Has any forumer ever used a hot air hand dryer, mainly found in toilets. that actually dries your hands? I dont know if I am using the incorrect tecnique but I always seem to walk away as wet as I walked from the wash basin, drying my hands on a hankerchief or, dare I say, down my trousers. What am I doing wrong?

The science of hand dryers is a complex subject visit this website for more info:

www.handdryersexplained.not

:D

stay there longer?

You are not staying long enough at the hand dryers.

Sorry Tim cant open site, and rosie, sometimes there are groups of agitated men waiting to use it after me.

Originally posted by BoppinBruce
Sorry Tim cant open site, and rosie, sometimes there are groups of agitated men waiting to use it after me.

Unfortunately my spoof website joke was missed there... the .not should have given it away :)

Sorry, make allowances, I come from Luton. Thank you

if you rub your hand and make sure that the water is as dispersed as possible it's possible to have your hands dry within a mere 5 minutes.

Its amazing despite modern technology its the early inventions that work. The towel is a very clever idea. Lots of little threads with oodles of surface area for absorbing moisture. Trouble is bacteria like moisture and so choose towels as excellent places to breed. The hand dryer is a hygienic alternative if you stand there for a while. It does take time tho. Maybe we should all use it as a chance to stop and relax for a moment or two...

That's why hand dryers are a bad idea in a food environment, they're incredibly unhygienic :S

I have used one! We used to have a hand dryer at work that was set so high that putting your hands under it caused it to blast the water droplets off your hands, straight onto your shoes.

That's my excuse, anyway ;)

Originally posted by tim_rutter
The hand dryer is a hygienic alternative if you stand there for a while. It does take time tho. Maybe we should all use it as a chance to stop and relax for a moment or two...

I once heard that the warm air from the dryers actually helped the bateria thrive.

Originally posted by alchresearch
I once heard that the warm air from the dryers actually helped the bateria thrive.

on your hands? After you've washed them.

Originally posted by alchresearch
I once heard that the warm air from the dryers actually helped the bateria thrive.

I think your hands do a perfectly good job of keeping bacteria warm to need to worry about that!

If you see some of the black crud clinging to most driers, it's a wonder we don't all get legionaire's disease or something from them :gag:

condition of your average hand drier (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/going_out/clubs/images/gallery_blues0504/hand_dryer_200x165.jpg)

Found this:

http://www.lee-county.com/healthdept/data/Dryers.htm

Drying your hands with a paper towel offers the best bacteria reduction. Hot air dryers, on the other hand – no pun intended – were found to actually increase what’s called skin and gut bacteria on the hands by an astonishing 436%. A full 100% of the samples taken from air inlets and 97% from nozzles contained potentially harmful bacteria.

I only remember it because it was in the news a while ago and Mark 'n' Lard were discussing it.

Found another link here:

http://www.shroomery.org/index/par/23670

Originally posted by alchresearch
I once heard that the warm air from the dryers actually helped the bateria thrive.

It's a great environment for bacteria to thrive, it doesn't dry them properly leaving them damp, and the heat helps them triple in numbers. That's why they're hardly hygienic - it's one of the biggest points in food hygene training - if you're working with food, dry with towels.

I heard that they are actually the most hygenic way to dry your hands - as long as you stay there until your hands are completely dry. If they are still even a little bit damp, then it's counter-productive. But as the vast majority of people only waft their hands around for a matter of seconds, most people leave with them still very wet, and end up drying them on their trousers! Because of this, paper towels tend to be much more hygienic.

I always just wipe my hands on the backs of my jeans :? society these days worry's about hygene WAY too much... gawd, a bit of bacteria never did anyone no harm, no wonder were all becoming immune to medication cus people go OTT when they get a cold and stuff...

your body is quite capable of handling a large number of bacteria and diseases on its own, if you get ill, you have an immune system... its already been proven that over cleaning in a house kills your immunity because your system gets used to a lack of bacteria!

be slightly unclean, wash your hands, dry them on your trousers... be a real man! :clap:

Originally posted by xafier
I always just wipe my hands on the backs of my jeans :? society these days worry's about hygene WAY too much... gawd, a bit of bacteria never did anyone no harm, no wonder were all becoming immune to medication cus people go OTT when they get a cold and stuff...

your body is quite capable of handling a large number of bacteria and diseases on its own, if you get ill, you have an immune system... its already been proven that over cleaning in a house kills your immunity because your system gets used to a lack of bacteria!

be slightly unclean, wash your hands, dry them on your trousers... be a real man! :clap:

I agree totally, but it's different in the catering industry... you're very open to law suits if you don't wash your hands properly :rant:

really Hook? I always thought people enjoyed a bit of bacteria and the odd pubic hair in their meals? :? guess I was wrong lol

well obviously if your dealing with other peoples food then you should be more clean, but in all honesty there is less bacteria etc around your bumm than there is in your mouth... so your more likely to pass disease when you sneeze into your hands, or rub your mouth or face than after you've been for a smelly poo and not washed and dried your hands properly :P

If anybody works at a place where they have the "Initial"
blue rolls of hand towels, let me know - they make great car cleaning rags!

I once managed to get one several years ago and I'm just coming to the end of the roll and need another!