How to Make a Wood Fired Hot Tub for Less than $300

Hot tubs are pricey, but they can make your body feel amazing. After a long day working outside in the garden or tending to animals, your body might feel like it was hit by a truck. Unfortunately, most people don’t have the money for a hot tub.

You don’t need a lot of money. Instead, you need some creativity and skills to create your own DIY wood-fired hot tub. Not only will your body thank you, but your wallet will as well. Here are the steps to make this work for you!

What You Need

• 6’ X 2’ x 2’ Galvanized, Stock Tank
• Gravel
• Fast Setting Concrete Mix
• Sand
• Steel Bars
• Bolts
• Drill Hole
• Through-Wall Fittings
• Push-to-Connect Fittings
• Wood for the Lid
• Jigsaw
• Firewood

Instructions

1. First, dig a small hole that you can set your stock tank into, but it shouldn’t go deep. To stop the tank from sinking too far into the ground, lay down some gravel in the hole.

2. You want to make some footers that will stop the hot tub from sinking. Create frames that are 2’ x 2’ and lay them in the hole. The frames can be held together with duct tape and simple foam! Then, mix some fast setting concrete and pour it into the wooden frames. Make sure to level out the footers, and let them sit for 24 hours.

3. After, pour more gravel and sand over top of the area. You might need about two bags of sand.

4. Now it is time to make the heating element. Use 1/2 inch copper tubing and wrap it around a five-gallon bucket. It should be about 18-inches tall. Then, cut 1” x ¼” steel bars that you can attach to the sides of the tubing to hold it in place. These are bracing!

5. Use a hole saw to drill a one ¾ inch hole in the bottom of the tank. Then, drill another hole 18 inches above that hole. Next, thread through-wall fittings through these holes. Seal with silicone. Screw in some push-to-connect fittings that can attach to the copper tubing. Attach the tubing to the fittings, but they might need to be trimmed.

6. Put the steel bars into the ground. You want another set of steel bars put on the other side of the copper tubing, which need put in after the first test fire.

7. Add wood inside of the copper tubing cylinder. Make sure that the water is heating up by the fire heat.

8. The next step is optional, but it will keep heat inside. You might want to create a lid for the hot tub. Nail some pieces of wood together and trace the shape of the tub. Use a jigsaw to cut the curve. Now you have a lid.

It will take about two hours for your water to reach above 100 degrees F. Make sure that you take out the wood when you want to stop heating the water up. You could add another set of copper tubing to heat the water up faster.