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Small Cabin Forum / Useful Links and Resources / Snorkel Wood Fired Hot Tubs
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rockies
Member
# Posted: 12 Apr 2017 18:42
Reply 


OOH! I would love this.

http://snorkel.com/

paulz
Member
# Posted: 12 Apr 2017 19:45
Reply 


I have a new one of these, a friend gave it to me. As soon as I finish my deck, get my well working, get a pump and line running up the hill, get a tub, I'm going to try it. Apparently you just stick it in the tub and build a fire.



bldginsp
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 00:41
Reply 


How do get the ash out of it. I bet it's much easier to get your *** out of the hot tub than it is to get the ash out of the stove.

Sorry- couldn't resist...

paulz
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 09:09
Reply 


Yeah never thought of that. I don't have the instructions. Shop-vac? Darn sure not going to scoop it out without a bunch of ash in the water.

Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 10:47 - Edited by: Ontario lakeside
Reply 


They come with a special shovel for the ash, works well. We love our
tub!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCOTCOwcKfY

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 18:58
Reply 


How about an M67.
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AKfisher
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 19:09
Reply 


I have and tried the M67 Immersion heater.... It will work and get the tub hot but... It is like sitting next to a "whomping" fire ball.... It is very dirty as well. The smoke stack/carbon ash will rain down on the water. I would much rather have wood ash and a wood fire.

gsreimers
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 22:29
Reply 


We are very interested in a hot tub for our cabin eventually and I have a friend who has a tub with a snorkel heat box in it. I think I have a much better idea.

The issue with the snorkel heater that I see is a lack of efficiency. You build the fire and add to it to keep it going but it is a pain to clean the ashes out of it. Also, it is not at all efficient. The water against the outside of the firebox heats up but if you don't have circulation the heat doesn't transfer so we use an oar to stir it. It is an all day project to get the water hot.

As a homebrewer, I use a wort chiller to cool my beer after boil before fermentation starts. A wort chiller is 30' of copper in a coil with cold water running through it submerged in a 5 or 10 gallon pot of wort to bring it down to 70 degrees.

My thought is to have an input and output whole in the tub with a 12 volt pump to a wort chiller over a fire pit.

Any thoughts?

gsreimers
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2017 22:33
Reply 


If I did this right, a picture of a wort chiller will appear
Wort chiller
Wort chiller


Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 15 Apr 2017 00:21
Reply 


We get our tub from lake temp to 100+ degrees in about 2 hours. Use DRY hardwood, get the fire going and load the box full. about an hour later refill and stir. I find these stoves to be very efficient, there is a lot of surface area with direct water contact, water is a excellent absorber of heat.

Al Burton
Member
# Posted: 15 Apr 2017 01:24
Reply 


From what I have read the Snorkel stove is the most efficient means of heating a hot tub. Yes the water will stratify but this could be solved with a circulation pump. I have a hot tub with a 25' coil of 5/8" copper tubing in a barrel stove. It circulates with a 12v pump. It works but takes all day to heat water from a well. (cold). It uses a ton of wood to get it hot. Granted we only have pine/spruce but it does go through it! Once hot it holds the heat well so not a big deal to keep it hot. I also built a heater for my brother using blackpipe in a barrel stove but it doesn't seem quite as efficient.
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littlesalmon4
Member
# Posted: 18 Apr 2017 17:46 - Edited by: littlesalmon4
Reply 


Here is our tub. We have been using it for almost 10 years. They seem efficient. When looking at the stove design you will notice 2 tubes that go through the stove right under the chimney. A lot of the heating will come from these tubes. The tub also came with a special shovel for cleaning out the ash. It is easy with little mess. I recommend to anybody. Ours is from Alumitubs.
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SofyaSukhova312
Member
# Posted: 12 Apr 2018 06:13
Reply 


Wort chiller is crucial thing, but getting hot and warm is an important thing as well. Can't say how to stay warm, but got something about chilling https://diligentchef.com/best-wort-chiller/

lburners
Member
# Posted: 12 Apr 2018 08:29
Reply 


Littlesalmon4 that is very nice looking setup.

hueyjazz
Member
# Posted: 12 Apr 2018 12:11
Reply 


I so want to do a hot tub and make it wood fired. I've got hard wood up the wazoo. Certain aspects of hot tubs I hate. After one use you're basically sitting in dirty bath water. The answer is to treat it with oxidizers like chlorine and bromine. Oxidizers burn organics. I'm organic and I hate public swimming pools for the way they have to treat them.

