How Many Hand Dryers Do I Need To Install In Our Washrooms?

14/03/2013

1,2,3 or more? When it comes to knowing the amount of hand dryers to put in a washroom there are a couple of things to take into consideration.

The amount of hand dryers necessary to install in a washroom depends on the expected traffic in the washroom. It will also depend upon the type of hand dryer you would like to put into the washroom. A conventional warm air hand dryer will have a relatively slow dry time of above 25 seconds. This is because it relies on evaporation from the heat to dry the hands. Whereas a high speed hand dryer has a dry time of below 20 seconds, using air speed from a faster motor to quicken the dry time.

In washrooms that experience low use (under 100 uses per day) one conventional warm air hand dryer per four washbasins will suffice or one high speed hand dryer for every five to seven washbasins.

For medium traffic washrooms (100 to 300 uses per day), install one conventional warm air hand dryers for every two hand wash areas or one high speed hand dryer for three or four washbasins.

In a heavy use washroom (300 plus uses per day), multiply by two the number of hand dryers, so at least one high speed hand dryer per two washbasins and a one to one ratio for conventional warm air hand dryers.

In work places with a typical 8 hour working day, employees will typically go to the toilet 4.5 times per day, so up to 22 employees of a single sex will constitute a low traffic washroom and anything over will move into being a medium traffic washroom. Of course you may need to consider how breaks are taken for example shift workers in factories may lead to short term, high traffic periods.

If you are unsure about how to calculate the traffic levels of your washroom, or need advice on the best hand dryer to suit this level of traffic, please do not hesitate to contact us where one of our hand dryer experts will be more than happy to assist you.

Please view our high speed hand dryer range