Xlerator Hand Dryers Splatter Bacteria

[RailRider]

This only reaffirms my hatred of all hand dryers. As has been stated and I will state again, hand dryers do nothing more than recirculate hot bathroom air on to your freshly washed hands. If paper towels are non existent then my hands will air dry.

[IndyGuy4KI]

I find it odd that we are talking about all of this at a place that has a huge water park located in it. Although I understand that water is filtered and treated, and up to standard, but I hope no one is going to Soak City if the bathroom water from the blowers bothers them.

[The Interpreter]

I also don't take baths with 2o,ooo people, most of whom need one...

[Thrill_Biscuit]

...and SOME of them, in my last (ever) experience swimming in a public pool, need a room, too.

Tb, keeping it chlorine-clean.

[Tanna]

You might want to read the articles...

A blower in a feces laden atmosphere isn't exactly clever...

Well, you've certainly given me an idea on how to chase away the neighborhood kids.

[KIBeast]

I saw Mythbusters do an episode on the explosion of water that occurs when the toilet is flushed. What really gets me is that you can't find a lid on a toilet in hospitals? Really?

And I'm not saying that there isn't any truth to this, but at the same time you dry your hands with a towel, you touch the door handle on the way out and someone didn't wash, then it's a moot point anyway.

Or the hundreds of doorknobs you grab every day.

Or the phone you use after someone else.

[The Interpreter]

I don't touch bathroom doorhandles on the way out. If they push out, which code says they are supposed to, I push with forearm or shod foot.

If they pull, I use the paper towel provided. If I go to a restaurant with which I'm unfamiliar, I've been known to visit the toilet before ordering. If the restroom is unsatisfactory, I've been known to leave. Finding only hand dryers means 95%+ of the time, I leave. Employees not washing their hands, 100%. Yuck.

Note most industrial toilets are the vacuum power flush type. Poo storm greatly enhanced.

[jsus]

Speaking of which, our county department of health (and like other such organizations that are worth anything) recommends using paper towel to turn off any manually-operated faucet and open any inward-opening door. I am one to follow this suggestion, particularly because of the ones who do not.

Touching the same faucet knobs/dials/handle/whatever after washing hands that you touched beforehand only results in germs going from hand to faucet back to hand.

With manual paper towel dispensers, touching it with your hand, after others have done the same with less-than-clean hands, results again in germ transfer to your hand. Solution? Like Terp mentioned above, use your forearm (please don't kick the paper towel dispenser).

But that's just me, since the whole idea behind washing your hands is to get rid of the germs that were there, not just to put them down temporarily before picking them back up. See also: Mythbusters showing that it doesn't really matter how long you have contact with a germ-infested surface. The vast majority if not all of the transfer occurs almost instantaneously upon initial contact.

And don't even get me started on those industrial toilets.. They have a tendency to not just aerosolize fecal matter, but also to fling liquid toilet water and all its germs. I've learned to hide behind a door where possible, if I need to flush a toilet before using it. Which is often at an amusement park.

[The Interpreter]

And please don't start about hand sanitizer. Just makes the bugs more resistant. Lovely. See also triclosan--an active ingredient in most so-called anti-bacterial soaps (and Total Advanced Colgate Tooth Paste-it's illegal in many countries).

[electricsun]

If you never want to go in a public restroom again, there have been a few studies about the industrial toilets, their spray and C. diff.

It frustrates me that so many hospitals still have hand sanitizer out when most prohibit their staff from using it.

In anyone wants to travel further down the germ rabbit hole, read on. I find it interesting what some hospitals will do to prevent the spread of germs from one patient to another. I like seeing doctors either with no tie or a bow tie - think about all their patients and surfaces that their tie has touched in a day. Doctors and nurses washing their hands as the first and last thing they do in a patient's room. Keeping sets of equipment in the patient room so it doesn't get moved from room to room - such as the stethoscope, pressure cuffs, thermometer, and computer station. Even something as simple as having one patient per room can make a huge difference in the patient's health, both physical and mental. So can sending them home as soon as they are stable enough to recover at home. The amount of infections patients can get while IN the hospital is staggering. Thanks to the presence of legionella in some water systems, patients can't use tap water for anything and are given sterile water to brush their teeth and rinse their toothbrush.

