Tanning bed timer rules: maximum settings, accuracy and who sets the timer

Is there a maximum time for a tanning bed?

Yes, but it is set unit by unit, not by one federal number. The federal sunlamp standard, 21 CFR 1040.20, defines the maximum exposure time as "the greatest continuous exposure time interval recommended by the manufacturer of the product" and requires it on each unit's label. Under section 1040.20(c)(2), the longest setting on the unit's timer "may not exceed" that labeled maximum.

There used to be a single number. FDA's August 21, 1986 policy letter to sunlamp manufacturers explains that "the ten (10) minute maximum timer interval requirement was removed" from the original standard, because for some newer products ten minutes was "not appropriate." Since then, the maximum "depends on the intensity and spectral distribution" of each model's UV output. Two beds in the same salon can have different maximums, so read each label.

The maximum is a ceiling for the timer, not a target for the session. The same FDA letter says: "The maximum timer interval is in no way to be considered as a safe limit; all ultraviolet radiation is potentially hazardous."

What the federal timer rule requires

Section 1040.20 is a performance standard for the product, so it binds manufacturers. The current text applies to sunlamp products made on or after September 8, 1986. Salons meet it by using only equipment that complies. Every state rule below requires that, and each adds timer limits the salon itself must meet.

eCFR lists April 1, 2018 as the section's latest amendment date, and the timer paragraph above is the text in force as of September 1, 2026. Our overview of FDA tanning bed rules covers the rest of the standard.

FDA's December 22, 2015 proposal to amend the standard would also limit the longest timer setting to an erythema-weighted UV dose of 500 J/m². No final rule has been published, and FDA's March 16, 2026 notice withdrawing its under-18 proposal said the 1040.20 amendments "are not affected by this withdrawal."

How accurate a tanning bed timer must be

The federal test is 10 percent of the maximum timer interval, which the rule defines as "the greatest time interval setting on the timer." On a timer whose longest setting is 20 minutes, no setting may be off by more than 2 minutes. That tolerance is the same at every setting, so it is loose on short sessions.

Some states word it differently. Florida's statute requires a timer "accurate for any selected time interval to plus or minus 10 percent," and Virginia's code requires "an accuracy of at least plus or minus ten percent of any selected time interval." Read literally, that measures the error against the time selected, which is tighter: a 10-minute setting would have to run between 9 and 11 minutes. Florida's rule also repeats the federal test, so hold your timers to the stricter reading.

Check your state on the tanning laws by state hub, including the Florida, Rhode Island, Illinois, Virginia and Minnesota pages.

Who may set the timer, and where the controls go

Remote timer rules exist so the client does not set their own time. Florida's rule says the timer "shall be set by a trained operator or other trained facility employee" and requires an override timer control "installed outside of the room in which a tanning device is located and operated only by tanning facility personnel." The rule defines that control as a separate electrical timer, switch or similar device the operator uses to start, stop or reset the timer system, and says a building's electric service panel does not count (F.A.C. 64E-17.001(5)).

Florida's health department FAQ adds that the controls do not have to sit behind the front desk: "The timer controls can be outside of the rooms where the devices are; however the customer must not be allowed to operate the controls." A gym asked whether members, trained through a course, could run the beds themselves behind electronic keys and software that allowed one 20-minute session per 24 hours. The department said the idea "does not meet the intent" of the code, because "an operator or trained employee must operate and clean the tanning beds."

Rhode Island requires facilities to "install remote timer controls prior to the operation of sunlamp products," says timers "shall be controlled by properly trained staff," and bars token timer systems "in the absence of trained staff" (24.7.2(K)(4) and (5); 24.6.4(F)(3)). Illinois bars token-operated equipment without a trained operator, and bars selling anyone tokens "in quantities greater than the tanning equipment manufacturer's maximum recommended exposure time for the individual" (795.180(h) and (i)).

