Inside PureCycle: A New Approach to Cooking Odours
How the Newmatic PureCycle HPL18KIT active plasma convertor works with a cooker hood, what its specification tells you, and what to check before you fit one.
Product feature
PureCycle adds a powered odour-treatment stage to a cooker hood. It works best on a hood that already captures the cooking well, and it has an airflow limit that has to suit the hood it is paired with.
- A hood that captures the cooking properly
- An airflow rating within the convertor’s limit
- Grease filters you still clean
You are usually the last person to smell your own kitchen. After twenty minutes at the hob, the garlic, fish sauce and browned butter have faded for you, but not for the friend who walks in from the street. Cognitive psychologist Pamela Dalton, who studies smell, calls this nose blindness: the brain decides a familiar odour is no threat and quietly stops reporting it. In an open-plan home, the sofa cushions and curtains keep the record instead.
PureCycle is Newmatic’s answer to that lingering smell. Its working part, the HPL18KIT Active Plasma Convertor, fits into the air path of a cooker hood and treats the air as it passes through. It is an extra stage, not a replacement: the hood still has to draw the cooking fumes in first.
That order of events is the key to judging it. Start with how well the hood catches what leaves the pan, follow where that air goes, and only then ask what the convertor adds.
In this article
01
It starts at the pan
A busy pan gives off several things at once: tiny droplets of grease, fine particles, steam and the airborne compounds we register as smell. The mix changes with the food and the heat. A pot of rice gives off mostly steam. A wok of chilli and shallots at full flame gives off a great deal more.
None of that can be treated until the hood has drawn it in. Smoke that rolls off the front of the pan and drifts towards the dining table never passes through the hood, so no component inside the hood can do anything about it, however clever.
So the basics still matter most. Fit the hood at the height the installation guide gives, switch it on when you start cooking rather than when the smoke alarm suggests it, and turn the speed up for frying and searing. Small habits like these decide how much air actually reaches the treatment stage.
PureCycle comes in after that. It is an addition to a hood that already works, not a fix for one fitted in the wrong place, starved by a blocked filter or run on its lowest setting during a stir-fry.
02
What active plasma does
Plasma treatment uses a small electrical field to create short-lived, highly reactive particles in the air stream. When odour molecules pass through that zone, the reactive particles break them down into simpler substances. It all happens inside the unit as air flows past.
Newmatic describes the HPL18KIT as an active plasma convertor with airflow activation. That is a different approach from a conventional charcoal filter, which works passively by trapping odour molecules on the surface of activated carbon until the carbon is full and needs replacing.
Think of it as a relay. The hood captures the fumes, its grease filter takes out the fat, and the convertor deals with the smell. Each stage has its own job, and a strong final stage cannot make up for a weak first one.
There is nothing to see. No glow, no mist, no change to how the hood looks from the kitchen. What matters when you buy is the supported installation, the airflow range, the service arrangements and whether the result suits the way your home is laid out.
03
Reading the HPL18KIT specification
The most important figure on the spec sheet is the maximum airflow the convertor is rated for. Treat it as a limit to check against your hood, not a loose guide. A hood that moves more air than the convertor is designed for is not a suitable partner, even if the outlets look the same size.
The catalogue also lists 36 W power consumption, a 12 V DC input for the unit and a 110 to 240 V, 50/60 Hz supply for the system. In plain terms, the convertor runs on low voltage through its own supply, and that wiring belongs in the installer’s plan. It is not something to connect straight to the mains.
Newmatic gives a service life of five years based on two hours of use a day. That assumption is worth noticing. A household that cooks briefly in the evening and one that has the hob going from breakfast to dinner will reach that figure at very different speeds.
The convertor carries a 12-month warranty. Service life and warranty answer different questions: one is how long the unit is expected to last under typical use, the other is how long it is covered. Keep both in your paperwork.
04
Smell is only part of the story
Newmatic’s catalogue states odour elimination of up to 95 per cent. Read that as the product’s stated performance under its own test conditions, not a promise that every kitchen will see exactly the same figure with every dish. Your result depends on the hood, the room and what is in the pan.