I've been thinking of a hillbilly design that uses a wort chiller or a copper tube I bend myself. One aspect would be the fire box portion and the other the tub. Tub would likely be a big cattle feed tub. Crap, when I was in college all the wineries in Finger lakes were getting rid of their huge oak barrel tanks. Those would have been perfect and cheap as being a wino I knew the right people.
Could have, would have and should have but that was 30 years ago and way before cabin. People get rid of hot tub with bad pump, controls or whatever but I hate to have someone else's junk in my woods. Still would be a good tub set up.

Fire box I'm still thinking about. Heat transfer and control is everything. Not sure if I'm keen on having flame directly on copper coil. Got rid of an old wood store. Now I wish I didn't. One idea is a beer keg with coil wrapped around it.
Also thinking about one of those kits where you change 55 gapllon oil drums into wood stoves. Control is still a bit of an issue. I would know how to do it with thermostat and valve but I want to keep electric out of this due to location where I would put it.

I figure convection would move water so a pump wouldn't be needed. I would have system next to my stream. I have a really nice landing at lower elevation so filling with water would be quick and easy. I would dump tub after each use. No chemicals

Any ideas as to building on this idea are welcome. Smallest design two people. Optimum design four people but I would want to tend a fire all day just to soak for an hour.

rockies
Member
# Posted: 12 Apr 2018 19:11 - Edited by: rockies
Reply 


I would be concerned about pressure building up and causing an explosion in a DIY wood stove/hot water tank setup. For pure safety the price of an engineered and manufactured product is well worth it.

As to the water being unclean after one use, do what the Japanese do and shower first before getting into the communal bath. You could also design in a small overflow hole about an inch below the surface of the water (with a plug) and use it to drain off anything that "floats".

hueyjazz
Member
# Posted: 13 Apr 2018 14:57
Reply 


Not a pressure vessel and copper tube would be large and open on both ends. Only worry would be copper being plugged in two points and making steam pressure. Soft copper would split before exploding so I really see your concerns as a nonissue. This isn’t going to be a boiler. I also have ready access to several engineers I work directly with to review anything I come up with but these hillbilly tubs aren’t new.

I also had a summer job servicing hot tubs. Part of that was cleaning them. You can scrap skin off the walls. Filters were always loaded with skin and hair. The Japanese communal tubs were large but sooner or later they would have to change water. Bet the guy that clean them saw the same things I did.

skootamattaschmidty
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2018 10:54
Reply 


I made a redneck hot tub out of an IBC container. It was used for food so no chemicals to worry about. I put strapping over the metal frame then sided it with logs cut in half. The hot tub is in front of my sauna which is wood fired. I ran a 100' roll of copper to the sauna, wrapped it around the chimney and coiled it on top of the wood stove. I use a small fish pond pump to circulate the water. The pump runs off my solar and can be left running 24/7 as there is very little draw. It works quite well!
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NorthRick
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2018 12:43
Reply 


Quoting: skootamattaschmidty
I made a redneck hot tub out of an IBC container. It was used for food so no chemicals to worry about. I put strapping over the metal frame then sided it with logs cut in half.


That's awesome! And, it already has a drain valve built in.

skootamattaschmidty
Member
# Posted: 15 Apr 2018 06:35
Reply 


Yah the drain valve works awesome, drains it in no time.... When I originally made the tub, I wasn't thinking hot tub but rather just a cold dip after the sauna which was great. When the weather started getting cooler, I decided it would be neat to warm it up. So if I was doing it over, I would have insulated the sides first, then covered it to help hold the heat in when the fire wasn't burning.

hueyjazz
Member
# Posted: 15 Apr 2018 10:36
Reply 


Oh I that IBC idea Skoot. Those are cheap, built like a battleship and easy to get in food grade although some substances can be a bear to clean out, Married into large apple farm and there's several juice plants nearby. Getting one of these would be cake.

I agree insulating sides would be a nice upgrade. Could get one of those spray on kits. I might make mine with a removable side so IBC can be extracted for cleaning. Is there enough meat to weld angle iron to cage here and there?

I also love the idea of using waste heat from sauna.

skootamattaschmidty
Member
# Posted: 15 Apr 2018 23:22
Reply 


I don't know much about welding but I would think you could easily weld angle iron onto the cage.

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