Choosing hand dryers with quieter fan designs means less noise escapes from bathrooms into the surrounding area to create a more comfortable experience for users.

When designing a modern workspace or public area, minimising unwanted noise is a priority. A quiet and welcoming environment is more comfortable for users of the space and reduces distraction. In buildings with limited space such as restaurants, minimising noise from bathrooms can be difficult, however by choosing hand dryers with quieter fans means that less noise is generated to escape into surrounding areas.

Where does hand dryer noise come from?


The loud noise from conventional hand dryer designs is due to a combination of fan noise and air turbulence. As air is blown out of the nozzle it carries the fan and motor noise into the surround area and amplifies it. The chaotic streams of warm air from an old-fashioned hand dryer direct the sound in all directions which means that it will easily escape from the bathroom through walls and open doors.


To be more effective, older warm air hand dryers need to use larger fans and these disturb more air making them even louder.


With Jet hand dryers such as the Mitsubishi Electric Wave range, airflow is much smoother which means that less sound can be carried into the surrounding area.


Reducing hand dryer fan noise


Conventional hand dryer fans need to move large amounts of air to work which means that the blades need to spin quickly, and this creates a lot of noise that can escape. Although Jet hand dryers accelerate the air to a much higher speed than warm air models, this is achieved through the internal aerodynamics of the appliance rather than relying solely on fan speed. This means that a more efficient fan design can be used which means that the motor does not need to work as hard or generate as much noise.


Further noise reduction


In addition to their quieter and more efficient fans, jet hand dryers use a much narrower nozzle than a conventional design. This further accelerates air over the user’s hands to dry the hands much more quickly – a Mitsubishi Electric Wave i01 takes around 10 seconds to fully dry the hands, about a third of the time taken by a warm air hand dryer.


The shorter drying time, coupled with the narrow nozzle and internal sound insulation means that very little noise escapes, and unlike a conventional hand dryer which generates as much noise as busy traffic and can be disconcerting for people who are sensitive to loud noises, Mitsubishi Electric Wave quiet hand dryers emit as little as 57dB of noise – the equivalent of a quiet conversation – which does not spread as far outside the bathroom.

Find out more

Innovative designs make Mitsubishi Electric Wave hand dryers quieter to reduce disturbance. Choose hand dryers with quieter fans for your next project. Find out more by contacting us today to book a demonstration.

01707 288780