5 Common Problems With Daikin Air Purifiers

If you're concerned about the quality of the air you're breathing inside your home, an air purifier from a major brand like Daikin is generally a pretty good investment, especially if you have any allergies to common airborne contaminants like dust or pollen. They can be particularly invaluable for staving off the worst effects of ambient smoke during wildfire season. Of course, the tricky thing about adding yet another appliance to your home is that, while it helps improve your air quality, there's a requirement of care on your part.

Daikin air purifiers aren't fail-proof, and have been known to exhibit a variety of unusual and annoying conditions. To clarify, we're not talking about worst-case scenarios, like the device suddenly catching fire from faulty components. Rather, these are the common problems, little quirks that may hinder a purifier's overall daily operation, such as unusual sounds or smells, sputtering water, or a lack of actually-purified air. These are problems that, ideally, you can fix yourself before having to either call a repair expert or send it back to the company.

The entire reason you purchase a Daikin air purifier is, obviously, to purify air. You bought the thing because you wanted better air quality in your home or to alleviate allergies, and if it's not doing that, that's pretty immediately irritating. It can be difficult to discern immediately if your air purifier isn't actually purifying, but over time, if you start to notice a decline in air quality or increase in airborne contaminants despite the device's presence, that's probably a bad sign.

It's possible that a lack of purified air from your air purifier may not necessarily be the unit's fault. Rather, the problem could be where you put it. An air purifier needs to be placed in a spot with adequate air flow, somewhere it can both take in air and distribute it throughout a room. If it's flush against a wall in the corner, it won't be able to take in any air to purify, and if there are any solid objects in its way, the purified air won't distribute. It's also possible that the filter has just become clogged up with large clumps of accumulated dust and contaminants, and needs a cleaning. You should endeavor to clean the purifier's pre-filter every couple of weeks to prevent clogs, followed by a deeper clean of the secondary filter systems every 2-3 months.

Air purifiers are generally pretty quiet in their operation, not much louder than other air-moving appliances like a small air conditioner or a tower fan. A Daikin air purifier, in particular, may produce a few incidental noises, like a distinctive click when the motor turns on, a soft hiss from the streamer unit activating, or mild bubbling and splattering from the humidifying filter. These kinds of noises can be a little distracting, but they're not a sign of anything overtly unusual or harmful.

That said, there are some sounds a Daikin air purifier can produce that it's not technically supposed to. For example, if the purifier produces a loud crackling or buzzing sound, that's not supposed to be happening. This sound could be a sign that one or more of the purifier's components isn't seated correctly, particularly the plasma ionizer and streamer units. Luckily, this can be easily remedied by just pushing those units in a little further until they properly click into place. It's also possible for the general operation of the purifier to be louder than usual, though similarly to those two components, this is usually just a result of the dust collecting filter not being installed all the way.

The air produced by an air purifier is not supposed to have any particular smell to it. The whole point of the purifying process is to remove contaminants that would typically produce distinctive or unpleasant odors, so if it's doing its job, it should just smell like regular, clean air. If there is an unusual odor coming from your Daikin purifier, specifically from the air outlet, that could be an indicator of one of several problems.

The majority of unusual smells in air are usually intercepted in the purifying process by the deodorizing filter. If those smells are getting through, the deodorizing filter could be clogged up and in need of a cleaning, or otherwise faulty. If your Daikin purifier has a humidifying filter in its setup, the water in the humidifier could be old and stagnant, producing a soggy smell. Each time you refill the water tank, you should discard old, unused water first. You should also empty the water tank completely if you're not actively using the humidifying functions. It's also possible for the purifier to pick up ambient odors from whatever room it's in, then carry them if you move it to a different room. In this case, just run the purifier for a little while, and the smell should fade.

On the subject of humidifying components, certain models of Daikin streamer air purifier incorporate a humidifying filter, utilizing a tank of water, a water wheel setup, and a twin streamer unit to help capture and remove ambient bacteria from the air being purified. Having both of these systems running simultaneously can be quite beneficial, though of course, any water you put into the tank will naturally be used up over time as part of the humidifying process.

If you fill the tank with water, but the water level never actually goes down, you may assume that there's a problem with the humidifying filter. It's certainly possible that there's a problem with the filter itself, but it could also be a result of your ambient conditions. For example, if it's already a humid or cold day out, the water in the tank may decrease slowly or not at all, as the ambient humidity in your home is already high enough. Additionally, if you have your purifier's humidity level on the automatic setting, then it'll stop drawing water from the tank when the humidity in the room reaches the programmed target. It's only when the water isn't being used on a dry, hot day that you have a problem on your hands.

While a Daikin air purifier with humidifying elements is supposed to take and use water regularly, that water is definitely supposed to stay firmly inside the purifier, not counting ambient water particles produced in the humidifying process. If your air purifier is sputtering little droplets of water out of its air outlet, or worse, spilling full puddles of water onto the floor in front of it, that's definitely not supposed to be happening.

In the case of sputtering water, the likely culprit there is improperly-installed components, specifically the pre-filter, air outlet grille, dust collecting filter, and elements of the humidifying setup including the main unit, tray, and water tank. If any of these aren't properly set, it could lead to water sputtering out of the outlet. In the case of spilled, pooling water, there are few potential scenarios where that could occur. In the best-case scenario, you or someone in your home just jostled the purifier too hard, and some water spilled on the inside. It's also possible that the cap on the water tank is loose and needs to be tightened. In the worst-case scenario, the humidifying filter may be completely full of accumulated water, and has started to leak out the bottom of the device. Make sure to clean that filter thoroughly, and start doing it regularly so this doesn't happen again.