Built for the long haul, and backed like it
Over 10,000 AlumiTubs are out in the world, at off grid cabins, lake cottages, family homes and coastal properties across the globe. The earliest ones are still being soaked in today.
Coastal salt air. Minus forty in the north. Hard well water. Rentals running seven days a week. Cabins left alone through the winter. The design has been refined over twenty five years of tubs coming back to us with real world wear from real world places.
That track record is why we can put a 25 year structural warranty on a hot tub, and why every component is replaceable rather than disposable.
Why aluminum, and how it has always been protected
Marine grade aluminum was chosen because it holds up where other materials don't. It doesn't rely on swelling to stay watertight the way a traditional cedar tub does, and it doesn't crack or delaminate the way moulded acrylic does. Cedar stays on the outside where it belongs, doing what it's best at.
Aluminum is also a metal, and every serious marine application manages that the same way: the right alloy, sacrificial anodes where they're needed, and water kept within a defined range. Boat hulls have been built this way for a century. We've built this way since 2001, and it's why so many of those early tubs are still in service.
Now the protection is in the surface too
The aluminum in every AlumiTub is now built with a marine grade protective barrier as part of manufacturing. Earlier tubs depended on the owner following the water care and anode guidance closely. The protected surface means the tub is no longer relying on that alone.
We still publish water care ranges, and we still ship anodes, because balanced water protects the equipment, the cedar and the quality of your soak, not only the structure. The difference is that the tub is now built to handle a mistake.
Sacrificial anodes
A sacrificial anode is a block of a more reactive metal placed in the water so it corrodes preferentially. Standard practice on boats and in water heaters for as long as either has existed.
Magnesium is used because the anode has to be more reactive than aluminum to do anything at all. Electric, Hybrid and Wood Fired with Filtration tubs run three magnesium anodes, replaced every 3 to 4 months, or once around 30% remains. That falls naturally alongside a seasonal deep clean.
Water care ranges
| Parameter | Target |
|---|---|
| Calcium hardness | 150 to 250 ppm |
| pH | 7.4 to 7.8 |
| Total alkalinity | 80 to 120 ppm |
| Bromine | 2 to 3 ppm |
The one most people miss is calcium hardness. Very soft water is chemically aggressive, because it's under saturated and pulls minerals from whatever it touches. Some municipal supplies run as low as 10 ppm. If you fill through a water softener, you're below spec by design, because removing calcium is what a softener does.
Not compatible with an aluminum interior: chlorine in any form, pucks and floaters, salt chlorine generators, copper based algaecides, silver based mineral cartridges. Several of these are standard in the acrylic spa world, which is why pool stores recommend them.
Good Clean Living Water Care
Rather than leave owners to assemble a compatible routine from a pool store shelf, we put together Good Clean Living Water Care, a curated collection built specifically around aluminum and around the ranges above.
Fill purification, balancers, a monthly plant derived stabilizer, filter care, and a deep clean every 3 to 4 months. Everything in it is compatible with an aluminum interior, so there's no cross checking labels and no guessing about whether something belongs in your tub. It works by reducing what your water needs rather than adding more to it.
What it looks like after a decade or two
The most useful evidence isn't ours. These are owners describing tubs they have lived with for years, in their own words.
"We have happily been using our AlumiTub for nearly 20 years. Thank you for building such a remarkable product. I can't tell you about the countless happy hours we have spent in its warm confines."
Heidi & Bruce Reugg
"We got our tub in 2015 and installed it ourselves at our island cottage."
Lorne & Tanya Atkinson, island cottage, Ontario
"We have been enjoying our hot tub for the last year. Purchased in April 2016. Even kept it burning through the minus 30 C nights of Alberta winters."
Mitch & Sherry Metrunec, Alberta
"Brought our family together. My kids come up to the cabin just to use the hot tub. It's our family staple and we've loved it for 8 years now."
Metallier
"After barging our AlumiTub over to our wildfire-burned lot on Loon Lake 7 years ago, two of us rolled it up the hill and installed it. Maintenance and upkeep have been easy. The AlumiTub is built to last and we expect several generations to enjoy it over the years."
Gail Hunt, Loon Lake
"We've had our tub 4 or 5 years and absolutely love it. On a remote site in Northern Manitoba."
Rob & Kate Buchanon, Northern Manitoba
"We have had our Alumitub for 3 years and think it is the greatest thing ever!"
Rick Wirthlin
"I was always a little hesitant of going with one that was only cedar because of how it would last over time with the winter/summer cycle and the wood constantly expanding and contracting. That's when I found AlumiTubs, and it was the perfect solution. It has already survived a harsh winter with no issue."
Scott Hauser, upper Midwest
"It feels much more durable than the wooden hot tub we had before. Sturdier construction, better insulation, and no concerns about leaks or warping."
b cramer
What we put behind it
We'd rather show you the terms than ask you to take our word for it.
A 25 year structural warranty. The marine grade aluminum structure and foundation, together with the stainless chimney, cap and bands, are warranted to remain free of leaks for twenty five years from delivery. Registered automatically when your tub ships, with no form to fill out. It's worth reading in full, including what it doesn't cover, because we wrote it to be read before you buy rather than discovered during a claim.
