Hey faggots,Planning on getting my first whirlpool. Will opt for an outside one. thinking of an inflatable intex tub that has app control. Not sure yet if I want to go with the salt system. Has anyone experience with those? Also, circular or rectangular?Now to the main point. I need to insulate it for winter use. It does not get crazy cold around here (coldest prolly around -5 degree Celsius for a couple of days at most). I’ve seen a couple of dudes go ballistic with rockwool etc. but am wondering if the good ole thick Styrofoam board on top as a lid and bottom is sufficient? Asking out of laziness as skill is not an issue. But if insulating the sides does wonders to the electric bill then I’ll do it (cuz jewish).
the intex website is saturated in bad reviews...anyway i've used one of these like $300 ones from walmart and it was amazing for what it isalso i see free hot tubs online pretty ofteni'd definitely go square, a circle will essentially take up the same space and have less interior space. hexagon compromiseair is considered a good insulator when enclosed as it will be on an inflatable so the styrofoam lid is probably all you need
>>2871789> styrofoam lidPretty good, my hot tub had one. But if shit falls on it or you move it a lot it will degrade quickly. The commercial covers are usually either styrofoam sandwiched in thin metal, or XPS sheet covered with PVC fabric. The latter can be made in two parts so that you can fold it in half for easy removal > styrofoam floorNo, the weight of the water and you will compress it, it becomes a thin plate and loses insulating properties> circular or rectangularCircular for many people, rectangular for few people. Circular you can use more space but always have sit with legs in, rectangular you can put 2/3 people relaxing but not have many people because corners
>>2871860>No, the weight of the water and you will compress it, it becomes a thin plate and loses insulating propertiesConstruction grade foams have different compressive strengths. Some can even be used under building footings.
>>2871860>the weight if water will compress itBro, what the fuck are you talking about. Literally massive concrete casts can be done on styrofoam. The weakest styrofoam dupont offers has compressive strength of 275kPa which is 275kilonewtons on a square meter. Thats 28 thousand kgs on a meter by meter area. Or around 60k lbs on yard by yard area. Thats a 28 meter deep whirlpool
>>2871794intex is almost the only "cheap" option with app control that i have in my country and i couldnt get rid of the thought of sitting in someones caked up cum if i got a used one. did you use yours in the winter as well?> hexagon compromiseair is considered a good insulator when enclosed as it will be on an inflatablei'm too much of an ESL to understand>>2871860>The commercial covers are usually either styrofoam sandwiched in thin metal, or XPS sheet covered with PVC fabric. The latter can be made in two parts so that you can fold it in half for easy removalnice. i guess i just tape it up good enough so nothing falls inside. also i think i'll get the rectangular one as it's the only model with a salt system>>2872258>>2872733good to hear. i'm planning on using 10 cm thick xps boards. google tells me they are more water resistant than eps. at first i was planning on copying what this plebbitor did (https://www.reddit.com/r/hottub/comments/1fzr0x3/i_created_a_winterized_enclosure_for_my/). but now i'm not sure if it's overkill and a board on top and bottom with some heat shield foil will be good enough. i guess heat travels mostly vertically and insulating the sides won't do much
>>2873030forgot pic
>>2872258>>2872733Okay then I don’t know what caused it but my styrofoam sheet got reduced from like 80mm to closer to 40mm in a year or two. It was a sheet like pic rel. But now that you guys mention it maybe it was something else. It did seem compressed rather than ‘gone’ tho
>>2873030>good to hear. i'm planning on using 10 cm thick xps boards. google tells me they are more water resistant than eps.Common XPS has a compressive strength of 25 psi, so just need to calculate it's okay based on tub volume.>>2873105I placed some EPS scraps on the floor and between plywood sheets to allow the sheets to dry without warping. The scraps definitely got squished after a few months. The compressive strength varies a lot based on the specific type of foam. Cheap EPS can be ~10 psi while high strength foam used under footings is 40 psi.
