How Much is a Hand Dryer?

There are plenty of hand dryers available to buy outright, however they range from under £100 to over £1000. So where does this disparity stem from?

The Price of a Hand Dryer

To determine where the cost and expense of hand dryers originate, the hand dryer itself need to be deconstructed and all its parts identified. Hand dryers are a simple concept, constrained by their singular, primary purpose of drying hands, making them relatively easy to understand. The parts Washroom Hub recommends looking at to understand hand dryer prices include the motor type, whether it is a blade hand dryer, if the hand dryer has a HEPA filter, what type of settings and how advanced the hand dryer is in terms of secondary technology and the manufacturing and branding of the hand dryer. All of these elements impact upon the hand dryer price.

How Motor Type’s Effect Hand Dryer Price

Broadly, there are only two types of motors within hand dryers. These are brushed motors or brushless motors. Brushed motors tend to be available within hand dryers that are priced at the lower end of the market. This is because brushed motors require more maintenance and need to have the brushes within the motor replaced when they wear out. On average, brushes need to be replaced between 1000 and 3000 hours of use. Whereas brushless motors have a much longer life span as they do not need to have brushes replaced, making them well suited to high intensity usage. However, just because brushless motors exist, doesn’t necessarily mean they are best suited to the environment you are looking to install a hand dryer. Low traffic environments (under around 100 uses a day) may find that a brushed motor hand dryer is sufficient. Whereas a high traffic environment, which usually consists of over 300 uses a day, may wear out the brushes of a motor more quickly, and would result in a noticeably increased life span if a brushless motor was alternatively used. For example, if you look at the Washroom Hub Cheap Hand Dryer category, you will see all the hand dryers listed there feature brushed motors, whereas, many of the units within the Blade Hand Dryers (which are at the higher end of the price scale) feature a brushless motor.

Blade Hand Dryers	Cheap Hand Dryers

Blade Hand Dryers Impact on Cost

Blade hand dryers are a different design to standard electric hand dryers. If you are looking at buying blade hand dryers, they will be available at a higher hand dryer price. They use different technology to dry hands, featuring optimized airstream paths to scrape the water from the hands, as opposed to high speed or warm air hand dryers. High speed hand dryers use powerful blasts of air (usually cold) to create an unfocused force that blows water from the hands, whereas warm air hand dryers alternatively use their heat to evaporate water off the hands. Along with this more refined technology, blade hand dryers often are accompanied by additional features such as filters, sterilization functionalities and designs that capture water so there is no overflow.

How HEPA Filters Influence Hand Dryer Costs

When it comes to determining the price of a hand dryer, and whether they provide value for money, it is worth checking to see if a hand dryer is fitted with a HEPA filter. Some hand dryers are fitted with standard filters, which work to reduce dirt and debris entering the motor and causing damage. However, HEPA filters not only protect the motor, but they also ensure tiny, airborne particles are trapped so they can’t be redispersed through the generated airflow. HEPA filters capture 99.99% of airborne particles and bacteria, which significantly reduces the chance of spreading viruses. Units with HEPA filters tend to be at the higher end of the automatic hand dryer price spectrum. Electric hand dryers with HEPA filters tend to be high spec overall, like the Biodrier Executive Blade which is priced at £620. However, there are some cheaper hand dryers, like the Biodrier 3D Smart Dryer hand dryer which are priced at £199.95 and feature HEPA filters. While the Biodrier 3D Smart Dryer features a HEPA filter, it is not a blade hand dryer like the Biodrier Executive, and it has a lower specification overall, resulting in its lower price.

The Price You Pay for Settings and Additional Technology

Cheap hand dryers tend to only offer basic hand drying facilities, whereas more expensive hand dryers often offer extras, such as the functionality to switch between hot and cold air or to determine airflow temperature based on the ambient room temperature. Costly hand dryers additionally tend to feature more accurate movement detection technology, which improves user experience and means the hand dryer will only expend energy when in use, reducing unnecessary expenses. A hand dryer that offers the option of switching between hot and cool airflow is the Biodrier Biolite. This had dryer is priced moderately at £269 as it offers this advanced functionality and fast drying. However, it is not at the highest end of the hand dryer price bracket as it still features a brushed motor, isn’t a blade hand dryer and doesn’t feature a HEPA filter.

The Cost of Branding

The price of hand dryers additionally tend to be influenced by branding. Globally recognized brands such as Dyson often come with larger price tags attached to them, whereas brands like Airsenz which aren’t widely known, market their i-Force hand dryers at a very reasonable price. While Dyson can price their hand dryers at a higher margin due to their branding (take for example the Airblade dB which is one of the most expensive blade hand dryers on the market), they do offer the research and development to backup their prices, justify them and provide a premium product.

How Much is a Hand Dryer?

Hand dryers are priced based on all of these elements and attributes. If you are unsure whether the hand dryers you are looking at are worth the price tag, then check whether they feature any, or all, of these extras. If you are unsure what some of the specifications listed to describe hand dryers mean and would like to compare these as well, then make sure you read the Washroom Hub blog, How to Choose an Automatic Hand Dryer.

The Washroom Team hopes you found this guide informative and useful, however if you would still like advice regarding specific hand dryers, or would like to place a large order of hand dryers, please get in touch on 0800 023 4937. For more advices, articles and guides, visit our blog!