Lowering Maintenance Costs is As Easy As Just One Switch
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Although creating an attractive interior design for your public spaces is important in promoting a positive experience for patrons,
the fact remains that every business today has to factor in the need to cut operational costs — even at the restroom level.
Installing automatic hand dryers in restrooms has always been a popular choice for the hygiene and environmental benefits. However, selecting the use of hand dryers over paper towels to dry a user’s hands delivers significant economic benefits as well. Studies have shown automatic hand dryers can save companies up to 99 percent in operation costs as compared to paper towels — removing much
of the maintenance involved in restroom upkeep, including restocking and disposal.
Additionally, discarded paper towels cannot be recycled or reused and therefore end up in landfills unless they are composted. In recent years, the technology used in hand dryers has advanced dramatically. Some new devices can dry hands in just 10 to 15 seconds, making them three times faster than conventional electric hand-dryers. Drawing in as little as 1,000 watts or less-compared to 2,300 watts in traditional hand-dryers-today’s state-of-the-art dryers use as little as 2.7 watts-hours per drying cycle, which equates to an 88 percent reduction in energy consumption.
The World Dryer portfolio of solutions includes SMARTdri, SMARTdri Plus and ADA-compliant SLIMdri fast-drying hand dryers, featuring heat controls for user comfort and fast-dry times up to three times faster than traditional dryers. Moreover, the cost savings these hand dryers deliver is impressive. Now it will only cost around 7 cents per 200 uses with heat and only 4 cents per 200 uses without the heat. Compared to the cost of using paper towels, these hand dryers can achieve thousands of dollars per year in savings. Not to mention, once installed hand dryers require considerably less attention than paper towel dispensers do, which saves additional money on labor and maintenance.
A case study in savings
Based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Community Counseling Center has served the mental health needs of citizens in a five-county region of southeastern Missouri since 1974. Larry Ream joined the staff about 18 months ago to head up the Center’s facilities management operations. One of his first tasks was to familiarize himself with all the functions and costs of his department and, where possible, to improve upon existing procedures. Community Counseling Center’s home office in Cape Girardeau had been using paper towels in its restroom facilities.
Ream said he looked at cost per month and then cost per year, and then he looked at the cost of a hand dryer unit and its installation. When he determined that the ROI on the hand dryer was only 90 days, the decision to move to hand dryers instead of paper towels was easy. Ream said he didn’t even have to look at the labor cost associated with paper towels. |
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Ream was sold on World Dryer’s SLIMdri hand dryer because it is almost 40 percent faster than other ADA surface mounted hand dryers and is extremely energy efficient, which was very important to the institution. In fact, World Dryer's SLIMdri hand dryers are up to 70 percent more energy efficient than other ADA-compliant hand dryers. Due to its high efficiency design and technology, SLIMdri is GreenSpec® Listed and offers LEED credits to facility managers. Addtionally, Ream appreciated that SLIMdri is easy to mount and includes hands-free automatic technology as well as a patented SteriTouch® antimicrobial technology to shield against the build-up of bacteria. In addition to the 90-day ROI, he estimates the SLIMdri units have saved 50 percent on the day-to-day costs of maintaining and supplying the center pull units.
Ream said being in a mental health environment where so many people are serviced, the use of paper towels can be an issue. Dirty towels are often thrown around, landing on the floor and making the restroom unsightly and unhealthy. Additionally, having the hand dryers has helped the maintenance crew, Ream said. World Dryer’s hand dryers are easy to install and the maintenance staff likes the fact that they’re less involved with the labor aspect associated with the use of towels. Ream said they'd put them in the hallways and in the kitchen areas if they could.
It’s a clear decision
Facilities of all types-even those with lower traffic like schools and healthcare facilities-are realizing the cost benefits of installing fast-drying hand dryers. World Dryer in the only manufacturer that offers a full portfolio of fast, state-of the art hand dryers designed to fit the individual needs of any facility. Competitively priced, every World Dryer product is designed, engineered and manufactured to help you realize long-term economic and environmental savings. If you are still using paper towels, we invite you to call us today for a free analysis of how making the switch to World Dryer can help you reduce costs significantly.
