Can anyone with blow up hot tubs share what they're like?

[Amatteroftime]

Lazy spas and such. Are they worth it? Do they cost a lot to run, add much to utilities?

Thinking of getting one seeing as our holiday has been cancelled.

When dh puts ours on the electricity monitor jumps from about £1.50 per day to £4 per day. I personally dont like sitting in it. It isnt comfy, it is loud when you turn the bubbles on. The kids love it though.

We absolutely loved ours, used it every day. In the end we used it so much we bought a "proper" hot tub and 5 years later we still use it every single day.

It is loud when the bubbles are on but not significantly, and you do have to make sure you keep up to dat with the chemicals etc which is important as otherwise it goes all horrible but it's easy to do.

We had one. The electricity consumption was enormous so we got rid of it. It was a bugger to keep the chemicals balanced too. I miss it now though - it would have helped me with my work stress over the last few weeks.

They are loud. Our neighbours have had a ‘proper’ one for a couple of years and we hardly hear it. This year the people who back on to us have bought a blow up one - my god it’s noisy! Plus when they sit in it talking we hear every word as they raise their voices above it. Something to remember when you use it, sometimes I am very tempted to join in the conversation

You can't get one for love nor money at the moment. Sold out everywhere!

The look like birthing pools.

Enjoyed it so much we got a huge jacuzzi in a summerhouse 😊

Didn't know that about the noise, thank-you. We live in terraced houses, all have decent sized gardens but I wouldn't want to do the neighbours heads in. That said, everyone listens to their own music and things.

Is it hard to sort out the chemicals?

I went to someone’s house who had hired one and it was a bit weird to sit in as it is essentially a giant paddling pool- there are no seats so you have to work out where to put your legs without getting in other people’s way. It was also noisy and not that hot....

Dh manages the chemicals but says it is easy. He keeps the pump going to keep the water fresh but we only heat it at weekends. For me - it doesnt compare to a real one. But dh and the kids love it.

Thanks everyone, I didn't realise they didn't have seats in. I will weigh up the pros and cons with DH. They are quite pricey to not have seats in!

We have one and it's basically a large warm paddling pool for the kids, they dont even use the bubbles! But, they do play in it for a couple of hours at a time, whilst I drink tea and read a book alongside them. For that reason I really rate ours! DH and I use it a handful of times in the evening over a summer, it is quite noisy so wouldn't want to be using it constantly. I also leave DH to do the chemicals, cleaning it out etc. if he wasnt doing it, I'm not sure I'd keep it - it's a bit of a faff! We also tend to just heat it for a few days at a time as it is expensive to keep heated.

We like ours. The kids use it loads. We have been tempted by a proper one but decided against for now as the kids love to be able to play in the inflatable one and wouldn’t be able to in a hard plastic one. It does cost quite a lot to run but at the moment we definitely consider it to be worth it.

We live ours. We have a large square shaped 'Maldives' from LayZSpa. This will be our third year using it. It's plenty big enough for 2 adults and 2 lanky teenagers to comfortable use and it does have seats' inside. It heats up well and has nice powerful bubbles.

I won't lie, cleaning it out is a faff and checking it everyday to keep the chemical balance right is a pain. But the benefits outweigh those issues.

An unexpected bonus for us is that hot tub time has become family time. I can honestly say some of our best family discussions (all of us together or 121s with each of the teens) have happened in the hot tub.

Loved ours! Took it down for the first winter but lazily didn't look after it the second winter so we skipped it but kept the motor. Worth every penny over two years. I used to run a lot so was heaven to get in afterwards.

It didn't effect our electricity bill too much as I kept it more swimming pool temperature than properly hot.

Is a little noisy when you put the bubbles on.

I’d love one but husband hates them and we don’t have anywhere that would really work to put one.

Our next door had one. I didn't know what it was, couldn't work out why I could hear what sounded like a Boeing 747 revving its engines. I called to DH "What's that bloody awful noise?!" probably a bit too loudly. Then I caught a glimpse of it through the hedge! I felt pretty bad as they never used it again. Once I knew what it was I didn't mind the godawful noise really and would never have complained about it to them, that's why I felt bad, as I inadvertently did complain.