A wooden cold plunge tub with a white liner and no metal hoops, for the private garden

Why there are no hoops and the liner is white

Metal bands rust in a monsoon and loosen as timber swells and shrinks, and a tub without a liner is a barrel that leaks and cannot be kept clean. Ours is built the other way round. A smooth white fibreglass liner holds the water and shows above the waterline, so the water looks clean because it is clean; the timber staves wrap the outside as cladding and carry no load. The proportions are adult: a tall person sits shoulder-deep without folding.

Tub, litres and the chiller that matches

The chiller is chosen by litres, not by taste: 1 HP holds up to 260 litres at 3-5 °C, 2 HP up to 570 and 4 HP up to 1,200. Prices for the three units are on the chillers page. A tub and its chiller together run about ₹5.1-17.1 lakh across the range.

Cover the tub, circulate the water

Still water in a warm garden is an invitation to mosquitoes, so the tub has a lid and the water circulates through the filter and the UV stage whether anyone is bathing or not. The lid also keeps leaves out and holds the cold overnight. How often the water is changed depends on use and on the source: borewell water can be hard, and a TDS and hardness test before purchase saves a descaling job later.

Timber in the sun and the rain

• Place the tub in partial shade. Direct sun on the deck adds heat the chiller must remove.
• Re-oil the staves once a year before the monsoon; thermally modified timber needs little else.
• Keep the tub on a deck or a stone plinth with a fall to a drain; a dripping tub on bare soil makes a mud patch and a breeding spot.
• Leave a service gap behind the tub for the hoses; we draw it on the layout.

When a tub is the wrong answer

If more than one household will use the tub every day, or if guests will queue for it, choose a built-in pool. If you want a quiet, indoor, free-standing object for one or two people, look at the ice bath tubs. The wooden tub is for a garden, a deck or a courtyard where the timber belongs.

Choosing the size

• One adult, daily use. The 250 litre compact tub is the smallest sensible size, with a 1 HP chiller.
• One adult who wants room. The 420 or 520 litre tubs take a tall adult shoulder-deep, with a 2 HP chiller.
• A couple. The 800 litre double tub, with a 4 HP chiller.
• Built into a deck or stone plinth. The 1,000 litre masonry plunge is a built-in version of the same idea; with its 4 HP chiller it costs more than a standard pool, whose price already includes the plant, so see the pool page when a household wants steps and a seat ledge.

Weight, delivery and placement

A tub holds its litres in kilograms: 420 litres of water weigh 420 kg, and the tub, the staves and the liner add to that. A terrace needs the slab check; a garden needs a level, firm base. Tubs arrive on a pallet, pass through a gate of about a metre and are placed with a trolley or a small crane, and the hoses and the chiller follow. We ask for the gate width and the path from the road on the first call, since a tub that cannot pass the gate has to be lifted over the wall.

A tub through a year in a coastal garden

In a Goa or Alibaug garden we plan for a tub that is used in every month, with the lid on every night. Before the monsoon the staves are re-oiled, the liner is wiped, the hoses are checked and the chiller's coil is washed. During the rains the lid stays on, circulation runs on its timer, and the deck is brushed after storms. After the monsoon the annual service visit looks at the pump, the sensor and the fittings, and the tub is emptied and refilled once.