SaluSpa Ibiza Review: A Strong Spa

When I agreed testing the SaluSpa Ibiza hot tub for work (hard life, I know), I figured it would be a relatively easy process. I thought I’d just put it on top of my deck and fill in—you can just put it anywhere, right? It’s wrong. At 222 liters of water, this thing can weigh more than 1 ton if you put two middle-aged adults in it, not to mention the four to six the big box says it can hold.

So no, you can’t just put it on top of the deck, unless your deck is specifically designed to withstand a real ton of weight and water. In my backyard, right on the lawn, that would be it. My go-to-native-prairie backyard, raccoon-infested backyard, is surrounded by shady oak trees that love to drop branches and walnuts the second the wind blows over 3 mph.

I figured I could just plug it in anywhere. It’s not right either. Technically, it should be in an isolated circuit. The manual recommends having a professional electrician come and set up a dedicated outlet for your hot tub and your hot tub alone. Even if the plug has a built-in GCFI, like a hair dryer, you don’t want to waste water and electricity. I just plugged it into an outside extension cord (someone says no, please don’t do this) and crossed my fingers, I ran to unplug it from the wall on the back porch every time it rained because I was afraid to start. fire—but I wasn’t so scared that I obeyed the instructions in the first place. I’m going out.

Speaking of rain, I thought a cover would protect my hot tub from the elements. Third time’s the charm—I was wrong again. SaluSpa Ibiza has a small floating square that provides a tarplike cover for some structure, but water, acorns, ants, and mosquito eggs still collect on the surface whenever it rains. In August in northern Illinois, this happens all the time. Don’t get me started on the ears. To quote Military WorldI was not prepared. There were no string lights, no romantic citronella candles, no relaxing under the stars and watching the snow fall peacefully. I was a sweaty girl in the middle of a heat wave with work to do.

And another snafu—when the hot tub arrived in late December, I didn’t expect that two weeks later, I would slip on ice and sprain my ankle. Serious Midwestern climate in it too. After months of rehabilitation, I finally got a freestanding tub in late summer—just the opposite of a good time to do so. None of these factors are harmful to the hot tub itself. But my review needs several grains of salt.

He continued to Lede

SaluSpa Ibiza is easy to set up, but the instructions are poor. I followed a lot of the setup along this YouTube video and confused my way to transfer some. Basically you set up a pump, use it to pump the 6-by-6-foot body of the tub and the floating cover, and then fill the tub with water. The tarplies-like top cover snaps into the tub with carseat-style pegs that aren’t too easy to undo with wet hands, but that’s nitpicky. They work well. My tub filled up faster than I thought it would, about 90 minutes, but it took about two days to heat up, even in the heat of summer. I would imagine this would last a long time in the brutal Illinois winters.

Photo: Louryn Strampe