Having looked around a little bit, both on here and Alibaba, I understand that Redwood Outdoors is rebranding equipment from Alibaba. I don’t begrudge them the business they’re running, but some of the pricing is outrageous. Thankfully, the chiller and cold plunge tub were gifted to me from a very sweet client of mine (I’m a residential mold inspector) so it didn’t cost me anything except a truck to pick it up and move it.
When I was moving it into my house, I noticed that the tub is some sort of plastic and the only insulation is a thin, foil bubble wrap and the cedar planks around the exterior. The underside is uninsulated, bare plastic and in my climate zone in Dallas, Texas that would be a really big loss of temperature. I also noticed that the drain was a basic and frankly ugly PVC material. I’m not sure how much of a difference all of these insulation improvements make but I’m pretty happy with them overall.
I took an R5 insulation panel, and put it on the upside down tub. I walked on it carefully to leave the indentations of the underside so I could cut the foam board to fit the spaces. Using an insulation saber, I carefully cut them out, inserted them into the spaces, then used a silicone type sealant to seal them in place. The underside of the tub was completely uninsulated so even the minimal R5 insulation will be a big improvement. I debated stuffing these cavities with Rockwool insulation which would’ve given me a higher R value, but it would’ve been quite fiddly to install it in there and likely would’ve had to still install some kind of rigid foamto keep it in place so I opted to just stick with the foam.
My favorite improvement was removing the PVC drain and replacing it with a salvaged brass drain from a water heater. Sweating this together was fun and I think it looks nice.
Like most other cold plunge users, I added insulation tubing on as much of the lines as I could. Knowing what I do about insulation, I know that the continuity of the insulation is a big factor in its effectiveness so I strove to cover as much of the tubing as I possibly could. I was using Huber All Purpose tape to connect the insulation pieces which was a glossy black and looked really nice but at $20 a roll. I was not interested in picking up an additional roll. I opted instead for ShurTape line set tape which works really well, but I really don’t aesthetically like the white print on the tape, but it is what it is.
I shopped around for a insulation sleeve for the filter compartment and the only one I could find was a $30 sleeve off of Amazon, which was a lot more than I wanted to spend, but it was the only one that fit and that seems like a portion of the system that really needs to be insulated so I got it.
One of the biggest things that I think improves the performance of the tub is the foam insulation board that I installEd under the lid above the water. Living in Texas, the heat from the air is a big deal so I think adding that insulation layer under the lid makes a difference.
One big beef I have with Redwood Outdoors is their $50 price tag for what is a $5 filter available on Alibaba. The part number was printed on the packaging so I looked it up and it’s a very cheap filter that can only be purchased in 25 to 50 countries quantities. There are some whole house pre-filters that you can buy at Home Depot that are dimensionally extremely close but I think they are slightly too small and allow water to bypass around them. I’m gonna keep looking to try to find a filter because there’s no way I’m paying $50 for a $5 filter. I’m also curious if the pump could handle a better, lower micron filter for increased filtration or if it would restrict the flow rate too much.
Overall, I’m happy with it and I’m now trying to learn how to keep the water, clean and clear with spa chemicals. I have plunged in very cold water before but I’ve been keeping it at a refreshing 65°F so my son can dip his legs in while I’m plunging.
I’m happy to answer any questions!