The Salon Equipment Evaluation Standards (SEES) you need to consider in selecting the right dryer to fit your salon’s needs will be presented in three separate postings covering force, cage, and finish dryers. Each section will be proceeded by a short history of how these drying machines have developed and how changing test standards and legal issues are even today influencing new equipment development, especially as affects health and safety challenges and standards. In the animal care industry, recent medical studies and surveys have uncovered significant additional evidence and concerns that will surely lead to future guidance and health regulation for grooming operations and other animal care related businesses.
Force dryers begin our journey of review. This is quite appropriate, as this type unit was the first electrical device to appear in the grooming realm for drying, proceeded most likely only by the basic towel. No telling how far the ancient dog/animal groomer had to run to finish his dog-drying job, however I do remember quite vividly my second grooming account, when I was a distributer, jogging in her tennie pumps with many a long-coated canine as a routine step in her drying regimen. Seemed to work for her business as well as her health, but certainly not my recommendation to a prospective groomer or salon.
There is some controversy as to the first handheld force/portable dryer manufactured. Was it for human or animal use? However, the first handheld dryer I remember was made for animal use and was a chrome beauty from Oster Corporation that had a 2-position heat selection that put out well over 150°F.
Only after a number of years did the explosion of human use in handheld portable dryers force regulators to reduce maximum heat output to 130°F at 3 inches from the nozzle as a safety feature for the people’s dryers. A similar stipulation soon followed for pet dryers, at least as a condition for Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certification. This changed the handheld Oster unit, as the replacement heat element for the pet unit reduced the heat output significantly. A similar restriction was additionally placed on finish dryers, where the airflow can be set to remain stationary and close to the animal’s skin.
High speed, high RPM force units attached to flexible hoses allow groomers and especially brusher bathers to quickly push large amounts and weights of water from coats at the bathing tub after the soaked coat has been carefully tamped down with an absorbent towel so as not to overly flatten the coat and increase mat formation.
These units have high velocity motors, some producing over 30,000 RPM and are equipped generally with a low CFM production fan utilizing small openings and hose attachments (wedge and cone) that direct airflow in a narrow, pinpoint corridor accentuating the air speed while reducing significantly air volume (CFM output). There is an old axiom that high air speed / velocity dryers cannot also produce high volume (CFM), nor can both be incorporated in a single drying unit, since the combined airflow would require a motor that would be too large, use too much electricity, produce dangerously high temperatures for animal safety, and be much too loud.
Rigid piping or tubes that connect two force dryers into a single outlet air passage, requires material bending that further reduces air speed and velocity resulting in unescaped airflow backing up on the motor that will struggle, causing increased heat and electrical draw, a shortened motor life, as well as excessive carbon brush wear spewing extra carbon dust into the grooming work environment.
The first force dryers manufactured for the American grooming industry were encased in less expensive, easier-to-produce metal here in the United States with motors and attachments increasingly sourced from overseas. Manufacturers’ operational hurdles in this dryer design had various challenges forcing manufacturers to modify these metal units to provide higher safety and efficiency standards mostly caused by excessive air leakage through metal seams and the intake portal, electrical shocks and excessive heat and noise production. Their lack of success at completely overcoming these obstacles has prompted many manufacturers to move to a more modern and precise engineering process using high-grade plastics and styrene materials employing the precise fit, injection molding technology.
The improvement in health, safety, and comfort in the grooming environment, along with performance and dryer durability is quite significant. It has also allowed manufacturers to utilize a much more high-torque and more productive motor type, moving away from carbon brush motors, that allows for greater versatility by animal dryer type with far greater control of air volume, air speed, air temperature, and dryer noise than was previously available to the animal grooming community.
Greater scrutiny is being placed on manufactured electrical products by regulatory bodies worldwide where official certification previously granted just a few years ago would not now, if applied for, gain US or international approval. Most of these issues delve into health and safety issues, but also weigh heavily on environmental concerns since equipment certification is usually required for a manufacturer insuring a product and taking on the liability responsibility. A buyer should consider their personal liability for malfunction or mishap when purchasing any piece of commercially-used equipment that has not been certified.
The following specifications and features are recommended for consideration in selecting the force dryer for your next purchase. The Salon Equipment Evaluation Standards (SEES) recommendations are as follows:
- Select a force dryer whose manufacturer provides parts and service in the United States or in the country where it will be operated.
- Ensure force dryers have met safety certification standards and electrical code requirements for use in the country, state, and locality of operation.
- International safety certification is preferred to ensure sufficient product liability protections for equipment operators.
- Select force units that use modern manufacturing materials such as quality polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and styrenes.
- The preferred non-metal material to use is without doubt ABS styrene since it is the least conductive of heat, less susceptible to expansive and shrinkage forces and more impact resistant than plastics while also being more resistant to surface wear.
- This makes styrene parts more secure, eliminating frequent disconnects during high-pressure, force dryer operation. Styrenes are tough, lightweight, and seemingly last forever. ABS styrene material, when used in the products’ manufacture, requires the precise, injected mold process be employed, ensuring finished, uniform parts that perfectly conform and create tightly-fitting seams.
- Select manufacturers that use the injection mold process for tightly-sealed chassis and precise attachment parts that significantly reduce air leakage while increasing motor efficiency and service life.
- Force units with single or double motors that claim over 200+ cubic feet per minute (CFM) output must be considered suspect, and without realistic, certified testing, this data cannot be taken at face value.
- Force units without easy access to filters for cleaning spell trouble for high-speed motors and generally consist of a foam type material (highly porous) that allows fine and ultrafine particle pollutants found in the grooming salon to pass through and build up on motor and fan, causing serious motor maintenance and service life issues.
- Force units should not be selected only on the presumption of power using air speed velocity only, but also on the length of drying time where the unit can provide efficient and effective drying involved in the overall drying cycle required for all coat types faced. Air speed, air volume, and heat control must be considered when evaluating a force dryer. The key phrase in selecting this unit is “unit versatility.”
- Force dryers with small diameter hoses, hose attachments, and high decibel noise levels need to be avoided.
- Force unit motor type must be a main concern of the present and future grooming salon. Brush motor technology, once the only choice, is rapidly becoming a dinosaur. Groomers today concerned with performance, health, safety and return on investment need a better choice. A selection of a direct current (DC) dryer motor which offers maximum versatility and also far exceeds present environmental goals provides the most logical alternative to carbon brush force dryers.
- Choose force units and more equipment from manufacturers dedicated to a long term commitment to progress in the grooming industry.
Till Next Time,
The Professor