Home Made Hot Tub

[i_am_fubar]

So, I was talking to the missus about how great and flat the garden will be soon. And she mentioned getting a hot tub. I looked into them, saw the price and came up with this question...

How can I make a hot tub?

General discussion at this point, but I was thinking an octagonal timber frame (designing around tensile strength to hold back the water pressure). Maybe 1m deep, and 1m length on each side.

Use a small wood fire to provide heating and a second hand central heating pump to provide flow.

To waterproof, line the wooden frame with 22mm exterior grade ply, then fiberglass and add a few layers of swimming pool paint.

No thoughts toward bubbles, but an old vacuum cleaner could be used I imagine.

So yea, anyone else ever attempted this, any thoughts of ideas?

Cheers chaps.

Sam.

 

[pantsmachine]

Theres a thing in America where they use stock tanks(large square plastic tank) as the base for homebuilt hottubs. Easy to get hold of a 1 cube tank in the UK but i think maybe 1500 ltrs will give you some mate space. You are already watertight and just have to dress the outside to give the desired look.

Edit. Like these
http://www.smithsofthedean.co.uk/Recycled Containers.htm

Right size for 2 people as a base.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Following the very hot period last year one of my neighbours had a hot tub delivered literally on the day before the weather turned. They've used it since................




























3 times!

 

[i_am_fubar]

I'm more than happy to sit in a hot tub in the middle of winter... so I'm hopefully going to use it more.

I was looking at the 1000l tubs, can get them from e-bay. Not sure if it would be big enough though :/

 

[Inky Pete]

Get yourself one of these:-

http://www.bestwayspa.co.uk/Home.html

Probably cost less than the materials for making your own, and you can always e-bay it when you find out how much it costs to keep a metric ton of water at 40 degrees!

 

[htgeng]

Get yourself one of these:-

http://www.bestwayspa.co.uk/Home.html

Probably cost less than the materials for making your own, and you can always e-bay it when you find out how much it costs to keep a metric ton of water at 40 degrees!

makro have got the smaller one for £250 ex vat on special offer at the moment. I was tempted I have to say, but agree with the heating costs. I think I'd want to hook it up to the gas heating system to get it up to temp.

 

[Inky Pete]

I reckon mine costs just under a fiver a week to run on average. That's with it located in a glass lean-to sunroom we've got on the back of the garage.

It's probably used about once a week. If it was used more often then it would cost more to run coz it does tend to cool down a bit over a hour or so's use - especially with the bubbles blowing through the water.

 

[i_am_fubar]

I have some huge piles of firewood. So I feel that the cost savings of never having to pay to heat the pool would offset the possible increase in cost of making one.

Also, I have this thing against inflatable pools... I don't know why :s

I'll still be looking into ready made options. But my question was more towards how one would build one, and what design considerations would need to be taken.

 

[pantsmachine]

I went for this chofu in the end. Andy had the best prices in the UK i could find for the chofu.
http://www.rustictubs.com/rustictubs.com/Wood_fired_Chofu.html
My test with a copper coil and a chiminea did show that heating the tub with a homemade firebox/transfer medium is entirely possible.

There are guys who have built tubs out of breeze blocks. Everything is possible given time and money enough!

 

[pantsmachine]

Scroll down the page to the 1k and 2kltr tanks. What a base to start from!

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/water-butt.asp

 

[pantsmachine]

Sorry to keep giving ready solutions but i think you will hit endless problems trying to build the tub itself out of marine ply and timber. Can't see how you will get an effective longterm seal at the joints. My 4ft deep tub took about a month to swell and seal completely and those staves are computer machined and around 45mm thick. The fibreglass would have to go on the inside and that would be a bugger to get to a point where its smooth enough to slide around on in your swimsuit. Plus it will crack if the frame is not absolutely 100% solid. Sorry to be a downer but that's how i see it.

 

[ladylola]

I had a similiar idea about making one myself but never got round to making it, or for that matter buying one either.
I was thinking along the lines of a concrete construction lined with tiles inside and probably timber or brick on the outside.
Now to heat it I was thinking along the lines of how the Romans heated theirs, that is to say flues passing through it so that the gases heat up the concrete and thus the water. An alternative method although a little cruder would be to heat up rocks and simply put them into the water just as food has been cooked for thousands of years before stoves and the like.
I was thinking of some sort of gate to alter direction of the gases to regulate the heat as you only want to be warm and not cooked.
Never did any costings or tests to see if this idea would work as I had a million and one other jobs on the list.

 

[i_am_fubar]

Hey pants, I like the looks of those. both good ideas and possibly in my price range.

I'm still open to the ides of a DIY job, but I could be swayed to using a pre-formed container if I can find one for the right price.