You might not believe it, but electric hand dryers have been around for more than 90 years! The first unit was invented in the year 1925 in Stuttgart, Germany. Electric dryers are primarily used to dry freshly washed hands and can be installed right next to the wash-bowl for maximum convenience. Today hand dryers of many different kinds made by many different brands can be found in almost any place where a lot of people use the same washroom. This includes company office buildings, public institutions or restaurants. There two main differences between hand dryers:

One one hand we have the traditional units that work with warm air. They are therefore known as hot air or warm air hand dryer though they mean exactly the same thing. The first “Electrostar” hand dryer used exactly this technology. The same technology is still used today though much more sophisticated. On the inside of the hot air dryer there is a metal heater coil that is heated up with electricity. Ambient air is sucked into the device, heated up and transported onto the wet hands. The hot air causes up to 95% of the water on the surface of the skin to evaporate. The drying time and energy consumption have long been improved. Old models took up to 45 seconds to dry hand, nowadays short intervals of 10 – 30 seconds are the new standards.

Inside of the hot air hand dryer

• Public toilets, that have a high amount of visitors every day. Modern hand dryers allow a quick drying of the hands with a relatively low energy balance and without creating a great number of additional waste. Smaller washrooms also offer enough space for such a hand drying device, as they can easily be mounted to a wall.
• Big companies and commercial areas also use hand dryers more often. Apart from the hygienic and ecologic aspect, the devices save additional staff and storage costs that would be necessary for example when disposing of and storing paper towels. As modern producers promise hand drying within just a few seconds, the aspect of time can no longer seen as a disadvantage.
• In gastronomy branch, hand dryers are also used more commonly. In this case energy efficiency, hygienics and cost optimisation are also the basic, decisive factors when it comes to choosing this system. 

• Considerably less impact on the climate: According to a study conducted by the Swiss non-profit organisation climatop®, greenhouse emissions of selected hand dryers as well as paper towels were compared over a lifetime cycle. The result shows that hand dryers performed remarkably better than paper towels. The main reasons for this result are that modern devices have a smaller power consumption, and the impact on the climate caused by the energy consuming production of paper or textile are a severe, negative argument for paper towels. 
• No staff expenses: Paper towels need to be re-filled, which means one or several employees are necessary. This workforce is an additional, significant expense factor that, depending on the sanitary installation, can be saved with the help of hand dryers.  
• No storage costs: Paper towels need to be stored in a certain quantity. This requires a corresponding storage capacity that must not be embezzled when it comes to company expenses.  
• Problem of disposal drops: The disposal of paper towels also means additional costs that can be prevented with a hand drying device. Furthermore, the creation of waste can be reduced, making for a sustainable handling of available resources. 
• Regulated net consumption: Most people use considerably more paper towels than the recommended one sheet of paper. This aspect does not only complicate the calculation of needed quantity, but also causes unnecessary waste that could otherwise be prevented.
• Look of sanitary installations: Depending on staff capacities, it often happens that sanitary installations with paper towels quickly look untidy, because bins are overstuffed with paper towels or paper is laying on the ground.