Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

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I'm sure @Mikedezo44 could tell us what the used hot tub market is like nowadays...probably a bit more slow compared to peak COVID insanity.

There was also a user that had a 110V inflatable installed...but IIRC those sucked during the coldest of days as they took forever to heat the water up, and they cooled off very quickly when actually being used.

There was a thread here somewhere, I'll have to revisit it.
 
mimico_polak said:
I'm sure @Mikedezo44 could tell us what the used hot tub market is like nowadays...probably a bit more slow compared to peak COVID insanity.

There was also a user that had a 110V inflatable installed...but IIRC those sucked during the coldest of days as they took forever to heat the water up, and they cooled off very quickly when actually being used.

There was a thread here somewhere, I'll have to revisit it.
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Friends have an inflatable (from Costco iirc). Great in the summer. No good in the winter. I think the instructions tell you to take it down before freezing weather hits. They deflate it and store it for the winter.

Inflatable are much much shallower than real hot tubs. Just plug into an existing circuit though so installation is cheap and easy. In the winter, with 4 kw heater on, mine loses about one degree per hour when open. I'm not surprised that a tub with a fifth of the water and 1/3 of the heat loses temp fast.
 
Since the new neighbour moved in a year or so ago I hate hot tubs with a passion. She put the damn thing near my fence and it hums for ******* hours every day in the winter. The frequency gets right inside my head and makes it feel like it’s going to explode from the pressure She says she can’t put it on a schedule so the pump routine only runs at night when no one is outside but that sounds like ******** to me.
 
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JC99 said:
Since the new neighbour moved in a year or so ago I hate hot tubs with a passion. She put the damn thing near my fence and it hums for ******* hours every day in the winter. The frequency gets right inside my head and makes it feel like it’s going to explode from the pressure She says she can’t put it on a schedule so the pump routine only runs at night when no one is outside but that sounds like ******** to me.
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Oh that def can get annoying.

Although I’m leaning toward believing her as the pump will have a min temperature setting so it’ll come on at night to maintain temps in my understanding.

Buddy keeps his at a min 80F as that’s what’s required…which seems excessive to maintain as basically anything above 0C should keep things from freezing….it just takes longer to heat back up to usable temp.

Went into one this weekend and while it was great…getting into it was much worse than getting out. Shivering like a mofo on the way in….no issues on the way out and the 50m to the house.
 
mimico_polak said:
Oh that def can get annoying.

Although I’m leaning toward believing her as the pump will have a min temperature setting so it’ll come on at night to maintain temps in my understanding.

Buddy keeps his at a min 80F as that’s what’s required…which seems excessive to maintain as basically anything above 0C should keep things from freezing….it just takes longer to heat back up to usable temp.

Went into one this weekend and while it was great…getting into it was much worse than getting out. Shivering like a mofo on the way in….no issues on the way out and the 50m to the house.
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Most hot tubs only have two temp probes. One at each end of heater. Maybe one more on control board as a freeze Stat. A problem is, most don't constantly poll the thermostats. They want to run the pump for minutes first to ensure temp matches bulk water temp. Within the equipment cabinet, temps are much much lower. I have my pumps and heaters to only run during cheap power. I insulate the cabinet for the winter to keep it from freezing. Minus a lot plus no circulating water for more than 12 hours means the cabinet can be quite cold.
 
JC99 said:
Since the new neighbour moved in a year or so ago I hate hot tubs with a passion. She put the damn thing near my fence and it hums for ******* hours every day in the winter. The frequency gets right inside my head and makes it feel like it’s going to explode from the pressure She says she can’t put it on a schedule so the pump routine only runs at night when no one is outside but that sounds like ******** to me.
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Mine is ~ 8' from my bedroom window, and even with the window open, I can barely hear it cycle on & off. I keep it set to 100⁰F 24/7/365, and let it do its thing.
The only time it was noticeable/ annoying, was when the #1 pump was nearing its end of life, and the grinding got louder.
 
Gary said:
Mine is ~ 8' from my bedroom window, and even with the window open, I can barely hear it cycle on & off. I keep it set to 100⁰F 24/7/365, and let it do its thing.
The only time it was noticeable/ annoying, was when the #1 pump was nearing its end of life, and the grinding got louder.
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My house came with a similar layout. Pumps face towards the bedroom. I can hear when they kick on. It doesn't bother me. If I was bothered, rotating the tub so the pumps were screened by thousands of pounds of water would solve it. On the plus side, not hearing the pumps last year made me investigate and the main board had burned.
 
mimico_polak said:
Oh that def can get annoying.

Although I’m leaning toward believing her as the pump will have a min temperature setting so it’ll come on at night to maintain temps in my understanding.

Buddy keeps his at a min 80F as that’s what’s required…which seems excessive to maintain as basically anything above 0C should keep things from freezing….it just takes longer to heat back up to usable temp.

Went into one this weekend and while it was great…getting into it was much worse than getting out. Shivering like a mofo on the way in….no issues on the way out and the 50m to the house.
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If it was on at night it actually wouldn’t be an issue. I can't hear it in the house but I can hear it when I'm in my yard though during the day. I asked her if she could schedule the pump cycles for the overnight period and she said no which was odd as I thought the biggest temp dips would be overnight.

