A friend writes
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Hi tanningbeds.org!
Im looking to buy a new tanning bed, but wanted your advice before I buy one. I see some tanning beds are steel and some are plastic. what is the difference? are the steel beds for tanning salons and the plastic for home use?

(Name withheld to protect the innocent)
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I hate to start a comment with “it depends” but it depends. Steel has some distinct advanges and disadvantages, but isn’t “better” at everything. Generally, steel is more durable, can withstand abuse better, is less likely to not fade or chip, and will hold up over the years better than most plastics. The disadvantage is that a solid steel bed will weight 2 to 3 times more, will dent (where plastic will just pop out) and is painted, so it can scratch easier.

Plastic beds are not exactly all plastic. Inside you will find a steel or aluminum frame. That is the key. The quality of that frame will decide if the bed lasts longer than steel or not. The main advantages of plastic is it is more forgiving with small impacts (won’t dent), it is warm to the touch so you don’t freeze when you get inside during December, you will likely have less acrylic breakage (it can flex more), and it can be made to look better because it is molded, not folded. The disadvantages depend on the quality of the bed. Cheap plastic beds can fade, crack or chip. Better quality beds made with plastic have fewer incidents of this.

I think you have to look at your own needs. If you are not trying to buy the cheapest bed you can find (which is always a bad idea) then it doesn’t matter. If the weight is an issue, then stay away from steel. Other than that, it won’t really affect the use of the system, so pick one based on your other criteria. Even in a tanning salon, high quality beds that use plastics in the shell hold up fine. Many nice commercial beds use plastics in the shell: Tan America, SunMasterand others. Many use almost all steel, like Dr. Kern. Alpha Sun has some beds that are all steel, and others that are a blend. What makes them “better” isn’t steel or plastic, it is how they are made.

Check the warranty, the return policy, the size, the features, and the reputation of the company first. Then if you have a preference, pick one that fits all your needs. Hope this helps!

Here is another from the mailbag this summer:
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Hello there.

I bought a used Sunquest wolff bed from a salon and the sides are all yellow. What can i use to clean this off? i tried everything and nothing works!

(name not given)
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I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that it won’t hurt the way the bed tans. The bad news is that the color is there to stay. That bed is made with ABC and PVC plastics, which may or may not have UV protectant. What you are seeing isn’t a stain, but is actually damage to the plastic itself. If you did scrub down past the damaged part, you would make it worse, as then you are removing the top layer and exposing more fresh plastic to UV, which will make it break down even faster, and get weaker.

This is particularly common with beds that were used in salons, since they get used more frequently, and may be why they were selling the bed. The plastic in these beds break down and get brittle. Over time, the plastic will fail, although not fast in light home use. More expensive beds use steel in the shell, or use coated ABC so they don’t fade. This also keep them from getting brittle. Years ago, polystyrene was used in some beds (Suntana beds in particular) the parts of the tanning bed that don’t get direct UV from the lights, however, enough reflected that they would eventually yellow as well. In those beds, the plastic was very thick and nonstructural, so it hasn’t really been an issue.

In your case, there really isn’t anything you can do except live with it. It should still tan ok, but it isn’t very pretty.

I have been asked this one many times over the years, usually by someone who owns a nice home tanning bed, and wants to start letting customers from a business they own use the tanning bed for a fee. This is not something you want to do unless you REALLY understand how electricity works, as electricity can kill you. TanningBeds4less.com (sponsor to the right) sells a conversion kit that works on all 230V/3wire/20A tanning beds for about $250, and this includes a T-Max timer. This isn’t much more than the cost of the parts themselves.

The reason it takes so many parts is that the home tanning bed must be externally switched, so it needs a relay, plus the timer port, and the timer, and the hour meter. Its a bit of a job to build yourself. If you decide you MUST build it yourself, I will help you with a parts list, but you are on your own to figure out the wiring diagram (its isn’t that hard for a true technician). Here is what you need for a standard 24 lamp, 240V home bed, like a SunQuest Wolff or similar:

1. 2 pole, 20A or better relay/contactor with a 240V coil.
2. Fuse holder and 10A fuse.
3. NEMA 6-20R receptical
4. NEMA 6-20P plug
5. About 10 ft. of double insulated 12 gauge, 3 wire, cable. (use this with the plug to make the cord)
6. A 2 wire port for connecting to the remote timer. AMP makes these, electrical suppliers sell them.
7. 20 foot or so (depending on what you need) of SOJ grade, 18 gauge cable for the remote timer
8. Remote timer. T-Max is the easiest, they sell for $100 at the site above (the kit has one with it)
9. Hour meter.
10. Electrical enclosure big enough to house everything.

As you can see, this is a lot of stuff, which is why I just recommended the kit to begin with. Since you will need a remote timer anyway, you are just paying $150 for the switching parts and meter, which is close to your cost.

If you already have a nice 24 lamp home system and you just need to use it part time for business, $250 is a pretty good deal. It will let you keep control of the sessions, keep you legal in all 50 states, and get you up and running without any internal parts or rebuilding. Either way you go, it is much less expensive than buying a new tanning bed if all you need is a part time bed for a beauty salon or other business. If you are opening a full time tanning salon, however, you might want to look into more robust systems than the average home tanning bed.

Going through the mail bag (admittedly, I got behind this summer) and found this very legitimate question. Fortunately,the answer is simple. Unfortunately, the actual installation is a bit tricker.

Why would someone do this? Well, most home tanning beds don’t have hour meters and judging how many hours are on your lamps is usually guesswork. Honestly, for home tanning beds, an hour meter isn’t that important but if you have the time, a little money, and an electrician or technician in the family, it is a relatively simple task. In theory.

