Home Tanning Beds

Choosing the Size of Your Home Tanning Bed

The one comment I hear more than any other is "I wish I had bought a larger (tanning) bed."

So before you buy a home tanning bed, feel good about your decision by following these simple steps and choose the right size home tanning bed.

Some Say "Bigger is Better"
First, you have to consider the size of the largest person who will be using the home tanning bed. Even if if it is a husband who doesn't normally tan, you can bet that the convenience of having a tanning bed at home will make them a tanner. Anyone can fit on a large bed but not everyone can make a small bed work.

Tanning Bed Bulb Coverage
Ever heard of ETBL? Probably not.  It means, Effective Tanning Bulb Length and is calculated by subtracting a bit more than an inch from each end of the actual tanning bed lamp length.  A standard tanning bed lamp is 71" so the ETBL is about 68" or about 5'8". This means a 6' home tanning bed is meant for someone 5' 8" or shorter.

Larger tanning beds use extra tanning bulbs over the face area and provide proper coverage over a longer area. The ETBL remains the same, but by offsetting the face/body lamps, a 7' tanning bed will comfortably accommodate a 6' 9" person. And, like I said before, smaller people can tan in larger tanning beds, but taller people will not be comfortable in a smaller tanning bed.

Customizing
The 6' beds are pretty basic and meant for simple, inexpensive tanning.  The 7' home tanning beds have more room to add features. For example, some tanning beds incorporate "high-pressure" facial tanning units which shower your face with more bronzing power.  Others have shoulder lamps which help get that "all-over" tan without any extra movements on your part.  There are many other features to choose from, just ask the sales rep when you call a home tanning bed distributor.

Don't Forget to Plug It In

Yes, we do get support calls where the solution is plugging in the tanning bed, but those are rare and understandable.  But they still make us chuckle. 

When you are thinking of buying a tanning bed for the home, power is indeed an important consideration.  A tanning bed is kind of like a large lamp fixture. It requires electricity just like other lights and you need to know how to power it. Here's the scoop:

120 Volt vs. 220 Volt
Most homes are wired with 120 Volt, 15Amp outlets and most tanning beds will work fine on these circuits with no modification. But, as the beds get larger, they need more power. Some will require a 20Amp circuit and perhaps 220 Volts, much like an electric dryer or oven range.

The Electric Bill
A tanning bed can be compared to a large appliance in it's power requirement, but, since it will not run nearly as long nor as often as other appliances, the actual impact to your electric bill is quite minimal.

Power Stingy

Most household electrical outlets are all strung together in a "daisy chain". One outlet is connected to another which is connected to another and so on... For the short time a tanning bed is running it needs most of the power on its circuit. Therefore it is highly recommended that the supply power is on a "dedicated circuit", meaning the circuit breaker is connected directly to the outlet or junction box the tanning bed is plugged into, and nothing else.

Certified electrician
Since most houses are not wired with dedicated circuits, and usually only have enough 220 Volt power for a dryer and oven, an extra one must be provided. Unless you are very handy AND experienced you will need to hire a certified electrician to wire the outlet(s) properly before operating the tanning bed.

If you do hire an electrician, send him to our home tanning bed power page for more details.