5 Reasons Why You Should Buy a Dyson Hand Dryer
Let’s face it—the worst part of washing our hands is drying them afterwards, especially in public bathrooms. We can’t use regular towels because that’s obviously unhygienic, so that leaves two options: paper towels or hand dryers.
Paper towels are great, but they’re wasteful and can run out if a restroom isn’t regularly checked.
Hand dryers, on the other hand, can also be great, but that depends massively on which type of hand dryer it is. If you’ve ever gone to use a hand dryer only for it to pathetically blow semi-warm air onto your hands, you’ll know what we mean. These work by evaporating water from the hands, and this takes time.
If you’ve ever had to endure one of these hand dryers, you’ll also know the feeling of glee when you see that a restroom has a Dyson hand dryer!
Is hand drying really all that important?
Yes, research says so---and here’s why.
Washing your hands massively reduces the bacteria living on them, but it doesn’t eliminate it altogether. Some strains are able to survive the washing process, and that’s why some of the most contaminated areas in most bathrooms are sinks themselves.
Wet hands are able to transfer residual bacteria to other surfaces, too. Several studies have been conducted to look at this, and these have shown that bacteria transfer greatly increases with wet hands. These studies have also shown that hand drying reduces the number of bacteria transferred by up to 99 per cent.
Think about all the times you’ve seen someone wash their hands, only to skip hand drying and open the bathroom door with their wet hands. It happens a lot, right? Well, these people are all transferring residual bacteria which builds up over time.
Suddenly, the importance of drying your hands starts to become clearer!
Over time, the methods available to us for drying our hands have evolved just like the tools we have at our disposal:
1. Initially, shaking and waving our hands in open air was the only option.
2. Disposable paper towels were then introduced.
3. These were closely followed by tea towel-like rolling cloths on a loop system.
4. Hot air hand dryers came a short time after that.
5. More recently, many decades later, high-speed hand dryers like the Dyson Airblade completely changed the game.
Dyson hand dryers: A brief history
Since the release of the Dyson Airblade electric hand dryer in 2006, Dyson’s hand dryers have rapidly grown to overtake the likes of World Dryer and Xlerator as the world’s best known and loved hand dryers.
Instead of using a single or multiple jet technology, the early model Dyson Airblade AB01 hand dryers used a thin sheet of unheated air traveling at around 400 miles per hour which hit the hands from both sides. This configuration allowed the hand dryer to literally strip water from the hands and into a water drainage tank.
While the technology Dyson used in the Airblade wasn’t exactly revolutionary at the time, the speed of the airflow was---it represented a huge leap and completely changed the shape of the market.
Due to the market impact, Dyson can be rightfully credited with the subsequent rise in global demand for high-speed, energy efficient hand dryers that are so common today.
Dyson hand dryer model history
As we mentioned earlier, the original Dyson Airblade was launched in the United Kingdom in 2006.
The first models ever launched were the Dyson Airblade AB01, a silver steel-cased hands-in hand dryer, and the Dyson Airblade AB03, a polycarbonate-cased hands-in hand dryer which was available in silver and white.
Since these models were launched, several AB model iterations have come to market, including the AB08/AB12 (also known as the ‘Airblade V’), AB09, AB10, and AB11 ‘Airblade Tap’ models, and the current model AB14 DB.
5 reasons to buy a Dyson hand dryer
If you’re trying to decide whether or not you need a Dyson hand dryer, here are five good reasons you should take the plunge and buy one (or more!)
1. Dyson hand dryers are fast
One of the most compelling reasons for buying a Dyson hand dryer is that of speed: Dyson hand dryers are simply the fastest drying hand dryers available on the market. There is no better option.
Tests of Dyson hand dryers such as the Dyson Airblade have shown that wet hands become over 95 per cent dry in just 13 seconds when using one. This is not only because of the super powerful airflow but also because they dry both sides of your hands simultaneously, drastically cutting down the amount of time you’ve got to spend stood in front of it.
2. Dyson hand dryers are hygienic
You may have heard talk about how Dyson hand dryers propel germs from the hands into the air due to the sheer power of the machine. And while this is partly true according to research from 2015, if you’ve washed your hands properly with soap and water, this isn’t something you need to be concerned about.
In fact, Dyson hand dryers like the Dyson Airblade have been approved by the National Sanitation Foundation, a non-profit organization which creates standards for food safety and sanitation to promote public health. NSF certification isn’t just limited to food, though, as demonstrated by Dyson’s products.
Dyson hand dryers also feature HEPA filters which remove 99.9 per cent of airborne bacteria from its airflow. Its construction is also hygienic, featuring antibacterial plastics.
3. They’re not so easy to vandalise
Depending on where you put them, hand dryers can be damaged through vandalism. This includes being pried from the wall, having foreign objects shoved into openings, and straight-up hitting with blunt objects.
Dyson restaurant hand dryers, however, offer a degree of protection against vandalism. This is important if you’re looking for a hand dryer to install in any place that the general public has access, such as in a bar or restaurant’s bathrooms.
Dyson hand dryers, including the Dyson Airblade models, have been designed to offer a level of protection against deliberate acts of vandalism. Not only is the design far more robust than other market leading hand dryers, meaning that it can stand up to a high degree of abuse, its fixings and screws are hidden to prevent tampering.
4. They’re environmentally friendly
These days, it’s important for us all to do our bit to help the environment. It’s also great for your image if your customers, visitors, or staff members can see that you’re taking measures to cut down on your environmental impact.
