Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
A UL Field evaluation is something that can be requested from your Health Department or regulator, often prior to opening. It’s designed to ensure a certain standard for electrical equipment in commercial businesses. Graham and Ashkahn break down the process of getting a UL Field evaluation, how much it’s likely to cost, and even some tips when discussing this with your health department.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is, “I am about to open a float center and my health department says that I need to have a UL field inspection on my electrical equipment. Is this bad news, is it going to stop me from opening?”
Ashkahn: Yeah, that does happen.
Graham: It’s kinda bad news in the sense that you’ll have to pay a little more money.
Ashkahn: It costs money.
Graham: It costs money.
Ashkahn: So this, yeah. Lets … Before we fully answer your question dear listener, let’s establish a few pieces of information. Like who … What is the UL?
Graham: What is the UL?
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: So.
Graham: So.
Ashkahn: UL is the Underwriters’ Laboratory, and it’s not a government organization. It’s a … I think it’s a non-profit, I think it’s specifically a not for profit. I think they lost their non-profit status at some point in the 50s or 60s or something like that. And, so anyway, it’s an organization that’s not a government body, that specifically certifies products for electrical safety. That’s their stick. So they take different products in all sorts of different categories, batteries, electrical components for lighting, for pool and spa equipment, for cars. It’s a bunch of, bunch of stuff. You’ve probably seen it. The little UL logo on varies different things around.
And they’re pretty big and they’re pretty widely known and have been around for a long time and decently respected. As people who can certify things to electrical safety. So, there’s a lot of different certifications for things out there. And they’ve even recently been working on the path towards actually having a float tank certification. There’s a float tank out there that has been UL certified, maybe more than one. And they have kind of a certain certification they think would be best suited for float tanks, they might adjust a little bit as you bring a float tank through that process. And this is not exactly that. What you’re being asked to do is not to get your entire float tank UL certified.
What you’re being asked is to have probably the actual electrical components in the brain on control system of the float tank, have some UL check that specific are of it and give you a little stamp that says it’s good to go.
Graham: Yeah, and that can be required for a couple of reasons, right. So there’s either the float tank you got was not actually UL certified by the manufacturer. So they didn’t have someone come in and at the manufacturing level say that everything that is produced, that has this configuration is UL certified. And if you do then you wouldn’t be asked for this. You’ve gotta give them your UL certificate from the manufacturer and the health department would be happy, right.
And then so a field evaluation, which is where like Ashkan said, they come out and actually just check your float tank in the field or maybe prior to actually being set up in your center.
Ashkahn: And it might not even be the UL coming themselves coming out. I think other organizations or even electricians can test things to certain protocol and that will like be a UL test.
Graham: Yep, so that and the field evaluation again, is required when either it wasn’t certified or it went through changes. So, even if you at one point or if you got a float tank that at one point was UL certified, but now they’ve changed out a bunch of the electrical components and they’re using new machinery, you might still be required to have a field evaluation.
Ashkahn: And that’s gonna cost money, but probably not an insane amount of money. This will probably cost you a few thousand dollars …
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: To have someone come out and go through this process with you.
Graham: My guess would be somewhere between two and five, is kind of the range that I’ve heard.
Ashkahn: And I’ve heard float centers going through this and most of the time they don’t really need to make adjustments. They can just … you know, the float tanks are already kind of built to a spec that passes those requirements. So really mostly it’s just the cost of having someone come in and validate all of that. Rather that having to change a bunch of stuff.
Graham: And it’s often per unit, which is kind of unfortunate, even for identical units. That several thousand dollars is likely going to be per float tank that you actually have on site. So it can add up for a larger center.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Which is a little unfortunate. But the good news is they’re requiring this for a reason, right. Which is, they just wanna make sure … Like you have ton of saltwater sitting there, and they wanna make sure that people are safe in it. Around a bunch of electrical equipment, right. It’s almost a very understandable concern and logic behind requiring this field evaluation.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s just generally a wet environment. The shower and the filtration system, all that stuff can leak saltwater. It’s not a bad idea to have an eye towards electrical safety.
Graham: Yep, and this could happen on the state level or the county level, that your health department could be requiring this. So if you know for instance just that other float tanks in your state have not had to be field evaluated, you’ll still wanna check with your county. Just like everything for health department regulations.
Ashkahn: And, I guess maybe the other thing to say is, sometimes there may be flexibility in here. You might be able to talk to your health department and say, “Hey, would it be okay if I had an electrician come and just write off on this and do an inspection, and give it their stamp of approval?” And that might be something that they like, you know. They’re like, “Okay, yeah, if you get like an actual licensed electrician to come and evaluate the system and approve it, that will satisfy what we’re looking for.”
