Dryflow® Tri-tap Hand Dryer
The Dryflow Tri-tap can be purchased on its own as an over the sink hand dryer or as part of a matching set including a soap, water tap and dryer . It was launched slightly after the Dyson Airblade tap to create the complete set of touchless over the sink products. It’s fitted to wall and over a sink or trough. It is available in a polished chrome stainless steel finish.
From £759.00 + VAT
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Value
If you already have a sensor tap in place then this is a cheaper option that the Dyson Airblade WD06 over the sink option (by approximately £300) however the Dyson is a more complete product. As over the sink products are new to the market and not produced in the volume of other dryers, they are currently still quite expensive. As the market adopts them, we expect the price to come down.
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Dry speed
The manufacturers stated dry time is 15 seconds and our tests showed a 15-17 second dry time which is more than acceptable.
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Energy efficiency
Calculating the energy efficiency of a dryer depends on 2 things, rated power and the dry speed. On full power with heat at 1.5kw, you can remove the heat without having much of an effect on the dry speed (1 second reduction) and then it operates at 1.1kw rated power. There is also an eco/quiet setting at just 0.42kw. The consumption per dry is 2.68 – 5.24 watt/hours. To put this into context, the Dyson Airblade AB14 uses 4.44 watts per dry, a traditional uses 20-30 watts per dry and the best available uses 1.9 watt/hours. 2857 dries possible per £1 spent on electricity compared to 143 dries per £1 spent on paper towels, this is a 95.8 – 97.9% saving against paper towels.
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Quiet operation
The Tri-tap dryer has a fully adjustable motor speed and the manufacturer states a range between 67 dB(A) and 74 dB(A) at 2 metres, so from 1 metre you would expect a 10 dB(A) increase. In reality we found that on the max setting the noise was 77 DB(A) and on the min setting was only around 70 dB(A).
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Vandal resistance
It is a very solid piece of kit secured from under the sink with the motor concealed behind a panel making vandalism virtually impossible.
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Life expectancy
The Tri-tap dryer has a brushed motor which will require the brushes changing at around 1500 hours or 450,000 cycles and should last another 450,000 cycles after this. 3.5 out of 5 is probably a bit conservative and the reduced mark is down to the fact that a lot of people don’t maintain the dryers, which is why we tend to score brushless motors higher. It is built in Europe and has a high built quality. Covered by a 3-year warranty.
The Dryflow® Tri-tap and the environment
We estimate the embedded carbon in the Dryflow® Tri-tap to be around 45.9kg/co2, which is about mid-range for a dryer. However, work is being done with the manufacturer to reuse non-mechanical components stripped out of old dryers that pass quality control. This could considerably lower the footprint of this dryer in future. At about 3000 uses this hand dryer will provide a net carbon saving vs paper towels. When you consider the life-span could be up to 900,000 cycles, the lifetime emissions savings will be huge!
The Dryflow® Tri-tap - Conclusion
We really like these types of dryers and as the price comes down, we think they will be the future of modern washroom design. It makes perfect sense to put washing and drying over the sink where all the water can drain away, thus reducing mess and labour time. This is a good dryer with an elegant design, it has flexible noise output, is reliable, effective, energy efficient and compact. If you have the budget, we have no hesitation in recommending it.
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