Updated 5-2-2020

Hand dryer Standards

 

Introduction

As industries mature you see more industry standards against which products and procedures are measured. This blog investigates the hand dryer standards that have been around for a while.

Water resistance

IP is the abbreviation for Ingress Protection, and is outlined under the standard EN60529. This is an international classification system for the sealing effectiveness of enclosures of electrical equipment such as hand dryers, against entry of foreign bodies such as dust, tools, fingers and moisture. See what we wrote earlier about the meaning of IP rating concerning a hand dryer.

most hand dryers come with an IP rating of IPX1 like the fast drying, yet compact Turboforce® Junior PLUS which is very suitable to many locations. If you do need something that is a little more resistant to water due to where you want to place the hand dryer, then it is worth looking at something like the Dryflow Elite MK 2 which has a rating of IP23

Noise

One standard is IEC 704-1, 1982, which has been superseded by IEC-60704-1 Household and similar electrical appliances - Test code for the determination of airborne acoustical noise - Part 1: General requirements published in 2010.

The amount of Noise is a subjective measure in the sense that everyone experiences noise differently.  This is because noise is produced over a wide frequency range and we experience noise with different hearing abilities. Some people can’t stand high pitched noise while other don’t like low frequency noise.

There are tests done in soundproof rooms but some testers test at 1 meter distance from the source of the noise, the hand dryer, while others use for instance a 3 meter distance. On top of that the height from where the noise is being recorded in relation to the hand dryer can also make a big difference. There is also a big difference in noise when the hand dryer is just blowing air or when it is blowing on your hands. This is especially true for high velocity air hand dryers like blade hand dryers.

Noise is measured in dB, short for Decibel. It is a difficult to understand measurement but in general lower dB means less noise. Our blog "What decibel level should a quiet hand dryer have" gives you a good idea what to expect.  You will find a comprehensive list in our blog 7 Quiet but effective Hand Dryers available in Australia. 

One standard that looks at the noise performance of a hand dryer is Quiet Mark. At the time of writing there are 13 hand dryers that have been awarded their Quiet Mark. Quiet Mark is driven by the UK Noise Abatement Society charitable foundation. They dont give their Quiet Mark stamp based on a low noise alone. For instance they also take the speed of dry in consideration. 

We sell both Dryflow and Dyson Quiet Mark hand dryers on our website. Although no longer awarded a quiet mark, Mitshubishi Electric hand dryers are quiet too. 

Speed of dry

The American company National Sanitation Foundation NSF has defined a protocol for hand dryers called “NSF P335 Hygienic Commercial Hand Dryers” with which you should be able to come up with a drying time after you have washed your hands.

The UK companies Dyson and Personnel Hygiene Services Ltd. are the only ones listed to have NFS P335 tested hand dryers. We don't think their protocol fits real life situations because most people shake their hands before drying them. 

Here at Intelligent Hand Dryers we have created our own standard to test the drying time. For every hand dryer we sell we have created a youtube movie showing the test including the result. Our test is accurate, gives a good indication of what you may expect and makes it easy to compare the different hand dryers we sell. Our inhouse test results and these done via the NFS method show a remarkable similar result.  

For instance, the speed of the Jet Force Junior is only a few seconds slower than the Dyson AB14 when we performed our inhouse testing on both, which makes it a great hands-in hand dryer for low to medium traffic washrooms where speed of dry is a key requirement.  

Electricity safety

Each country has safety measures that electrical products such as hand dryers need to adhere to. In Australia it is the Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM). Hand dryers should comply with the requirements described in Part 1 and the following parts of AS/NZS4417: Clause 2 - Electrical Safety and Clause 3 - Electromagnetic Compatibility. A RCM label which looks like a triangle and in it a tick surrounded by part of a circle should be on the hand dryer. The European safety mark CE is not valid in Australia.

For more information or for help in finding your ideal hand dryer, please call us on 1300 HANDRY or (+61) 1300 426 379, use our contact us page by clicking here or click to visit the website.  

You can also use our Intelligent Search Tool that helps you identify the perfect dryer for your location by clicking here.

In the trade? Don't forget we can set you up with a trade account for your purchases. We have wholesaler, contractor, public sector and charity discounts available, please don't hesitate to ask or find out more information by clicking here.