Charlie Andrews

The idea of having one's own Hot tub has always appealed to me. Although the main downside to ones on the market, apart from the price, is sitting in the cleaning chemicals. After 10 minutes, I begin to feel nauseous.

​

I saw a YouTube video of someone demonstrating how easy it was to build a hot tub with just a cattle trough and a coil of pipe. I was intrigued and had to try it for myself. 

​

On the way home from the pub one day, I saw a bathtub sitting in a skip, destined for landfill. I decided to delay its fate by a little and carry it home. It was rather heavy, made worse by its awkward shape. In the end i realised that the most comfortable position to carry it was on my back like a teenage mutant ninja turtle.

​

A couple of months later, while giving my old boss a hand with moving his stuff, I came across a coil of copper pipe in his garden. He said that he was thinking about using it as a heat exchanger as well, but never got around to doing anything with it. He gave it to me on the condition that i would use it.

​

I bought a two tank fittings, some copper pipe and some pipe connectors and got to work constructing my new hot tub. It only took an afternoon to get it to a level that it would work. Later I added a ring of down pipe around the top to make it deeper and clad it with pallet wood to make it more aesthetically appealing.

​

Quirky home improvement projects are amongst my favourite. It is such a great feeling turning an idea in to something physical that adds value to your life. Many afternoons were spent sitting around and enjoying the garden that summer.