Lesson 2 of 103 min read
Size, seats and the lounger question
Size a hot tub for the people in it on a normal night, not the party. Then check three fits: whether a lounger is worth the seat it usually costs, whether your body fits the seats, and whether the tub fits your yard and the way in.
In this lesson
- How many seats you actually need
- Whether a lounger is worth a seat
- How to check it fits your yard and your body
How many seats do you actually need?
Count the people who'll be in it on an ordinary weeknight. Not the summer party, not the week your in-laws visit. That number is your size.
Sizes run in small steps. A typical six-seater is 84 x 84 in (7 ft x 7 ft) and holds 392 gallons. Tubs for one or two run about 76 x 61 in; eight-seaters about 94 x 92.5 in. Every extra seat is more water to heat and more tub to cover, every night, whether anyone is in it or not.
Is a lounger worth a seat?
A lounger is the full-length seat you lie back in, legs out, with jets down your back and legs. It doesn't make the tub bigger: six- and seven-seaters with one have a median length of 86 in, against 85 in without. It uses room inside the same shell, so it usually costs an upright seat. On 4 of the 5 common shell sizes we compared, the lounger version seats one fewer: on an 89 x 89 in shell, 6 against 7.
It's worth it if the same one or two people use the tub most nights and like to stretch out. Skip it if you often fill every seat. Either way, the tallest and the shortest person in the house should lie back in it at the showroom: do their feet reach the end? A short person who can't reach the end floats off the seat once the tub is filled. Every tub that has one is on hot tubs with a lounger.
Will you fit in it? Depth and tall people
Makers don't publish how deep the seats are: none of the 390 hot tubs in our data lists a seat or water depth. The nearest figure is cabinet height, a median 36 in, from 29 to 42 in. A taller cabinet has room for a deeper shell, but it's a hint, not a measurement, and it's also a higher step in. Use it to narrow the list, then sit in the seat you'd use and ask where the water line would sit on you. Tall? Start with hot tubs for tall people.
Will it fit your yard, and the way in?
Measure the spot: the tub's footprint, plus room for steps on the side you'll climb in and for the cover when it's folded back.
Then measure the way in, which is where tubs get stuck. A hot tub travels on its side, so the path has to be at least as wide as the tub is tall. The median tub we track is 36 in tall, the tallest 42 in. Check every gate, side yard, corner and step between the street and the spot, and write down the narrowest one. If it's too tight, there's another way in; lesson 5 covers it.
- How tall is this model's cabinet? My narrowest gate is ___ in.
- What's the water depth at the seat I'd use, and in the footwell?
- Is this exact model on your floor, so I can sit in the seats and feel the jets running?
You know the size. Next: what's under the acrylic, and the eight checks that decide whether a tub lasts.
Remember this
- Size for a normal night, not the party.
- On the same shell size, a lounger usually costs one upright seat.
- Makers don't publish seat depth: sit in the seat you'd use and ask where the water line would sit on you.
- The way in must be at least as wide as the tub is tall; the median tub is 36 in.
Check yourself
3 quick questions. Tap an answer.
A couple has friends over a few times a year. What size should they shop?
Two tubs share the same 89 x 89 in shell. One has a lounger. What usually changes?
Your side gate is 34 in wide. The tub you like is 36 in tall. What now?
Want more on this?
Each of these goes deeper. They open in the library; the course will be here when you come back.
Lesson 2 done. 9 to go.
Next: lesson 3 · 4 minHow a good hot tub is built← Lesson 1: What you're actually buying