benson

I am new to the business. Have Been a hairdresser since 1984, now have added 3 tanning beds in August 2009. ALL comments positive until yesterday. I received a call from a customer who is happy, but she overheard someone who has never even been here complaining about the rooms being too cold!!!! What the heck she's never even tanned here. how do you handle this?

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unity

Well thank god heat does not have a huge factor in tanning. Now a wicked cold bed will mean the lamps will take a few minutes to really get good output. But even a warm bed takes about 5 to 10 minutes to stabilize.

I just metered my beds last night and even warm they took about 6 minutes for the output to level off. The startup read and 6 minutes in was not a huge difference though. If the beds were freezing cold it would have been greater.

Point is, not matter how warn a bed is, it can take a little bit to reach full output. Other point is, that even when cool the bed is sending out UV and tanning. Heat is NOT a factor of tanning, output is. I have even been in bed that get hot as **** and get no tan. Then I have been in other beds that are cold and I get plenty of color.

Tell your clients tanning beds are not the Sun. If they light up, they are pumping out UV. Now if your lamps are overdue AND cold, you have a problem.

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OMG! I made a post! :)

benson

Thanks for the input. I had done alot of research before I opened in Aug '09. I have been trying to read all posts since last July, to gain firsthand knowledge from all of you. Is it possible to make every customer happy with the room temp, the a/c units, the fan speed? Who knew that 1 person who has never even stepped foot in my establishment, but works at the Main Street Store could do so much damage!!! Would you offer a free session to someone like that or hope she never comes in?

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unity

Well, you could print out this thread for starters. Or any other facts related to tanning to back you up. That way it will not look like you are trying to make stuff up.

Every one of my rooms has a fan in it in addition to the built-in fan. If heat is a concern, warm them up once in the morning. That is standard procedure at my salon pretty much year round. Although in the summer they are heated for just a few minutes. This helps take the edge off the coldness. I do it not so much for output, I do it for comfort. Getting into a REALLY cold bed is not fun.

You may also want to pick up a UV meter. A 5.0 will get you started. This way you can measure your output and also see exactly what I am talking about above. Its worth the investment. Its also used to measure lamp strength so you know when to replace them. Some lamps last far longer then they are rated, some others fall short.

In fact the HOTTER the beds generally get, on a constant basis, the worse it is for the lamps and will greatly reduce lamp life! This can be backed up over and over again on here with threads.

Also for black ends? Dont let those concern clients. I have some lamps well into 400 hours of use without that blackening inside the lamp. Then I have another bed, a 160 watt, that has black ends already with just 100 hours on it. Its a function of the lamp and not a reflection on age.

I am sure others, like Robert and Brian, will chime in too.

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OMG! I made a post! :)

allenj

What exactly was the damage? Is there a Tanning Salon in town that she has some connection to?

Why not stop in and talk to her? Find out were she got her information.

benson

The "damage" is the fact that I have someone in a position 5 days a week that talks to a huge percentage of the residents of my small town. You know the saying you can have 100 positives and they can be eradicated by 1 negative. it is just upsetting that the girl has never even set foot in my salon. I will take your advice and talk with her personally to try and figure the basis for her negativity. I had been getting the best advertisement by word of mouth. The three newspapers and fliers have not brought in the business that word of mouth had done for me...until now.

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allenj

I know small towns and it may be as simple as getting her in and like you said giving her a free tan so she has soething really good to say.

Good luck!

Brian Oshman

Ambient room temp. should be between 68ºF and 74ºF. Room temp is very important for performance and lamp life. Optimum lamp wall temp is 108ºF. This is the temp of the glass of the lamp when running. Anywhere outside of this temp high or low and output decreases. If a room is too hot, the bed will suck in hot air and will not cool the lamps properly and will kill them early. Heat is the biggest killer of lamps. If the room is kept within the optimum range then the bed can properly cool and maintain temp of the lamps thus extending the lamp life and providing the maximum output for the best tans.

As for black ends, this is just a normal function of starting lamps. 160 watt beds tend to get black quicker because the sessions are shorter so they are started more times per day, plus the cathodes experience higher heat. This has nothing to do with performance. If you want lamps to not get black ends then you just never turn them on. That is just a function and can not ever be stopped. Part of the design. Now an excessively black end would signify a bad starter or poor connection but gradual blackening is normal.

benson

My thanks to all.

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jkonturas

I Agree With Oshman.... Although, anything under 73-74 people whine that its too cold...

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