The Dyson Airblade, why I hate it with a passion.

[HeapsGood]

I often get asked why I hate the Dyson Airblade. Often times people won't ask and I will awkwardly raise it as a conversation piece out of the blue.

Grandma - The weather is nice today.

Me - I f**king hate the Dyson Airblade.

Let's step back a bit.

Yeh I'm a germaphobe when it comes to public toilets. People in general are disgusting, and fail to wash their hands properly, if at all.

When I go to a public toilet I will not directly touch the taps or door handles. Having a touch tap or a door handle in a toilet is about as stupid as it gets.

Common public toilet scenario:
John Smith goes to toilet.
Gets shit on his hands (as you do).
Turns on the tap (shit goes on tap handle).
Washes the shit off his hands.
Turns off tap (Gets shit on his hands again).
Dries his hands.
Opens toilet door to leave (Puts shit germs all over the toilet door handle)

Also, have you ever seen anyone use the toilet cubicle, then leave without washing their hands? Those people are scum.


Any public toilet designed without an entrance door, supplied with paper towels or sensor hand dryer(not a Dyson Airblade!), sensor soap dispenser and sensor tap is brilliant. I'm in heaven in those places. People who design these types of public toilets are geniuses and deserve Nobel Prizes.

It makes sense to have a toilet or bathroom designed to minimize contact with surfaces. Some of the forum members who have been to Europe would have seen some great touchless innovations in their public toilets. Pedals for opening doors, etc.

Myself: I make it a point to always wash my hands sufficiently, and use the provided paper towel to turn off the tap and also use it to grip the door handle on exit. If they don't have paper towels I use a tissue to do this.

I only mainly do this with public toilets. I'm not a complete germaphobe with everything but it all depends on how crazy my OCD gets. I probably have a mild form of OCD. I just like to call it 'shit-germ phobia'.

Then, a few years back, some genius invented the Dyson Airblade.

I first spotted these at Adelaide Ariport but now they are everywhere. Hallet Cove Shopping Centre. Adelaide Casino. Everywhere.

The idea is they are supposed to save power. Good in theory, it probably does a good job of saving power compared to other hand dryers. It may also cut down on costs for places like the airport to restock paper towels. It doesn't do much else. It does a disgusting job of maintaining hygiene.

Firstly, they don't even bloody work properly! It usually takes a couple of goes of a hand dryer to get sufficient drying, same here with the Dyson Airblade. So it doesn't even do a better job then the other dryers. It just uses less energy. I'm not a fan of hand dryers in particular (especially the ones with touch buttons). A couple of paper towels can sufficiently do the job.

Secondly, and my major qualm with them. Because the open part where you stick your hands in is smallish and not entirely open like traditional hand dryers, you have a high chance of touching or knocking the sides with your hands. It takes a great degree of caution to put your hands in and not touch the sides. People touching their hands inside a small space blowing about hot air and germs violates all common sense on hygiene control.

Also, sometimes the sides are wet, and this also allows a greater transfer of germs to your hands. Water sometimes sprays all over the Airblade and around your hands. It's disgusting and incredibly unhygienic.

Thirdly, they are also noisy as hell. When I first used one at Adelaide Airport it was as if a Boeing 747 had flown right through the bathroom.

My last point - Because the air blade can only be reached from above the device they discriminate against the disabled, children and short people. (yes we also have to think about everyone else!)

I hate the Dyson Airblade. I give it 0.1 stars out of 5. I give it two unclean thumbs down. It is the Ford Pinto of hand dryers and every one of them should be ripped off the wall and shipped to Houston, placed in a NASA rocket, and flown into the sun.

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE the ******* Dyson Airblade. I refuse to use them. **** you Dyson.

Give me a good paper towel dispenser any day of the week.

I'm not the only person who hates them:
http://tims-ideas.blogspot.com.au/2011/ ... dyson.html
http://www.amazon.com/Dyson-Airblade-11 ... B002ANA3UM
http://blog.kamens.us/2010/10/26/dyson- ... -hygienic/

[Waewick]

Ive never touched the sides of an air blade.

Dont go to Japan btw, they have air blades built into the sink.....

[Hooligan]

In some countries people use their hands to wipe their arses and they eat off their dirt floors.

Ya' know what i mean?, just sayin' is all.

[rubberman]

In some countries people use their hands to wipe their arses and they eat off their dirt floors.

Ya' know what i mean?, just sayin' is all.

But so tasty....mmmm.

Personally, I love those airblades.

