DIY Hot tub
Having a mini pool at our house has been one of our funnest projects, don’t know if that sounds sad or not but we aren’t sad about it. Not only is it enjoyable to take a dip whenever we want to for relaxation, but it made a way for the baby to play in water, since we don’t have a bathtub at our beautiful but rented 3-sided log Alaska dream home.
The first thing we want to say is regarding water safety because the risk of drowning is real. Knowing this we still had 1 animal casualty and a squirrel lost its life in our pool. The disappointment I feel at this reality is heavy, and could only be so much worse for a human to lose their life. We recently became familiar with https://www.thesylasproject.org/ and we want others to please learn from them as a resource for water safety. Their philosophy is to eliminate as many risks as possible and include 1: remove pet doors that access any water source/ drowning possibility. 2. Lock pools within a 4 sided gate, 3. Have an alarm on the pool gate and on the doors to the house. Despite this potential tragedy the joys of having a pool are immense so with those precautions acknowledged let’s continue!
Our fav resources:
StockTankPools.net
Stock Tank Love Instagram / YouTube
We acquired our stock tank pool parts over two years which is why we want to make sure to highlight the fact, that PARTS SELL OUT early in the season each spring when it comes to pool parts / hardware. The first of which being On-Demand Hot Water Heaters ordered from AMAZON. This is not the only way to heat a stock tank pool but it’s the easiest, fastest, and dare I say funnest because given that it is the heart of the HOT TUB by heating the water, and it can be automated with an app, we want you to be able to run your stock tank tub as simply as we do. See below.
NO TOXIC CHEMICALS!!
The thought of using chlorine in our home pool really was not appealing to us so we are excited to keep our stock tank tub clean using food grade Hydrogen Peroxide purchased at our local health food store. It keep all green things at bay with no harsh chemicals, and no bacteria or algae are growing in our tub. With just a cup and a half of healthy natural 25% hydrogen peroxide to the approximately 400 gallons of water, we keep our tub clean and our skin healthy. This feels especially great since we have a baby in the tub with us. For more information on hydrogen peroxide, we found I there.
DIY HOT TUB
We purchased our 5’or 6’ stock tank tub from the local feed store, in our case Alaska Feed Company. Their business is within 3 miles of our house and we love to go there for animal and food and gardening supplies.
We chose this size since we don’t own our home yet and its big enough for a person to lay down in and 2 people to easily enjoy soaking in, without being overly resource intensive for filling, cleaning or managing the water and cleaning supplies. Below is our list of what we have invested in our stock tank, summertime, mini pool, backyard paradise.
Given that we are professional photographers we also wanted this set up to be able to be used for unique and creative, even healing photography portrait sessions. In our region, summertime is fleeting however it is abundant in light and glorious in its splendor. We have flowers blooming June through July and into August, with our peony market booming in late July and early August. That means we can have pool peony portrait sessions and bask in the divine beauty of woman hood, childhood, motherhood, etc while smelling the incredible perfume of the peony flowers and creating artwork that celebrates the divine beauty of being alive. We invite you to book with us here: and in the future we will expand this offer to be even more luxurious as we have our own ranch and gardens in our next incarnation of home ownership when that time arrives.
Thank you for reading this article and we hope you will watch our show and invest in yourself, your family, and perhaps us as creators divinely blessing our brothers and sisters of mankind.
Areva derci!
Stop by the BLOG or the YT Channel, where we do content on Alaska Travels, Family Friendly meals, lessons, and PICNICS In the Last Frontier.
HOT TUB DIY
Stock Tank Love
Get your heater early before May when they run out!
We got our stock tank in the Sumer of 2020 and there were no heaters available so we had to wait.
2021 we ordered the larger of the propane red camp heaters, other wise known as on -demand water heaters and a pump that would circulate water from the pool to the heater or the heater to the thank.
FOR THE BUILDOUT:
We followed the advise of www.stocktankpool.net for their hot tub specifically. Visit their site and use their links to order your stuff! While at the feed store here in Fairbanks, Alaska where we got our beautiful stock tank, one of the workers taught me briefly of the possibility of making a coil heater with a fire as a heat source. We don’t own our property so we decided to go the more refined route, although we would certainly be interested in trying that method some time.
From Howie:
PRO TIPS Go with what your
Head pressure gravity puts pressure on the circa pump. Same level ground level to the tank or else air gets in the line to the circa pump. Otherwise pump has to be primed which can be difficult if it’s not primeable.
Things to change, Howie would have gone with a 3/4 house versus the 1/2” hose.
Go with what your home store can provide at a good price. Our circa pump is 1/2 “ heater is 3/4” so there were issues there.
Nextly
Screened in tent
And last but not least, wifi plugins remote triggered with an app. We are using :
Our tub at <500 gallons took approximately 1 hour the first time we warmed it up and 30 minutes thereafter during the warm days.
Try to picture what you’re trying to accomplish and your home store will help you get it done.
WARNING: 102 degrees is too hot!!