Swim spa sizes and dimensions

The length on a spec sheet is the outside of the cabinet. Inside it sit the walls, the seats, the current's intake and, on a combo, a whole hot tub. The open water you swim in is shorter. 73 of the 186 spec sheets give it, and across those the open swim length runs a median 68 in (5′ 8″) shorter than the cabinet, from 28 to 127 in.

So two 16-foot swim spas can give you very different room to swim. Where the sheet gives no open swim length, ask the dealer for it rather than guessing from the cabinet. The guide to room to swim explains how much room a swimmer needs.

Most spec sheets don't say. The 42 that do range from 40 in (the Endless Pools R200) to 66 in (the SwimEx 800 S), with a median of 47 in. 22 of those figures are stated as water depth; the rest don't say whether they measure the water or the inside of the shell.

Stand in the swim area at the showroom and check where the water reaches on you with the seats and steps in view.

Width barely changes with length: 183 of 186 are 87 to 94 in wide. The exceptions are the Artesian Spas TidalFit DTL-6 (163 in), the Artesian Spas TidalFit DTL-8 (182 in) and the SwimEx 1000 S (137 in). Height runs from 45 to 92 in, median 53 in, which is the step-up from the ground if the spa sits on a pad.

Empty, a median 2,600 lb across 185 models. Full, a median 18,588 lb across 166, from 9,723 lb (the Dr. Wellness E-8) to 70,000 lb (the SwimEx 1000 S). Only 23 spec sheets say the filled figure includes people.

Spread over the cabinet's footprint, the median swim spa puts about 156 lb on every square foot when full, from 103 to 309. The American Wood Council's prescriptive deck guide sizes decks for 40 lb per sq ft and leaves hot tubs out of its scope. Endless Pools tells owners to consult a structural engineer or contractor before setting one on a raised deck, and Master Spas' H2X manual calls for a surface built to carry the full load. See the guide to the swim spa foundation, and the hot tub weight figures for comparison.

The cabinet plus room to work on it. Master Spas' H2X manual asks for at least 3 ft of clearance around the whole perimeter for service. On a median 14- to 15-foot model (180 by 92 in), that is a space about 21 by 13.7 ft. The same manual warns that some sites need a crane to set the spa, so check the path from the street too.

For a hot tub instead, see hot tub sizes.