Hot tub questions: seriously thinkning about snagging one

[mbryson]

You all know about my knee issues and my wife has started having hip issues. Both of us feel a LOT better after a hot soak. Anytime we go somewhere that has a hot tub and use it for an hour or so it is amazing the difference it makes to me. I don't need something else to maintain but this seems like it could be pretty nice for us.

Questions:

Salt water or chlorinated water?

smaller or bigger? (3-5 person or bigger like 6-8 person?) why?

Those that have one, how often do you use it?

Is it a two year purchase and then you never use it again or does it get used a bit?

 

[Unimog]

I don't have and never have had one of my own, but I'd vote for saltwater 100x over chlorinated. Someone who has had both might need to speak up as to how much more difficult or expensive they are, I just know it feels so much nicer.

 

[ricsrx]

chlorinated water,l, about the salt water, after reading about it i just didnt try it out, the frog sticks are awsome, right now i am trying to stay with non clorinated maintenance, clorine is hard on the cover if you dont keep it under control, but my wife likes the smell of clorine( she thinks that the water quality is better) but i dont care that much for it.
bigger
3-5 time a week or more
if you like it and make it part of your life you will use it.

think of it like a needy high maintenance pet.

the hot tub is constantly trying to grow nasty stuff and you are constantly trying to control it, once you get the water quality figured out and get in to the daily routine, then its ready to go any time you want to use it. like at 3 am when you cant sleep!! i love it, so i keep my tub at full heat at all time and ready to go, other wise i could turn it down to the high 90's and turn it up .5 hours before useing to get it up to 105

i drain it during the summer.

but during the winter it is used constantly by me only, so its easy for me to maintain.

keep the girls out of it or have them clean the 10lbs of makeup off before using, or you will spend a week of adding more chemicals and cleaning to get it back to normal.

get a tub with a small constant circulation pump, that way the main pump doesnt have to turn on to filter the water, it does not drive up the costs, in fact some times i like soaking with no pumps/jets on, with out the circulation pump you will need the big pump/jets on to turn on the heat.

 

[ricsrx]

something to read about salt
http://www.bendfireside.com/salt-water-for-hot-tub-sanitizing-things-to-know-before-you-decide/


most of the people that i meet that got rid of their tub say they didn't use it enough to offset the maintenance cost and time.

 

[TRD270]

Smaller for sure, and get one that is efficient. Our house had one when we bought, it was massive could fit 6-8 people comfortably. Ran it for a few years and loved it, but it literally doubled my power bill. I have friends that have a little 4 person, and their operating costs aren't nearly as high as mine were

 

[muleskinner]

I just purchased one of these when they were on sale for $279.

http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-22...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLOHo_Skq8wCFQhJDAodDzIFGw

I haven't set it up yet, so I can't tell you if it's worth it or not, but I figured if I can get two seasons out of it I'll be happy.

 

[Bart]

Not sure about hot tubs but we have a salt system on our pool. It's way less maintenance and upkeep than the chlorine.

 

[Skylinerider]

Following as I've been looking at hot tubs recently. To throw another in the mix, what about bromine vs chlorine? Any experience with that?

 

[BCGPER]

Marc, mine is all yours for the taking. it's an eight foot, seating for sixish. The only caveat is YOU have to figure out how to get it out of the room that I built around it.

We got this one for the exact reason you're looking now. Beckie used it several times a week, whereas I might have got in once a week. When Beckie became ill, hot tubs became off limits. It's been drained for two years and I finally decided to pull it this summer. I'll be taking a Sawzall to it next week, then rebuilding the deck around it.

For what it's worth, I always used chlorine. Cheap and easy.

Maintenance is minimal, maybe 15 minutes a week. If you wear clothes in it, plan on more time. If you have kids or friends in it, plan on even more maintenance.

A quality top is mandatory, and will be short lived in an outdoor setting so plan on that expense.

Mine was costing me $15 to $20 a month in power. That would likely be more in an outdoor setting as well.

 

[TRD270]

Following as I've been looking at hot tubs recently. To throw another in the mix, what about bromine vs chlorine? Any experience with that?

I used bromine in mine, was pretty simple always stayed clean. Maintenance was pretty minimal with just the two of us using it. Not quite as chemically smelling as chlorine

 

[mbryson]

Marc, mine is all yours for the taking. it's an eight foot, seating for sixish. The only caveat is YOU have to figure out how to get it out of the room that I built around it.

We got this one for the exact reason you're looking now. Beckie used it several times a week, whereas I might have got in once a week. When Beckie became ill, hot tubs became off limits. It's been drained for two years and I finally decided to pull it this summer. I'll be taking a Sawzall to it next week, then rebuilding the deck around it.

For what it's worth, I always used chlorine. Cheap and easy.

Maintenance is minimal, maybe 15 minutes a week. If you wear clothes in it, plan on more time. If you have kids or friends in it, plan on even more maintenance.

A quality top is mandatory, and will be short lived in an outdoor setting so plan on that expense.

Mine was costing me $15 to $20 a month in power. That would likely be more in an outdoor setting as well.

That's a great opportunity (and incredibly generous) but I'm SURE we won't be anywhere near close to making a decision on this thing for a while. We're still in the "kitchen" phase of this spring (in fact that's just ramping up) and I'm SURE that will exhaust ALL funds (which makes your tub very appealing ). Unfortunately I'll have to pass on your tub due to timing constraints.

So it sounds like the tub helped Beckie a bit? Do you think it was the "massage" action of the jets or the heat of the water/buoyancy or the combination of the two that helped her?

 

[BCGPER]

Mostly the heat and massage. Back when we got it I was having some serious lower back issues (back when I actually worked for a living). This one had the back massage chair, which was remarkable! It had a lounger with two jets, one directly under each knee, that Beckie loved.