example, my husband smoking, but I hate smoking smell. DH can’t refuse to smoke, but I love him, so the best decision for us was to buy an air purifier for smoke with HEPA filters (you can read more about them here). Our model is Winix 5300-2 https://www.amazon.com/Winix-5300-2-Purifier-PlasmaWave-Reducing/dp/B01D8DAYBA?th=1. Expensive, but it worth its price. Both sides are happy.

From my experience over the years, the claim re breathe and sleep well has not been met. I would put that to them, asking for a refund. Do not talk about otherollutants other brands or any sidetracking,

Make it simple, .their statement re breatheetc, but I did not.
I used so many puffs or whatever our manure is, woke in night or morning etc.
I did not breathe easier, I slept badl woke asthmatic,

Or whatever. Very simple, I bought xx because of your statement , it dd not do this, I want a refund now.
Then ask for higher up person, keep pushing. Do not change your words.
They will try to sidetrack you like people here, say it’s just puffery. That we said other things. Ignore them,
Go back to your mantra. You state breathe easily etc and so I bought it, that claim was wrong I need my money back now.
Too bad.
Go for it. They stuffed up putting those words in. Be happy to ask for supervisor, manager etc. if they manage to thwart you, try phoning the general manager…persist.

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Does anyone know whether humidifiers only really work in the room that they are placed in ? We have a terrible steam issue in our bathroom which flows into our walk in robe and makes clothes mouldy. Would a humidifier be overkill ? Would you just turn it on while you shower an then turn off ? Is there a better option (no way to get a stronger extraction fan into the room). Any advice would be gratefully received !!

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Hi & welcome to the forum.

I have moved your post to an existing thread where DE-humidifiers have been discussed. I think you meant you need a DE-humidifier to remove moisture from your walk-in-robe, not a humidifier to add to it.

If you have a look at the previous posting I think many of your questions will be answered. In addition, you could have a look at Bathroom exhaust fans for discussions about that topic.

In answer to your question, dehumidifiers ablity to extract moisture varies. You can look at Choice’s deumidifier review, and Choice’s dehumidifier buying guide.

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Welcome to the community @Choosey.

Dehumidifiers take time to remove moisture from the air and it could be many hours needed to remove moisture to the desired level.

If the air where you live is naturally humid, then placing one in the wardrobe could assist but would need to be used frequently to have desired effect…as everytime a door is opened, the humidity would increase.

Yes, this may be a better solution. The first thing to check is the bathroom isn’t sealed…as an exhaust fan needs flow from a slightly open window or gap under the bathroom door/bathroom door slightly ajar to work. If the bathroom is sealed it won’t extract efficiently as the fan will create lower air pressure in the bathroom and at some point will stop extracting as the fan can’t overcome the lower pressure. Likewise for the ceiling or wall space it vents to. These need to leak to allow airflow to occur.

If the bathroom/vent area is not overly sealed, then another option is to install a second fan. A second fan would potentially double the volume of extracted air.

Also, does your bathroom to wardrobe have a door to prevent moist air entering it from the bathroom. A door might be another solution.

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I would be following that line. Why is there no way to get a better extractor? They can be mounted in walls, ceilings and windows, why is none of that possible? How about cross ventilation? If there is a window you can put a louvre in the door. Or a louvre in the door and a fan in the window.

A dehumidifier will not do much unless it is on for hours, turning it on just while the bathroom is in use would not do the job. As well as the moisture in the air you need to export all the water on the surfaces; the floor, walls, tiles, ceilings and shower screen/curtain. So even if you dry the air while the shower is on it will soon be wet again.

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There are a wide range of alternate high flow fans that can be connected into ceiling existing extraction points with simple duct work.

Local suppliers of ducted air conditioning or an experienced local electrician should be able to assist with a solution and installation.

DIY there are a number of resources. Note some of the products may need an electrician to assist, or the existing ceiling fan may have a suitable GPO.

One option.

P.S.
The issue with mould in the wardrobe may be more directly related to the design and construction of that part of the bedroom than the airflow in the bathroom. It’s worth a second thought?

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An excellent question, that!

If @Choosey lives in a flat/apartment it is not always as easy a problem to solve as compared to a house-type structure. There are usually more limited spaces as well as potential body corporate issues

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A rental property could be a reason to having difficulty in getting a better outcome, limited access due to body corporate property eg a shared venting system.

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Our bathroom has virtually no space In the ceiling cavity due to the way the attic was converted to rooms upstairs. We have got an extraction fan on the wall but it is through double brick and even though is supposedly very powerful, the steam from our walk-in shower builds up in the bathroom and floats over the half-height dividing wall into the robe. Our clothes get affected by the steam. I have damp rid tubs all over the robe but it is annoying (& expensive) to continually refill. I thought maybe a dehumidifier in the bathroom (or the robe?) might help. But wasn’t sure if they are suited to that sort of “short burst” need or if they are more for slow & steady removal of moisture. Complicated, I know :crazy_face:.

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Thankyou - there’s some very helpful info in your response !!

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Thankyou for your reply. The only extraction fan we can have is in the wall (through double brick) not the ceiling because there is virtually no space in the ceiling cavity (or so the builder told me !). And while the wall one goes full boar, it just doesn’t clear the steam (even with window open). Partly this is because it is a walk-in shower so it’s pretty open to the room. This might be overkill - but I’ll try posting a video or photo to see if that helps. :+1:t3:

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They definitely work better in ‘slow and steady’, over time.

It might seem counter intuitive, but if you have a regular fan (box, pedestal, or table top, you might experiment with that blowing into the bathroom while the shower is running, as well as out of it to see what difference it makes. Based on your experimental result it might point you in the best direction.

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Thanks - that is really helpful. I have been told by my builder & electrician That the wall fan is the best I can do. Maybe I just need to have colder showers :laughing:

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Once we had an issue with very cold winters and very hot showers and so a lot of steam generated and not leaving a very dry bathroom and the ensuing mould, wet walls and so on. The answer for us was to get an enclosed shower area that the extractor fan was ducted over to draw the steam out the cabinet and push it outside. You also see this in NZ in some places where they had similar issues in Winter.

From the photo of the room it seems to me to be too open for the extractor to be drawing effectively from the shower area. Restricting the airflow to that corner would likely ensure better steam removal. The louvres let too much airflow in and steam is generated from floor to ceiling so you would be getting a lot of wet walls even lower down with that room plan.

The other thing I noticed is that between what I assume is your Walk in Robe/closet and the shower is a large gap at the top. Steam generated in the shower would move over that divide, then get colder so more dense so drops down on the cold side into your clothes etc. If that is a gap then you need to close it off all the way to the ceiling at least to the area just past the doorway on the left (near the towels).

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So the WIR that has the problem is behind the partition to the left, is that right?

This looks like the room once had another purpose, what is behind the partition other than the WIR? I assume there is a door to the rest of the house, is there another window?

The fan you speak of is above the shower and it exhausts outside the house, is that right?

Have you stood outside the fan’s outlet while it is going, is there a good strong stream of air?

Have you considered raising the partition to the ceiling?

Is the house lined with fibro or timber-based liner panels? If fibro how old?

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Yes - the WIR is behind the partition on the left. It has a doorway (no door) through to the bedroom. It doesn’t have a window - that’s why we did the partition only part way to the top - to let some natural light into the WIR.
And yes, the fan goes through the double brick wall to the outside.
I could put glass on top of the dividing wall, I suppose :thinking:.

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