The key is to find one that has the same voltage as your tanning bed, sort of. If your tanning bed plugs in the wall, you need a 120V hour meter. If your tanning bed is 230V, 3 WIRE, and plugs in, you need a 230VAC hour meter. If your bed is a 240VAC 4 wire system, it probably already has an hour meter, but would require a 120V one if not. Cost for an hour meter is about $20 to $25, so it isn’t a very expensive upgrade to make yourself.

You need to be fairly handly with electricity, and know stuff like disconnecting the power, etc. to do this but it is actually pretty easy. Hour meters only have two wires, hot and neutral (or hot/hot for 240V). The key is to connect them on the BED side of the timer or relay/contactor. The hardest part is finding a place to mount, which will require you cut into your tanning bed. If your bed is steel, this is tricky. If it is plastic shelled, no problem.

First you want to get inside the bed, and find a mounting place that is near the timer, or the relay if it has one. You need easy clearance to connect the two wires, which are not included when you buy the hour meter. You will need to use the mounting bezel as a guide to the size of the hole to cut, then cut and mount. The wires you use to connect the hour meter to the power do not need to be heavy since the meter draws very little power. Make sure you have it wired so that the meter only runs when the bed is on.

If all this confuses you or the person doing the install, then it may be above their current comfort level and shouldn’t be attempted. If you are comfortable doing this, you can buy an hour meter from any company that sells tanning bed parts or other electrical parts, since hour meters are used on lots of equipment. Many nicer boat motors, tractors and generators have hour meters, so service centers are a decent source. Just take your time and do it right the first time.

I have been asked several times over the years, but a recent email refreshed the question and I thought I would share it with everyone.

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Dear Tanningbeds.org,

I have a silly question. Do tanning lamps get old? I know someone who has a box of new lamps but the date on the box is 6 years old and I just wondered if they are any good. Is there a shelf-life or expiration date for tanning lamps?

Name witheld by request
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Lamps don’t technically get old, although cheaper grades of lamps may experience issues after several years. This is because lamps are pretty simple things really. A glass tube coated with phosphors, a few milligrams of mercury, and two cathode and anode sets, all in partial vaccum filled with inert gas, such as argon. None of these things go bad per se.

The only issue you might have is with the phosphor on the lamp. If you see that the phosphors (the white coating) is pitting, flaking or coming off the glass, then avoid the lamps. It is this phosphor that creates the UV when the mercury atoms are excited inside the lit bulb. No phosphor, no ultraviolet. As long as the coating is in great shape, they should burn more or less like when they were new.

Keep in mind, lamp technology moved forward all the time, and newer style lamps are better than old, but if you can get these for cheap ($5 or less each) or free, then go for it. They should give you a few years of tanning. Like many new lamps, you may need to let them run for 20 to 60 minutes before they tan right. Sometimes you can even see them “swirl” when they have set for a while, but this is nothing to be worried about as long as it goes away after being run a bit. Good luck!

A while back, a visitor asked us “How can I turn my tanning bed into a 10 minute system?”

Technically, you can’t. Salons are subject to a ton of regulations, but if you are talking about a home tanning bed, then you can have it similar to a 10 minute system, although I don’t personally recommend it. First some background:

Tanning lamps are not rated as 10 or 20 minutes, only beds are. This is because the same lamp will tan very differently, depending on that bed’s electronics, cooling system, reflectors and more. Obviously there are “hotter” lamps that are used in 10 minutes beds, so why can’t you just use those and have a 10 minute bed? Good question.

You CAN install 9.5% lamps in your home tanning bed, and the session time will likely be something around 10 minutes if you took the time (and expense) to get it recertified. What you WON’T get, however, is a great tan. Most genuine 10 minute beds use more than 24 lamps (over 50 is common) so you are getting more than just high UVB. You just can’t compare the two beds in a 10 minute session. And even so, most 10 minute commercial beds won’t get you as dark as a 20 minute bed because they have lower UVA, which is what does the actual bronzing.

You see, a “hotter” lamp is not really hotter. What some call hot lamps are just higher UVB and lower UVA. If you take a 2% lamp and measure it next to a 9.5% lamp, you will see they both put out about the same amount of UV total. The difference is how much is UVA and how much is UVB. Since UVB is what BURNS you (but stimulates melanin) and UVA seldom burns you (but causes that melanin to turn brown) people get confused. They install the 9.5% lamps, and they get RED really fast, but red isn’t tan. It’s sunburn. So in the end, they spend less time in total exposure because they can’t take longer sessions with the “hotter” bulbs, so they get less tan.

You have to decide what you want, and sorry, but you can’t have it all. If you want faster tans (at the price of darkness) then high UVB is fine. If you want darker tans (at the price of speed) then lower UVB is the right choice. The only way to get FASTER and DARKER is to use more lamps, and it is pretty hard to add more lamps to an existing tanning bed.

The only exception (maybe) is to use RUVA lamps, if your bed has narrow enough lamp spacing. Most 24 lamp beds will do this fine. These have reflectors built inside the lamp, and give you about 30% more total UV because the UV generated isn’t lost behind the lamp. Pick a good 5% RUVA lamp for typical 15 minute tanning session, or a 2.6% for a SUPER DARK 20 minute session. Generally, RUVA lamps cost about $2 to $3 more per lamp and they don’t last as long because they run hotter (temperature wise) in the bed, due to the reflector reflecting heat and light.

Just be careful jumping up to hotter UVB lamps and don’t get burned. My recommendation is to stay in the 2.6% to 6.5% range, and get RUVA lamps if that isn’t fast enough.