How to Clean Tanning Bulbs

Owning a tanning bed means you will have to set aside time to remove the acrylics and bulbs occasionally to clean them of dirt and dust and dead skin cells. Whether you have a tanning salon or a tanning bed at home, it should be a monthly task that you set aside time for to remove the acrylics and the bulbs and clean it all thoroughly. If dust builds up you won’t tan as quickly or as evenly as you did before they got dirty. While it may seem that because you’re not tanning as quickly you might need to replace the bulbs, that is a mistaken belief. Many times as they might just need a thorough cleaning!

Tanning bulbs gather dead skin, dirt and dust and it accumulates on the tanning bulb and doesn’t allow for the UV rays to get through and causes your tan to take longer to build up and could also tan you unevenly. Take time on a monthly basis to clean off the bulbs. It will take an hour or so and you may want to recruit some help but it will help extend the life of your bulbs.

The first step in cleaning the bulbs is to remove the clear acrylic panels and set them aside. Read the instructions that came with your bed to find how to properly remove the panels. Lay down a clean sheet and then remove the tanning bulbs and lay them on the sheet. Never stand the bulbs on end as they can easily break.

Caution should be used at all times when handling the bulbs because you don’t want to break the filaments or the bulbs themselves.  Wrap the bulbs in a clean, dry cloth and pull the cloth from top to bottom of the bulb to gently remove all of the dust. After you’ve cleaned the bulb, set it aside onto a clean sheet so it doesn’t pick up the dust from the sheet. Using a clean cloth for each bulb should be the plan so you don’t transfer any dust from one bulb to another.

Replace the bulbs gently back into the bed with the second person helping you ease them back into the bed without bumping into another bulb or the edge of the bed itself. Once all of the bulbs have been replaced, place the thoroughly cleaned acrylic panels back into the tanning bed and you should be ready to go.