So there might be some flexibility if you talk to your health department.
Graham: Yep, or there might be no flexibility and they just put their foot down. But you never know until you ask.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: And I mean that is one of the fortunate parts about being in an industry that is a little more wild westy, is that you can sometimes negotiate like this. You know oftentimes there’s not actually a law in place that says, “Flat tanks have to be treated in this exact way.” So, talking to and finding out or talking to your health department officials, and finding out what makes them comfortable is sometimes an easier way than just going straight to spending thousands of dollars.
Ashkahn: And, I think that’s about it.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Short episode today.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: And I guess as a little side story, you know, this can even change from time to time within the same area. So, when we were just getting started up, we bought some used float tanks from down in Southern Oregon. Our two used Ocean Float Rooms that we started with, of which we still have one in our center that actually has a UL field evaluation metal sticker, metal plaque … What’s the word for that stamp or …?
Graham: Stamp.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Something, whatever. Anyway, you get the idea, it’s like a metal thing. It’s on the side there that say, “I’ve been field evaluated.” And now, if you’re opening up in Oregon, you would not have to have that done. But in order for the float center that we got those tanks from, to be open for business, they required them to be field evaluated and as a result one of the tanks in our center has a field evaluation stamp.
Graham: Cool, all right. If you guys have other questions, you can hop over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and send them our way.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Should Float Centers Tone Down Their Personality in Rural Areas? (Rise) – DSP 150
Another great conversation that came out of Rise. Graham and Ashkahn sat down with Russ, a local float center owner who is just about to open his doors. He wanted to talk to the guys about how best to present floating to a more rural and conservative area. Graham and Ashkahn have seen float centers from across the world in rural and metropolitan areas alike and share their take on how best to present floating to people who aren’t as exposed to other alternative wellness practices.
Customers Who Overstay Their Welcome (Rise) – DSP 149
Graham and Ashkahn sat down with Mark and Jennifer Gurley at Rise to talk about an issue that can seem scary for float center owners, especially those who haven’t worked in customer service. What do you do about the customer who takes advantage of your generosity and overstays their welcome? How far is too far? And what are the appropriate steps to take when you have someone who won’t respect your boundaries?
Graham and Ashkahn share their experiences from the handful of times it has happened at Float On over the years and how it’s worked out and compare notes with the Gurleys and their float center.
Should I Filter Tap Water When Filling My Tanks (Rise) – DSP 148
Graham and Ashkahn got cornered at Rise with a question from one of the attendees, a float center owner named Gina. And even though the event is over, it’d be a shame to not share this episode. They answer all her questions and concerns about municipal water systems and the levels of filtration that should be done when using water straight from the tap (which probably almost everybody does), they also talk about what you really need to worry about in your tap water.
How do you do All the Things? (Rise) – DSP 147
This episode from Rise comes at you recorded live with another very special guest, Rick from Float St. Louis. Not only does he work in a float center, he’s also releasing a float themed quarterly magazine called Third Wave Magazine. While he was a bit tight lipped about the magazine, his choice of question may speak to just how demanding it has been on him lately.
Listen to him chat with Graham and Ashkahn about how to do all the things and when doing too many things is too much.
Live at Rise Float Gathering! – DSP 146
Graham and Ashkahn are coming at you LIVE (well, recorded live) from the Rise Float Gathering! They managed to wrangle Jake and Kevin, the organizers of Rise and the founders of Float STL in St. Louis. Check out this episode where they talk about bath robes, hosting events, and just how amazing this industry is.
Latest Blog Posts
Back to the Basics
I arrived in Paris a few days ago for a little workcation. Naturally the first thing I did was hunt down a float tank center and book an appointment. Surprisingly, floating seems to be almost entirely missing in France: noticeably more obscure than in Germany, Spain,...
The Profitability of a Float Tank Center
This post is kept for historical purposes, but our current knowledge of float center finances is best found in our Industry Reports. Download them free for real data on float center profits, or ask us about how our Business Plan can help you understand your own float...
Four Simple, but Important Lessons We’ve Learned About Float Room Construction
1 - Put your shower directly next to the float tank. Don't leave even an inch of room. Essentially you want an airlock but for salt- a saltlock. That way they go from their shower directly into the float tank and (more importantly) from the salty float tank straight...
Let’s Go Make a Better World at the Float Conference
For those of you who didn't make it out to the Float Conference this year, I'm posting up the introduction to our program. Although Iwrote this for the conference, I think it will be obvious that the sentiment is industry wide. -- Welcome to the 2nd annual Float...
