Considerations and Options for Pool Hoists for Schools
20 Minute Read
Hydrotherapy and pool settings are excellent environments for students to enjoy. Creating the safe means of transfer for your students throughout these spaces can be a thorough and daunting task that comes with many considerations.
Our installations and projects team here at Medaco are experts in partnering with SEND Schools throughout the United Kingdom to help create the best suited solutions for your school and service user’s needs. Managing the full process with ease, we help to plan and install the optimal pool hoist option in your facility.
Within this article, we will help you to understand how best to approach the process of pool hoist installation and cover the varying considerations and product options available on the market.
What are the Transfer Needs of Your Students?
Within the decision-making process for pool hoist installation or replacement for your hydrotherapy and/or pool setting, the premiere consideration that needs to be made is: “what are the transfer needs of our students”.
Clarifying this initial question will help determine how to proceed with the project, and what type of hoist is needed for those requirements.
For instance, will the student be transferred from a chair into the pool, or will they be transferred from a sling and lowered into the pool?
Secondly, when making an upgrade or installing a new pool hoist option, the following considerations should also be made:
Pool Hoist Options for Your Special School
As a leading provider of user hoisting equipment, we often find when we work with SEND Schools, that they are unaware of the full scale of options of hoisting solutions that are available for their facility. For any pool hoist installation, there are three main options to choose from. Let’s go over those three main options:
Fixed Poolside Hoist
Fixed poolside hoists are a common option within school environments for hoisting students in and out of the pool. These hoists are installed directly onto the poolside and into sockets that are fitted to the floor.
As they are fixed to a point, the hoisting range is limited from the poolside to the pool. These hoists are a good option for chair, stretcher, and sling transfer. They too can often allow the service user to feel more secure, due to their fixed nature and the fact that there is less swinging side to side during transfer. With a fixed hoist, they can generally be moved from their socket and stored away should room at the poolside be needed. Additionally, where there is a removable hoist available, your school can have the benefit of a hoist that can be moved to other installed sockets to serve multiple pool areas.
Poolside hoists are predominantly made up of stainless steel, and have a 5-10 year lifespan. As a wet room environment can be a corrosive place for hoists, it is important to have routine checks in place. The average weight capacity is 125-130 kilos.
Ceiling Hoists
Ceiling hoists are increasingly becoming the staple option hoisting and transfer needs across SEND Schools. A ceiling hoist can offer full room or full pool access for hoisting and transfers. Ceiling hoist tracking options come with two design options:
Single Track – This system is installed on a fixed, straight line-way of movement that allows the service user to move from one point of the room to another point of the room with ease.
XY/H Frame – This system offers full room coverage across an X and Y axis which allows for the service user to benefit from being able to be hoisted from anywhere across the entire space of the pool room.
Ceiling hoist tracking will be installed directly onto the building's walls and/or the ceiling itself which means the hoist will not take up any valuable floor space.
The tracking used for installation within the pool space will be made of a durable powder-coated aluminum which will help to protect the tracking from rusting and corrosion. Additionally, it is good practice to check with your installation team that the fixings and some pendants used within the install are made from steel to further optimise the lifespan of the tracking.
The typical life expectancy of the tracking for a ceiling hoist is 10-15 years whilst the hoist itself ranges from 5-10 years. The safe working load for a ceiling hoist is 200 kilos as standard.
A ceiling hoist best accommodates sling-type transfers. Whilst there are attachments that can accommodate chair transfers, the comfortability of your service user maybe a bit difficult as there is greater option for the chair to swing when the hoist is hanging from overhead.
Portable Pool Hoist
Portable pool hoists are a straightforward hoisting option for schools. Unlike their counterparts, they do not require installation before they are operable. Many schools choose this option when shutting down the pool area for the process of installation is not possible.
Portable Pool Hoists are typically considerable in size and can take up a significant amount of floor space along the outside of the pool area. It is recommended that mobile hoists have a designated storage area away from the pool to both offer more space around the facility and also help to protect the hoist from the corrosive effects of the wet room.
A portable pool hoist is the sole option of hoists that can allow students to independently operate themselves. They can safely transfer up to 130 -180 kilos and can have a longer lifespan than a ceiling hoist and poolside hoist when they are properly maintained and stored away when not in use.
All hoists can be installed out of hours and during the school holidays to decrease the amount of disruptions for the staff and students.
Costs to Consider
When formulating the budget for your schools pool hoisting needs, it is good to consider both the cost of the equipment and the cost of installation and/or set-up.
Fixed poolside hoists will typically run anywhere from £8-12,000 depending on specifications required and the number of accessories your school chooses to add to your package.A fixed poolside hoist installation can typically be accomplished within a day’s time, and the aspects of floor mounting and drilling costs can add to your needed budget.
Ceiling hoist installation can cost between £3,000-7,000 depending on the tracking coverage and layout option your school chooses. This option can run half the price of the aforementioned as there is a lot less competition amongst models as there are many customisable options. Ceiling hoist installation time can vary greatly depending on your facility’s layout and requirements. The typical range of time for installation can be between 1-5 days.
Portable pool hoists will cost around £600-£2000. This efficient option does not require installation, solely delivery and set-up which can be accomplished once your facility receives the hoist.
Some aspects of the necessary considerations can be logistical, such as the following:
- Will your school need to drain the pool before installation in the case you opt for an overhead ceiling hoist?
- When installing a ceiling hoist into a pool setting, your contractor may need your facility to drain the pool before conducting the installation.
- Does your budget include scaffolding costs that may be needed during the installation process?
- With a ceiling hoist installation, there is often the need to build scaffolding above the pool to accommodate the
- Is your school’s pool room a place where the temperature can be regulated?
Pool rooms can often be places that run warm and have an element of humidity. Therefore, engineer safety during install is an important consideration when installing in a wet room. Should the pool room’s temperature not be modifiable, your installers may need to work for shorter periods of time which could increase the install time overall.
What will be the removal costs when upgrading a previous hoisting system?
Again, your partnering projects and installation company will work to keep you in the loop with the many considerations, and can always quote with access equipment, and any other factors that will affect the overall budget.
