Pool maintenance for physiotherapy and hydrotherapy clinics
A hydrotherapy pool is small, warm and used by the people least able to tolerate badly treated water. That is why it is treated differently.
How is a hydrotherapy pool maintained?
With more frequent testing, because water above 30 °C burns through disinfectant quickly and sessions follow one another all day; with chloramine control, because clinic users — post-operative patients, older adults, people with reduced mobility or sensitive airways — are the first to feel them; and with work done outside session hours. In Lisbon and on the South Bank, ManutençãoPiscinas maintains the pools of physiotherapy clinics, rehabilitation centres and therapeutic aqua-aerobics facilities, with a written, dated record per visit. The specific obligations on your installation are set by the bodies that license it and by the local health authority — confirm them in writing. It starts with a technical visit to your installation, which sets the plan and the figure.
Content reviewed in August 2026.
Who this page is for
- Physiotherapy and physical rehabilitation clinics with a hydrotherapy pool
- Rehabilitation centres and long-term care units with a therapy tank
- Facilities running aqua-aerobics classes for seniors, pregnant women or injury recovery
- Senior residences and care homes with a heated indoor pool
- Gyms and clubs that rent their pool to physiotherapists for hydrotherapy sessions
Three things that make this pool different
The users. In a family or hotel pool, the people in the water are healthy. In a hydrotherapy pool, they include someone just out of knee surgery, someone with a chronic respiratory condition, someone with fragile skin, someone who needs help down the ramp. Chloramines that are a nuisance in a gym are, here, a reason for a patient to skip a session — or for the clinic to receive a complaint.
Temperature and pace. A hydrotherapy pool normally runs above 30 °C, and group or individual sessions follow one another every thirty or forty-five minutes. Warm water degrades disinfectant faster, and a 20 or 30 m³ tank with six users per session, ten sessions a day, carries a bather load per litre far above that of a swimming pool. The right reading at eight in the morning may no longer be right by early afternoon.
Equipment and air. Ramps, handrails, transfer chairs and hoists, grab bars: all of it lives in a closed, humid room where combined chlorine in the air attacks stainless steel and surfaces. In a clinic, the air quality around the pool is part of the quality of care. We measure the water; when the readings point to a problem in the air, we say so in writing.
What is asked of you and what we do
Exact requirements depend on how your unit is licensed and on the municipality. The right-hand column is what we carry out and document under contract.
| What is asked of the operator | What we do |
|---|---|
| Frequent control of warm, heavily used water | Free chlorine, total chlorine, pH and temperature tested at every visit, with frequency set by the number of sessions |
| Lower chloramines for sensitive users | Combined chlorine measured at every visit and the cause corrected — load, water renewal or ventilation — rather than adding more product |
| Work without interrupting sessions | Visits before the first session, over lunch or after the last one, agreed with the clinic schedule |
| Procedure for a faecal or vomit incident | Written closure, treatment and reopening procedure, handed to the clinic team before it is needed |
| Documentary proof of treatment | Written, dated record per visit, with readings, doses, work done and anomalies observed |
| Access equipment in good condition | We report in writing any corrosion we see on ramps, handrails and transfer hoists during the visit |
What the law requires of pools in public use
Which statute applies to each kind of installation, the testing and analysis cadence, the Annex II values and what the maintenance company covers — with the sources cited.
Rhythm through the year
A clinic has no summer peak: it has a full schedule all year and often a break in August. Treatment follows the schedule.
| Period | What happens |
|---|---|
| Normal operation | Regular visits with full testing, immediate correction and a record; the clinic team takes the daily readings in between |
| Schedule peaks | More frequent visits when session numbers rise — start of the year, group programmes, insurer partnerships |
| Break or temporary closure | Filtration and disinfection maintained, and a full water check before the first session resumes |
| Annual technical service | Pumps, filters, heating and dosing equipment checked in the clinic's quietest window |
What goes in your file
A clinic answers in writing to patients, insurers and inspections. The pool record is part of that file.
- Written, dated record per visit, one line per reading
- Daily log sheet for the clinic team to fill in between visits
- Written procedure for a faecal incident, vomit or an out-of-range reading
- Same-day written notice whenever there is a reason to close
- Entry report on the installation's condition at the start of the contract
- Consolidated history, available at any time
What it costs
We do not publish a figure for this installation. The price depends on tank volume, temperature, the number of sessions per day and how tasks are split with your team. We visit the installation and give you a written proposal with the scope spelt out.
Services this contract includes
Frequently asked questions
The questions operators ask us before signing. If yours is not here, call us.
Useful reading for this profile
Indoor Pools: Ventilation and Humidity
Managing ventilation and humidity in indoor pools.
Read the article4 minPool with Strong Chlorine Smell: How to Fix
Strong chlorine smell paradoxically means lack of free chlorine. Understand and fix the problem.
Read the article5 minPool for People with Allergies
How to adapt the pool for people with allergies.
Read the articleOther sectors we look after
Pool maintenance for holiday rentals
The pool is the first thing a guest photographs and the first thing they complain about. We work it to the rhythm of your bookings.
Condominium pool maintenance
One pool, several families, and an administrator who has to justify every euro at the general meeting. We work for both sides of that conversation.
Hotel and resort pool maintenance
A hotel pool cannot close. Everything about the work is organised around that constraint.
Maintenance for public-access pools
A pool the public walks into, with a named operator answering for it. The difference is not the volume of water — it is traceability.
Pool maintenance for gyms, spas and aqua aerobics
A gym's problem is rarely the pool. It is the jacuzzi next to it — warm water, a lot of people, and pipework where the water stops.
Pool maintenance for campsites and rural tourism
Eight weeks running flat out and seven months closed. The problem with these pools is not high season — it is what happens between them.
Pool maintenance for businesses
Nobody at your company wants to think about the pool. The point of this contract is that you do not have to.
Pool water records and testing
The part of the service nobody sees — until the day somebody asks for the file.
Ask for a proposal for your clinic
Tell us the municipality, tank volume, working temperature and how many sessions you run per day. We reply within 24 hours and book a visit to the installation.
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