Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Ashkahn and Graham break down the differences between float tanks designed for home use in comparison to ones intended for a commercial setting. Depending on how it’s intended to be used can drastically affect the construction of the tank. Most home use tanks, for example, aren’t made of fiberglass, because those large, rigid structures are difficult to move by yourself or just with one other person. Likewise, the filtration demands for a home use tank are a lot different.
Listen in and check out all the differences and which tanks are more intended for use at home as opposed to commercial use.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is “What are differences between tanks for home use and commercial use?”
Ashkahn: Uh.
Graham: Well, commercial use are more expensive.
Ashkahn: Um. Basically just like everything’s easier for home use. You can have …
Graham: And typically less expensive.
Ashkahn: And typically less expensive. You can have a commercial tank. I mean a lot of people have what you would call a quote unquote “commercial tank” in their home. And there’s like a lot fewer companies selling specifically home use tanks than there are just companies selling float tanks.
Graham: And often what that’ll turn into is home use filtration pack. I see more commonly than just a full home use tank. Although, obviously, there are some.
Ashkahn: Really so one case, there’s like the Zen Float Tent. Which is specifically a home use tank. And that’s the only company I know of that only sells home use. Right?
Graham: You can’t see it in the audience, but in the studio, I’m nodding very slowly.
Ashkahn: Slowly nodding. Processing.
Graham: Thoughtfully, searching my brain.
Ashkahn: That’s it. That’s it.
Graham: I think that’s it.
Ashkahn: I’m pretty sure. Unless there’s people out there making, you know, little custom.
Graham: Or DIY kinda. Float tank solutions. That’s actually what I was going through.
Ashkahn: But in terms of a manufactured product that you can just kinda purchase, I’m pretty sure that’s at least the biggest of them.
Graham: And then Samadhi, of course. Has their home use models.
Ashkahn: Yeah, there’s a few companies. Samadhi, Escape Pod, and maybe a few other companies specifically sell kind of like a home use version, commercial version. You can look on their website and see the differences between those.
Graham: Even Oasis markets theirs as home use vs commercial use.
Ashkahn: In those cases they’re just selling the same actual unit mostly, most of the time. Then the filtration system is the big difference.
Graham: Yeah, and then Samadhi has also some specifically home use models that you can get that are not their modified regular tank that’s specifically only meant for use in residential settings.
Ashkahn: And so why the filtration system? What is so different every time? Part of it is …
Graham: You’re just going to answer your own question? I thought you were asking me?
Ashkahn: Yup, I’m just setting myself up you know. I’m about to slam this one.
Graham: Alright go for it.
Ashkahn: What is the … Okay so the reason is that, basically in a commercial center time is very important. Getting someone out of their tank …
Graham: It’s literally money yeah.
Ashkahn: Yeah it’s literally money.
Graham: Maybe not literally, maybe metaphorically.
Ashkahn: Time equals money and you’re basically trying to get people in in some sort of efficient manner. You’ve got a schedule to keep you want to be able to do as many floats as you can in a day and because you filter between customers, that amount of time that it takes to filter the tank and get ready for the next person is directly tied to how long you need to wait before you can put another person in the float tank. So there is a lot of motivation to spend more money on bigger equipment, bigger pumps, bigger everything that goes with the bigger pumps so that you can filter the water appropriately in 15 minutes between one person and the next and get someone else into the float tank. That sort of pressure is not really there in your house. It’s fine if it filters for a few hours.
Graham: All of a sudden when 15 minutes turns into four hours between clients coming in, that’s just a way easier equation. It takes way less intense filtration equipment and it makes the cost of that filtration equipment to go considerable lower as well.
Ashkahn: The speed is a huge part of it. The speed that the liquid is moving through the system, dictates the size of all of your equipment. The faster everything needs to move, the bigger everything needs to be, the more expensive everything needs to be …
Graham: The more hard core the seals are, so it doesn’t just explode itself apart from all the water pressure, yeah
Ashkahn: It’s usually not going to get to four hours of filtration but, the other thing too is there’s regulations and a certain amount of scrutiny that people expect out of a commercial operation that doesn’t exist for homes. For all sorts of stuff, pools and hot tubs. If you install a pool in your backyard, the health department is not coming to make sure you’re chlorinating it properly or any of that sort of stuff. If you put a pool into a commercial facility, they for sure make sure you are doing all of these things. That’s cause the risk is a lot lower.
If you have a pool in your backyard, what’s happening in there? You’re swimming once every week, maybe, and the other people swimming are like a few family members. The amount of people, the capacity that those things are hitting and the amount of, as a result of capacity, bacteria and all the other stuff that comes in there. That even happening in a home use situation is so much lower than a commercial situation. You’re most likely to get yourself sick. Which I think provides some motivation for you to do some basic sanitation in your home.
Really this is all about an actual home use thing. Not like running a commercial center out of your home.
