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cscmtp
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 09:40am
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So I'm getting ready to build a small 18x24 cabin to use as a rental property on our campground. We are located in the NC Mountains and this will be a year round cabin during all 4 seasons. We were looking into possibly putting a hot tub on the deck, and the cabin would have 1 bathroom and kitchen. A friend recommended that I get no bigger than a 40 gallon hot water heater. But would be better off to explore a tankless water heater? And if we decided to put the hot tub in, would they be sufficient for filling the hot tub? I've never had a hot tub before, but I would assume with a lot of shorter term rentals I'd probably want/need to change the water often. Does this sound like a good route to consider, or is there a better way? Any tips, links to products, or estimates on cost would be greatly appreciated as we've never done anything like this before. Thank you!!
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 10:24am
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Not a hot tub owner, so my comments are not very good, but here is my observation. Both my neighbors have hot tubs and one of them is always draining and refilling the tub often, as it received a great deal of usage over the other neighbor's tub. Both refill from the "hydrant" of their public water/or well and redo the chemicals after the hot tub brings the water to the correct temperature setting. So, I do not think you would want to refill your hot tub with water that is passing thru the cabin hot water heater. I would think the tank less heater would be the way to go for your rental cabin, just my thoughts and no real world experience.
There is a lot of knowledge on this forum and I am sure someone will drop in with real world experience,
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Ontario lakeside
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 10:56am
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You may want to consider a wood fired hot tub. We have one and love it, if you have a source of fire wood it is a very inexpensive way to go.
I have a video of our set up here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCOTCOwcKfY
Good luck
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 01:44pm - Edited by: bldginsp
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If you choose a gas water heater, a tankless is probably your best bet. It will produce hot water continuously as long as you want. A tank water heater is slower so once you have emptied it you have to wait a while to get more. Be interesting to see how much propane it takes to fill a hot tub with hot water.
Check this out on tankless heaters:
http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/3_4393_0.html
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cscmtp
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 04:52pm
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Starting to lean towards the idea of a tankless system. Is anyone familiar with the Eccotemp I12? I called their support and if I can trust their sales person, he said that should be sufficient to heat our small cabin (500 sq ft, 1 bathroom, kitchen, and hot tub)
http://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-I12-LP-Indoor-tankless-heater/dp/B0157EJT28/ref=sr_1_1 ?ie=UTF8&qid=1462994732&sr=8-1&keywords=Eccotemp+I12-LP+Indoor+tankless+heater
Anyone have any positive or negative experience with this unit? Anything else I should know before buying?
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 05:24pm - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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We had a hot tub at our city house. We filled it with water from the outdoor spigot.
Hot tubs have heaters to heat the water and keep it warm. We bought chemicals at the local pool supply to keep the water clean.
We got rid of our hot tub because it was a money pit. Keeping it heated costs at least $100.00 per month depending upon the time of year(middle of May-middle of Oct) chemicals another $30 per month. Than we had to weather proof it for winter freeze.
We also had to get a electrician to install a outdoor 220 outlet,that cost about $600 fifteen years ago.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 07:55pm - Edited by: bldginsp
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Cscmtp- I got an eccotemp l5 to use in my little shower house. I hooked it up but it would not work because my system doesn't have enough pressure. The unit requires a minimum of I think 24 lbs. water pressure, but with my water tank at 35 feet higher than the heater the water pressure is probably around 15 lbs. The unit would go on and immediately shut off when it detected the low pressure.
Many people use small pumps to pressurize their water, those work fine with eccotemps. But then you have to have electrical to run the pump.
I replaced the l5 with a Marey portable unit, which, they claim, has a far lower pressure threshold and should work. Haven't hooked it up yet.
The l12 Eccotemp requires 120 electrical, and is an indoor unit that must be installed indoors with a flu. You didn't say if you have electrical to your property, nor did you say if you want to instal the water heater inside or outside. A lot of choices with different tankless models. There are off-grid models that don't require 120 elec, and both units that are made for indoor and outdoor use. Read the posting I linked to above.
What you need for heating a hot tub is a water heater that has a large enough capacity to heat that much water in a reasonable length of time. But also, if you are heating the existing water in the tank, rather than filling it fresh with hot water, you will need a pump to circulate the water in the tank through the water heater. The electric 220 setups they have for hot tubs do this automatically, you would need to design a system. Perhaps they make such systems for tankless heaters, but they would require 120 elec. if you don't have that you would need to run a generator, or have a battery system to operate a pump. Lot to ponder. Do you have elec to the property?
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cscmtp
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 08:36pm
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boy this is a lot to think about,  hope i'm not over my head here. Yes, we will have a septic and electricity.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 11 May 2016 09:06pm
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The electric heater systems made for hot tubs work fine but cost a lot as silverwaterlady said, because electricity is an expensive way to heat. It would cost less to heat with propane, but you'd need a system that pumps it. That's easier with utility electric, but the system would have to be carefully designed and monitored in use. Unless they already make a whole system to do so, in which case it might be plug and play. Got your research time cut out for you.
I like the idea of a huge iron pot with a fire under it.
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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 12 May 2016 06:48pm
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I'm not sure a hot tub would be a good idea for a rental, honestly. People tend to incorrectly use and abuse things they rent and it could be a big, costly headache for you. A potential liability, too, with the sanitary/germ considerations.
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Asher
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# Posted: 17 May 2016 10:18pm - Edited by: Asher
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If you do use a on demand system make sure your faucets are dual handled and not single handled. When people flip on single handle faucets then tend to lift straight up and open the hot and cold sides (for a quick rinse or to fill a glass of water). This will trigger the heater to come on even though there is no need and this is where it looses it efficiency benefits the most.
I'm with others here thinking the hot tub isn't worth it... for one I bet it will skyrocket your insurance...
I was kicking around the idea of making a outside hot tub (cowboy style), using a watering trough trimmed in rough cut cedar planks and a wood fire on one end, but also figuring out a way to pipe a small on-demand unit into the mix to do a little bit of preheating and maintain a temp... I haven't got to deeply involved but I can't see why a higher pressure low flow pump circulating water through a filter and into the heater wouldn't work, but the fire would be the main heating source and better atmosphere...
Good luck...
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