Benefits of keeping hot tub indoors

As we live in Arizona, we can use an outdoor hot tub year around. However, this isn’t true for most of the country. When I lived in Seattle or Boston, there were only a few months a year that would have been suitable to use an outdoor hot tub.

By having a covered area, you will greatly extend the number of months that the hot tub can be used. Even if the room is unheated, you will be able to use for long each year.

After grad school, my friends and I would often hang out each weekend at the apartment pool/hot tub area. We’d each bring some burgers, steaks or dogs to put on the community grill. When we finished eating, we’d all hang out in the the hot tub into late into the evening.

Unfortunately, because this was outside, whenever there was serious rain or wind, we would need to cancel our plans. We’d normally either go over to someone’s house for a movie night or go out to a bar/restaurant for entertainment. As we were all starting out in our career, the latter was far less often because we were all on a budget.

If the hot tub had been in a covered area, we could have had our weekend gatherings regardless of weather. Being able to host an event is far more important if it is a scheduled event.

I have a friend who hosts a Halloween party each year. He has a nice hot tub and pool area that are outside, and we were only able to use the hot tub about 25% of the years he hosted the event due to temperature and weather.

If the hot tub is kept in a sunroom with heating and cooling, you will find that you save significant money on the energy used to heat the hot tub. The cool night air great sucks the heat from the hot tub.

A modern six person hot tub kept indoors will cost about $30 to keep a comfortable temperature with an upper end of $50 for the coldest winter months. Hot tubs kept outside can see the energy costs triple this and more due to having little insulating between the outside and the water in the tub.

Even if you use a thermal cover, there is a limit to how much this will stop the heat from escaping.

Outdoor hot tubs are a paradise for insects and other pests. Mosquitos and flies are always one of the bigger annoyances when you’re trying to enjoy a relaxing soak.

Indoor hot tubs simply don’t have this issue. There are simply far less insects that can get inside the home.

Keeping the hot tub out of the elements will greatly extend it’s lifespan. The motor won’t need to work as hard to heat the water. It also won’t be exposed to direct sunlight that can cause fading and other discoloration.

The water will remain closer to one constant temperature, and it should never get cold enough to freeze. This will greatly reduce the likelihood of the pipes or other parts cracking due to frozen water.

Outdoor hot tubs can often get animals wandering next to it and falling in. Whether it’s a snake, possum, stray cat or rabbit, hot tubs will invariably attract animals that will sometimes fall in to the water.

You will always want to keep your hot tub covered while not in use because hot tubs can be dangerous for any animal that accidentally gets into it. As humans, we can easily stand up and step out of it.

This is not the case for bunnies, mice or squirrels. The walls are steep and slipper. Also, there aren’t surfaces above water for our little furry friends to be able to press against to jump out.

In our apartment complex that I mentioned earlier, we’d often have people who didn’t live in the complex crash the pool area. Once anyone got inside, they can open the door for anyone else.

This means that only one person would need to climb over the fence or pretend to be a resident that forget their key, and get an actual resident to let them in. From there, he/she would just let all their other friends into the hot tub and pool area.

There are many stories on Yahoo about people using their neighbors pool or hot tub whenever they go out of town. The rise of ring doorbell has hopefully cut this habit, but still yet a hot tub on an open deck or patio offers little security to stop someone from using it.

Our weekend pool parties at the apartment complex were always fun, but there was a creepy older guy that had an apartment adjacent to the pool. He was on the second floor, and his balcony overlooked the hot tub area.

It was like clockwork that when our female friends came to the party, he would find a reason to go sit on his patio. Some evenings he’d be out there with a book. Other times he’d be out there on his laptop computer “watching a movie”, and some evenings he’d just be out there enjoying a nice meal on his patio.

It became a running joke how he always seemed to only show up once the girls came, and he was definitely a detractor to the casual vibe but he wasn’t saying or doing anything. He was just enjoying the space in his apartment he was renting.

