C10 – How to Install a Cryotherapy Chamber in Your Spa or Clinic?
When it comes to setting up a cryotherapy chamber in your cryo business, whether it’s a standalone cryotherapy clinic, sports club, physiotherapy clinic, hotel spa, or aesthetics clinic, there are key considerations that you will need to review, before you can establish if you can actually have a cryotherapy chamber.
Then finally, you need to decide if you actually want a cryotherapy chamber, as they aren’t the easiest of profit-generating devices a business can have and this is coming from someone who sells them!
The basics to consider first for your business, are as follow:
- What clients would benefit from your business having a cryotherapy chamber?
- What’s your budget to invest in a cryotherapy chamber?
- Space required for your cryotherapy chamber?
- Type of feed i.e. electric or liquid nitrogen, you want for your cryotherapy chamber?
What Clients Would Benefit From Your Business Having a Cryotherapy?
The type of existing and more importantly, new clients, that this great device will bring, to your business include:
- Sports stars and high performing athletes.
- People in chronic pain.
- People with MS, arthritis, and Parkinsons.
- People with depression and/or anxiety.
- People struggling with sleep.
- Longevity and wellness enthusiasts.
What’s Your Budget to Invest in a Cryotherapy Chamber?
I’ve covered this a few times in my other guides on cryotherapy for you, however, a quick recap, then I would recommend you read “C8 – How Much Does a Cryotherapy Chamber Cost?”
This is the key consideration when it comes to your cryotherapy business investing in a chamber. If you have up to £25,000/$30,000 to invest, it’s a simple buying process for you. You buy a cryosauna (head out), direct liquid nitrogen feed.
If you have a healthier budget, of around £40,000/$50,000, you can then look at getting an indirect feed cryotherapy chamber (head in), which will get better results for your clients, while also being far safer, by not coming into direct contact with liquid nitrogen.
Then finally, if you have over £70,000/$85,000, then you are in the premier league…You can get the holy grail of cryotherapy chambers, an electric cryotherapy chamber that goes down to -110°C (don’t even chance getting a -85°C).
This will have lower running costs, be so much easier to run, and a lot safer to operate for both staff and clients.
Space Required for Your Liquid Nitrogen Cryosauna?
When it comes to cryotherapy chambers, due to the number of variables, it’s often not just a one size fits all answer.
I will however start with the minimum space for the world’s smallest cryotherapy chamber, the Cryomed One. This takes up a floor area of 1m2. Therefore the dimensions to be working from as a starting point are:
Length – 1120 mm x Width – 900 mm.
You will of course need space around this in order to open the door, have access to the back for installation, and connecting the liquid nitrogen when it needs replacing. Next, let’s not forget about ceiling height.
Remember your head is going to be sticking out the top, if you go for a cryosauna, which starts off at 1780 mm (1.8m) in height, add in your head from the shoulders, approximately a foot, then to make the experience comfortable for your clients, I would be wanting at least another foot above my head. So 2 feet or 60 cms above the cryosauna height of 1,780 mm, gives you a total minimum ceiling height of 2.4m or just under 8 feet.
The above is the bare minimum and for larger cryotherapy chambers, you will need to be speaking with your supplier for exact room specifications.
Space Required for an Electric Cryotherapy Chamber?
Then for the minimum size, when it comes to an electric cryotherapy chamber, it is:
Length – 1,533 mm x Width 1,250 mm.
This will require a floor area of at least 3m by 2m, therefore 6m2.
With a minimum ceiling height of 2.4m.
This is for a single user electric cryotherapy chamber.
Another thing related to the space you are going to use in your existing business for your cryotherapy chamber, is the type of flooring you have?
These things are heavy, to give you an idea of the weight, I will again use the Cryomed One, being it’s the smallest and lightest cryosauna in the world, it serves as a good starting point. The Cryomed One weighs 250kg.
Due to this weight, you will need to ensure your floor can support this, especially if your flooring is an old suspended wooden floor.
Also using the starting point figures for an electric cryotherapy chamber, these are a lot heavier, as the technology used weighs a ton! Almost quite literally a ton, coming in at 800kg! This is for a single user electric whole body cryotherapy chamber.
It Won’t Go In!
Yes, there are some buildings where no matter how much you want it to go in, it just won’t fit!
So to give you a good starting point of reference, you will need a minimum door width of 670mm, this is for the smallest cryotherapy chamber in the world, the Cryomed One, which thankfully makes it easy to fit in 99.9% of doors!
Then for bigger cryosauna’s, you will need a minimum door size of 800mm.
Finally, for an electric cryotherapy chamber, you will need access doors with a usable width of 830mm, with a minimum height of 2.05m
Type of Feed, Electric or Liquid Nitrogen Cryotherapy Chamber?
I cover this in a lot more detail in my guide “C7 – Are Electric Cryo Chambers Better Than Liquid Nitrogen Cryo Chambers?”. I would read this guide before deciding which is best for you.
However, like a lot of things in life the first consideration is budget, then the fact that a lot of the UK, simply can’t get a consistent and reliable liquid nitrogen delivery service, so an electric cryotherapy chamber may be your only option.
Are There Any Legal or Planning Restrictions?
None that we are currently aware of, however, please speak with us for an up-to-date perspective, as you know what councils can be like!
What Type of Maintenance Will You Need?
If looked after which we are sure it will be, very little if any.
It’s always worth looking around your cryotherapy chamber once a month, like you would for your car, checking tyres, water, oil, etc, for anything obvious and of course any funny noises that occur out of the blue, you would be wise to investigate further.