Dyson hand dryers are the ideal accompaniment to environmental efforts because they consume a relatively small amount of energy when compared with other hand dryers.
This is because they’re fast drying and have small power ratings (e.g., 1.6 kW in the Airblade AB14). A Dyson hand dryer will only consume up to 6 watts per dry, a huge reduction when compared to the 25 to 40 watts other hand dryers would consume per dry.
5. They have digital brushless motors
One of the main selling points of Dyson hand dryers are their digital brushless motors. These, in theory, should last a lot longer when compared to the brush motors in other hand dryer models.
That being said, digital brushless motors only really make a difference if a hand dryer is used a lot. And we mean a lot, to the extent that it’ll only be a factor worth considering if you’re going to install your Dyson hand dryer in a high-traffic public space such as a nightclub toilet or an airport departures area.
Why hand drying is important
Pathogens love your hands. In a single day, we come into contact with countless contaminated surfaces, especially those that we frequently touch like door handles, laptops, and even our own phones.
These surfaces act as breeding grounds for infectious organisms and pathogens, and they lay in wait for you to come along and touch them so that they can cling to your hands and spread.
However, good hand hygiene can prevent against infections in public and shared spaces such as offices, supermarkets, and restaurants. It’s also highly important in healthcare and clinical settings, too. Just think about how many signs and notices you see in hospitals reminding you to wash your hands---this is a deliberate strategy to prevent the spread of illness.
It’s not only washing our hands that is important, though. Drying them is of equal, if not a higher, importance. Here’s why:
1. For comfort
After people have washed and rinsed their hands, the natural reaction is to want to dry them. Nobody wants to walk around with wet hands: they’re uncomfortable and inconvenient.
Studies have found that while over 70 per cent of people valued hand drying, almost 1.5 per cent used their own clothing to dry their hands. This is a problematic method of hand drying that should be avoided because clothing isn’t necessarily clean, and it can lead to immediate recontamination of clean hands.
2. For removing moisture and microorganisms
Hand drying can remove any residual microorganisms from the skin’s surface that have been picked up during hand washing. Drying also prevents these microorganisms from being re-deposited back onto the skin.
Hand drying also removes moisture (obviously!) which also helps prevent cross contamination. Studies have shown that wet hands can present a higher risk of microbial cross contamination, and that wet hands present a threat of microbial transfer 1,000 times greater than dry hands.
3. To bolster hand washing
Drying your hands after hand washing can enhance the efficacy of hand washing, leading to a reduction in the risk of food contamination.
Dyson Airblade hand dryers vs regular warm air dryers
There’s a huge difference between Dyson’s Airblade jet hand dryers and regular warm air hand dryers that take forever to dry your hands.
Warm air dryers
Warm air dryers work by removing moisture from the skin through evaporation. They’re quite hardwearing and can last for up to 10 years or more, and they’re far more environmentally friendly than paper towels.
However, there are many downsides to them.
Studies have found that warm air hand dryers come with a risk of contaminating the environment and the atmosphere around them. Therefore, this method of hand drying is considered unsuitable in areas like healthcare and the food industry (that’s why you always find Dyson Airblade or other models of jet blade dryers in these settings). Also, most people don’t use warm air dryers for long enough, resulting in hands not being dried properly.
The downsides don’t stop there, either. Warm air dryers can actually increase microbial contamination by blowing germs around if the user of the hand dryer rubs their hands together to try and speed up the drying process. Also, some are button activated, resulting in pathogens being passed between surfaces and people. They also need to be cleaned and maintained regularly to mitigate pathogen spread.
Jet blade dryers
In contrast, jet blade dryers are much quicker than warm air dryers. They can dry hands in a matter of seconds depending on the model, and studies have found that they’re just as fast as paper towels at removing moisture. The fact that they dry hands quicker means that the user is less likely to become impatient and leave the dryer without completely drying their hands, reducing pathogenic spread.
Jet blade dryers are also a lot better for the environment than both warm air dryers and paper towels because they’re long-lasting and use less energy.
There are some downsides, though. Research has found that jet bade hand dryers can become contaminated when water pools at the internal base. Some jet blade dryers can also contaminate the atmosphere more than warm air dryers, blowing pathogens up to 2 metres away from the dryer itself, contaminating nearby surfaces.
This, of course, depends on which jet blade dryer you’re using. Dyson’s range of jet blade hand dryers come with HEPA-filtered air, meaning that air blown from the machine is clean and free from pathogens and bacteria. These filters capture tiny particles from the washroom air before it leaves the machine, meaning far fewer particles and pathogens are spread.
Despite the potential for jet blade dryers to spread pathogens to washroom surfaces, they’re still a far better choice than warm air hand dryers as they leave your hands cleaner; you shouldn’t be touching washroom surfaces after you’ve cleaned and dried your hands anyway!
Dyson hand dryers simply reign supreme
They’re the best method of hand drying available today by far, all things considered.
The combination of ultra-fast drying speeds, low running costs, low maintenance, reduced carbon footprint, and hygiene make Dyson hand dryers like the Dyson Airblade the natural choice in public washrooms.
And let’s be honest, there’s a certain power to the Dyson brand that makes it the most attractive choice. To most people in the UK, Dyson as a brand represents high quality, reliability, success, and innovation. If you ask anybody on the street to name a hand dryer brand, most people will come right back at you with Dyson---it ranks well above the rest, and for good reason.