Original Post
Written by
Edited December 3, 2022
at 06:59 PM
by
Walmart has a number of their inflatable hot tubs on sale. This appears to be the largest model. 5-7 person (probably 4 normal fat Americans like myself) 314 gallon capacity. 85" diameter, 28" deep. The smaller ones are 177 gallons (71" x 26") by comparison.
If you have the space, this model seems pretty awesome for this price.
Double the price, double the volume, double the people. Your call.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Colema...hbdg=L1100
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Hence, you leave them running all the time.
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Thank you. Was going to do store pick up and keep it in my daughters car but didn't want it to block her view.
Having had a Killowatt meter on it, I know mine uses ~8 kW/day to maintain 100-degrees. The heater kicks on at pretty regular intervals, say, 1 hour on, five off. It would be nice to be able to schedule it so that it heated during our "off peak" rates after midnight, but you can't really do anything with this pump. You can't put it on a timer, as all settings reset if it loses power.
Mine can increase the temp by 3-degrees F/hour. Whether it makes sense to turn off the heat if you used it once a week would depend on your ambient temp I guess. I know I messed with timing it, and only turning it on before the weekend, and finally got sick of it and just left it on. It would probably make more sense just to back it down to 90, but then I'd have to remember to do it. Having some kind of smart control over it would be nice.
As for chemicals. These have a relatively small amount of water, and a little goes a long way. If you get in with lots of personal care products on your body, you're going to have a bad time trying to keep it decent. We don't, and the water is very easy to maintain. I use a bromine starter, and then maybe half a bromine tablet every couple of weeks. I do throw a tablespoon of non-chlorine shock in there when we get out. I change the water every 4 months or so, but not religious about it. Been great for 3 years, tub still looks clean, and no complaints.
I told myself when I got it that it's just fun for the holiday season, and then next year I'd look for a "real" hot tub. I honestly didn't expect it to do as well as it has. It's easily the best $300 (plus chemicals plus electricity) I've spent on the house.
I'd have mine at our place in northern New Hampshire. We'd use it irregularly; a week here, a long weekend there. I'd love to have it outside, under the stars. We like to get out and roll in the snow then jump back in; it's fantastic for apres ski. I've had my doubts though about how it would do in -20degF. I'll have to check out the Canadian guy. I'm intrigued by the idea of insulating it really well.
Three other ideas I had. 1) keep it in the garage. Not as nice as under the stars, but next to the stars is better than a frozen block of ice. 2) build a platform with wheels, and roll it out when I want to use it 3) get two; put the empty one out and pump over the water from the one in the garage. But all of these options would be improved by being able to set the temp back to 50deg, and then turn it up when I know I'm coming. It sounds like it would takes a couple/few days, depending on how well I insulate it, and where it's stored.
30 x 22 x 22 @89lbs
Ignore the "5-7" people, you'll be able to fit 3 adults in it, 4 if you're on very good terms. 2 people fit comfortably in mine.
The air insulation in the sides and cover is excellent. We had high winds that flipped a commercial party tent (used for privacy) upside down when I was away from home. While it was flipping, the leg pulled the power cord. I got home the next morning, after a sub-freezing night, and the water was still 56 degrees.
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I live in NJ, my electric bill (19c/kWh) was about $50/month higher during Dec-Feb keeping this set on 104F. On the coldest nights it could keep it within a few degrees of that.
When initially filling if possible use a garden hose hooked up to a hot water tap and fill it that way.
It took over 3 days to heat 50something degree water to 102 in the winter I used it.