A wood fired AlumiTub on the Ten Mile River in the western Catskills: four years at a busy guest cabin, refilled from the river every week, with a cold plunge down the bank. Owner and photographer Jennifer MacFarlane in her own words, with her photographs.
The best electric hot tub runs on a standard 240V circuit, holds its temperature in the cold, stays quiet, keeps a fill clean for months and can be repaired part by part. How to judge each, and what Electric owners say.
The best hot tub for a small space is a round one. A 5 foot cedar tub takes a 60 inch circle, seats two or three upright with shoulders under, rolls through a 38 inch gate and needs no crane. What a small hot tub has to get right, and what to check first.
The Hot Tub Journal is AlumiTubs' guide to outdoor living with a cedar hot tub, whatever heats it. It covers choosing between wood fired, electric and hybrid heating; sizing a tub and what one costs to run; where to put it, from a city deck to an island cabin, and how it gets there; what an electric hot tub needs from a site and how the equipment is housed; how a wood burning hot tub works and how long it takes to heat; onsen rituals, cold plunges and soaking after a workout; and what it is like to own a tub for twenty years, told by the people who do. Most of it is written for anyone weighing up a hot tub, not only an AlumiTub owner.
Every AlumiTub is a riveted 5052 marine-grade aluminum structure clad in Canadian Western Red Cedar, handcrafted on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia since 2001 and backed by a 25 year structural warranty. Three heating systems share the same tub: the Electric, which holds a set temperature on a schedule and needs no fire; the Wood Fired, which needs no power and heats a Standard in about three hours; and the Hybrid, which does both. Water care has its own home in the Water Care Academy.
Start with the guide to heating options, hot tub dimensions and sizes, or the electric cedar hot tub.
