After Reality-check I have to buy a Wooden Tub. Any Advise?

[dean scheben]

Sooo, a while ago I posted my questions about the various types of acrylic tubs here under the headline :"Help, I don't know whats better?".
thanks for all the expertise! It turns out that Living in San Francisco comes with an array of restrictions, one of which is the delivery of a hottub. Turns out one can't crane-lift a tub over the house because of the powerlines, unless its a commercial crane with a permit which makes no financial sense as the cost of getting the tub into yard exceeds the cost of the tub itself.
The only viable solution is a wooden tub which can be assembled on-site. We've already found a local manufacturer, Roberts Hot Tubs, who is very reputable and highly recommended in the Bay Area.
Now my question is, seeing that we were attracted to an acrylic Hot Tub with a captains seat and a lot of massage jets, going to a wooden tub with 4 jets feels at first a little anticlimactic, however doable. I'm wondering what peoples experience is with the amount of jets? Does it make sense to put in more jets? How many are the right amount? Is there any experience with what we need in terms of heater, gas vs electrical, what does the "airbubbler" really accomplish?
And off course the main question is about the chemicals in a wooden tub. we'd like to keep the chlorine and such at a minimum (sensitive skin) what are the best solutions for a wooden tub?
thank you very much

[Spatech_tuo]

Be careful, if you simply add more jets without up-pumping then you're really reducing the effectiveness of the jets you have unless the pump is already oversized for the 4 jets in place.

BTW, what is the specific restriction with getting an acrylic spa out there by manual delivery? Is it simply a narrow width at a gate and if so what is the narrowest point?

[Tman122]

I don't know a lot about them. But the little experience (ones I've seen or worked on) suggests you heat with NG/Propane and get a liner. The quantity and placement of jets can give you an infinite number of "feels" Not sure any of us can answer this. Position the pump/s/heater the right distance away from the tub and insulate it's location from the tub. This can be very quiet and relaxing.

A friend had a 2 pump system one positioned 20-30' from the tub inside a garage that you couldn't hear at all when you wanted to relax. And another right next to the tub hooked up to a different pump/manifold/jets to beat on his back.

And if it's a gate can it be removed and maybe some fence? Neighbors yard?

[Quickbeam]

I don't know if this will help, but we had a similar situation regarding a crane. We were told that in order for a crane to lift over the power lines to get our tub onto our roof deck, we would need to cut the electricity to the lines. This was going to be very expensive. We had a crane operator come out and take a look, and they had a special crane they were able to use which allowed them to go under the power lines. He didn't have much room to spare but he made it. If you get a good operator with the right equipment, these guys can be magicians with their machines. Again, I have no idea if something like this is possible in your situation, but if it's even remotely possible it might be worth having a crane operator come out and take a look.
I should also say that we had three or four different companies come out and all said we would need to go over the lines, until we ran into this one fellow who was able to go under.
Best of luck to you.

[dean scheben]

thank you so much. I believe I will be trying to locate a crane company that will do it. I am not really sold on those wooden tubs.
Amazing resource here, glad to have found this forum. thanks again