Wood Fired Hot Tub Improved To Winter Perfection

Life is good at WildSnow HQ.

In order to keep the tub clean and prevent leaking, we trimmed down a water tank for a liner. Full details here. A siphon outlet on the side drains all but 2 inches of water. To drain the last bit, Lou drilled a hole in the bottom and we plug it with a bathtub stopper. This low-tech solution to an effective drain is really quite funny, as how to get that last inch of water out of a tub can be quite perplexing.

To keep the water sparkling clean, Lou rigged up a bilge pump and filter powered by our solar system. When the sun is out, the contraption hums along and completely filters our 400 gallon tub in about 5 hours, totally sun powered.

Sump style water filter and bilge pump (upper right). The filter turns grey, mainly from ash. We still use chlorine spa treatment to keep the water sanitary, and we change out the water often since it cools down anyway when we’re back in civilization (unlike a domestic spa that’s kept heated to one degree or another).

The original tub cover is made of cedar, and quite heavy to remove. Dust and rain seep between the boards and turn the water murky. It’s a surprisingly poor design considering how much these tubs cost at retail. We made a more user friendly cover out of reflective roll ‘bubble wrap’ insulation that floats directly on the water surface. While the stove is fired up, we keep the water covered to hasten the heating process. Ideally, some kind of cover that completely sealed the water from contamination would be ideal, but difficult to achieve due to the stove vent and other parts of the tub above water level.

We’re impressed with the efficiency of the Snorkel Stove. The water heats quickly — going from 50 degrees to 100 in under three hours. We use a DIY fire starter to burn the fire hot. Mix a bit of kerosene with wood shavings available as pet litter (the shavings work better than free sawdust and just cost a few bucks, though you can use sawdust from a local woodshop if you want to get that recycling feel-good buz). We use this fire starter in the cabin wood stove as well. Caution: never use any sort of petro fire starter on hot coals, the resulting inflammable vapor can put you in the hospital.

We’ve thought of building a bench in the tub, but keeping it uncluttered makes it easy to clean. Small Coleman camp chairs are comfortable and much more versatile. Using them seems funny at first, but they work.