Wood fired hot tub…any good?
Discussion
I’ve always wanted a hot tub, but don’t really fancy the big electricity bills, and frankly some of them look a bit council with all the horrible moulded shapes and neon lights.
I was having a look at someone’s wood fired one yesterday, and I was quite impressed. Her tub was a comfortable 2 seater, 4 at a push, and she reckoned it took 2.5 hours to warm up from cold, and then when you’ve used it and the fire has gone out, about 30 mins to bring it back up to temperature the following evening (obviously it has the thermal cover etc).
They look good, they use the water for watering the garden, and I guess there’s probably less to go wrong too.
What are peoples’ experiences with these? Thanks!
I was having a look at someone’s wood fired one yesterday, and I was quite impressed. Her tub was a comfortable 2 seater, 4 at a push, and she reckoned it took 2.5 hours to warm up from cold, and then when you’ve used it and the fire has gone out, about 30 mins to bring it back up to temperature the following evening (obviously it has the thermal cover etc).
They look good, they use the water for watering the garden, and I guess there’s probably less to go wrong too.
What are peoples’ experiences with these? Thanks!
Certainly be interested to see what people say here. Given the rising price of energy, has anyone done the maths to say what the rough cost differences would be in terms of using logs vs electricity.
I'm with you on the rather 'council' look of most tubs as well, so if a wood fired tub looks much better and is actually fairly cheap to run, it starts making a more compelling argument, for sure.
I'm with you on the rather 'council' look of most tubs as well, so if a wood fired tub looks much better and is actually fairly cheap to run, it starts making a more compelling argument, for sure.
Having used and spent some time looking at wood-fired tubs there are a few things that I think you need to consider.
1. Materials - There are a few different types of wood that can be used in the construction, you will get around 10 years out of the tub, some can have chemicals added, some cannot. This will mean the water will need to be replaced more frequently.
2. Firebox - If it's external you will have more room inside the tub, but I would imagine it will take longer to heat up, and vice versa.
3. Drainage, some have larger drainage than others, so longer to drain/refill. I was looking at using the water for the garden etc and have no chemicals.
4. Heat up time will depend on size/volume, a paddle helps move the water around and distribute the heat better/quicker to get up to temp.
5. You'll need a wood/log store and dry wood, if you already have a log burner you'll know all of this anyway.
6. Some have a fibreglass interior/wood exterior where others are all wood - I guess is the compromise of the option of using chemicals, personally I prefer a full wooden one.
7. Cheapest I saw was around £5-6K for a fairly small 2 person tub with the accessories, cover, paddle, drinks shelf, heat shield on the flu etc, but that was a year or two ago.
1. Materials - There are a few different types of wood that can be used in the construction, you will get around 10 years out of the tub, some can have chemicals added, some cannot. This will mean the water will need to be replaced more frequently.
2. Firebox - If it's external you will have more room inside the tub, but I would imagine it will take longer to heat up, and vice versa.
3. Drainage, some have larger drainage than others, so longer to drain/refill. I was looking at using the water for the garden etc and have no chemicals.
4. Heat up time will depend on size/volume, a paddle helps move the water around and distribute the heat better/quicker to get up to temp.
5. You'll need a wood/log store and dry wood, if you already have a log burner you'll know all of this anyway.
6. Some have a fibreglass interior/wood exterior where others are all wood - I guess is the compromise of the option of using chemicals, personally I prefer a full wooden one.
7. Cheapest I saw was around £5-6K for a fairly small 2 person tub with the accessories, cover, paddle, drinks shelf, heat shield on the flu etc, but that was a year or two ago.
I'll reply properly later but i'm just about to launch a new venture making wood burning tubs.
Different in design to most of the traditional tubs on the market but heat up time is generally under an hour and they can be repositioned quite easily by a couple of people. Also designed to be durable with all metal parts marine grade aluminium or stainless.
The website is due to launch later this week but not sure if I can post a link without breaking the rules.
Different in design to most of the traditional tubs on the market but heat up time is generally under an hour and they can be repositioned quite easily by a couple of people. Also designed to be durable with all metal parts marine grade aluminium or stainless.
The website is due to launch later this week but not sure if I can post a link without breaking the rules.
Snow and Rocks said:
I'll reply properly later but i'm just about to launch a new venture making wood burning tubs.
