Wet Umbrella is dedicated to being the best supplier of commercial Wet Umbrella Dryers in the world. Whenever we have an issue with any product that we sell or manufacture, our team gets to work to find the perfect solution.
During the release of our current version of Wet Umbrella Dryers we had a client experience damage to their machine due to Misuse or Vandalism. This causes one of the wheels to break and other damage associated with someone trying to ride and jump one of our Wet Umbrella Dryers. This caused a failure on one of the plastic wheels. On inspection it was obvious that the dryer had been ridden like a scooter and jumped. Below is the complete investigation carried out by our own Mechanical Engineer and Designer.
The Products we have released to fix these issues are Locking Bar with Chain and Steel Wheel Upgrade. These are available individually or and a “Street Tough Package”.
Wet Umbrella Dryer Upgrade Optional Extras
Detailed analysis:
Wheels:
Wheel Specifications are rated at 40kg each. This gives the machine a total of 160kg weight loading capacity for the machine.
The machine’s weight is 12kg, which calculated to a factor of safety of 13.33.
Common practice for public spaces is a factor of safety of 4-6.
These wheels are over engineered for a Wet Umbrella Dryer that should only be loaded to 12-15kg.
Testing: at 2pm on 3/06/25
Wet Umbrella rode the Wet Umbrella Dryer around the industrial park where their factory is. Going over small bumps and smooth surfaces. No damage occurred and took the abuse.
Wet Umbrella then tried to jump it, at progressive heights.
1. 5 cm jump no damage.
2. 10cm jump no damage.
3. 15cm jump, failure.
The third attempt created the same failure around the bolt mounting on the hood or cover of the wheel.
Below is one wheel that was originally on the machine, the other is the test piece.
Frame:
This has been checked for square in all three dimensions and is still perfect. The beam where the wheel mounts are still square and perfectly straight on both edges.
Frame flatness was tested on a level welding bench that has a tolerance of 0.1mm. The frame passed and is level within specification.
Bolts on the frame have not been damaged, and thread is perfect. Rivnuts have not moved at all and are still square and to specification
Drip Trays:
Both Drip Trays have deep scratches from the impact. The scratches are distributed in an almost uniform manner. This is evidence of bottoming out after the wheel has broken. If these scratches occurred after the wheel had broken by simply moving the 12kg unit it would have only scratched on one edge as only one wheel was broken.
It appears that the Drip Trays distributed the load in and even manner. This protected the frame and has not been damaged or is out of specification.
Machine From Client once turned upside Down. Drip Tray damage.
Deep Scratches on the corner where the wheel broke.
Front Drip Tray on another end away from the broken wheel. This shows total bottoming out.
Foam Seal Between Base and Drip Tray:
The foam has been indented with the Drip Tray shape. This has occurred due to impact. This would have dissipated the forces and isolated the frame from shock load.
Indented Foam from impact between Drip Tray and Base Frame
Elastic Straps:
These are still in perfect condition and withstood the impact and scuffing that is on the Drip Tray.
Detailed Conclusions:
The abuse this unit has experienced has highlighted that in some public spaces the Wet Umbrella Dryers need to have the ability to be locked. We found this with Sydney Trains originally and was an option for our first range of Machines (these have been discounted). There is now a locking bar option that will be available. This will mount to the bolts at the bottom of the splash panel. This bar will allow you to lock the machine to a permanent fixture. The bolts to attach to this locking bar are tamper proof TORX T30.
Upgraded mounting to M10 for the wheels. Wheels upgraded to steel locking type. You must remember this is an Umbrella Dryer and we can’t design it to the strength required for a scooter. This would require heavy weight design taking away the function, light weight, size and aesthetics of the machine. The wheels that would be required will be the same as a moving trolly, large rubber wheels.
Below is Upgraded Wet Umbrella Dryer with "Street Tough Package"
