Why a Wood-Fired Hot Tub?

There's something so inexplicably magical about a soak in a wood-burning hot tub. The sound of crackling firewood, clear views of the stars on a clear night, the rhythmic sway of trees blowing in the evening breeze, the scent of cedar in the air, and the restorative feeling of hot water that envelopes allowing for a state of total ease and rest — it's a nature lovers dream come true. Like the kind of nostalgia and peacefulness only those who've experienced the joy gathering around a campfire can bring, a wood fired hot tub is all things good for the soul. 

A Connection to Nature

Round wood-fired hot tubs are a place to gather. A place to take in the views from every angle. To linger in the great outdoors, offering an anchor for loved ones to come together in the great outdoors. Fostering a connection to one another and to the natural environment, they invite you to slow down, unwind, take in the view, and relish in the ritual of bringing it to hot tubbing temperature using nothing but wood. Powered by clean, dry wood, it relies on the most primitive luxury mother nature has to offer, where heating it is half the fun. From filling the tub with water from an ocean, river, lake, well or fresh water from the hose, to chopping wood, building the fire in the submerged firebox, and nurturing the flame as it rises to your preferred soaking temperature - it's a therapeutic experience akin to sitting around a wood burning fireplace - only it's outside, giving every good reason to dwell a little longer in the great outdoors. Replacing the humming of jets, the bright colourful lights, the bulky plumbing, wiring, chlorinators and servicing needs, a wood burning hot tubs is the antithesis to the Vegas hot tub experience. 

Natural, Not Wasteful

Conventional spas are frought with cumbersome maintenance - from its heavy weight requiring crane installation, it's bulky size and square shape, to its electrical, plumbing and surface needs - it's a high maintenance experience from the start. Followed by ongoing maintenance schedules, a reliance on conventional hot tub chemicals that can be harmful to the environment and to human skin, its high consumption on energy, and it's ongoing need for repairs and maintenance, spas will always end up in a landfill one day when they finally hit the end of their limited lifespan, or when users grow tired of the constant humming that detracts from time spent in nature. With a wood burning hot tub, intrusive sounds of motors and jets are replaced by the gentle crackle of a fire — something you just don't find in city limits. Then there's the smell. A cedar-clad hot tub, like the ones we make using Canadian Western Red Cedar milled right in our backyard, exudes a warm, earthy aroma while the smoke from the fire lightly wafts through the air. Not to mention, a cedar hot tub centers and grounds a landscape, connecting with nature as its backdrop rather than opposing it with plastic, fibreglass or foam filled covers. Aesthetically, there's nothing more beautiful you can add to your yard than a cedar hot tub. For an alternative to the Vegas spa experience where electricity is still preferred, the cedar electric hot tub here has been rigorously designed to re-engineer the spa as you know it in a quiet, simple, virtually maintenance free alternative. 

There are also practical reasons to opt for a wood-fired hot tub. They won't explode your electricity bill, can operate without toxic chemicals, don't rely on professional installation, pumps, or take up valuable or limited electrical space in your panel as they're 'on' only as needed, and unlike electric hot tubs, they can be used literally anywhere with access to water. Bringing you right next to the waters edge, directly in the sand, in the middle of the woods, right next to a river bed, way up high on a mountain top, in the middle of the desert, and everywhere else you find yourself immersed in nature, they can get there, and they can be used there without a hardwired connection or outdoor receptacle. That's absolutely amazing. Basically, anywhere you can have a fire, and anywhere you can find water, you can have a wood burning hot tub. 

Wood burning hot tubs don't require difficult winterization or complicated freezing protections due to the absence of pipes and jets, and they're painlessly simple to safeguard from the elements. They won't need maintenance or repairs like electric hot tubs, and they require just good old fashioned wood and water, two materials that can be found in the wild way beyond the reach of an electrical panel, and even totally off the grid. Plus, heating it only when you want to use it is a much more sustainable way to live, and unlike conventional plastic and fibreglass spas, it's built from infinitely recyclable materials that will never sit in a landfill. Use only what you need when you need it, without waste. Read our blog post about water to learn how to make your wood fired hot tub eco-friendly with water conservation tips.

Where can you use a wood burning hot tub?

Now that we've established how good a wood-fired hot tubs is, and that yes - you absolutely need to soak in one, lets take a closer look at whether your property is a good fit to become home to one. Every property is unique, some perfectly fit for a wood burning hot tub, others not so much. In addition to how it can be used, what's equally important is to examine whether it's the right heating method for your intended use, keeping in mind that it's not always on like the aforementioned conventional electric spas. The most important consideration of course is whether your location permits the use of fire. Within city limits this may not be permitted, and everywhere is limited during the implementation of fire bans. While not all wood burning hot tubs are built equally with respect to fire hazard, they all are literally heated by fire, and so if there's a total fire ban where you are, or there typically are during the dry seasons, it's not the right fit for year round hot tubbing. That said, many properties are used only during some seasons of the year, and when fire restrictions aren't in place, making a wood burning hot tub compatible for those occasions. Some wood fired hot tubs use external fireboxes, while the AlumiTub wood fired hot tubs use an internally submerged firebox which is literally under water. Another critical safety measure is to choose one with a spark arresting cap. Note that even with a spark arresting cap, sparks can still pose a risk during dry weather and it's integral that you keep the chimney of a wood burning hot tub at least 15ft away from flammable objects. 

