Full immersion - A behind-the-scenes look at the revision works at our Thermal Römerbad
Once the snow in Bad Kleinkirchheim has melted and spring’s first warming rays of sunshine spill through the windows of our Thermal Römerbad, it's time for the annual maintenance work to begin. Relaxed bathing and taking a sauna give way to cleaning, hammering and painting. Join us as we fully immerse ourselves in the exciting work that goes on behind the scenes at the largest wellness and sauna area of the Carinthian thermal baths.
Steam cleaning a temple of wellness.
The first step in starting our spring cleaning is to remove the water from all pools and facilities. But where to put it? As an environmentally responsible company, we pay particular attention to how we treat this valuable resource, which is why we first extract the residual heat from the water for further use in the heating system. By the way, this is also how we generate heat for the Kaiserburgbahn valley station in winter. The water is then repurposed for cleaning pools, overflow gullies, and tiles.
Speaking of tiles.
Compared to your average bathroom, the Thermal Römerbad has quite a lot of them. Nearly 5 million tiles are waiting for their thorough wash. Most of them are located in the sauna area. In fact, the Venus Sudatorium alone features 58,000 mosaic tiles! In the course of cleaning, it’s also important to check and reseal all silicone joints. With 7,500 metres of joint length, our tilers have quite a job ahead of them before its the painters’ turn to touch things up and ensure the proper feel-good ambience.
Standstill, what standstill?
The technical heart of our operations is located just one floor below. During the repair work, however, one can hardly speak of an operational time-out as this complex system must be checked daily even in idle mode. Add to this is the maintenance of 3,400 metres of piping and 50 kilometres of cabling. Yep, you read that correctly! This astounding figure corresponds to roughly the distance from Bad Kleinkirchheim to Klagenfurt.
Also located in the basement: the equalisation basins, in which excess water is collected, cleaned and then pumped back into the swimming area. Especially when it comes to operating the torrent or the massage jets, large quantities of water are set in motion. Without these equalisation basins, we would quickly be left high and dry. During the inspection, the pools are as well cleaned and
checked for damage.
Many of the technical maintenance activities are spread out throughout the year and only partially fall within the time frame for repairs. We therefore leave the regular inspection of fire alarm or chlorine gas systems largely to external specialists.
From the waters of the thermal spa to the sun loungers in no time.
Few repairs take place without a few innovations as well. You may have noticed in the video that the glass panels on the podium of the spa area have been removed. Here, a new entryway has been created, which allows guests direct access to the sun room from the thermal spa. Previously, this was only possible via the sauna or foyer areas.
As you can see, maintaining such a large thermal spa takes a lot of hard work. Did this behindthe-scenes look has piqued your curiosity? We’re sure, that the small details of our operations will really stand out to you during your next visit to the Thermal Römerbad.