How to run a timer accuracy test

In Rhode Island, the registrant must have each timer "tested for accuracy at intervals not to exceed twelve (12) calendar months" (24.7.2(K)(3)) and keep the results (24.8.3(G)) for at least three years (24.8.3(B)). The other states above set no test interval, and none of the rules we checked prescribes a method, so this is a practical routine:

1. Pick three settings on each unit: a short one, a mid-length one and the longest setting on the timer.
2. Start the timer and a stopwatch together, and stop the stopwatch when the lamps shut off.
3. Compare. Under the federal test, each result must be within 10 percent of the longest setting. In Florida and Virginia, also hold each result to 10 percent of the time you set.
4. Write down the date, the unit, each setting, the measured time and who tested it, and keep it with the unit's service records. Rhode Island's maintenance records must name who did the work, the date and the unit's hour meter reading (24.8.3(H)(3)).
5. Take a unit out of service if its timer fails, runs past the label's maximum, or restarts at full time after a stop, and have it repaired before the next client.

Never bypass a timer. A bypassed timer no longer limits the session as 1040.20(c)(2) requires, and Rhode Island says units that do not meet 21 CFR 1040.20 "shall not be operated" (24.7.2(A)). Illinois's fine schedule lists $250 for each violation involving timers that fail to operate in accordance with the manufacturer's recommended exposure limit (795.220(f)(5)).

Stops, restarts and split sessions

Every unit must have a stop control on the product that lets the client end the exposure at any time (1040.20(c)(3)). Florida's FAQ says "the emergency shut-off must be on the tanning device," not on a wall within reach. Florida, Rhode Island, Illinois and Minnesota all require staff to instruct each client on it (F.A.C. 64E-17.002(2)(l); RI 24.6.4(F)(4); 77 Ill. Adm. Code 795.180(d); Minn. Stat. 325H.03, subd. 1(i)).

If the lamps stop partway through, the timer may not restart them for longer than the time left on the cycle (1040.20(c)(2)(iv); RI 24.7.2(K)(6)).

Splitting a session does not get around the limits either. Florida's FAQ says a client on a 10-minute bed who wants two 5-minute sessions within 24 hours is a violation, because the rule allows one session every 24 hours (F.A.C. 64E-17.002(2)(m)). Rhode Island says the manufacturer's maximum exposure time "shall not be exceeded in any twenty-four (24)-hour period" (24.6.4(F)(2)(a)). Spacing is covered in the 24-hour tanning rule.

A front-desk routine for the timer

1. Keep each unit's label legible and its manual on file. The label carries the exposure schedule and the maximum exposure time, and Florida requires the owner's manual for each device on site (F.A.C. 64E-17.004(10)).
2. Find the time on that unit's schedule for the client's skin type and session number. Illinois requires operators to limit each client to the maximum exposure time "taking the consumer's skin type into consideration" (795.180(e)). See how to read an exposure schedule.
3. Set the timer at or below that time from the staff-only control. Never let the client set or change it.
4. Show the client the stop control and the exposure position before their first session on each unit.
5. Record the date, the unit and the minutes for every session. Florida requires a record of "tanning time exposures" and the employee who assisted, kept for four years (F.A.C. 64E-17.004(7)). Illinois requires dates, durations and the equipment used (795.190(d)), and Rhode Island requires dates and durations, kept three years (24.8.3(B) and (D)(1)).
6. Test each timer at least once a year, log the result and pull any unit whose timer fails. The inspection checklist covers what else an inspector looks at.
7. When a unit is replaced, set its maximum from the new unit's own label, never from the old one.

Where software fits, and where it stops

Software cannot make a timer accurate, but it can stop the desk from typing a time the label does not allow. In TanVision, each room carries its own maximum time, which you enter from that unit's label. Staff type the minutes for every session, and the box is never filled in for them. A time above the room's maximum, or above the limit the exposure safety engine works out when a skin type is on file, is refused with the reason on screen. It is never quietly trimmed.

Each session is saved on the client's record with its date, room and minutes, the dates and durations the states above ask you to keep. The gap between UV sessions is a salon setting, so set it to your state's rule. Asked whether its 24-hour rule is enforced "by the computer software or by the employees," Florida's health department answered that it "should be enforced by the facility personnel." Software supports that check; it does not take it over.

TanVision is not the timer. With T-Max timer controllers, the desk sends each session's minutes to the bed's own timer, through a small box TanVision supplies that sits on the salon's network next to the T-Max controller, and Stop clears the time. Other timer brands are not supported yet, so on those, staff set each bed on the timer system itself. Either way, the accuracy, remote-control and testing rules above stay with the timer equipment. Book a demo to see the room limits on your own rooms.