by Brianna Crandall — June 4, 2014—A Suburban Chicago school district recently took advantage of its schools’ renovations to reevaluate expenditures in a number of facility-related areas, and selected XELERATOR high-speed dryers from Excel Dryer, Inc., to improve its restrooms and decrease its costs. Excel Dryer provides schools and educational organizations with time and money savings by installing its XLERATOR hand dryers.
Situated just north of Chicago, Niles Township School District 219 serves over 4,800 students from portions of four towns. This sprawling district includes two high schools, which, similar to other schools across the country, are facing cutbacks that are causing administrators to seek cost-saving initiatives anywhere they can find them, notes Excel Dryer.
Joe Tomaselli, Aramark director of operations for Niles Township School District 219, explained, “Restrooms had always been an area where we faced a lot of extra work,” says Tomaselli. “Our student restrooms had both paper towels and traditional hand dryers, but we were constantly dealing with vandalism, blocked toilets and more, which translated into an extra four hours of clean-up every night. This was costing us an extra $16,500 per year in restroom maintenance!”
Furthermore, the schools were spending an estimated $38,700 per year on paper towels, not including the additional costs associated with running hand dryers for 30 seconds per use.
After researching alternatives for source reduction, Tomaselli decided to install XLERATOR hand dryers in the restrooms. “In terms of energy savings, these dryers draw an average of 1500 watts per use, compared to the traditional 2300 watts. Plus, they dry hands three times faster than traditional dryers, and shut off two seconds after the hands are removed from the sensor area.” Annually, this translates into an electrical consumption savings of $52 per unit, or for 80 units, $4,160 per year in savings, promising to deliver a return on investment in just one year. “Once we did the math, the cost savings were clear.”
XLERATOR is the original, patented, high-speed energy-efficient hand dryer that is engineered to dry hands completely in 10-15 seconds—three times faster than conventional dryers—while using 80 percent less energy. XLERATOR hand dryers represent a 95 percent cost savings over paper towels, and eliminates their maintenance and waste while creating a more hygienic restroom environment. In addition, XLERATOR is GreenSpec listed and helps qualify for several LEED green building credits, making it a smart choice for the restroom by saving time, money and the environment.
The XLERATOR is more user-friendly than recently introduced “trough-style” dryers, and completely hands-free: there is no risk of touching a potentially unclean surface while drying hands, says Excel Dryer. Unlike the newer models that require users to insert and remove their hands, the XLERATOR is intuitive and does not require instruction. Priced at less than half of the cost of trough-style models and virtually maintenance-free, the XLERATOR is easier for facilities managers to install and maintain in their restrooms, adds the company.
“XLERATOR continues to succeed where other hand dryers fail because it satisfies the needs of both facility managers and patrons,” said Denis Gagnon, president, Excel Dryer, Inc.
Currently, XLERATOR is installed in a variety of large school districts and universities across the United States. Visit the Excel Dryer Web site to find more detailed product information and to view a range of case studies and application stories.
See also the Excel Dryer ad on FMLink.
