Welcome!

WELCOME


Welcome to the blog for our trailer hot tub build.

This project began at the beginning of April 2020, just after 'lockdown' was announced in the UK due to COVID-19. We were supposed to be touring Europe in our campervan but this obviously wasn't going to be possible... We were not allowed out to socialise or travel, so figured we needed a pretty ambitious project to keep us occupied during however many weeks we would be stuck at home.

We tried to build this for as little as possible, recycling and utilising materials left over from other projects, things hoarded in garages, donations from friends, other people's trash, innovating home-made solutions and hard work! The basic materials were an IBC tank, an old fence, a surplus trailer and some leftover decking. It was difficult to acquire materials via delivery/collection due to the lockdown, so we had to improvise a lot!

The whole project took us about 6 weeks in total, and we were working on this most days. We're fortunate in that Elliot has his own fully-equipped workshop with many many useful tools and bits and pieces so it meant we could work on the project while adhering to government rules regarding social distancing.

It is completely portable on its trailer and runs independently off a 32kw gas boiler and a 12v battery, so it can be used anywhere there is water. It is complete with water pump, seating for 2-4 people, 12v and USB chargers, LED lights and bubbles. Most importantly it has successfully kept us amused for 8 full weeks!

None of it was very planned, we had a basic idea and just ran with it. Lots of things went wrong or didn't work, and we've had SO much fun building this. (And I've learned a lot of useful DIY skills!)

This is a blog of the full build, complete with a million photos and videos. I make no apologies that this blog is very haphazard, photo and video heavy, and might not make a huge amount of sense. The primary purpose of this blog is to document this build both for our own records, and for anyone else who's interested.

We plan on towing it around Scotland when travel restrictions are relaxed enough to allow this (in our new campervan conversion... which is the next project... I'll blog about that here too) and enjoying a home-made hot tub in the most beautiful locations we can find.

Disclaimer: This is NOT meant as a tutorial. Do not try this at home. Always seek professional expert advice. Hot tub not inspected by gas-safe engineer. Appropriate PPE pretty much never worn.

Nobody died :)

FAQ!
Didn't quite anticipate this being so popular so here's some FAQ!

How long did this take to build?
About 6 weeks.

How much did it cost to build?
About £500. See here for a breakdown of costs. But bear in mind we had so much materials already, and were very fortunate in being donated a lot of materials too. We also already had a fully equipped workshop with the right tools and consumables.

Can you make me one?
Yes, we can make you one. But it will cost significantly more than this original one which as we'd have to buy all the materials we fortunately already had and of course cover our time.

How long does it take to fill/heat?
It takes about an hour to fill up 750L of water. The water is pumped into the tank via the boiler so it is 'hot filled' and ready to use at 40+ degrees as soon as it's filled. There's no waiting for it to heat up.

Where do you get the water from?
The hot tub has a hose connector so can be filled from any hose, but also comes with a built in water pump, so water can be pumped from any natural water source.

How much does it cost to run?
About £3 to initially hot-fill, and about 10p to reheat when it starts to loose temperature (after about 2 hours)

A tank of propane gas costs about £30 and we can hot-fill 750L of water about 10 times with one cylinder.

How can you tow it when full of water?!
It's not designed to be towed full of water! The idea is that we park up close to a natural water source, pump water from this, use it and drain the water back where it came from. We will only use it for a day or two at a time so there's no need for chemicals and it'll be safe to drain back to the environment.

How long does it stay warm for?
A long time! It's fully insulated but even we were surprised at how well it holds heat. When initially hot-filled at 40 degrees it will maintain hot-tub temperature for about 2 hours without the boiler. When the temperature starts to drop, the boiler can be fired up for about a minute to return it to 40+ degrees. It also retains temperature well overnight, dropping about 2 degrees.

Can I share this??
Of course, just make sure you credit back to us :) Maybe include a link back to this blog trailerhottub.blogspot.com

How are you going to keep busy now?!
We've decided to sell our campervan (eBay advert here by the way) and convert a new one. I will blog about that here

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Saturday, 18 April 2020

Mounting the water heater and doing some plumbing!

Cold-water-in and hot-water-out pipes were made by soldering connections onto copper pipe. The water-in pipe also got a filter installed to keep debris out of the pump/heater system.





Holes were drilled in the IBC tank and the in and out pipes were installed.



The purpose of the underside stick out valve-y bit in the plumbing system is to facilitate filling the tub using either a hose directly attached, or via the pump from any water source.

Next we made a board to mount the heater, pumps and electrics onto. We installed a galvanised steel panel behind for heat protection and to create a flue. The pipes were all connected up to the boiler and water pump.









 





The input for the water is connected with a hose-lock tap, so if we are near a tap or hose point it can be directly connected to this. If we're at a fresh water source, we will use the pump to pump water from the source into the tub. There is a level system to shut off this inlet when the tub is in use so the water circulates from within the tub.









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