During our travels to regional tanning trade shows, Team Wolff System is often asked by salon operators about how to upgrade and maintain their existing equipment. Here are some tips:
First, start with a high-quality lamp – the old adage applies here: “You get what you pay for.” Premium professional sunlamps will deliver both consistent color and long service life.
Installing the compatible lamp in the next highest level within the Wolff product family will effectively upgrade a tanning system. This will increase the strength by 10 percent while still maintaining compatibility to the unit’s original lamp.
For pre-heat tanning systems, switch to quality electronic starters. A regular starter is rated for only about 6,000 starts. More than just a few ‘blinks” at starting drastically increases the wear on lamp cathodes. When cathodes are depleted of the emissive material that actually starts the lamp, the lamp will not light. A quality electronic starter has a life of ten years or more. With an electronic starter, the power builds up and then the lamps come on (instead of flickering a couple of times as with regular starters). Also, a quality electronic starter reduces lamp end-darkening.
Keep lamps, reflectors and acrylics clean. Not only does this aid in removing heat from the lamp chamber, it will increase the output of your system even if the accumulated dirt you remove is not visible.
Check all your fans to be sure they are running properly and maintain proper room temperatures with adequate air conditioning and ventilation. Higher temperatures can shorten lamp life and affect equipment performance.
Acrylic shields should be replaced according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. Acrylics that show stress lines, cracks and/or discoloration may block as much as 30-50 percent of UV light transmission, resulting in complaints from your tanners, or worse, a transfer of their business to your competitor.
Incoming voltage must meet the tanning system manufacturer’s specifications. Low voltage will reduce tanning effectiveness while high voltage may reduce lamp life.
For your salon guests who are concerned that they’ve reached a tanning plateau, consider switching to a lamp that emits high levels of UVA1 to promote dark results, very little UVA2, which can cause wrinkles, and robust UVB to stimulate melanin production and immediate color.
Use a handheld UVB/UVA meter to monitor the output of your lamps so you’ll know exactly when to change them.