A lidded curry and a steak seared in a hot cast-iron pan are very different tests, even in the same kitchen. Room size, cooking style and how well the hood captures the plume all shape what you actually notice an hour later.
Smell is also not the same as steam. If the hood recirculates, the treated air comes back into the room along with its moisture, and the windows may still mist. A home still needs a way to get rid of cooking humidity, whether that is an open window, an extract fan elsewhere or a ducted hood.
If you are still choosing between ducted and recirculating, settle that first and plan the convertor around it. The guide to wall, island and slimline hoods is a good place to start matching the hood itself to your layout.
05
Check the exact hood model
Even when a product can be added to an existing hood, it still needs space, access and a supported connection. Inside a chimney cover or a run of cabinets, room can be tight. A measured drawing of what is behind the hood helps far more than a photo of its front.
Airflow is where mistakes happen. Some Newmatic Professional Series hoods are rated at 1,200 cubic metres per hour, which is more than the HPL18KIT’s listed maximum. Sharing a brand name does not make two products a match, so check the exact pairing rather than assuming it.
Ask for the hood model, the convertor and the way they connect to be named together on one quote. The installer should explain the approved setting and the space needed for access. Never improvise a restriction or turn a hood down permanently just to make two numbers line up.
In a new kitchen, settle this before the cabinets close around the air path. In an existing one, have the current set-up looked at first, so a simple upgrade does not turn into an unplanned joinery job.
06
What changes in your cleaning routine
Newmatic presents PureCycle as needing no regular replacement filters and no cleaning of the convertor itself. That is its main practical appeal. A charcoal filter works by soaking up odour molecules, and once the carbon is full it simply stops absorbing, which is why recirculating hoods come with a replacement schedule.
The grease filter is a different matter. It still needs washing as the hood’s manual describes, and the canopy and underside still collect a film from cooking. Skip those jobs and airflow drops, which affects every stage after it, the convertor included.
So think of upkeep as a few small habits rather than a promise of no work at all. Wipe the hood, wash the grease filters on schedule, keep the air path clear and file the installation details where you can find them.
Note the installation date and roughly how much you cook, so any future service call starts with the facts. Ask, at the point of purchase, how the unit is checked or replaced when it reaches the end of its life, and who provides that support.
07
Plan it around what you cook
Odour matters more in some homes than others. A household that cooks spiced dishes twice a day in an open-plan flat will feel the difference on its soft furnishings. A household that mostly reheats during the week and cooks properly on Sunday may care less.
Say which you are when you talk to Newmatic. Mention where the hob is, whether the kitchen opens onto the living room and which dishes cause the most trouble. That steers the conversation towards your kitchen rather than a single headline percentage.
Timing helps too. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that leaving the hood running for 15 minutes after cooking cleared the air noticeably faster, roughly as much benefit as a hood with a stronger fan. A treatment stage only helps while air is moving through it, so a hood that is quiet enough to leave on is worth a lot.
Try a quick mental rehearsal. Picture a Friday dinner: the hob on, people at the table, the clear-up afterwards. Follow where the steam goes, where the air is drawn in and how you would reach the filters. That exercise raises questions no product photo will.
08
What to bring to Newmatic
For a useful conversation about PureCycle, bring the exact model number of your hood, photos of the space around it and any kitchen drawings. If the kitchen is still on paper, add the hob position, cabinet heights and where the air would go.
Ask Newmatic to confirm the HPL18KIT’s fit, airflow match, power supply and service access as one package. Ask for the installation and care instructions for that exact combination, and keep them with your appliance papers.
Then weigh it against what you want from the room: an open kitchen that smells of dinner while you eat it and not the next morning. The best set-up is one you understand well enough to use properly every day.
PureCycle brings a different technology to a very old kitchen problem. Paired with a hood that captures well, a sensible air route and a simple cleaning habit, it can earn its place in a Newmatic kitchen. Start with the whole system and its role becomes easy to judge.