Surface deposits are named in it explicitly. Aluminum and stainless develop a patina over time, and localised hard water may leave surface marks. The warranty states plainly that this is normal, not a fault or a flaw, and does not affect the structure or performance of the tub.
60 day returns. If it isn't right, return it within 60 days of delivery, unused and still in its original crate, with no restocking fee. If it arrives damaged in transit, we replace it free of charge and cover the freight.
Parts for the life of the tub. Every component is replaceable and available to buy, including on tubs well past their coverage period and on tubs bought secondhand. We still supply parts for tubs built two decades ago.
Read the 25 year warranty · Read the refund policy
Earlier tubs can be brought up to the same standard
The barrier can be applied to tubs already in service. That's how we approach everything on an AlumiTub. Components are replaceable rather than disposable, and improvements go to owners who already have one, not only to new buyers.
If you own an AlumiTub built before June 2026, or you've seen any surface change you're unsure about, email hi@alumitubs.com with photos and your water numbers. In most cases this is straightforward to resolve, and we'll walk you through it.
Everything we've published on this
If you're researching aluminum before buying, these go into more detail than we can here. We'd rather you read all of it.
- What causes pitting in an aluminum hot tub? What the deposits actually are, why soft water is the cause most owners don't expect, and how a tub already showing them gets put right.
- Do aluminum hot tubs corrode? The conditions aluminum reacts under, stated plainly, and how the tub is built to handle them.
- Water chemistry for an aluminum hot tub. The four numbers that matter, what order to balance in, and which common spa products aren't compatible.
- Sacrificial anodes in an aluminum hot tub. What they do, why magnesium, how often to replace them, and the four things anodes can't fix.
- Hot tub materials compared. Aluminum, cedar, acrylic and plastic, including where an aluminum tub isn't the right choice.
Still weighing it up? Email hi@alumitubs.com with your location and water source and we'll tell you honestly whether an aluminum tub suits your property. We'd rather talk someone out of the wrong build than sell the wrong one.
How’s your water?
No one wants to soak in dirty water. You don’t have to be a chemist to balance your hot tub.
No more trips to the pool store. No more guessing at doses. No more waiting for the water to clear. No more paying to fix problems. Balance before it drifts, schedule your own maintenance, and diagnose problems without the chemistry degree.
Free to use, and it works for any hot tub.
Tell us about your tub
Every tub material has sanitizer it suits and sanitizer it doesn’t. Acrylic tolerates most things, but the heater element doesn’t. Cedar’s steel bands don’t like chlorine either.
An aluminum interior runs on bromine, at 2 to 3 ppm, and not above 3. Chlorine, salt systems and copper or silver products aren’t compatible with it.
Enter today’s test
How to read a test strip
Always follow the timing and dipping instructions supplied with your test strips. Manufacturers specify different immersion times and reading windows, and the instructions on your bottle are the ones that apply.
Whichever strips you use, these help:
- Test in still water. Below the surface, away from a running jet.
- Hold it level, pads up. Water running from one pad into another gives a false reading.
- Compare under good, neutral light. Daylight is best. Not a porch light, not deep shade. Color judgment is where most bad readings come from.
- Match to the nearest block, and round toward the middle. If it sits between two, take the one closer to the target rather than the extreme.
- Look after the strips. Keep the lid shut, keep them dry, never touch the pads, and replace them by the expiry on the bottle.
If a reading surprises you, test again before you treat anything. A second strip costs nothing.
Leave a row blank if your strip doesn’t test for it.
What’s happening?
Pick the closest description.
Leave any row blank if your strip doesn’t test for it.
Do this now
Build my routine
Four questions, then a schedule you can keep on your phone.
Your water care routine
One tap and your phone carries the schedule. Every reminder links back here.
My water
It teaches, schedules and solves
And no dosing you didn’t need. Balanced water uses less.
Balance first, treatment second
Most hot tub advice starts with what to add. We think that’s the wrong end of the problem.
When water falls out of balance, sanitizer may work less effectively and problems like cloudiness, scale and uncomfortable water become more likely. Reach for more product and you treat the symptom while the cause carries on.
Start clean. Balance well. Treat only what you need.
Understand your water
Straight answers
A simpler approach to water care
Developed to make caring for your hot tub simpler, more considered, and easier to understand.
- The Purifier · a hose-mounted filter, so every fill starts clean
Hold the water where it should sit.
- The Balancer: pH
- The Balancer: Calcium
Treat only what needs treating.
- The Stabilizer · a monthly plant-derived enzyme treatment
- The Filter Cleanser and Filter Booster · for tubs with filtration
- The Tub Cleanser · for the seasonal drain, clean and refill
- The (Aroma) Therapist · a eucalyptus ritual for actually getting in
Keep it all in one place
Your test history, maintenance dates and upcoming care schedule, ready the next time you visit.
Bromine and test strips are intentionally sourced separately. Good Clean Living doesn’t replace proper sanitation; it helps you create the balanced water conditions that make ongoing care simpler.