2. The tanning lamps also accumulate dust and the dust clings to the lamp itself. This thin layer of dust will prevent some of the ultraviolet light being produced by the lamp from penetrating through, hindering the results of the tanning session. Keeping the lamps and reflectors under the lamps clean will give you the best tanning results.

3. Tanning Beds with Facial bulbs: When cleaning the tanning lamps, you also should clean the blue filter glass that covers up the facial bulb. If you wipe down the facial bulb as well, you need to be real careful not to touch it with your bare hands. The oils in your hand will cause the lamp to burn up when it is turned on again. If you accidentally touch the facial bulb, just wipe it down with an alcohol swab.

4. Starters: A starter is what ignites the tanning lamp. These starters should be replaced every other lamp change. If you have tanning beds in a tanning salon, you should be replacing these regularly. If you have a tanning bed in your home and haven’t changed lamps yet, you may want to replace these starters at the same time you replace the tanning lamps.

5. Acrylics: When cleaning your tanning lamps and you have these acrylic shields off, you should wipe them down on both sides. Just a little layer of dust will prevent some of the ultraviolet light from passing through, affecting the results of your tanning session.

These lamp lengths are usually printed right on the lamp and looks something like this: “F71-T12-100W BP.”

Reflector type lamps will contain an “R” like the following:
“FR71-T12-100W.”

The two different types of lamp ends are Bi-Pin (marked as “BP” as shown in the first example) and RDC.

The Bi-Pin lamps have two pins on either side and are installed by sliding these pins into the lamp holders and then twisting the lamp once or twice.

RDC lamps have a black cap at the end. These lamps are installed by pushing the lamp into one “spring loaded” lamp holder and setting the other side right in. There is no twisting the lamps with RDC’s.

When replacing your tanning lamps, it is very important to know the size (F59,F71,F72,F73, etc) and the style (RDC or Bi-pin) of your lamp. If this information is not available either on the lamp itself or on the tanning bed (lamp information can usually be found on a sticker on the canopy of the bed), then you will need to have the make, model and year of the tanning bed when calling your distributor.