People are germy. Very very germy. I'm very grateful for a healthy immune system.

[MDMC01]

I thought about thread earlier tonight after drying my hands after seeing Part 1 of Mockingjay. After washing my hands, there was an Xcelerator dryer that I started to use and I thought "ohhhh..." (the bad kind of "oh") and then looked for some paper towels, for which there was none.

[Dieseltech20]

People are germy. I'm very grateful for a healthy immune system.

Which you have because of said Germy People and the millions of other ways you come into contact with Germs every second of your life.

[The Interpreter]

And now, the sad thing.

The reality is the whole hand dryer thing started largely because of what a few pathetic souls do with paper towels:

* Waste great scads of them.

* Steal them.

* Throw them in toilets and stop them up.

Add in the screaming environmentalists who would claim at first that dryers were less bad for the environment. And the dryer company studies that show a cost savings.

There is hope. Years ago, there were machines that dispensed in a loop a roll towel made of cloth, which waa allegedly cleaned at an industrial launderer such as CINTAS. There is a reason many were an off-blue. The machines were often empty of new towel, with two or three feet of old towel hanging forlornly. A few sad souls hung themselves in the loop.

And, you used the cloth which was hanging out of the machine OR pulled on the soiled towel to dispense new. Nothing sanitary about it.

One by one, the things disappeared. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a cloth roll towel machine.

Before XCelerator and Dyson hand dryers, the old World dryers were rapidly disappearing. Then came the newcomers.

[electricsun]

People are germy. I'm very grateful for a healthy immune system.

Which you have because of said Germy People and the millions of other ways you come into contact with Germs every second of your life.

Absolutely! But I've also seen the devastating effects of "normal" germs to someone with no immune system. We have to be smart, and sometimes seemingly cautious, about our interactions with the world and people around us.

[The Interpreter]

We encounter enough dirt in the world without recklessly adding to it.

[KI-ORIG-EMP]

How many notice the non-working automatic air freshener devices attached up on the wall? I don't think they have even put new refills in them in years.

[The Interpreter]

Which is probably a good thing.

Poo odor plus perfume still reeks.

[RollerNut]

So how many people wipe down the ride restraints before touching them, or the table before eating?

[electricsun]

Personally, I do my best not to touch my face when at the park (or anywhere for that matter) and wash my hands before eating.

As for any table outside my home, there are plates, napkins and other food wrappers that are between my food and the table. If my food touches the table, I don't eat it. Overly cautious? Yes, but I'm going to try to limit my intake of germs without involving anti-bacterial solutions.

What is a different solution than the hand air dryer? There are pros and cons for paper towels, air dryers, and even the "wipe my hands on my clothes.". Which option is the lesser of the 2-3 evils?

Edited to ask question and add some missing letters.

[TTD-120-420]

This is why you wait until you have home field advantage. I only use public restrooms if it is an emergency.

[jcgoble3]

But is your home bathroom any cleaner? And how often do you wash your hand towels?

[The Interpreter]

But:

A. Not using public facilities is not typically possible on day long excursions, especially witl little ones.

B. Home bathrooms are not typically used by hundreds in a day. Families and roommates already typically swap germs routinely.

I've thought a lot about these issues since i began routinely using MARTA and Metro.

[The Interpreter]

On closing day, I was told there are no Dyson hand dryers left in the park.

True?

Terp, who likes to ask questions.

[Magenta Lizard]

There was still a Dyson Blade in the women's restroom in Picnic Grove at KI when I was there during Fright Feast. Assuming that those dryers were legitimately Dyson, not just a knock-off of that technology.

[Honorarius]

^^^ Wait, those aren't the urinals???

[Oldiesmann]

Dyson's site lists the latest version of their Airblade dryer at $1349 each. That could be a big factor in why they're disappearing. There is no price listed on the Xelerator site though - you have to contact them for a quote if you're interested.