my The greatest disappointment of adulthood is finding out how much hassle comes with recreation. Everyone loves to lounge on the deck of a friend’s boat on a sunny summer day, but the poor idiot who owns that boat is currently oiling the battery terminals and waxing the gel coat. Everyone loves the family cabin, but that’s when the drains have to be cleaned. And everyone loves to lounge in the inflatable hot tub in the backyard, but only until the electric bill comes along or a rainstorm brings down a big branch on the tree above.
I spent five wonderful months in the bubbles of my Intex PureSpa inflatable hot tub, from last December until the Missouri summer heat set in. If you’re considering an inflatable hot tub for your backyard, I promise you some great times gazing up at the steamy, mood-boosting sky on chilly Tuesday nights. But I’ll also warn you that it’s a commitment. Even though hot tubs are inflatable, they still require some care and feeding. And you’ll pay for the privilege with electricity and occasional cleaning fees.
Slow Burn
PureSpa is manufactured by Intex, a company known for inflatable pool floats and camping mattresses, as well as above ground pools, inflatable kayaks, and many other similar products.
An inflatable hot tub is exactly what the name suggests: a tub that you inflate using an air pump that’s part of the unit that heats and filters it. The shell of the tub is a triple-layered laminate material that’s reassuringly sturdy. You can sit on the edge without worrying about it tipping over. You spread out some bubble wrap ground cover, place the tub on top of it, and inflate it. It has an automatic air pump, so it takes about 20 minutes to inflate. Then (carefully!) run the inlet and outlet tubes from the heating unit through the corresponding tubes in the tub. From there, it took another 20 minutes to fill the tub with water with a garden hose. (Note that Intex recommends plugging the hot tub directly into an outlet and not using an extension cord, something to consider when deciding on placement.)
Photo: Martin Chismar
According to the manufacturer, the outdoor ambient temperature must be at least 50 degrees to reach the maximum temperature of 104 degrees. This was not the case. I was able to get the water in the tub to its maximum temperature even when temperatures were in the low 20s. However, the water temperature dropped when I removed the insulating cover, and my electricity bill certainly reflected the difficulty.
If you use water from a hose, you should wait at least a day after filling the tub and turning on the heat before relaxing in it. Even when it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the temperature only rose 1 or 2 degrees per hour. When filled in colder weather (lower than the manufacturer’s recommended operating temperature), it took two full days to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The tub holds over 200 gallons of water and weighs 1,668 pounds before anyone enters it, so make sure you place it on a surface that can support that weight.
But that was before the insulation cover broke. This wasn’t due to a manufacturing defect. Rather, it was due to my poor judgment in leaving the tub installed and not turning it on during a particularly cold winter. A storm blew in, and a sharp branch fell from a tree on the deck, poking a hole in the insulation cover, which had become brittle from the cold. Water leaked through the hole and was sucked into the insulation, creating a soggy, heavy lump that was difficult to put on and take off. As I said before, a hot tub is a commitment. If you use an Intex in the winter, be prepared to take it apart or run the heater continuously to prevent the cover from becoming brittle from the cold. (Replacement insulation covers are currently available for $80, but I instead bought a cheaper, no-name replacement and paid the difference to the power company over several months.)
Video: Martin Chismar
Another major issue I dealt with was a slow, constant leak from the seal on the heat pump. This started even before I pushed the tub into freezing temperatures and continues to this day. A little bit of water would drip out every second and build up over days, resulting in me having to refill the tub with cold water from a hose and then waiting hours for it to heat up again. I’m afraid I was in too much of a hurry to install the tub from the heater to the tub when I first bought the tub. Take your time and install it as carefully as possible.
I never had any problems with chemicals because I used one 1″ chlorine tablet each week (the hot tub came with a ball-shaped dispenser). I also emptied and cleaned the tub at most once a month with dish soap and a sponge (yes, that’s also a bit of a chore). Where I live, it only costs a few dollars to refill the tub, but if you live in an area where water is precious and expensive, you may need to take the time to learn more about treatment methods.
Bath time
But once you settle into the PureSpa, you’ll be pleased. When you remove the cover while bathing, it gradually cools but stays at or above 95 degrees throughout the 30-minute bubble timer. The bubbles come out of 120 tiny holes in a circular motion around the base of the tub. They’re not as powerful as Jacuzzi jets, but they’re nice for sore muscles and add to the atmosphere.
There’s plenty of room for four people, and two people can lie down in the tub and stretch their legs and arms. You can lean over the edge to get a drink or change the music without worrying about the tub collapsing. After a few months, it became the perfect way to relax on chilly evenings. And once the summer heat set in, it was easy to deflate, clean, and store in the garage for the summer. (We were able to shrink the pool body down to the size of a very large duffel bag.)
After each cold night, I quickly pull out the Intex bathtub, then after a few days I check the water level and top it off, then after a few more weeks I drain it, scrub it, refill it, and the list goes on and on with the little chores that bubble up from the tub.
