Hottub - yeah or nay?

[TheLetterZ]

It is a cold, wet miserable December day so I am indulging in some pleasant day dreaming.

Do you have a hottub? An inflatable or rigid one? Do you love it, hate it or indifferent?

---

This thread is quite old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for hot tub recommendations, we’ve recently updated our best hot tubs page with lots of great options, as tried and tested by Mumsnet users. We hope you find it useful.

MNHQ

Can't see the appeal myself, especially in the UK.

I have a secondhand fixed one that is awsome , can sit in it and look over back garden its filtered and has chlorine etc

Partner and I are proper chavs that enjoy swinging obvs but absolutly love sitting in there on the back terrace in the warm throughout the year

Dont care about the neighbour as he is half a mile away

They aren't stagnant @shadowboy as the filters kick in periodically to keep the water moving. We certainly do not have sex in ours so much snobbery around them. If you look after them, have the correct tablets and do the chemical tests there is nothing unhygienic about them. I wonder how many people who think they are dirty use Hotel or public swimming pools?

I think they're all a bit Abigail's Party.

I just don't get the appeal. Really not being a snob but I'm not even really a bath person, the weather here is usually shit and I hate being outdoors when it's cold even if I'm wrapped up in many layers, even at the gym I'm not a fan of the jacuzzi... I just don't get it. Some friends and I were looking at organising a weekend away just before lockdown (maybe next year... sign) and they were all on about finding a house with a hot tub. I said if they did get one I wouldn't be getting into it.

I'd love one. Ignore the mn snobs.

Yes indeed

BUT

I would be selective who I let into it. I rented one a few summers ago. My DC were keen to have their friends over. One girl came directly from having a spray tan. What a mess to clean up!

I love em at holiday cottages with a beautiful view and someone else to clean and maintain it

Not sure it would be quite so delightful in our little suburban terraced house garden blessed as it is with a view of the arse end of a block of flats.

Sitting here smiling because dp wants one badly - he's so not like the stereotype people think here of hot tub owners as he's public school educated "old money" though it is more for medicinal purposes (arthritis)

@ILoveYoga

Yes indeed

BUT

I would be selective who I let into it. I rented one a few summers ago. My DC were keen to have their friends over. One girl came directly from having a spray tan. What a mess to clean up!

Someone I know was telling me that she went away with a group of friends and they were all drinking in the hot tub. One managed to throw up in it while they were all still sitting in it. I don't know how it was cleaned but I think that is my worst nightmare. I'd take the fake tan over vom any time

Yep! We wanted one for years and eventually got one this year. We LOVE it. It was expensive but we get so much use from it.

Ours is a hard-case, quite a decent size and we built a structure to go around & over it (though not totally enclosed). Much as I love gazing at the sky, our weather is mostly crap and I don't want to be rained on.

We also mostly have the jets off because we prefer it like that. Neighbours have had no issues with it.

@Alexandernevermind not snobby at all. My husband has actually run a coliform test on some as part of his job and it’s grim what you find in them. The chemicals you use don’t always make the water meet the Coliform safe water standards (it’s why I never go swimming as I know what the permitted levels are!)

I feel there may be a need for a huge marketing rethink. Complete ban on any naff depiction, of any sex parties etc. Imagine if John Lewis and/or Waitrose did a winter hot tub advert (food and drink and garden stuff etc). Do you think the view will ever shift.

Hats off to you alexandernevermind that’s the only way I’d ever think about having one too !

Ask the people claiming they are filthy cess pits etc, you are just wrong. In my hot tub I use three times the amount of chlorine granules that you use in a pool of the same size. The filter removes tiny particles/hair/etc and the chlorine breaks down everything else like skin particles, sweat etc. It does such a god job at it that it needs to be dissed after every use. Just my husband and myself use ours and with the proper tests, chemicals etc the water is perfectly clean. Some people on the group that I'm on have had the water in theirs for 6 months and it's still crystal clear and 100% healthy.

We have a rigid one, it's on our elevated terrace overlooking the sea, but not overlooked by anyone else. It cost a bit to buy but is meticulously maintained and definitely not a sex pond. I would never invite other people round to go in the hot tub - not in Covid times and not before either. It's a family only tub.

I'd love one.

Mn can be hilariously judge and snooty about this!

Honestly if I was house-hunting and a property I liked had a hot tub, my heart would sink. It would just be a PITA to get rid of and I would factor in the removal cost when making an offer.

Unless you have a posh pool in a secluded garden they are common as muck. A blow up pool in a surburban semi is grim.

I know, I live next to one.

Very mixed views then. We are hopefully moving soon an the garden is totally private, no one can see in at all, no over looking windows or anything.

I do want quiet and having pumps on might put me off - how noisy are they?

The only friend I have who sneers at hot tubs for being germy sex ponds has a dog. Her dog will eat it’s own poo or a rotten squirrel and then she’ll let it lick her hands and face. It will go out and roll in literal shit and then be allowed back indoors to slouch on carpets and sofas, which the family then also slouch on.

And yet apparently a chlorinated hot tub is disgusting I assume nobody here is a dog-owner.

We bought one in lockdown and it was fab! Used it every day. Moved house last week and haven't set it up but prob will between Xmas and new year since we're going into lockdown again 😭

Her dog will eat it’s own poo or a rotten squirrel and then she’ll let it lick her hands and face. It will go out and roll in literal shit and then be allowed back indoors to slouch on carpets and sofas, which the family then also slouch on.

So true! Baffles me when any dog owner pipes up about hygiene.

@TheLetterZ

the pump/filter is very quiet when it's just left ticking over, the only noise is from the bubbles. Otherwise they are pretty much not noticeable. We don't really use the bubbles though, we just like sitting and chatting at the end of the day. My nephews on the other hand, love the bubbles! If you are looking to get an inflatable then they do have a choice between just air bubbles or water and air ( hydro jet). The hydro jets offer a deeper massage, much more like a traditional rigid tub.

My next door neighbour has one and my garden stinks of chlorine.

Could t give a rats arse about hygiene. What others choose to sit in is up to them.