Which wood is best to use for heating your hot tub with wood?
For a hot tub wood stove, dry hardwood works best. It delivers a lot of heat per log, burns evenly and produces less smoke and soot build-up in the stove and flue.
- Beech wood is one of the best choices: it burns hot and long and is ideal for getting your hot tub up to temperature and keeping it there.
- Ash wood is a strong all-rounder. It gives off plenty of heat and burns nice and steadily, so you need to refuel less often.
- Hornbeam is an extra dense wood known for its high heat output and long burn time. Perfect if you want stable warmth.
- One of the finest types of wood for getting the fire going quickly and also great for keeping it burning, birch burns faster than beech/ash/hornbeam. This means you'll need to refuel more often to maintain the same warmth.
Heating your hot tub with wood: step by step with your stove
Before you start:
- Check the water level (important!). Fill the hot tub well above the top connection of the stove before lighting a fire. Otherwise, the stove could get damaged.
- Remove the ash tray/ashes and open the air intake.
Lighting the fire:
- Place 2-3 medium-sized logs at the bottom (hardwood, such as beech), smaller wood on top (also hardwood). On top: kindling + a firelighter. (such as dry pine/fir) Light it at the top, so the fire burns downward. Keep enough air flowing for the first 10-20 minutes: you want a hot, bright fire, not smouldering smoke. Once it's burning well, you can close the door.
- Refuel once there's a good bed of glowing embers.
- Put the hot tub cover on, it makes a huge difference in heating time! Occasionally stirring/turning on the SPA system helps for an even temperature.
Safety tip: Do not use petrol, methylated spirits, lighter fluid or other flammable liquids to start the fire. We recommend using firelighters.
You can find more useful tips for safe use and a longer lifespan of the hot tub wood stove here.
