School me on hot tubs

Beaverton, Oregon. Though I'm more inclined to buy new just to be the first person to have sex in it.

 

Where are you? I'm looking for one for my Iowa home.

 

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/rubbermaid-structural-foam-stock-tanks-300-gal-capacity

 

North Branch, MN. Just north of the cities.

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Picked up a used Softub (prob not the first to have sex in it lol) to try out before dropping the $ on a new unit. It’s the largest one they make, claims to be a six person but I can’t imagine more than four in there. They seem ok, 110V standard outlet. Very simple, light, self-supporting. My wife and I moved and “installed” it just the two of us. Interesting there is no heating element at all, it uses waste heat from the pump motor to heat the water. We keep it outside and 104 degree water when its 12f outside is pretty nice.

 

Let's talk details. Please send me a message with the details of what you have, and what you want for it. I have 'family' with a cabin in Brainerd, and go to on occasion. Primary question is what does it weigh? I do own a double axle trailer.

 

It weighs a lot less if you drain all the water out first....

 

Don’t know much about hot tubs, but if I were to get one, I’d get the same one they used in that piece of cinematic gold, “Hot Tub Time Machine.”

 

I installed hot tubs for 13 years in a previous life. I also moved used one's from sales on Craigslist. I would venture to say that over 50% of new hot tub purchases go unused after the first year, if that long. The novelty of them wears off pretty quick and when that eventually happens, you will be lucky to get half of what you paid for it if you try to sell it. That being said, I would strongly suggest looking for a fairly new used one and save a bucket of cash...

 

After a while you realize it's just a giant pot of hot semen and the magic is gone.

 

For the last ten years, I've driven to the gym six days a week or so to use theirs. Admittedly, when I flip homes and there is an old one in there, I usually just demo it. But I'm reasonably comfortable in the fact I'll get use out of it.

 

That's what we did.... paid about 60% of the new price for a 2 year old tub that still has some manufacturer's warranty on it.

 

I paid around $11k for a 6-8 person Jacuzzi a few years ago. We had visited a couple different dealers in the area, including a manufacturer/showroom for Clearwater Spas. In hindsight, I wish I'd gone with the Clearwater instead of the Jacuzzi - they had roughly equivalent tubs for ~7k and I definitely got sold by the Jacuzzi dealer. But, I am very happy with the tub - just salty about the price/value.

The #1 thing to know before you go in, that they will straight up lie to you about, is the water quality maintenance that's required. Tub maintenance is easy and you shouldn't have to worry about it for the first several years. Maintaining water quality requires constant attention, however. These things are ultimately just bathtubs with heaters. Ever get out of the bath and the water's a little grey and slimy feeling? Now use that same bathwater over and over for six months. That's a hot tub. The filters and circulation system helps a bit but really it's the chemical balancing that will maintain your water quality. Even without any use at all, your water will begin to stink a little after about a week if you don't add some sanitizer. The dealer will sell you up and down about UV sanitization and skimmers and blah-micron filters. These are what make it stink after a week instead of after four days - you still need constant chemical maintenance. The chemistry isn't remotely hard, so don't get intimidated, but just know that it's not a "leave it for a month and hop in" thing at all.

I used my tub every two or three days, for two people, for about 45 minutes. We were reasonably clean but didn't bother showering perfectly squeaky before getting in (you won't either, long term) and I ended up having to add a little bit of shock (sanitizer) after every use. Make that a habit and you can simply test the water every couple weeks, or when it starts to feel/smell "off", and it'll be easy. I replaced the water about every four to six months - water replacement becomes necessary when the chemical additives are no longer doing their job; eventually the water just becomes saturated and there's no way to chemically clean it any further. Replace your filters at the same time.

My tub drew a max of I think 40ish amps with everything running, and the NEC required a 50A power line to it. 220V. It added about $20-30/mo to the power bill monthly, and another $30 or so each time we drained and refilled it due to having to heat up 400gal of hose water by 45°F. (Mine took roughly six hours to heat sufficiently.) If yours is inside or you don't use it as much as I did, then your monthly power consumption will be lower because you'll lose heat less quickly.

Overall, having it is badass and I'd buy it again - I'd just look for a similarly-featured cheaper unit than the one I bought.

 

at the Isle of Man last year I bought a 4-person inflatable for the pits. Fucking best money I ever spent; the shenanigans we got up to in that thing were legendary.

Biggest thing about the inflatables is that they're slow. Suuuuuper slow. Slow to heat - this one took a full 24hr to become warm, and slow to filter - we had to replace the water twice in eight days. But, that's their advantage too: since they don't draw 9kw, you can put em basically anywhere you want, immediately.

 

My wife's uncle is a pool builder. He uses the pool = pet analogy when it come to care. Pools require the same attention level as a pet. I cannot imagine a hot tub would be much less.

 

More. I managed a city pool when I was younger so thought I was hot shit and could do something as simple as a hot tub dead easy in my sleep, but I was thinking about it backwards - since the hot tub is so small compared to a real pool (400gal vs 100k gal), the chemistry changes way more rapidly and is way more sensitive to dosage measurement errors (aka screw up by an ounce on a 2oz dose and you've overdosed it by 50%, screw up by an ounce on a 3lb dose and who gives a shit)

 

I was going to say something about the length of interest of these bloody noisy bathtubs hold but you've put it quite succinctly.