Graham: Which, I would still put in the commercial tank category.
Ashkahn: That basically, you should have a commercial tank in that scenario.
Graham: Another thing that I’ll see, you’ll have tanks with liners at all different levels but I do think that liner tanks are a little more common for home use as well. Especially the Zen Float Tent, which is one giant liner essentially. I think that keeps cost down a little bit.
It’s also just because there’s less of a concern with having total strangers come in, day in day out, on this really tight schedule. Eventually your liners do get worn down, someone could’ve just had a little piece of gravel or something on their foot and it rips the bottom of it or something like that. In home use tanks with it being like you said, largely yourself, your friends, people you know, your family, coming in and not all that frequent. I think, it’s just way less scary proposition having a liner in a home use setting. It’s just going to last longer and just be a little more durable in that with less use.
Ashkahn: I think it also has a lot to do with getting the float tank into the room you’re trying to put it in. In a commercial place; you’re building a place, you’re set up, you’re trying to make hallways big enough, you’re not going to modify the construction of your house because you want to put a float tank in. For your home they’ve got to build something that can go up narrow stairs, turn corners, and a liner means you don’t all of a sudden have one giant single tub piece that needs to be able to maneuver around.
Graham: Transportability is another big factor in the differences between home use and residential tanks for sure. What did I just say? That’s the same thing. Home use and commercial tanks.
Ashkahn: I’d say the other one is there tends to be, I’ve noticed from home use systems, a slightly higher attention paid to really making the float tank, make sure everything is dark. In the commercial setting there’s a lot of float tanks that don’t do that, right? They let light in and you’re just supposed to build the room itself to be completely dark so that the inside of the float tank is dark. That’s way harder to do when you are installing a float tank in your house. There’s a little bit more of a motivation to make the float tank itself take care of the light proofing for you.
Graham: Yeah, for sure. Any other? I guess the control systems are often times a little less robust. Sometimes you’ll just have switches and things on them, on the unit as opposed to have a remote control that you’re operating from your living room I guess in this case or wherever it is.
Ashkahn: Yeah, that’s not really necessary. I guess the other thing is power. There’s some commercial float tanks that come at 220 Volts and their heaters might require more amperage and stuff like that. People who make float tanks for home use put a little more consideration into not having it be a huge power draw and having it plug into a normal 110 …
Graham: The fact people are just putting it into their garage or spare room they have or something.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So there you have it.
Ashkahn: That’s it.
Graham: Some differences between home and commercial use. You know, again, just to go back to something we said at the beginning. You really can use commercial use tanks in your house. It’s just often like using a commercial washer and dryer in your house right? It won’t break anything, in fact it will probably last for longer. Just maybe is a little overkill for what you actually need.
Ashkahn: And you really shouldn’t use home use tanks in your commercial business.
Graham: Is the vise versa, yeah. Nor should you use just residential washers and dryers, in general, for your business. We’ve been finding out, those things get destroyed by salty towels.
Ashkahn: Yeah, they don’t last that long.
Graham: Great! If you have your own questions you’d like to listen to us answer, go to floattankssolutions.com/podcast
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The Float Tour Blog – Issue #24
Alberta is often called the Texas of Canada. Part large oil industry, part cattle country.
Don’t Mess With Alberta!
At the base of the Rocky Mountains, replete with an Olympic Stadium, Calgary is a world-class destination for winter sports. The float community developed here similarly to Edmonton – there wasn’t anything nearby except for one or two residential float tanks, and then, in a short period of time, several centers opened all at once. Instead of competing, they’ve decided to work together and have developed one of the tightest knit float communities we’ve seen. They even have monthly Float Dinners, much like we do with the float centers in Portland. They don’t keep meeting minutes, so it’s hard to determine what they talk about at these dinners; my guess would be salt, the effects of salt on various substances, and how salty salt damage can make someone salty.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #23
After Montana, we blazed our way back into Canada. The drive was long, but the scenery was beautiful. We followed the Rockies north, driving up to Edmonton. It’s a bit of a detour but, there are so many float centers in Edmonton, it seemed crazy not to stop by.
The city itself is primarily made up of workers from the oil fields – high risk, high income jobs that fuel the economy. At least until recently. Our visit was right in the middle of the Fort McMurray wildfire which has displaced a lot of the workforce, forcing 100,000 people to leave their homes. Many came to Edmonton, being the nearest metropolitan area to Fort McMurray. Some already split their time between the two cities, living in Edmonton and traveling to Fort McMurray for weeks or months at a time for work.
It’s understood that, in economic hardship, luxury commodities are typically the first thing people cut back on. Surprisingly, this doesn’t seem to be the case for floating. In fact, more people seem to be trying it to help alleviate the stress, many centers even offering free or discounted services to those displaced in an effort to help in a small way.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #22
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The Float Tour Blog – Issue #21
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