As your seasoned hot tub expert, we know these exciting home entertainment gadgets inside out. This article gives you a detailed basic guide to hot tubs, the essential stuff you need to know before you go anywhere near making a decision. We’ve also included a potted hot tub history, simply because it’s so interesting. Who knew!  

In other articles we talk about creating stunning hot tub settings, hot tub hygiene, hot tub maintenance, hot tub etiquette, hot tub insurance, entertainment, safety, security, the world’s many natural hot springs and more. For now, let’s dive into our hot tub guide.

Define a hot tub

A hot tub, AKA a Jacuzzi, is basically a big container of hot water fitted with an airjet device that moves the water around vigorously like a spa. It’s all about socialising with family and friends or chilling out on your own, and either way it’s a wonderful experience.

These fabulous garden accessories come in so many shapes and sizes. Most are a permanent fixture, some are portable. A smart inflatable hot tub might be best for your garden if there’s limited space.

There are luxurious wood-fired hot tubs costing thousands as well as fully-electric hot tubs. Designed for four, six or more people, they can be huge or surprisingly space-saving, and there’s every colour and style you can imagine. 

Funky hot tub history

So who’s bright idea was it in the first place? Some say hot tubs date right back to the Greek island of Ikaria, home to Therma, a spa dating back at least four hundred years BC. In Japan there are natural hot springs created by volcanic activity close to the earth’s surface, and their low tech hot tubs go back thousands of years too.

It’s the norm to find hot tub-like history in places where there are hot springs, geysers and volcanic rumblings. Iceland and the Azores, Portugal, Turkey, Honduras, Canada, Chile, Hungary, Israel, Bulgaria, Taiwan, New Zealand, India, Romania, Fiji, the USA, Algeria and more, it’s a very long list, making it clear that humans have loved soaking ourselves in lovely bubbly hot water for many millennia.

 The Ancient Romans loved hot baths. They were masters of luxurious domestic bathing as well as ornate public baths like those still standing in – you guessed it – Bath! Once the Romans left we Brits descended back into our pre-invasion habits of pretty poor hygiene. The idea of the hot tub didn’t crop up again until the 1200s, then the idea mostly got stuck in southern Europe for hundreds of years.

By the 1940s the hot tub lifestyle had finally made its way to the USA, inspired by Japan thanks to the Second World War. A company called Jacuzzi invented the world’s first hydrotherapy pumps, and the rest really is history. Going through a fibreglass stage before landing on acrylic as the ideal material for the tub itself, the 1970s saw hot tubs a lot like the ones we still see today. Now they’re everywhere, a familiar face in UK gardens, glamping sites, campsites, hotels and wedding venues.

How does a hot tub work?

The machinery perpetually cycles the water around when the hot tub is switched on. This sends  essential hot tub chemicals around, spreads the heat, and pumps water constantly through the filter into the jets, keeping it clean and fresh.  

• The water is pumped from the tub itself into the filter system
• The filter system cleans and heats the water
• The clean, hot water is sent back into the tub via the jets

Hot tub components involve the shell – the structure the tub sits inside – along with the spa heater and its controls, the pumps, and the filter. There’s a control panel on the top and, sometimes, an oxonator.

• The outer shell is moulded to give you seating in the water. It features insulation to keep the heat in and has holes where the spa jets go.  The outside of the shell comes in a huge variety of shapes, colours and designs
• The pumps are all about circulation. They keep the water filtered, moving, and emerging from the jets, controlled by something called a spa pack. The heat is controlled with a thermostat. Low speed pumps the water perfectly, high speed creates the pressure you need to make the bubbles
• The jets themselves pull air through, giving out the bubbling, soothing, calming pressurised water that makes hot tubbing feel so good  
• The spa pack features a controller for the jets, filter and heater. The heater warms the water as it passes through
• The filters keep the water clear and clean. It’s important to maintain them properly and clean them regularly
• The control panel on top of the tub controls the water temperature, lights, blowers and pumps
• An oxonator does more to keep the water hygienically clean, usually bought as an added extra. It generates and expels ozone into the water to remove pollution, which cuts the amount of chemicals you need. A corona discharge (CD) is the most popular oxonator thanks to its long life and small size, but you can also get ultraviolet light (UV) oxonators

Types of hot tub

This is where things get really interesting. You have the choice of portable hot tubs and wet-jetted hot tubs, air jetted hot tubs, wood-fired hot tubs and inflatable hot tubs. Let’s explore. 

Portable hot tubs

Portable hot tubs can be moved around but bear in mind they’re very heavy and hard to move. The thing is they tend to be a bit cheaper than the rest and, better still, they’re more energy efficient. It can go indoors as well as outside and either sits on the ground or can be buried in the earth or built inside a raised deck for an infinity pool-like look.

Inflatable hot tubs 

Inflatable hot tubs are properly portable, light enough to set up anywhere you like indoors or out, then take down and put away ‘til next time. It’s an excellent way to find out if you’ll actually use a hot tub or if it’s more or a dream that doesn’t measure up to reality. Some people take to it like ducks to water, others use it a few times then go off the boil, and it’s hard to tell which type you are until you have a hot tub of your own.

Inflatable hot tubs are very basic with none of the frills. They generate bubbles when the heat is off rather than powerful jets of water, and it won’t feel like much fun in chilly weather. Think of it as a temporary solution, a bit of fun for the kids, or if your car is big enough, maybe something you might be able to carry around with you on camping trips.   

Air jetted hot tubs or wet jetted hot tubs?

Air jet hot tubs suck in air, heat it, then blow it into the hot tub for dramatic constantly-rolling hot water.  Water jet hot tubs do the exact same job but with water, sucking it in from the tub then sending it out at high pressure through the jets. They both work equally well.

Wood fired hot tubs

Think gravity and you get the picture. A wood fired hot tub has pipes that run round the inside of the wood burner itself, heating water as it passes through the pies past the heater. It’s sent up out of the pipes and down into the tub. It’s cyclical, constantly heating the water as it flows through the furnace.

That’s that. Take a look at our other articles to find out more about how to make the best hot tub decision.