World dryer | NCHLT

Last updated [31.05.2025]

World Dryer/PHS Warner Howard

World Dryer is an American manufacturer of hand dryers based in Bensenville, Illinois founded in 1950, they are known for popularising the concept of the hand dryer with the release of the A series hand dryers in the same year.

PHS is a British manufacturer of Washroom Products based in Caerphilly, Wales

World Dryer's products are sold in the U.K under PHS.

Until their acquisition by PHS in 2005, Warner Howard were the official distributer of World Dryer products in the UK.

Airforce

The Airforce is a high-speed hand dryer produced by World Dryer since 2009 and is the most common hand dryer in the U.K. Its design is unique in that it has eleven air outlets.

Variants

Brushed Chrome: J48-971
Polished Chrome: J48-970
White: J48-974
Black: J48-162

A48

The model A is a traditional hand dryer and remained in production all the way from 1950 to 2023. These used to be the most common hand dryer in the U.K prior to the airforce, but that doesn't mean the model A is rare. What is rare however is the RA, this dryer was discontinued during ~the 2000s and is extremely rare.

During the mid 2000s, production of the A48 moved from the USA to china, resulting in a noticeable quality dip, the change of production happened not long after Warner Howard was acquired by PHS. If an A48 displays either the PHS or PHS Warner Howard logo, it is made in china, if it displays any variation of the Warner Howard logo by itself, it is made in the USA.

J48-974

A48-974 from the early 2000s

Variants

Stainless Steel: DA48-972
White Steel: DA48-974
White Cast Iron: A48-974

For fixed nozzle add 5 before 48 (ex. A548-974)

For automatic models add X before the A (ex. DXA548-974)

For RAs add R before the X (ex. DXRA548-974)

SMARTdri

The SMARTdri is a high-speed, DDA compliant high-speed hand dryer made by World Dryer since 2010. It features a three-speed adjustable motor. The standard SMARTdri has seven air outlets and was discontinued in 2024; the SMARTdri Plus has a single air outlet and is very rare.

Between 2010 and 2024, PHS only distributed the base SMARTdri, but following its discontinuation, they now distribute the plus.

Variants:

Stainless Steel: K48-972
White: K48-974

For SMARTdri plus add P to the end of the model number (ex. K48-974P)

K48-972

K48-974P

VERDEdri/Airforce slim

The VERDEdri is a high-speed DDA compliant hand dryer made by World starting in 2016. It has a two-speed brushless motor, dual voltage capability, and a HEPA filter. These are very rare, and are weirdly sold by both PHS and Initial.

In april 2023 PHS renamed this hand dryer to the "Airforce slim", presumably to boost sales of the dryer, however few have been found since.

Q48-974 (Picture from the Initial website)

Variants:

Satin: Q48-971
Stainless Steel: Q48-972
White Aluminium: Q48-974

For second generation verdedris add "A2" to the end of the model number (ex. Q48-974A2)

Notouch/Airspeed

The Airspeed is an economy model produced by World Dryer since 1986. The NoTouch is the automatic variant of the Airspeed. These are extremely rare

Variants:

Variants currently unknown

Airmax

The AirMax is a high-speed variant of the Model A, introduced in 2005. Its nozzle does not swivel. It is extremely rare as PHS only distributed it for one year.

Variants:

Stainless Steel: DM548-972
White Steel: DM548-974
White Cast Iron: M548-974

For automatic models add X before the M (ex. DXM548-974)

Slimdri

These are DDA compliant hand dryers sold by world dryer since 2012, these are potentially the rarest World Dryer model in the U.K

PHS/Warner Howard

Airstream

Now onto PHS's hand dryers, the third and current generation of airstreams was released in 2017, these include the Airstream Vitesse, Whisper, Key, and Pure, the Vitesse and pure fairly common, the key and whisper are fairly rare.

Variants:

Nickel
White
Black

Model Numbers for these dryers are currently unknown apart from that the Vitesse is SR800F, Whisper is SR800Q and pure is possibly SR800P

SM48

The SM48 is an economy Hand dryer that was made between 2008 and 2024 and are Saiwen economy hand dryers. Units made between 2010 and 2024 have a custom cover by PHS. These are fairly common, however were discontinued in 2024 in favour of the SM48-820.