The other blower types often don't work properly, use a lot more energy, and are just as hard for those with disability to use.

Paper is OK, but guaranteed to run out, bins full of crap.

If someone has a problem with touching the sides of the airblade, how do they avoid touching the paper folds that they pull out? If you pull out a fold of paper, how do you avoid touching the paper above it? If the bloke before you has pulled out a fold, how can you guarantee he hasn't touched 'your' fold?

[HeapsGood]

Paper is OK, but guaranteed to run out, bins full of crap.

Paper towel is the best, but yes does require maintenance from staff to top up and clean out bins.

Even Mythbusters confirmed paper towel was better then hand dryers. I'd hate to see what their test of a Airblade would be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBuster ... urvival.22

The Dyson Airblade seems to have carbon emissions down pat compared to paper towels and other hand dryers, too bad it is a piece of bloody garbage that is uncomfortable to use and has serious questionable hygiene concerns.

If someone has a problem with touching the sides of the airblade, how do they avoid touching the paper folds that they pull out? If you pull out a fold of paper, how do you avoid touching the paper above it? If the bloke before you has pulled out a fold, how can you guarantee he hasn't touched 'your' fold?

It doesn't actually work that way. When you grab out a paper towel, you don't touch the following one when you do so. The action of completely taking out the towel pulls out the other behind it.

With paper towels I am also careful not to touch the sides of the paper towel dispenser.

[Waewick]

Given how clean toilets are in comparison to so many places id hate to imagine how much you spend on hand sanitiser.

I mean do you even bother reusing a tooth brush?

[rubberman]

Paper is OK, but guaranteed to run out, bins full of crap.

Paper towel is the best, but yes does require maintenance from staff to top up and clean out bins. (Snip)



It doesn't actually work that way. When you grab out a paper towel, you don't touch the following one when you do so. The action of completely taking out the towel pulls out the other behind it.

With paper towels I am also careful not to touch the sides of the paper towel dispenser.

I dare say you are careful. However, not everyone else is that careful. I have often observed 'dampness' on such paper towel stacks, confirming this design flaw in paper towels.

I would suggest that you apply the care you use to avoid the sides of the paper towel dispenser to the blade dryer.

[rev]

What the hell is a Dyson Airblade?

[Maximus]

I love it when an individual can maintain the rage for such a long period of time. Dyson Airblade issue first raised by HeapsGood way back in December 2011...!

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3228&hilit=dyson&start=571

I must say that I tend to agree about the Airblade. They certainly dry the hands quicker than a conventional hand dryer, but with some questionable side effects. Overall, actually, I think Dyson products can be a little wide of the mark. Usually great in theory, but not always in practice. For example, the bagless vacuum cleaners -- supposedly great for asthmatics, because of the you-beaut filters, etc, but it's virtually impossible to empty the waste cylinder without dust going everywhere. Kind of defeats the purpose.

[HeapsGood]

Yes I am a very hateful person, I have no life, it only exists to hate the Dyson Airblade for the terrible invention that it is.

[monotonehell]

Hi, I've just come out of retirement to apologise to HeapsGood.

He was right.

In the past few years there's been several studies done and the airblade style system for drying hands just scrapes off the germs and water that is on your hands, sending it into the atmosphere.

Well damn. So...

Wet your hands, use soap, scrub vigorously, including the back of your hands, rinse thoroughly with plenty of water, then dry your hands properly. Paper towels are the most effective, but are somewhat wasteful.

All you buggers who just briefly wet your hands as if water has some kind of instant germicidal properties - quit it. You may as well just not wash your hands at all.


Anyway - I hope you all had a great Christmas, and will have a happy new year (all of it not just NYE).
I'm going to bugger off again now.
See ya!

[HeapsGood]

Hi, I've just come out of retirement to apologise to HeapsGood.

He was right.

Thank you, I now feel redeemed of the extreme grievances I hold against the Dyson Airblade.

The good news is that places are phasing out the shit Airblades for common sense solutions.

Ie, the Adelaide Airport and shopping centres now have the automatic soap, automatic tap, and auto dryer all concealed within the mirror and above the sink for easy access and convenience. Bloody brilliant.

The person who designed this system, as observed in Adelaide Airport bathrooms, deserves some kind of lifetime achievement award.

[rev]

HeapsGood, you should avoid using the public toilets at TTP. The air blade dryers are useless.

[Llessur2002]

What happened to Mono? I've just realised his last post (before this one) was in April...

[rev]

What happened to Mono? I've just realised his last post (before this one) was in April...

He's retired and yelling at skateboarders now