Garden Tub question

solveg · Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:02 am

I tried out the garden tub last night, and was wondering how much water one holds? I have a 30 gallon water heater, but it only filled it halfway up...which was OK, I guess.

It occurred to me that if water weighs 10 lbs per gallon, if you filled the whole tub up, it would be a lot* of weight.... maybe too much weight?

I suppose I can jack the temp up on my water heater to get more water in it, but that seems wasteful.

solveg

Yanita · Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:41 am

Hi,

Was there a garden tub in your home before?

If not and you installed one, I recommend adding more blocking under the joist in the area of the tub. I believe a gallon of water weighs approx 7 lbs, but regardless as you say that is alot of weight.

As far as not having enough hot water to fill your tub, either turn up the heat, install a larger tank, or install a tankless water heater, either one of these options are relatively expensive.

I fear the same for us when we install the soaking tub in the guest bathroom.

~Yanita~

solveg · Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:49 pm

The garden tub was here before I bought the place, I've just been too afraid to try it because the surround looked gross. It was just cosmetic, though, and I really* wanted a bath.

I like the garden tub a lot...I wonder why people are always taking them out?

Solveg

Yanita · Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 pm

Hi,

Generally or at least IMO, because they want to gain more space and they don't have water tanks large enough to fill the tubs.

Could be other explanations though!

Have a great day!

Yanita

Harry · Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:22 pm

Hi

At our house we prefer showers. So we remodeled with a shower. Saves space too.

Harry

Greg · Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:36 pm

Your home should have at least 2x6 joists, the same as many stick built homes. I dont think I would worry too much. You may want to check "down stairs" to make sure you have the home properly supported to make your self feel better. Greg

Maureen · Thu Apr 19, 2007 11:24 pm

I was listening to some show on DIYnetwork last weekend. They mentioned something about both the garden and jacuzzi tubs. The first comment was that they are large and take up so much room. The second comment was that they use a lot of water.

Personally, I've had both. Still have a small garden tub. The jacuzzi was one of the first on the market quite a few years ago. Took forever to fill up! When I was tired at night, and really needed it, I'd wait forever to fill it up and then spend maybe 20 minutes in it. Outdoor hot tub with jacuzzi is a much better investment, as far as I'm concerned.

The garden tubs are just about as bad. Even my little tub takes a while to fill, and will run the 40 gallon hot water heater down pretty far. I don't fill it up all the way when I do take a bath. I'm just too impatient I guess LOL!

I would take the advice given by others and make sure that you've got the support down under to support the tub, filled with water.

Maureen

Yanita · Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:13 pm

LOL,

An outdoor hot tub..yup, we have considered one, but the maintenance expense and then the added liability to my homeowners insurance made that out of the question..

For those of you that do change out your tubs if you upgrade to a Jacuzzi remember that these will cost more at installation as well, they require a designated circuit. You also have to get creative with the plumbing, traditional tubs have over flows, MH tubs generally do not.

Have a great night.

~Yanita~