A hand dryer is a washroom fixture designed to give you the simplest, most hygienic, and most eco-friendly hand-drying experience. They are usually used in restaurants, bars, and public venues, where a huge volume of people makes the idea of using fabric towels insanely unhygienic. Hand dryers are eco-friendlier than paper towels and, in some scenarios, even more, hygienic a solution. Now, while these appliances are often used in public bathrooms, they’re more and more present in residential homes. With that in mind and without further ado, here are the top five things you need to consider when installing your new hand dryer.
1. The washroom traffic
The first thing you need to take into consideration is the number of people that are going to use your bathroom regularly. Those extra 10 seconds that the dryer will have to work on your hands don’t make a difference unless there’s a line in front of the bathroom. This way, after just 6 people you’re losing an entire minute and the line gets longer.
Moreover, you need to think about the durability of the dryer in question. At home, you’re looking at dozens of uses per day, however, if you’re running a busy restaurant, you’re easily looking at more than 300 uses per day. Simply put, you need a hand dryer that can take this.
2. The initial cost and the ROI
Hand dryer doesn’t spend nearly as much electricity as you would expect. Unlike some other devices, it’s not running when not used. Moreover, seeing as how the majority of them are sensor-activated, they might save you some money in the long run. After all, paper towels are less hygienic, cause more waste, cause deforestation to produce, and require constant runs to the grocery store.
However, the initial costs of buying a hand dryer are going to be steep. Where is your break-even point? Well, it depends on two things. First, how much are you spending on paper towels per week? Second, how much does the hand dryer in question cost? By answering these two questions, you’ll get a fairly good idea of your break-even point.
3. Find the right model
According to veteran air hand dryer manufacturers, although these fixtures all fall under the same category, the differences between them are quite vast. Their power use, drying time, and even the noise that they produce will greatly differ between models. It’s not only that but they sometimes work on a similar, yet different, principle.
This is why it’s such a priority for you to find the right model. Since the model also determines the price, this is an even bigger deal. For instance, if you’re running a restaurant and have a particularly large bathroom, you might want to go with more than one dryer. This way, the price will go up exponentially.
4. Make them easy to use
While no hand dryers are particularly complex, the truth is that people seldom have enough patience to “figure them out”. For this reason, one of your primary objectives is to pick the one that’s the easiest to use. So, when communicating with the manufacturer ask about the procedure or just look for a reliable review. This is probably more important than you think.
Keep in mind that if you’re buying a dryer for your own home, you don’t have to use this as a criterion, once you figure it out, you’ll know what you’re dealing with indefinitely. The problem is with one-time visitors who might approach it, fail to figure it out in a matter of seconds, and then just wipe their hands off their jeans.
5. Consider their visuals
Hand dryers come in all shapes, sizes, and materials, which means that you can choose the one that fits your bathroom. You can also go for the complete opposite and have it stick out quite drastically. Maintenance is also a part of this, seeing as how, after a while, the looks won’t be the same, especially if you aren’t vigilant in maintenance. Light housekeeping is more important than you think (regardless of what it sounds like).
The visuals are also affected by the placement of the dryer. Do you have the “ideal spot” for its installation or will you have to move something to make some room for it? Moreover, if you accept the fact that your bathroom is a singular visual unit, it’s important to ask whether anything was obscured by its installation. In other words, don’t look at it as a standalone fixture.
In conclusion
At the end of the day, the very fact that there are so many different models means that it’s impossible to hand-pick one as “the best”. The fact that one dryer is more expensive doesn’t necessarily make it better, especially if it surpasses your own needs for the dryer. Overall, it’s detrimental that you do the research, especially since it’s not a decision that you’ll be making too often.
