A private spa in Dubai needs a light monthly routine, one check before the summer and one technician visit a year, and with those three things a sauna, a steam room and a plunge last twenty years. The Gulf adds three enemies to the usual list: hard water that scales generators, dust that clogs condensers and grilles, and a summer that finds every weak chiller in August. This checklist is the one we give clients at commissioning.
After every session
- Sauna: brush the benches, leave the door open until the room is dry, turn the heater off at the control, not just the timer.
- Steam room: run the extract for twenty minutes, rinse the bench and floor, leave the door ajar.
- Plunge: shower before use, put the cover on after.
- Hammam: rinse the slab and basins, run the extract, leave the door ajar.
Monthly
| Room | Task |
|---|---|
| Sauna | Wash benches with water and mild soap; check the heater guard and the stones for crumbling; wipe the inlet and extract grilles of dust; check the door closes without a latch and opens outward freely |
| Infrared cabin | Wipe panels and grilles; check the controller fan is clear of dust |
| Steam room | Check grout and silicone; run the generator’s drain cycle manually if it is not automatic; clean the steam outlet nozzle; check the door seal |
| Hammam | Clean basins and taps of scale with a mild citric solution; check the slab sensor reading |
| Cold plunge | Change the water, clean the basin, backwash the filter, check the sanitiser lamp or ozone cell indicator, clean the condenser fins of dust |
| Salt room | Rake the floor salt; check humidity reading below 50 % |
| Plant cupboard | Nothing stored against the chiller; louvres clear |
Twenty minutes a month for a single room, an hour for a suite. The best sauna wood article explains why the timber needs water and soap, never oil or bleach.
Before summer, in May
The check that matters most in Dubai. Chillers and refrigeration that coped in March fail in August, when tap water is 34 °C and the plant enclosure is 45 °C.
- Refrigerant charge and pressures checked by a technician.
- Condenser coil cleaned of dust and, near the coast, salt.
- Airflow around the enclosure confirmed; nothing stacked against the louvres.
- Insulated cover and basin insulation inspected.
- Sanitiser lamp or ozone cell replaced if due.
- Snow room: defrost cycle, door heater and drain heater tested.
The chiller sizing guide explains why a chiller with a dirty condenser loses half its capacity in August.
Once a year: the technician visit
The annual visit under our maintenance plan covers what an owner cannot:
- Sauna: heater elements tested, stones replaced or re-stacked, contactor, thermostat and high-limit cut-out tested, controls, door hinges and seal, ventilation fan, bench fixings retightened, timber sanded lightly.
- Steam room and hammam: generator descaled and flushed, elements and probe tested, aroma pump, slab heating resistance and sensor, grout and silicone renewed where needed, extract fan, drain flow.
- Plunge and snow room: the pre-summer refrigeration check if not already done, pump, filter, sanitiser, insulation.
- Salt room: halogenerator cleaned and calibrated, floor salt replaced, filters changed.
- Hyperbaric cabin: seals, valves, gauges, concentrator output, room ventilation.
- A written report with photos and a list of anything to plan for next year.
Hard water: the Dubai generator problem
Desalinated and blended supply water in Dubai leaves scale on generator elements and in cylinders. A steam generator without automatic drain cycles and without descaling fails in eighteen months to three years; with a scale filter on the feed, automatic drain and a descaling every six to twelve months, it lasts ten. If your generator is scaled solid, the maintenance and repair page lists what a replacement costs.
Dust
Dust settles in the sauna’s fresh-air inlet, on infrared panel grilles, on chiller condensers and in salt-room filters. Monthly wiping and an annual filter change keep it from becoming a fault. Sealed heater compartments and filtered inlets, which we build as standard, reduce the work.
Signs something is wrong
- The sauna takes longer than an hour to reach 80 °C: an element is down or the stones are blocking airflow.
- The steam room takes more than fifteen minutes to fill: scale on the elements or a blocked outlet.
- The plunge sits above 10 °C in summer: condenser, refrigerant or insulation, in that order.
- Grout darkening or a musty smell in a steam room: ventilation first, then the waterproofing.
- A salt room that feels damp: humidity control or a door that does not seal.
Send a photo of the room and the equipment nameplate and describe what changed. A technician will reply with the likely cause and the earliest visit date.