It’s the frequency that’s an issue. It’s exactly at the “annoying as ****” frequency.

If I want to sit outside under my patio heater now I have this damn thing droning on.
 
There is probably a municipal bylaw for how close to a property line a tub can be and motor noise , but you have to decide if you want to be ‘that guy’ .

I left a three yr old tub when we moved houses , I miss that thing daily . Loved it .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
crankcall said:
There is probably a municipal bylaw for how close to a property line a tub can be and motor noise , but you have to decide if you want to be ‘that guy’ .

I left a three yr old tub when we moved houses , I miss that thing daily . Loved it .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
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Bylaw only go by dB not frequency. The neighbour's downstairs renter has an apartment
closer to the hot tub and isn’t happy but doesn’t want to rock the boat with his landlord.
 
I'm not into hot tubs. I can't take the heat and there aren't a lot of people I want to take baths with.

FWIW I was in the heat business and the amount of heat require to KEEP a liquid hot is minimal compared to what is needed to MAKE it hot.
 
I'm installing one at my kids' place today, it has 2 water pumps and an air pump (blower). You can't hear the water pumps unless you're within a foot of the tub.

Personally I'm not fond of them - my last tub was in the yard for 8 years, I lost interest after about a year, we kept it because the kids had fun using it. Once the kids left home it became yard art. Then, like many hot tubs -- it met a chainsaw.
 
Mad Mike said:
I'm installing one at my kids' place today, it has 2 water pumps and an air pump (blower). You can't hear the water pumps unless you're within a foot of the tub.

Personally I'm not fond of them - my last tub was in the yard for 8 years, I lost interest after about a year, we kept it because the kids had fun using it. Once the kids left home it became yard art. Then, like many hot tubs -- it met a chainsaw.
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Air pump is the fastest way to drop tub temp and drive up hydro bill. Although the water pumps use more power to run, they have a much smaller impact on heat loss.
 
Squeeze was off to a craft fair so I took the opportunity to move my spare rear wheel and differential into the house to live under the stairs. Floor space in the garage is at a premium.
 
We’re back looking at a minor makeover of the bathroom and had one contractor look at the job.

When we got his quote we noted he was planning to do a lot more than we had discussed. If that’s his first shot out of the gate we’ll pass as it usually doesn’t end well once work starts.

One problem is that our house is a side split which dates it as mid century. If one part of the house is made radically different it creates a visual time warp, like having only one fender of your car repainted.

We have no intentions of spending deep six figures to cater to the unknown future.

The existing tub is porcelain on steel and the walls ceramic over durock and someone mentioned that durock isn’t being used anymore. If so what is the replacement?

There is some instability in the wall so this time an anti fracture membrane will be used along with user friendly details.
 
nobbie48 said:
We’re back looking at a minor makeover of the bathroom and had one contractor look at the job.

When we got his quote we noted he was planning to do a lot more than we had discussed. If that’s his first shot out of the gate we’ll pass as it usually doesn’t end well once work starts.

One problem is that our house is a side split which dates it as mid century. If one part of the house is made radically different it creates a visual time warp, like having only one fender of your car repainted.

We have no intentions of spending deep six figures to cater to the unknown future.

The existing tub is porcelain on steel and the walls ceramic over durock and someone mentioned that durock isn’t being used anymore. If so what is the replacement?

There is some instability in the wall so this time an anti fracture membrane will be used along with user friendly details.
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I like redgard over the substrate to make your water barrier.. If you want to spend obscene money, Kerdi will sell you all of the panels/tape/curb etc. Imo, kerdi is too much money for not enough benefit. They like to advertise that it will last 100 years or something ridiculous but the chance that the bathroom isn't renovated or demolished in the next few decades is low just based on style and land value. Spending 10x money to gain no more useful life doesn't make sense to me.
 
nobbie48 said:
We’re back looking at a minor makeover of the bathroom and had one contractor look at the job.

When we got his quote we noted he was planning to do a lot more than we had discussed. If that’s his first shot out of the gate we’ll pass as it usually doesn’t end well once work starts.

One problem is that our house is a side split which dates it as mid century. If one part of the house is made radically different it creates a visual time warp, like having only one fender of your car repainted.

We have no intentions of spending deep six figures to cater to the unknown future.

The existing tub is porcelain on steel and the walls ceramic over durock and someone mentioned that durock isn’t being used anymore. If so what is the replacement?

There is some instability in the wall so this time an anti fracture membrane will be used along with user friendly details.
Click to expand...
Durock (cement board) is still the most common for tiled showers.

Durock needs a waterproof barrier on one side if you're tiling. either 6 mil poly behind -OR- a paint on barrier like Redguard -OR- a decoupling membrane like Schluter. Poly behind is the least expensive, but also most likely to create issues if the prep work or tiling isn't done well.

Other options like acrylic or PVC wall panels , sheet marble, or sheet granite can be installed over plywood - no waterproofing required.
 
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