To buy an inflatable hot tub?

[Fourpawsblack]

I live in a semi detached house and really fancy one. Will my neighbour's hate me for it?

Are they any good?!

My friend got one during lockdown and the novelty wore off fairly quickly. It costs a lot to heat up and it's a pain in the arse getting the chemical balance of the water right.

I bought one in January after staying at a Airbnb with one.

i love it. I have chronic pain (was in an accident some years ago) and it’s amazing. The pump is pretty quiet.

I’m not heating it up now as with the hot weather I don’t need it as much.

maintenance: you need to change the filter once a week (2 minute job) and put some chlorine in.

mine cost about 30 pounds a week to heat but that’s in the winter. The higher the outside temperature the less it costs to heat.

I’m very happy with mine.

My neighbours got one during covid lockdown times and it horrified me- the pump was SO loud. However they ditched it after about 18 months and used it a total of about 6 times so I guess it was too much hassle.

We had one. They are good and my neighbours never complained. Didn't bother with the chemical balance after the first year and just used chlorine tablets.
They are expensive to run though. Google estimates £3 a day compared to 50p a day for the solid ones.

Thankyou. I would probably only use it at weekends. Is it feasible to empty and then refill on say a Friday or is this now how they work?

I’ve hired them in the past over the Christmas period. It’s a good way to connect with my teenagers!
Despite the cost of one hire being not much cheaper than buying a new one outright, I’ve always been adamant that I didn’t want to do the latter.
The damp towels, the wet footprints, the initial waiting for it to heat up, the bills, the maintenance …
Long term, it just wouldn’t be for me.
I’m happy to enjoy one for a few days, where someone else sets it up and takes it away.

We are on our second lay z spa, we love ours, really simple to set up, we have outdoor plug. We have solar so this time of year, it doesn’t cost us anything to run it. Our kids are adults and use it a lot. Chemicals are easy to do once you get the hang of it. Lots of of YouTube videos to help with set up and operation. I would recommend.

No, you fill it up for a season and it’s the same water. The pump is both a heater and a filter and cleans the water as it goes. The chlorine is to keep it clean - chlorine kills nearly all bugs.

it took about 2 hours to fill mine.

if you switch the heater off then it all cools down to outside temperature.

it took mine about 18 hours to heat up to 35 degrees that was from an outside temperature of ten degrees.

so if you want it over the weekend you switch it on Thursday night.

It depends on the noise factor. If it’s a watery sanctuary that’s one thing. If there is lots of party type noise until late in the evening your neighbours will probably hate you.
Also, check the noise of the pump.
I would quite like one but think the novelty would wear off, expensive to run and I know my neighbour would hate the pump noise. They are noise sensitive even though we are detached but we get on well and I don’t want to upset them. Equally if they had a noisy pump going it would drive me mad.

It takes ages to fill and empty and costs a lot to heat. My neighbours got one during lockdown for their very small yard. I think they only used it about three times. I keep joking to them every summer about getting it out but they just roll their eyes. In fact they'll probably sell you their one! I can't say the noise of it bothered me though, and our gardens are right next to eachother. I reckon you're unlikely to get enough use out of it.

I like ours. It's pretty straightforward to maintain, easy to clean and fill. We have an insulated cover to keep the cost down and never had an complaints from the neighbours.

No party noise! We have 3 under 5 so likley to be them playing during the day. They are in bed by 7!

My neighbours are lovely but I do put up with their noisy chickens so maybe they won’t mind my hot tub 😄

I think it would be ran Thurs- sun in that case and probably summer only. We don’t go outside much in winter as it’s always wet and miserable here

My mum had one, they are expensive to run so she only used it in the summer. Its a massive faff to set up and then fill, plus you have to monitor the chemicals etc, my DH is water serviceman so he would sort it for mum (although we got free use!) otherwise it would have taken her hours.

It was good for her joints, but the tub died recently and she's not getting another one as its not worth the bother. She will just go use the spa at the local pools.

My neighbours have one and while the noise of the pump is not loud, I find it incredibly persistent and annoying.
They hardly ever seemed to use it, and it ended up just being an expensive outdoor heated bed for their cat. It got packed away about 18 months ago - hooray!

Just keep calling it a sex pond and you’ll go off the idea.

Very disappointed with this thread.

Where are the fun sponges asking why you want a “sex pond”.

I have 3 toddlers. I can assure you there will be no sex pond 😄

If it’s for your kids to play in you’d be better off with a paddling pool. The cost to heat up a whole spa full of water every weekend, plus the tub being too deep for them to be left alone/to get in and out by themselves would make it anything but relaxing for you. Whereas a shallow pool that you can fill quickly with hose water plus a couple of kettles to warm it up, then you sit and scroll Mumsnet while they all happily get in and out by themselves.

I loved my lazy spa, going in it 2-3 times a day during lockdown, but had to get rid as the cost of my energy bills was ridiculous. I realised for that money I could join my local gym with a fancy spa area and use their facilities every day for less than the cost of sitting in my glorified outdoor bath!

It did help ease muscle pain and I loved the bubble jets, but the solid ones are much more powerful and the seats are sculpted to sit more comfortably, whereas an inflatable one, you’re just sitting on the floor. Also got a couple of punctures in mine.

I’m sure you can find a secondhand one to try but honestly they’re not all they’re cracked up to be!

I like mine, probably get it out about 4 times a year and keep out for a period. I use the hot tap to fill it, keeps costs down

I think novelty wears off quickly. House behind had one last year. They played music (but it was 80s/90s) so I didn’t mind too much. If my husband asked what noise was I used to say its neighbours in their sex pond. They haven’t used it for a while.

We had one in lockdown and it was brilliant, but the faff became less worth it afterwards and never bothered replacing when it broke in I think 2023 (in fairness we didn't look after it properly and left it outside for the winter, which won't have helped the shelf life).

They're great if you're going to use them, best £300 I've ever spent, but much more pissing about than a paddling pool. It also depends how you use them as well. We never had the pump on at night and started heating up in the morning to go in during the afternoon, as DC kind of preferred a warm tub rather than hot iyswim. I think we usually aimed for about 30 degrees. This meant the electricity bill and noise were much less, but did require planning of a sort that's more difficult when things are actually open.

I also did none of the maintenance, but DH who was in sole charge of that broadly agrees.

Ditto. Got one for my 60th birthday and so true about the chemicals. Also storage during winter months - once it’s been inflated it will never deflate sufficiently to go back in the box. Also never got quite hot enough and cooled down too quickly when the jets were on.

I had one, it was nice enough to sit in, but the hassle of having a shower before and after, the upkeep of the chemicals, and the electricity bill soaring was all shit.

Three toddlers and a hot tub doesn't seem like it would be particularly relaxing.

I’ve got one and love it. It’s so nice to get into in the evenings rather than constant screen time.

Do you have economy 7 or an EV overnight tariff? If so, I’d recommended getting a WiFi one, as then you can heat it overnight using the very cheap electricity.

I’d also ensure you get the thermal covers for it, you can probably pick them up second hand quite cheaply nowadays.