The wife wants a hot tub

shorthairsrus

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Tell me the scoop on them. Pros cons a spa store vs Costco or Sam's.
 


LBrandt

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Big bertha propane torch and an old castiron tub should work. Little rough regulating temp at first, can have some hot spots. :;:stirthepot
 


Mushballer

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My wife wanted a hot tub about a year ago now. We shopped around and ultimately ended up with a salt cell tub due to lack of chemicals needed. Well a year later she has only used the thing a handful of times however I use it every morning and absolutely love it.
 

martinslanding

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We purchased ours at Hot Springs Spa in Fargo a couple years ago if you wait for the right time of year you can usually get a heck of a deal on them they definitely know what they're doing and we'll help you out with chemicals and set up and everything I would recommend going through a dealer before getting one at a wholesale store chemicals aren't bad as long as you keep up on them test the water once every couple weeks if you're not using it and you still my dad to add a little bit but now there's only two chemicals that I add every other week and it's only a capful of each to maintain it and whatever type of hot tub You by make sure that it is engineered for our weather in the winter I'm not going to lie there was a few 20-plus below zero days that I thought I was going to open that hot tub up to a solid block of ice but they never froze and we had no problems this last winter
 

AR-15

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I was going to say a 55 gal barrel, heat the sides, put a air hose in the bottom for some bubbles and let her rip
 

Retired-Guy

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We purchased a 6-man Coleman tub from Keller Hearth & Home in Mandan in 2002. Only major issue we have ever had was one of the two-speed pump motors quit operating at low speed. Evidently the controls were smart enough to know this so rather than let the water stand idle and freeze things up, the pump just shifted to high speed. I was able to tell that things were amiss by the sound of the high speed pump running continuously.

But as was said, the novelty wears off eventually and they don't get used much. We enjoyed ours the most in the winter as long as the wind wasn't howling. In 2014 we started spending the winters in Texas so rather than worry about the tub freezing up, I started draining it in October or November and then refilling it again in the spring. This past spring I elected not to fill it because we had a busy summer planned so it is still without water. If anyone was interested in buying it, we might be willing to sell. Not sure what it might be worth.

Chemicals are expensive but as long as you are careful, you don't go through that many. We have a private backyard and usually use it after dark so seldom wear a bathing suit. When company come of course everyone does but I do notice the water getting a little cloudy after such use. The experts blame that on laundry soap residue in the fabric. It does help to have a good washer that rinses the clothing well.
 


Flyfiishjim

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Several years ago we had a Hot Springs Spa. Most single important thing was the one we bought had an 8 year warranty on the shell for leaks. At 6 years we had a small leak that they quickly fixed. At 7 years 11 months and 3 weeks it sprung a leak and they brought me a new hot tub.

That sums up why if you are going through buy a hot tub buy a Hot Springs. And by the way we loved ours, sold it with the house and have missed it ever since.
 

nybs

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I like ours. Probably don’t use it as often as we should but hard to beat in the winter with a light snow falling. Ours is also a salt cell - still throw some chlorine in after each use but not much...less than a bottle in last year. Cleaning filters is a pain in the ass but cheaper than new paper ones every year. One thing is check on the seating layout...ours has a lounger that takes up an entire side so when we have all 4 kids in it it’s not ideal. We got ours with the house but if buying new I’d probably go with more of a bench style all the way around.
 

wslayer

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Nice at first but the novelty wears off pretty quick.
Neighbors bought one a few years ago. 1/2 dozen times used per year at the most. Still got to deal with chemicals constantly. He agrees, PITA.
 
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BrokenBackJack

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Have a couple buddies that have them and the most they use theirs is 3-4 times per year. Both said they wouldn't spend the money if they had it to do over again.
 


SDMF

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Growing up our neighbors put one in their basement. 3-4 yrs later, they had to take the entire basement down to the studs. Humidity ruined everything including making both of their kids sick, often.

I'm sure there are ways to do things which don't allow such things to happen, but, that's a constant reminder for me that I probably don't need one.
 

sl1000794

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Re-do your bathroom and put in a deeper (and bigger if possible), jetted tub and a 75 gallon water heater. Make sure you put in an in-line heater in the re-circ system so the cold, room air doesn't cool the tub water. Now you can use it whenever you want in the privacy of your bathroom and drain it every time so no humidity and no chemical problems. This is what you would get in a high end hotel/motel room, so try that first. We had one in Reno, NV.

That's what we did 27 years ago.
 

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