Different in design to most of the traditional tubs on the market but heat up time is generally under an hour and they can be repositioned quite easily by a couple of people. Also designed to be durable with all metal parts marine grade aluminium or stainless.
The website is due to launch later this week but not sure if I can post a link without breaking the rules.
Be interested to know more.Different in design to most of the traditional tubs on the market but heat up time is generally under an hour and they can be repositioned quite easily by a couple of people. Also designed to be durable with all metal parts marine grade aluminium or stainless.
The website is due to launch later this week but not sure if I can post a link without breaking the rules.
trickywoo said:
If you don’t have a free source of wood it’s not likely to be much cheaper, if any than electricity.
Hmmm, I did wonder. Mrs UTH bought be a Solo Stove wood burner/fire pit thing and it rinses through logs.....I've not actually gone to buy myself a big load yet, but the few my old man brought me from his countryside pad didn't last long, so I did wonder if paying for logs to heat the hot tub would actually get pricey.
A mate back in NZ had a big, deep old cast iron bath set up at the bottom of his garden. You filled it up with the garden hose, then lit a small fire under it. sometimes you had to run the hose down your back and under your bum if the fire was a little too large but it was awesome. I remember sitting in there one spring evening looking up at the snow on a 6000ft mountain in front with the sunset turning the clouds pink, sipping a whisky.
some bloke said:
A mate back in NZ had a big, deep old cast iron bath set up at the bottom of his garden. You filled it up with the garden hose, then lit a small fire under it. sometimes you had to run the hose down your back and under your bum if the fire was a little too large but it was awesome. I remember sitting in there one spring evening looking up at the snow on a 6000ft mountain in front with the sunset turning the clouds pink, sipping a whisky.
Did it have any bubbles/jets? Or it was literally just sitting in a warm/hot bath? Just outside? Snow and Rocks said:
I'll reply properly later but i'm just about to launch a new venture making wood burning tubs.
Different in design to most of the traditional tubs on the market but heat up time is generally under an hour and they can be repositioned quite easily by a couple of people. Also designed to be durable with all metal parts marine grade aluminium or stainless.
The website is due to launch later this week but not sure if I can post a link without breaking the rules.
I’d be interested to hear more when the site goes live please. Different in design to most of the traditional tubs on the market but heat up time is generally under an hour and they can be repositioned quite easily by a couple of people. Also designed to be durable with all metal parts marine grade aluminium or stainless.
The website is due to launch later this week but not sure if I can post a link without breaking the rules.
UTH said:
trickywoo said:
If you don’t have a free source of wood it’s not likely to be much cheaper, if any than electricity.
Hmmm, I did wonder. Mrs UTH bought be a Solo Stove wood burner/fire pit thing and it rinses through logs.....I've not actually gone to buy myself a big load yet, but the few my old man brought me from his countryside pad didn't last long, so I did wonder if paying for logs to heat the hot tub would actually get pricey.
JQ said:
I know the plastic ones have filters and chemicals added - how do the wooden ones deal with bacteria building up? How often would the water need to be replaced?
As above, they don't come with filtration as standard-they can be added though.So if the weather's nice this weekend, you fill up and use and drain away. You can add chlorine and take a shower before use but it's probably only going to last a weekend.
Great if you're not on the water meter but your not supposed to use rain harvested water for bathing.
I imagine the idea is it's for those of us who fancy a hot tub but only want to use it maybe once a month instead of running it all month but only using it once in a blue moon.
A cubic metre of water from UU is about £3 I think, that should get 4 fill ups at least of a 250l capacity tub. So disregarding the wood cost that's a lot less than £45 per month plus chess of a standard tub.
Currently we have an inflatable hot tub which is loads better than expected but we recently went glamping where we had a wood fired hot tub.
It was a decent size and the first night it took about 3 hours to heat. Next 2 nights it was ready in 30 mins or so.
This one didn't have bubbles or anything.
I'd have a log fired one over an electric, there was something nice about the wood burning away. I suspect it would be used less due to the effort but maybe be more special?
I had in mind they'd be a fair bit cheaper than an electric one but when I specced it up it was c. £9k.
It was a decent size and the first night it took about 3 hours to heat. Next 2 nights it was ready in 30 mins or so.
This one didn't have bubbles or anything.
I'd have a log fired one over an electric, there was something nice about the wood burning away. I suspect it would be used less due to the effort but maybe be more special?
I had in mind they'd be a fair bit cheaper than an electric one but when I specced it up it was c. £9k.
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