Wood stove or electric heating?

The stove takes the tub from 10 to 37 °C in an hour and a half to two hours, using 15 to 20 kg of hardwood.

The cost per heat-up is unbeatable. The catch is that you have to be there – light it, feed it, watch the temperature. The tub cannot be heated remotely and cannot be kept warm for a week.

An internal stove sits in the shell and takes space, but heats fastest. An external stove stands beside it, leaves the full space inside and is safer with children.

A 3 kW electric heater holds the tub at a constant temperature. You get in whenever you like, with no planning and no work. With us that is the ELECTRIC range – the same ELITE and COMFORT shells, just without a stove.

You pay for that convenience. Heating 1 300 litres from zero takes 12 to 20 hours electrically. Keeping the tub permanently warm comes to a monthly bill that varies with the season – the breakdown is in What a whirlpool costs to run.

You also need a 400 V connection with its own breaker and an RCD, wired by a qualified electrician.

Answer one question: how often will you bathe?

Once a week or less – a stove. The preparation is part of the ritual, and when you are not using the tub it costs nothing. Look at hot tubs with a wood stove or with an external stove.

Several times a week or daily – electricity, or a whirlpool outright. Lighting a fire three times a week gets old faster than people think.

The best compromise is an external stove plus electric heating. Heat up fast with the stove, then hold the temperature over the weekend with electricity and switch off during the week.