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So What is the Difference Between Portable Spas and Hot Tubs?
Perhaps you may be wondering what the difference between a hot tub and portable spa is. While the terms hot tub and spa once meant different things, the two terms have become somewhat interchangeable. Spas used to be just a heated tub made from acrylic or other forms of thermoplastic, which later evolved into the portable spas of today.
Hot tubs, made popular by appearance in modern entertainment, were large tanks of water with therapeutic jets enclosed in an outer wooden shell made from redwood or cedar. Due to a countered shape and added maintenance features, portables have today become preferred to older round wooden hot tubs. While the term hot tub is still used today, it is more commonly used to refer to the portable type of spas.
So, the question then becomes what is the difference between a spa and a portable spa? Today, if you were going to go to a spa dealership, you would be looking at a selection of the portable type. Not portable are those that are built-in, and are usually custom built, dug in the ground, and utilize a fixed plumbing system. However, with today's affordability and availability of portable spas, many built in have become a thing of the past. Today's spas offer a great deal of luxury, added features and functionality, and eliminate the cost of plumbing and maintenance associated with in the ground spas.
Despite the name, many spas are not really all that portable. Even without water, most portables still weigh several thousand pounds, and cannot easily be moved single-handedly. In fact, most spas require the use of specialized equipment to even be moved, and are hauled with special trucks. However, they are called portable spas because of the fact that they are not necessarily a permanent fixture of your home or yard. To use a portable spa, all that you need to do is plug one in, and you are ready to go. There are no additional plumbing or water lines.
Since a few select spa owners opt to enclose their spas within a built in deck or gazebo, this makes portables even less portable and difficult to move or remove, if at all. Even though these are still considered portables, due to the increased difficulty involved with moving them, many people choose to leave them as permanent fixtures and sell them with the house, instead of spending hundreds of dollars to have the spas removed and moved to a new location. However, an attractive, well-maintained spa can still add to the value of a home considerably when considering selling your existing home. |
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