A key consideration when choosing new hand dryers for your premises is their reliability. Minimising downtime and avoiding costly repair bills if anything goes wrong will help to reduce the overall lifetime cost and ensure that staff and visitors are able to maintain good hygiene.
What factors affect hand dryer reliability
Modern hand dryers, like most appliances can be very reliable and should last for years of regular use – if they are well maintained and cleaned, however there are several factors that can affect their performance and ultimately cause early failure.
With a conventional evaporative hand dryer, there are three systems that combine to dry the user’s hands:
- The heating Element
- The fan and motor assembly
- The power switch
If either of these items stops working correctly, the dryer will no longer work.
The heating element which warms the air passing through the dryer can be damaged if touched when in use, or if it is short circuited during regular maintenance work. If the resistance of the element – which creates the heat – changes, it can burn out. If the heating element burns out the airflow on its own will not be sufficient to allow the dryer to work effectively, and it will often be cheaper to simply replace the unit.
The fan and motor assembly can wear out with use. Worn bearings are the most common cause of failure in a hand dryer, and this comes from long term use. Over time, if the bearings become loose, the fan blade can move around in the housing and cause the motor to be overworked. You may start to notice a rattling or grinding sound from the dryer when in use.
Worn bearings increase the amount of power required to run the hand dryer, and in turn this forces the motor to work harder, significantly shortening its lifespan.
The third component of a conventional hand dryer that can often fail is the power switch. Push button designs rely on a switch connected to a timer to operate. Rough use of the switch can damage the connectors inside the dryer, causing wires to come loose. Loose wires can be easy to repair, however if a live wire comes into contact with the metal casing, it can cause a dangerous short circuit to occur.
The Difference with a jet hand dryer
Unlike conventional evaporative hand dryers which use slow moving warm air to dry the hands, a jet hand dryer such as the Mitsubishi Electric Wave i01 uses a narrow, jet of fast-moving air to simply blow water off the surface of the skin and catch it.
The advantage of this system is that it is much simpler than a conventional dryer and does not require the heating element to warm the air.
A second reliability benefit of a jet hand dryer is that despite the air moving much more quickly through the nozzle, the amount of power required by the fan is actually lower. The internal aerodynamics of a Mitsubishi Electric Wave hand dryer are carefully designed to accelerate the air to a high speed. The more efficient motor draws much less power and as a result, will not wear as quickly as s conventional model.
The third area where a modern hand dryer has a reliability advantage is automatic operation. Mitsubishi Electric Wave dryers use a proximity sensor to detect when a hand is in the drying area. This is much more hygienic as it removes a point of contact, but also means that there is less chance of failure.
This combination of factors coupled with a generous warranty period mean that choosing a Mitsubishi Electric Wave hand dryer will give you more long-term reliability from your product and reduce the overall cost of ownership.
Find out more
To request a demonstration of our range of modern, efficient hand dryers, please contact a member of our team or download a brochure.
