Are Dyson heaters noisy? (A critical review)

Are Dyson heaters noisy? With their popular air-multiplier technology, Dyson advertises their heaters to be strong. But how much noise does a Dyson Pure Hot + Cool generate?

Quick answer: Yes, Dyson heaters can get noisy. The Dyson Pure Hot + Cool models provide fan speed settings. The higher the setting, the louder it is. On the lowest setting, a Dyson heater fan is very quiet. However, the high fan speed setting is very loud.

But how loud are Dyson heaters really? In this article, we’re going to find out and look at different sources and also videos where you can have a look at the loudness of a Dyson heater fan.

Please note that we base this review on the Dyson Hot + Cool heaters (click here to see one).

How loud are Dyson heaters?

Dyson heaters are loud. It is hard to describe the loudness of a Dyson heater in text, so let’s have a look at two videos where the noise of Dyson heaters becomes apparent.

In this first video, you can hear how loud a Dyson Hot + Cool AM05 is. I found a comment under the video very interesting where one user writes

I am considering it because of the noise”, someone writes in the comments. So, literally, the Dyson Hot + Cool AM05 is known for its loudness and there are even people buying it because it’s loud. The reason is that the noise helps some people calm down as it suppresses other noises such as traffic or a buzzing fridge.

Of course, the people wanting to buy a heater because it is noisy are the exception. So, let’s have a look at another video to deepen our impression of the Dyson heater noise.

In this video, you can hear the noise level of a Dyson fan on different settings. The video starts with the Dyson fan turned on on the lowest airflow setting. Then with time, the guy in the video increases the airflow setting to the maximum. By the way: If you can’t hear anything, turn up the volume.

The strength of the Dyson heater fan is, as the channel owner says in the low settings. On airflow setting 1-2 the Dyson fan is near silent, which is a big advantage as compared to other space heaters with built-in fans which are noisy at any airflow level.

However, when you increase the airflow setting to 8-10, Dyson heaters get disturbingly loud.

“Man I really hate how loud these fans get on full setting… sounds like a really quiet version of those hand blow dryers”

comment by a viewer (xPorsum)

As long as you don’t need too strong airflow, Dyson heaters are reasonably quiet. On the lowest settings, a Dyson heater is silent.

The physics of heater noise

I think the noise is (mostly) inevitable. Dyson heaters convection based. This means they rely on the movement of air. Convection is just a fancy word for the movement of gases in physics.

Moving air always creates sound. The moving air as a whole, however, does not create the sound. It is the tiny imperfections that air passes over where sound is created. For example, when air passes over a sharp corner, both the corner and the air around the corner start vibrating. The air forms tiny “whirlpools” that cause vibrations. These vibrations in the air travel to your ear and make you perceive the noise.

Sharp corners are present in Dyson fans where the air exits through the sharply designed O-shaped air exhaust. Because of this sharp design, Dyson heaters are able to create lots of noise. Especially in the high settings. I admit that I find the sharp design very appealing. It also increases the airflow speed by forcing the air through the tight slits. But the elegant design comes with the cost of noise.

Do silent heaters exist?

Now that we understand where the noise in a Dyson Hot + Cool fan comes from, it would be interesting to know if silent heaters even exist. After all, any movement of air causes noise, right?

Not necessarily. If you paid attention to the previous paragraphs, it is not the movement of air that causes noise. Humans perceive vibrations in the air as noise.

Therefore, any heater that does not create vibrating air should be silent.

Yes, silent heaters exist.

Any heater that does not produce forced airflows does not create noise. This includes, for example, all oil-filled heaters that have no built-in fans and infrared heaters. I have both types of heaters at home and both are absolutely silent. Except for an occasional clicking noise every 10-20 minutes when they auto-shut-off to prevent overheating, there is no noise.

If you are looking for a silent heater (rather than a noisy and expensive Dyson heater), then have a look at my favorite oil-filled radiator (click here to see my review and to see it on amazon). If silence is a priority, I would certainly get this heater over any other.

On the other hand, space heaters with ceramic heating elements or other electric heating elements mostly rely on a fan to push the hot air out of the heater.

Can a Dyson heater fan be silent?

Now, if you still want a Dyson heater, but you are not really satisfied with it being noisy, you may ask yourself if you can silently use a Dyson heater.

Yes, you can keep a Dyson heater fan silent by putting it on low settings. Since the loudness depends entirely on the amount of vibration generated through airflow, all you need to do is to lower the airflow settings.

Don’t worry. This does not impact the heating capability of the Dyson Hot + Cool heater fan. It just reduces the speed at which the heat is distributed in your room. A Dyson heater fan with airflow speed set to 1 or 2 is still capable of keeping you warm in your room.

Remember: You can independently set the airflow speed and heating settings. The thermostat control which is responsible for keeping your room at your desired temperature, and the airflow speed control are independent of each other.

To heat silently, lower the airflow speed and increase the heat setting.

Can you silence a Dyson heater fan?

From everything said prior, we can already conclude that a Dyson heater is never silent on high airflow speed settings. This means you can’t heat your room with a strong stream of air.

It is physically not possible since high airflow speeds cause vibrations which in turn create noise.

So here’s an idea: Maybe you could soundproof the Dyson heater using soundproof material, towels, or similar.

Would this work?

No! Well, … yes. It might dampen the noise. But at high risk. Adding extra materials to your Dyson heater effectively adds new layers of insulation which the Dyson engineers did not account for. The Dyson heater might overheat because the heat can’t easily escape through the case.

So, DIY soundproofing your Dyson heater in order to reduce the noise is not a good idea. There is no way to silence a Dyson heater fan except for lowering the airflow settings.

Conclusion

Are Dyson heaters noisy? Yes, Dyson heaters can get very noisy on the high airflow speed settings. The strong airflow creates vibrations that we humans perceive as loud noise. To use a Dyson heater silently, keep the airflow speed settings low, then you will be fine.

If you absolutely can’t handle noise in a heater then the Dyson Hot + Cool products are not for you. 

In this case, I would recommend getting an oil-filled radiator or an infrared heater. Both of these types of heaters don’t rely on air being distributed. Therefore, they don’t create any noise.