These hand dryers are rebrands however the manufacturer is currently unknown

MR48

The MR48 is a traditional hand dryer. It is a rebranded Xinda GSQ-250 and was discontinued in 2024 in favour of the SM48-820

Airstream Pure

SM48

MR48 (Picture courtesy Hand dryers with splashy)

EL

The EL is an economy high speed dryer introduced a little before the current generation of airstreams. The EL100 has a heating element

Variants:

EL600 (nickel)
EL600 (white)
EL600 (black)

EL600s

Colour codes for these dryers are currently unknown. For heating element replace 600 with 1100

Ultradry LE

The PHS ultradry was a line of traditional hand dryers. The ultradry le (introduced in 2008) is the most common, however it is slowly getting rarer thanks to the PHS airstream

Variants:

Chrome
White aluminium
White ABS

World Dryer airstream

The World airstream resembles an Ultradry Le but is high speed. This version of the airstream was made by World dryer exclusively for PHS. Nickel versions have the same colour code as white for some reason

Warner howard branded UD5500E

P48-974W

Ultradry II

The PHS ultradry II is almost identical to the LE but is slightly louder. This was discontinued in 2008 so pretty much no information remains

Ultradry

The first PHS ultradry is extremely rare and almost no information about it exists, however a very few were discovered and filmed

Turbo Dry

The Predecessor to the Ultradry Line, these are Anda series 5000 hand dryers in a custom cover by PHS. These are also extremely rare as only a few were filmed.

Picture courtesy Hand dryers with splashy

Eco Dry

The complete opposite of Bluedry's eco dry. These were economy hand dryers that PHS made before the LE48 and SM48. These are extremely rare and only a few have been found in a hospital

Easy Dry/1st gen airstreams

The easy dry predates the turbo dry and pretty much nothing is known about it other than it's a rebranded Anda.
Unmodified Anda hand dryers would return in the 2000s under the Airstream name, When the second generation airstream came out, these were sold by simply the model number and the dryers themselves only displayed the Warner Howard logo. By 2015 these were discontinued

Bizarre unknown model

This thing was recently discovered by a couple of Enthusiasts in 2022, nothing is currently known about it other than there is a touch button and automatic version of it

Picture courtesy Hand dryers with Bobby

Dryers by companies World dryer owns

Electric aire LE48

The LE48 is an economy dryer. This model was made from 2005 - 2009 and is the most common Electric-Aire dryer found even though it's discontinued.

Unlike most world dryers, this one is made in Taiwan

Nova 5

The Nova 5 is a traditional-style dryer, offered either as a push-button or automatic model. The Nova 5's cover is made of cast zinc.

The most common brand to see on these is Cannon.

Picture courtesy Hand dryers with splashy

American Dryer ExtremeAir

The American Dryer ExtremeAir is a high speed hand dryer, it has a motor with adjustable speed. Only a few were found in the London Wetlands Centre.

Nova 1

The Nova 1 is a small DDA-compliant, automatic hand dryer. Only one has ever been found in the U.K.

Nova 2

The Nova 2 is a dryer similar to the Nova 1. It is wider than the Nova 1, and has a unique design, with two air outlets pointed towards the center. It was offered with an LCD screen before the World acquisition.

No nova 2s have ever been filmed in the U.K however I do remember seeing one many years ago. The place that had the nova 2 sadly removed its toilets. This is especially sad because this Nova 2 had an LCD screen, pretty much no videos of the Nova 2 with LCDs exist anywhere on the internet.

Nova 6 (airwave)

The Nova 6 is a dryer similar to the Supreme BA101. It uses the same motor as the nova 5, only one has been filmed on YouTube. I amazingly manage to get a hold of one.

Nova 4 (airforce)

A DDA compliant version of the Nova 5, one was recently found on an accessable page

Serial Number System

1948-2010

World Dryer Hand dryers during this time used a sequential serial number system, an A48 from 1998 will have a larger number than an A48 from 1988. We can loosely map out when A48s were made based on factors like label design and when the location the dryer is in opened.

2010 onwards

World currently uses a 10 digit system, with the first 4 digits after the "m" indicating build date (eg M2210-29322 would be October 2022)