Thinking of purchasing hand dryers for your school? Even though hand dryers may be the last thing on your mind when it comes to installing equipment for school buildings, this small aspect is actually a very important decision both in terms of hygiene and energy efficiency, so making sure you choose an option that ticks all the boxes is crucial. When deciding on what type of hand drying equipment to choose, there are a number of things to consider, particularly when installing one in a school environment.
Reliability
Hand dryers are well known to be reliable with little maintenance needed once installed. Their durability makes an outstanding choice and reliable investment for many schools. In many schools, vandalism is unfortunately a common occurrence that is hard to avoid. If your school has a vandalism issue, a hand dryer with no apparent leverage points is normally advantageous.
Hand dryers are less expensive to operate over time and can save you a lot of money when compared to the annual costs of paper towels. At the point of installation, a hand dryer will cost considerably more than a paper towel dispenser to purchase and fit, however, after seven months of usage, the average hand dryer will start paying for itself, making an electric hand dryer a far more economical choice than paper towels. Reduced staffing time used to replenish and repair the paper towels and dispensers saves money that could be put to better use elsewhere. As a result, you can save a lot of money by installing hand dryers.
Example: An energy efficient hand dryer such as the Airdri Quazar will cost £50 per year to run. Alternatively, by choosing paper towels, you will be paying approx. £1460 per year.
Based on one hand dryer or paper towel dispenser with 200 uses per day, 365 days per year. Paper towel calculation is based on 2p per paper towel.
Airdri Quazar calculation is based on the unit using 1kilowatt of power.
Energy Efficiency
The usage of hand dryers in schools is usually fairly high with the average school pupil using the bathroom and washing/drying their hands at least three times a day. Comparing the usage between paper towels and hand dryers, paper towels generally have a carbon footprint that is much greater than that of an energy efficient hand dryer. Paper towels are actually bad for the environment because they contain a lot of carbon and due to possible contamination, they cannot be recycled so mostly end up in landfills.
For example, an average school will need 12 hand drying stations. Each paper towel dispenser will send 160kg of paper towels to landfill each year.
To put this into perspective, this school will be sending a total of 103 wooden PE benches to landfill, every year. Based on each paper towel weighing 2 grams and approximately 110 washes per day.
When it comes to hand hygiene, hand drying is the most essential and reliable aspect.
Paper towels are often grabbed, washed, and then discarded. And, when we see those rusty, clunky hand dryers, we don’t bother with them because they take forever and don’t seem to dry our hands properly anyway. As a solution, a sleek, no-touch, fast dry unit can promote proper hand drying while also being a safe solution to drying hands effectively.
Hand hygiene is a part of school life, and when it comes to debating between hand dryers and paper towels, the positives have opting for hand dryers usually greatly outweigh that of paper towels. Apart from being reliable, hand dryers are more eco-friendly when compared to paper towels, and they also cause less mess and litter. Hand dryers are also more economical and when it comes to hygiene, they are known to be more sanitary, and usually a more fun option for children.
For young children, explore Puff the Magic dryer, it is a fun and low noise option that is suitable for all size washrooms, including accessible washrooms.
