Learn best practices for starting and running a float center:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Something in the world of floating have you stumped?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Show Highlights

When Graham and Ashkahn get to definitively answer a question, it’s like Christmas. Birds sing and the guys bust out their “Answering a question definitively” dance, which has the added side effect of better crop yields during the coming harvest. It’s an exciting time.

There’s a very straightforward mathematical equation for measuring the weight of salt water based on specific gravity, which is excellent. And useful!

Also, whoever wrote this question needs to contact Graham and Ashkahn ASAP!

Listen to Just the Audio

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

Graham: Today’s question is, “how much does one gallon of Epsom salt saturated water weight? And, can I ever speak to you about an idea that I think would revolutionize the industry if you could help me to dream it possible?”

Ashkahn: That was part of the question?

Graham: Yeah. You wanna just do the first part first or-

Ashkahn: I guess so. Is that where the question ends or do they go into what the idea is?

Graham: No, they just want to know if they can speak to us about their idea.

Ashkahn: Oh, man, okay.

Graham: So, I guess the answer to that is yeah.

Ashkahn: Totally, yeah.

Graham: Definitely, yes. We love hearing ideas.

Ashkahn: I’m excited now. I wish they’d have written the whole thing in there.

Graham: I mean, it could revolutionize the industry.

Ashkahn: I can see how they don’t want us just broadcasting that out there.

Graham: Which I would have because obviously I’ll just read whatever’s in front of me.

Ashkahn: So, yeah, whoever this is, reach out. Get in touch.

Graham: Yeah man. Shoot us another question.

Ashkahn: Yeah, we’ll say it on the podcast. We’ll tell everybody your idea.

Graham: Unless you don’t want us to. In that case, we definitely won’t share it. So, the first part though, how much does one gallon of Epsom salt saturated water weigh? It’s not too hard to figure out.

Ashkahn: Yeah. It’s more than a gallon of water weighs.

Graham: And there you have it. You heard it from us.

Ashkahn: Okay. So, if you guys have other questions, you want to-

Graham: So, fortunately, the conversion with specific gravity of figuring out the weight of something is not the hardest thing in the world. It’s actually pretty simple. Just multiplication problem of you take the specific gravity and multiply it by, say the weight of water, which is 8.344 pounds.

Ashkahn: Per gallon.

Graham: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Per gallon. So, at 1.25 specific gravity, that’s gonna end up being 10.43 pounds per gallon, and around 1.3 specific gravity it’s gonna be about 10.85 pounds per gallon. And keep in mind, this is gonna vary a little bit. Not only on the specific gravity but on the actual temperature of the solution and on the pressure. But that shouldn’t change it too much.

Ashkahn: Those are marginal.

Graham: Yeah. So, just like the specific gravity is 1.25-1.3 it means that the weight of the gallon of salt water is going to be about 25%-30% heavier than a gallon of regular water.

Ashkahn: Okay. Yeah, that’s-

Graham: And send in that idea!

Ashkahn: Back to the important part of your question.

Graham: And pretty clear cut.

Ashkahn: Right.

Graham: Definitely feel free to run a little science experiment yourselves and prove us right or wrong on that.

Ashkahn: This is one of those rare times we actually know-

Graham: We actually know the answer and it’s concrete.

Ashkahn: Yeah.

Graham: We’re just gonna make this a really short episode. So, if you have any other questions for us, send them to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.

Recent Podcast Episodes

Tank Topics – All About Research

The holidays are a busy time for float centers and it often means lots of new customers asking questions. This means it can be a really great time to brush up on the facts about floating. Fortunately we’ve formed a folio of fantastic studies for you to fancy. Feliz Navidad!

Tank Topics – Handling Difficult Customers

Tank Topics – Handling Difficult Customers

In every service business, there’s a running joke that someone likes that’s usually somehting along the lines of “this job would be great if it weren’t for all the customers!” (*cue laugh track and uproarious applause*), well, the boys have not shied away from talking about the difficult sides of running a shop like ours. We’ve got episodes about handling negative Yelp reviews, customers too intoxicated to float, and even what to do when it’s time to 86 a problematic client. 

The 2019 Float Conference Recap – OSP 09

You can tell this episode was recorded a little while ago, really close to after we all got back from the Conference. The boys are a little tired today, but they still have lots to talk about. 

Grashkahmn share their initial reactions to the Conference now that it’s being run by the industry as a non-profit. This is a nice episode especially if you’re looking for some insights on their behind-the-scenes perspective on this big industry event and how it has changed this year. 

Tank Topics – Health Departments

Something in the world of floating have you stumped? Show Highlights Hooo doggie! This is a big one! This Tank Topic is filled with useful information about what you should know before talking to health...

The Russian Float Conference – OSP 08

Graham and Ashkahn are back to give their recap on the Float Conference. No, not THAT Float Conference, the Russian Float Conference. 

The guys got to go speak at the float event on the other side of the world and are reporting back on what that was like, how their industry is shaping up, and some of the lessons we can learn about their industry over there. 

Additionally, Graham and Ashkahn lied to you. The show notes will not have a puppet show in them. 

Latest Blog Posts

How to Safely Reopen your Float Center

How to Safely Reopen your Float Center

As our communities begin reopening amidst this pandemic, float centers are straddling a line between wanting to run floats and making sure they’re keeping their customers and staff safe. The collective social fatigue and stress are palpable, and it’s apparent to many...

Checklist for Temporarily Closing Your Float Center

Checklist for Temporarily Closing Your Float Center

These are challenging times for all of us, and many float centers (ourselves included) have decided to temporarily shut down to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Our team got together yesterday to figure out what we need to do to put our shop into hibernation mode,...

Can Epsom Salt Kill Coronavirus?

Can Epsom Salt Kill Coronavirus?

NOTE: This article was originally published March 13th, 2020, last updated July 14th, 2020. While we want to make sure this advice is current, it is not definitive. We want to recognize the limitations of advice during a pandemic where information is updated by...