If the hot tub had been indoors away from his prying eyes, it would have made everyone feel much more comfortable. Remember to always be observant to your surroundings when you are using a hot tub either indoor or outdoor.

The electrical components like pumps and heaters of a hot tub will last far longer when they are not exposed to the elements. Indoor hot tubs don’t face the temperature extremes. They also have less chance of getting leaves or other debris being blown into them.

You will also need to check the hot tub filters far less often when kept inside rather than outside.

With the growing concern over skin cancer, many people enjoy hot tubs, but want to limit their outdoor exposure to the sun. The choices are either to wear a fuller body surf suit or to use heavy SPF sun screen.

On the other hand, indoor hot tubs don’t suffer from this issue whatsoever. Indoor hot tubs aren’t in direct sunlight, and if there is sunlight from windows, it won’t be directly overhead light.

Furthermore, if it’s through a closed window there will be some UV blocking properties to protect your skin.

People who sunburn easily will often not want to use hot tubs at all or at least very little. However, an indoor hot tub could be a perfect alternative to allow them to soak up the warm water without worrying about getting a sunburn.

I have allergies to certain plants and pollens. There are times of the year that I just try to avoid being outside all together. Recently, when I go outside then, I will wear a cloth mask over my nose and mouth just to keep the pollen out.

I would never be able to use an outdoor hot tub for any length of time during my allergy season. However, an indoor hot tub won’t impact me in the same way. Remember, even if you don’t have allergies some of your guests may.

Be aware of this if you are going to have a fan blowing near the hot tub. This goes true both for outdoor hot tubs or indoor hot tubs where the window is left open.

The fan will just stir up the items in the air and make life miserable for your guests who suffer from allergies.

Inflatable hot tubs have gained a huge swell in popularity over the last year or so. Their cost has plummeted and the manufacturing quality has risen. While the walls are a thick plastic and rubber material, they can still get punctured.

Remember, a small four person hot tub can hold hold 200 gallons of water which would weight 1600 pounds. The walls of the inflatable hot tub need to be able to contain this amount of mass which an put stress on the joints and stitching.

Often, the areas will be pulled tight making it a perfect sitation for a stick or rouge sharp object to skewer the side of the inflatable hot tub.

Also, remember wind storms can cause branches or heavy rocks to fly against the sides of the hot tub when it is kept outside.

An indoor hot tub can be in a large sunroom with access to a sound system or a TV on the other wall. This can make a great place to watch movies, UFC fights, super bowl or other social TV events.

Outdoor hot tubs need to have their ph balance checked more often. You will also need to use cleaning chemicals on them more often.

If you do this yourself, it is a small expense, but if you hire an outside company to do this work, you could save $100+ per year.

Outdoor hot tubs should be drained, cleaned and refilled once every 90-120 days depending on where you live and time of year.

Because you are using less chemicals (As we discussed in the previous bullet point), you ca also go further between when you drain and refill the hot tub.

To be fair, we still recommend that you drain and refill the hot tub. It’s just that you this can be done less frequently.

Getting in and out of a hot tub will almost always cause some water to splash out. When the water first hits the floor around the hot tub, it will be fine; however, if the hot tub is outside on a cold concrete slab it can freeze quite quickly.

This means that someone could be stepping out of the hot tub onto a patch of ice which could lead to a fall since they weren’t expecting it.

Ice patches can form incredibly quickly. The small bit of water will spread out over the concrete creating a lot of surface air. The water will be between a layer of cool air above and cold concrete below.

If you are going to have an outdoor hot tub that you use in the winter, we recommend having a non-slip rug on the outside of the hot tub for all guests to use when they get in or out of it.

The rug needs to be absorbent enough to soak up any of the water so it doesn’t pool up and create a path of ice.

So that’s our guide to the benefits of keeping your hot tub indoors as opposed to on your deck or patio.

As always, we’re just regular home owners who love DIY projects. If you have any tips for our fellow readers, we’d love to hear from you.