Causes for drifting to the side of float tank – DSP 138

Okay, so this is something that happens a lot, and it can seem like a small thing, but it can be a little confusing when it keeps happening. What’s going on when you float in the same tank and keep drifting to one side? How does that happen? And why is it so consistent? Graham and Ashkahn know what the deal is here and drop some knowledge here on this topic.

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Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)

Graham: Today’s question is, “is my water out of level? I always float to the same side of my pod. At first I thought it was subtle waves interacting with my symmetry, so I flipped 180 degrees and ended up right back on the same side of the tank.”

Ashkahn: Well … Okay, so water can’t be out of level. It’s naturally leveling. If you put, if you had water in a glass and you tilted your glass in any direction, the top of the water is always going to stay level. It’s liquids.

Graham: Yeah, so physically impossible for your water to be out of level, but I mean I get, so what if it’s, can it affect how waves are generated, or someone’s moving, like the wave machine when they go up on shore, all of a sudden you have cresting little salt waves?

Ashkahn: I’m just thinking on the back of the float tank like generate, like a little wall pushing back and forth, like a wave machine.

Graham: Well you’re kind of the wave generator in this case.

Ashkahn: But the waves would also be level. They’d be on the surface of the water.

Graham: But if it’s tilted to one-

Ashkahn: I don’t know.

Graham: Yeah, I don’t know. Okay, so here’s what I think is going on.

Ashkahn: Here’s what’s happening.

Graham: There are different reasons that you drift to the side of the tank. I do actually think that personal physical asymmetry could very well be one of them, like if your back is really tight, but if you’re turning around and you’re going-

Ashkahn: But that would, you’d have to be like pushing off of something. You contort your body in there.

Graham: Yeah, or just like slightly drifting.

Ashkahn: At the point that you’re still, you can be still in any position and remain still, even if your body was off balance. It’s not going to cause you to drift.

Graham: See I don’t know. When you’re breathing and different things like that, you’re naturally generating small currents inside the water.

Ashkahn: Sure. I just think all that, compared to what we’re about to say is the thing, I think all of this is way, way, way more subtle.

Graham: Okay, what were you … We’ll say what we think it is at the same time.

Ashkahn: Okay.

Graham: All right. Three, two …

Ashkahn: One.

Graham: Okay, I’m just going to do a countdown. Three, two, one. It’s heaters.

Ashkahn: It’s your heaters. It’s probably your heaters is what’s going on here.

Graham: It’s your heaters. You heater is off center or it’s just generating-

Ashkahn: That creates, that can create these kind of like convection currents in the water. If you’re floating in there, and if there’s two heaters in the float tank, or however the heater is set up and installed, the bottom rim, the sides, whatever it is, if those are not on symmetrically, then that’s going to create something that’s going to continuously edge you toward one side of the float tank or the other.

Graham: Yeah, so maybe it’s the physical placement is not quite centered. Maybe if it’s two heaters, one is getting more power than another.

Ashkahn: Or it’s just that the, sometimes two heaters have two separate thermostats and one is reading at a fine temperature and doesn’t think it needs to be turned on, and the other one is reading at a temperature where it does think it needs to be turned on.

Graham: Yup, even if it’s just one solid heater, or built in heating element throughout the tank, that can also just be certain coils and different areas getting hotter than other ones and causing this imbalance too depending on how it’s set up.

Ashkahn: Yeah. My guess is that is probably I think the only thing that would really significantly make you continuously drift to one side of the tank or the other.

Graham: Yup, especially again if it’s the exact same side regardless of orientation or anything else. If you’re always going to the east side of the tank, not like left or right, then I think that’s a good sign that-

Ashkahn: At the point that you’re still, I even think differences in your body and … I don’t know, my breathing pattern I’ve found is not specifically edged me toward anything. For me to really move in the float tank, I have to slightly push off a wall, or in general create some more significant movement.

Graham: See and I’ve talked to people who always go over to the left side of the tank, regardless of whether it’s east or west.

Ashkahn: Of any tank?

Graham: Yes.

Ashkahn: They just always scoot over to the left side?

Graham: Yeah, that’s exactly. I was like, this is the kind of conversation that I had with them.

Ashkahn: Hmm.

Graham: I don’t know.

Ashkahn: I don’t know. All right, well it’s probably the way this person described it.

Graham: Just one of the many things I don’t know about to be fair.

Ashkahn: So check your heaters out. I mean the easiest thing to do is when you’re in the float tank, just put your hands on the bottom or the sides. You’ll be able to feel if the heater is on or not. If you have two heaters, you can put your hands down and you’ll feel one warm and one not. You don’t have to tear your floater tank apart to check this.

Graham: I guess as long as we’re on the subject of heaters and convection currents, it is one reason that I like heaters around the outside of the tank, or even around the inner outside if it’s on the bottom, or something like that. This idea of being able to heat from the sides and push the currents inwards is really a nice idea. As opposed to, on the other side, having one centered heater in the center of the bottom of the tank feels like it’s most likely to generate these currents that hit the top and the center and sort of push off towards the sides in some direction.

Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s an interesting one. I think there’s pros … I find if the tank’s real big and it has heaters only around the side, I can feel it’s warmer as I get closer to the side of a tank than when I’m in the middle as opposed if the heaters are under it. Then all that heat, hot water, is kind of rising out from right under you, which is nice.

Graham: And there’s the ocean float room that just has the entire tub is built in with a heating element.

Ashkahn: Yeah, like a heating grid thing around the whole thing?

Graham: Yeah, exactly. Just kind of heats evenly around the entire tub, which I think helps with things like that.

Ashkahn: Yeah, but having something, just a single strip of heater right directly under you is I guess typically not what float manufacturers do. Usually they’re doing, if it’s on the bottom, they’re kind of putting them slightly out towards the middle so that it does-

Graham: Yeah, but having two of them or something like that instead of just a single one underneath.

Ashkahn: Yeah, it does kind of like help center you, or if it’s around the edges, then that does a better effect of centering you.

Graham: All right.

Ashkahn: Yeah.

Graham: So yeah, water always levels itself.

Ashkahn: That’s the lesson for today.

Graham: All right. If you have any more questions, go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.

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