Hand Dryers and Blowers: What to Consider When Buying

Restaurants, entertainment venues, and retail locations all benefit from installing blowing hand dryers in their restrooms. For starters, hand blowers save money over the long-term. A restaurant might spend $1,000 per year on paper towels; an energy-efficient hand dryer, though, might cost just $100 per year in running costs.

Standrad Low Speed Automatic Hand Dryer
Standrad Low Speed Automatic Hand Dryer

Additionally, hand dryers with activation sensors are more hygienic; they require less maintenance, as there’s no need to restock them; and they’re much improved. Today’s hand dryers are designed to dry hands in 10-15 seconds. When purchasing restroom hand dryers, though, it can be difficult to gauge which styles dry hands the faster, use the least amount of energy, and blow at low volumes. Here are a few things contractors should consider when purchasing hand drying units for commercial restrooms:

 

High-Speed Dryers vs. Standard Dryers

High-speed dryers produce a stream of air that is more powerful, greatly decreasing the time needed to dry hands thoroughly. This increases the efficiency of the unit, because they run for much less time. For example, an 1800-watt high-speed dryer might produce an airstream of 60 meters/second and require 8-10 seconds to dry hands, while an 800-watt dryer produces an airstream of 6 meters/second and more than 60 seconds to dry the hands. The trade-off: Higher speed dryers are louder and usually more costly, but the performance is far superior.

Eco Jet High Speed Hand Dryer
Eco Jet High Speed Hand Dryer

 

Automatic Sensors

Today, the majority of restroom hand dryers are built with infrared sensors that activate the dryer. There are push-button dryers available, but these aren’t as common as they once were. The benefits of sensor-activated dryers: They’re more hygienic, because you don’t have to touch as surface to activate them, and are more energy efficient, because they stop running after set times.

 

Low-Energy Restroom Hand Dryers

Typically, hand dryers consume between 800 and 3,000 watts of electricity when in use. Yet, “low-energy” can be deceiving. As noted, low-energy dryers typically take longer to dry the hands properly, ultimately consuming an equal or greater amount of electricity. While high-speed dryers typically consume more electricity, they run for much shorter periods of time, resulting in energy savings over the long term. The benefits of low-energy dryers: They’re quieter. This is important in environments where noisy hand dryers can disrupt patrons, like theaters and quiet restaurants.

 

Single Jet vs. Multi-Jet Hand Dryers

There are traditionally two main styles of automatic hand dryers on the market: Single-stream and multi-stream. Multi-stream dryers have separate dryers for each hand, while single-stream dryers produce a single-stream of air for both hands. Multi-stream dryers are more costly, but they provide the best performance of any dryer on the market.

 

Shop for low-cost restroom hand drying units on Deelat.com. We offer a range of standard and high-speed dryers at the best prices, with fast shipping available.