Although the Airforce hand dryer from Warner Howard (made by World Dryer in the USA) has been around for a while, it has had a number of revisions, and remains one of the most popular hand dryers in the UK. However, a large number of hand dryers from other manufacturers such as Dyson and Biodrier have appeared recently which seem to have a higher specification in certain areas and these are certainly challenging the position of the Airforce.
Whilst there are plenty of rumours that Warner Howard are about to release a new dryer which will take the market by storm (if I had a penny for every time I had heard that about a hand dryer manufacturer…) they haven’t produced anything yet, so the latest Airforce is still the Mk III, which was released in 2010, and the main feature was the improved level of noise.
So are these new dryers real competition? Well, the main issue for many of them is the price tag. There is no doubting that the new Dyson Airblades are great dryers, and the new ‘hands-under’ “V” dryer and the Dyson Tap hand dryer certainly bring innovation to the market, but there is no getting away from the fact that they are twice as expensive as the Airforce. With the Biodrier range of hands-in hand dryers – the Executive and the Business ranges – they have new features such as air-freshening gels, countdown timers , and HEPA filters to make sure that the air it blows onto your hands is cleaner than the rest of the air in the washroom.
All of these features are fine, as long as they are valuable in your particular situation, and it remains the fact that the main features of the Airforce hand dryer represent amazing value for money, without providing any expensive frills. It has:
Short drying time: the motor runs at 37,000 RPM meaning that it can really blast the water from your hands.
Efficient: With it being unheated it has a power consumption of just 1100w, it is one of the lowest in its class.
Hygienic: the Airforce does not have anti-bacterial air filtration, but its surface is treated with SteriTouch ® anti-bacterial coating to stop the spread of bacteria.
Robust: The casing of the Airforce hand dryer is die-cast aluminium.
But perhaps the overriding feature for many owners of the Airforce hand dryer is that it requires no maintenance and comes with a 3-year, onsite warranty: and from our experience, I can tell you that the warranty is not often used, because they are extremely reliable units.
