How Much Hot Tub Do I Need?

If you’re in the market for a new hot tub you’re probably asking yourself, “How much hot tub do I need?” Getting the answer to this question right can mean the difference between a hot tub that gets an appropriate amount of use and one that doesn’t get used at all. After all, you don’t want to end up with a hot tub that doesn’t fit you and your family properly. On the other hand, if you get one that’s too big, you’ll be paying to run all that extra space that’s not getting used. To help you with your decision we’ve come up with a list of considerations that you might want to take into account when looking at potential buys.

Who Will Be Using the Hot Tub?

If you live on your own, you probably won’t need a hot tub as big as what’s required by a family of five. Similarly, if you’re buying a hot tub to help with your own physical therapy needs you probably won’t be looking to buy the same sized hot tub as someone who plans on throwing hot tub parties every month. That said, figuring out how many people will be using your hot tub may be harder than it seems as your circumstances may change over time. There are a few groups of people you should keep in mind when searching for a hot tub.

Family

How many people are in your family? Do you have kids who are old enough to use the hot tub independently in a few years or are they of the age that they may be moving out on their own in the near future? What are your schedules like? Do you think it’s likely you could all use the hot tub at the same time or are your schedules so different that you might be using the hot tub at different times? How about individual preferences? Some people can’t handle being in a hot tub during the hot summer months whereas others may find it too onerous to use the hot tub in the middle of the winter. Depending on the answers to these questions you may realize that you can buy a hot tub that seats fewer than the number of people in your family or you may need to provide enough room for everyone to enjoy the water at the same time.

Guests

Unless you’re the biggest party animal around we’ve found that people grossly overestimate how often they’ll have friends over to use their hot tub. Having a hot tub party more than a few times a year is not something that your average family will accomplish. For this reason, it may make sense to stick with a tub that easily fits your family and make do with sharing space when you have guests over. Remember that you shouldn’t be spending more than 20 minutes in the water at a time, so it’s quite easy to take shifts if there are more people than usual.

Number of Seats Versus Number of People

Just because there are a certain number of seats doesn’t mean that the hot tub will comfortably fit that number of people at all times. This has more to do with the size of the footwell than the seating arrangement. When the footwell is small your legs and feet may be touching other people, which may not be very comfortable. If you can test out your hot tub beforehand you can see how much space you actually have available to you.

Lounge Seating

If you want to have a lounge seat in your hot tub you should know that it will take up a lot of space. It will result in a smaller footwell and will make it harder to fit a large number of people at the same time. If you do go for a lounger take into account, the space that will be left for the other bathers.

Installation Space

Asking questions about how many people will be using your hot tub may not mean a whole lot if you don’t have enough space to install the hot tub size of your choice. There are more than a few tales of people who ended up having to renovate their property to allow their hot tub to be installed and put into use. Make sure the hot tub you choose will actually fit in the space you have available.

To find out more about hot tub sizes and options, download a free hot tub buyer’s guide.