I used to work for a pool and hot tub place and I personally took care of about 85 Hot tubs and 1 or 2 pools weekly on the Lake Michigan coast line from Michigan City, Indiana to South Haven, Michigan. I was the weekly maintenance man. I also helped on installs and repairs.
(1) Hot tubs. Hot tubs have jets. Jets have gaskets. Gaskets are effected by heat and cold, if you turn your heat off or simply turn it down to far trying to save money on operating costs, your gaskets will shrink and the tub will mysteriously start losing water and you will think you have a leak. You don't. Simply turn your temp back up the gaskets will swell and the water stops leaking. How many times you can get away with this before it really starts leaking is a roll of the dice. If you are in a warmer climate i.e. Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Arizona, etc,.., you don't need a hot tub. Soak in a bath tub, its more cost effective and less energy wasteful. Hot tubs have to stay at the ready 24-7. Imagine the energy waste to accomplish staying at 104 degrees 365 days a year, whether you are in it or not. In cold climates, don't lose power, your hot tub will turn into an ice block and burst all your expensive piping. If you do lose power run a heater underneath the tub and call for repairs, and pray for the best. Hot tubs also require balancing the water chemistry which costs money. Eventually you can no longer balance the chemistry and a drain and fill becomes necessary. You drain a bath tub every time so your chemistry is always spot on, unless you have really nasty water where you live. Most people don't use the jets in a hot tub anyway because of you turn them on and try to "lounge" in it, you will float around like a bobber and catch on real quick that by turning off the jets, you can relax much more easily and your water temp stays warmer, so basically it is now,..Just like a bath tub.
So why bother?
(2) Pools. Big, time consuming, expensive, luxury swimming pond.
There are basically three types of pools. (A) Liner pools, (B) Gunite pools (C) Fiberglass pools.
(A) Liner pools are the cheapest but liners wear out, and can be bleached by the chemicals. If go this route chose a design-less liner. Frankly I think they all wear out too quickly if you ask me. Replacing them is expensive so you either pay now or pay later, and when it happens a third time you will be looking to move out to another house because you are stuck with this and want to escape. This is WHY pools have a bad reputation,... liner pools.
(B) Gunite, allows you to free form your design any way you like. But Gunite needs to be re sealed with epoxy paint every 10 years or so requiring a full drain and refill on your dime plus the cost of paint and labor. Cha Ching!
(C) Fiberglass Pools, never need to be re sealed or painted and never needs a new liner. and Chemical use is also lower than the other two types. They simply stay cleaner and are easier to clean when you have too do so.
If I had to choose pool or a hot tub, I would choose a small fiberglass plunge pool possibly with seats and an over sized pool heater. No jets = no leaky leaky. If you want to turn it down and cool off, you can, and if you want it hot, you can. Think small, (unless you are going to have team volley ball tournaments in your pool of course, or every kid in a five county area visiting your back yard). Basically all you need is a place to cool off and float around a bit. Most people swim for a few minutes and lounge for hours so chose the size wisely.
Hope this helps.
Q