Nearly all cryotherapy chambers have the ability to remotely fault find and even fix. Plus a good cryotherapy chamber supplier will be at the end of the phone for you with a solution if it can’t be rectified remotely.
What Are the Running Costs?
Per treatment, costs depend on how many treatments you’re having at any one time, as a liquid nitrogen fed cryochamber needs pre-cooling (the highest use of liquid nitrogen) before a treatment can begin. However, once it is precooled, it can deliver many treatments without further pre-cooling.
It will cost about £4/$5 per treatment if you are having two treatments or more, back-to-back.
Then for an electric cryochamber, you are talking peanuts, as you can run a full day, up to 10 hours, of 6-8 sessions an hour, for just £13/$15 a day.
Installing Your Cryotherapy Chamber
This is simple, generally, your supplier will arrange this for you!
If you have a cryosauna, this can be done yourself, as they are super easy to install, in fact taking the packaging off, will take you longer than the actual installation!
If you go for a multi-person cryotherapy chamber or an electric cryotherapy chamber, then it will require a bit more effort, however, the firm supplying you, will go over all the requirements and arrange the engineer/installer.
Generally, they will require at least a video of the space before agreeing to a sale or may come and do an onsite inspection, prior to installation.
Liquid Nitrogen Delivery
For a lot of businesses, this is an afterthought, and a very costly, after thought! This is why we bring this to your attention, before, you invest in a cryotherapy chamber!
You need to be certain if you go down the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy chamber route, and not an electric cryotherapy chamber, that you can safely receive liquid nitrogen deliveries.
A few factors to be aware of include:
- Ample parking outside your property.
- No interference with public walkways, or you can divert them around safely.
- Access to your vessel.
Any Safety Advice?
In a nutshell…staff!
One of the reoccurring patterns with people these days, is that there is a lack of concentration, being busily kept distracted by that bleeping, flashing, piece of plastic attached to them everywhere they go.
This means that staff, with their lack of care and attention, will be your biggest safety concern for you, the business owner.
You will need to ensure strict systems and processes are in place, for both the dealing of liquid nitrogen and “every single” cryotherapy treatment performed.
When it comes to the storage of your liquid nitrogen, especially if this is outside as a lot of vessels are, I would seriously suggest putting a cage around it, to stop interfering individuals.
Another thing is that we do insist that you never go in the cryochamber alone, with no supervision (could call this over the top, however, we prefer to take no risks) and for no longer than 3 minutes. It’s that simple.
Will I Have Holes in My Walls?
Maybe! For a lot of you, it will be a yes, though not all of you…
I did say this wasn’t going to be simple, though very much worth it!
If you are only having a few treatments a day and can get a consistent liquid nitrogen delivery, then you will one of the lucky ones, and you won’t need holes in your walls. You can get away with using a dewar unpressurised, liquid nitrogen feed to your cryosauna.
If you are performing more than 2-3 treatments a day, which most of you will, it makes sense to use a larger pressurised vessel. Sometimes, these vessels can be stored in the same room, next to cryotherapy chamber, which makes installation easy. However, due to room size or room access, this pressurised liquid nitrogen vessel will have to go outside, and then of course, that requires a hole in the wall!
Then finally, are electric cryotherapy chambers and these will need a few holes, as the cooler needs to be attached to the outside wall. Though the engineer for the company supplying you, will take care of all this and direct you to the right contractors.
Do You Need a Window in The Therapy Room?
A window is ideal, though not essential, as it will help with better ventilation for a liquid nitrogen fed cryochamber, however, you will still need a good ventilation system, regardless.
We can provide experts to review this for you and provide a very competitive price on any installation needed.
What is the Ideal Room Temperature and Humidity?
Between 15°C and 24°C degrees for a cryosauna.
Then for an electric cryotherapy chamber, a room temperature of between 18°C to 23°C. With a maximum humidity of 50%, with 30% humidity being optimum.
How Do You Move These Chambers Internally?
If you are lucky some will come on wheels, though a lot don’t.
For the larger cryotherapy chambers (head in), they require a lot of effort to move, with some actually being built into the room, as opposed to a standalone unit.
For the built-in variety, you will need contractors in to move, so be very certain where you are putting it, you like, and you don’t intend to move premises, for a good few years!
Also for a lot of you, you will have installed piping, and this of course needs to be re-installed, and the previous piping/holes made good!
Is There Anywhere You Can’t Have a Cryo Sauna?
If you meet the space requirements and your floor can take the weight, you are not in the clear just yet! There are still some exclusions when it comes to a liquid nitrogen fed cryotherapy chamber.
These come down to safety, due to the weight of liquid nitrogen vapour, which means that basements are off limits.
For this reason, if you want a cryotherapy chamber in your basement, it will need to be an electric cryotherapy chamber.
We also recommend if you are using a dewar system, over a pressurized system, to use it on the ground floor, unless you have a lift in order to get the vessel brought outside to be refilled, though you won’t be allowed to go in the lift with the vessel, due to it being a confined space.
Not Sure How to Get Your Cryo Treatment Room Ready?
If after having read all of the above and you are still worried about what to do, whether that’s because you have a small internal room or one with very little ventilation?
We have a checklist that we can go over with you to do an initial remote check, then if we are happy that you most likely qualify, we can arrange for an engineer to confirm and recommend the best course of action for you.
Please note, we are happy to do this for you, even if you don’t decide to go with us, as we are just keen to see more cryotherapy chambers on the ground due to the huge benefits these bring everyone while also making this more accessible for everyone.
Want to Know More About Cryotherapy Chambers?
If you like what you have read and want to know more about cryotherapy chambers, then just fill out the form below and we can send you out a free copy of our “Buyers Guide to Cryotherapy Chambers”.