When lane conditioner is immediately applied to a bowling lane, several things must happen before the lane conditioner stabilizes enough to provide consistent playing characteristics. One is allowing the lane conditioner to adhere to the lane surface. This takes about 15-30 minutes depending on the amount of conditioner applied, the type of conditioner, the type of cleaner being used, and the surface energy of a particular lane surface.

The surface tension of the conditioner is also important since the surface tension directly affects how the conditioner “wets” across the lane. The conditioner needs to “like” the lane in order for it to wet across. If the surface energies between the two don’t agree, the conditioner will “sit up” on the lane surface (think of this effect as little beads of water sitting on the surface of your car versus the water sheeting off the surface of the car).

Another bonding takes place within the lane conditioner molecules themselves. These bonding forces, known as van der Waals forces, are basically weak attractions between atoms, molecules, and surfaces. The time for this to take place after conditioning a bowling lane is also anywhere from 15-30 minutes.