In addition to fire risks, it's important to be mindful of smoke output too. Our wood fired hot tub is specifically designed with a 50% bigger firebox than alternatives to address this, keeping dry burned wood emissions to a bare minimum, and after the fire is established there's virtually no output at all - something to keep your neighbours feeling more fond of you. 

Beyond both fire and smoke considerations is access to water. Of course, for any hot tub - you'll need water. What's unique about a wood burning hot tub though, is that almost any clean water source is compatible, and with an AlumiTub, salt water is safe to use too thanks to its marine grade aluminum foundation which is literally made to be sea bound. 

Is a wood fired hot tub the right heat type for you?

We contend that there's nothing, literally nothing better to soak in than a wood fired hot tub. But in terms of function and day to day utility, wood fire isn't practical for everyone. Like the heat in your house, there are times where it's helpful to not have to light a fire manually. Initially designed for cabins, cottages, and recreational properties that were either off grid completely, or where the tub was only going to be used on a weekend basis, the wood fired hot tub is ingenious. But for the daily soaker, it's not as practical for an easy, drop of the hat kind of soak. While some tubs hold their heat better than others, and the AlumiTub actually holds its heat indefinitely with an armful of wood a day, what's meant to be a beautiful outdoor ritual can become a daunting task, just like a wood burning fireplace can. For the more frequent soaker, a hybrid wood fired + electric hot tub is the next best thing, relying on electricity when needed, and enjoying wood fired heat the rest of the time. Presenting the option to use one heat method or the other, a hybrid hot tub can also be used with both heat sources simultaneously, which can be a highly energy efficient way to bring a hot tub to temperature, or keep it at temperature, with minimal output. One such way to do so is to leave the electric temperature set low, bringing it up the rest of the way, usually to 101-104 by wood fire. This approach allows users to enjoy the convenience of having an always-clean, partially heated but low energy consuming electric tub, while enjoying all that's beloved about the experience heating it by wood fire has to offer - but in a faster way. Another approach is to do the reverse, heating it by wood and keeping it at temperature with electricity. Or with the wifi controls offered on the hybrid and electric cedar hot tubs we build, you can do a combination of these things using timers. 

Elevating the Art of the Soak

Not all wood burning hot tubs are made equal. In fact, most out in the wild today are built cheap, imported from overseas, made of low quality materials without regard for key design details, and have limited function, heat performance and durability, in equal measure. To the undiscerning buyer, a wood fired hot tub could be based on its looks and price alone, but there's so, so much more to what makes for a legacy hot tub, and what's a novelty purchase that will barely last a few seasons. The most important ingredients are that it's easy to set up (and pre-assembled if possible), has an internally submerged firebox vs. One that sits outside the tub which will struggle to heat the water and is less efficient, more dangerous and generally less optimal, as well as the materials it's made from, its heating properties, insulation, safety, shape, size, heat and filtration flexibility, overall weight, craftsmanship, depth, and overall aesthetic. 

In 2001 AlumiTubs founder set out to reimagine the cedar hot tub as he knew it. At their property on Thornmanby Island, perched beside the ocean was a cedar hot tub they coveted, but it was frought with shortcoming. Fed up with the drawbacks, the bacterial growth that grew between the cracks, the constant swelling and contracting of its cedar siding which exposed it to algae buildup and led to contact leaks, he decided to pioneer a new path forward by developing an alternative using materials he knew well from aviation and marine pleasure crafts. Using marine grade aluminum, he developed the first of its kind hot tub using the same beautiful and performant cedar the world had long since regarded as the best wood for a wooden hot tub, while adding function, performance and durability with a lightweight foundation that would render it pre-assembled, hygienic, easy to keep clean, leak-proof, and as enduring as the memories made in it.

Elevating the art of an old-style soak with the functions, performance, heat qualities and enduring qualities of a sustainable, timeless hot tub, the AlumiTub was born and quickly trailblazed a new way to build a wood burning hot tub. Soon islanders and beyond wanted their own, making AlumiTub the legacy hot tub that it is today. Taking all that's beloved about cedar hot tubs, it adds function, performance and grit with a leak-proof, pre-assembled design that can be filled with any clean water source, used without chemicals, and flexibly built to include electricity for filtration and electric heat when needed. These practicalities are what sets the AlumiTub apart. Our leak-proof aluminum foundation means your tub will last a lifetime, while the cedar-clad exterior allows for a layer of extra insulation to sandwich between the tub offering thermal qualities in this strong enduring and moisture resistant wood. The stainless steel firebox, which is submerged directly in the water, distributes heat faster than external fireboxes and three layers of insulation create unparalleled heat performance, with just an armful of wood a day to maintain its temperature. Our portable tubs, which weigh in at just over 220 pounds can be easily moved by truck, trailer or in the back of a small boat, and because the marine grade aluminum foundation can be filled with salt or freshwater, they can be installed and set up on any flat surface. 

The benefits of the aluminum foundation are unique to AlumiTubs, and they’re plenty. Our wood-fired hot tubs are cleverly built to be the most hygienic wood-fired hot tub to clean and maintain, with the lowest heat time and the highest heat retention, presenting just the right amount of manual work for a weekend at the cabin. As our friends at Huckberry say, if you take a zen approach to this process, you're bound to find a bit of enlightenment along the way. 

Want to turn your dream of tubbing under the stars into a nightly ritual? Reserve one today so you can experience the magic of an AlumiTubs wood-burning hot tub for yourself.