Discover The Health Benefits Of A Barrel Sauna

Barrel saunas are a great addition to any home and the build quality and craftsmanship of our barrel saunas will provide you with years of care free, outdoor sauna living. The circular design of a barrel sauna helps eliminate unused air spaces allowing the sauna to heat up more rapidly. The circular design also helps the hot air rising to the ceiling to be pushed naturally back down into the sauna, creating warmer temperatures lower in the barrel sauna.

Cooperage is also a key aspect to your barrel saunas performance. Constructed in a similar way to wine barrels (that can only be a good thing!), our Almost Heaven Saunas are specifically designed with a breathable performance in mind. With no permanent fixings and specially designed fixing bands the saunas staves are able to swell and contract with fluctuations in temperature, creating a tight seal for the trapped heat to help rejuvenate your body. The solid wood construction also has great insulating properties, prevents delamination and closely replicates the look, smell and feel of a traditional Finnish sauna experience.

Saunas Help Relieve Stress

Reducing your stress levels is one of the key benefits of using a sauna. Medical studies often cite stress as a major factor affecting our health and well being. Stepping into a sauna helps you immediately shut off from the outside world, enclosed in a warm, quiet space free from everyday distractions immediately puts you in a calmer, more relaxed state of mind. The heat from a barrel sauna helps relax your body’s muscles, stimulates circulation and encourages the release of endorphins, the ‘feel good’ chemical that gives you a natural high.

Muscle Aches And Pains Can Be Soothed Away

As well as promoting the release of endorphins that can help reduce the sensation of pain, the natural heat of a barrel sauna raises your body temperature, dilating blood vessels and improving your circulation. An increased blood flow can help speed up your body’s natural healing process and promote muscle regeneration together with natural healing. Stepping into a barrel sauna after an intense workout will immediately reduce muscle tension, eliminate lactic acid build up and help reduce toxin levels in your body. The perfect way to unwind after exercise.

Cleanse Your Skin The Natural Way

Sweating helps your skin naturally clear pores, rinse bacteria and replace dead skin cells, keeping your skin feeling soft and rejuvenated.

Saunas Help Improve Your Sleep Patterns

Natural sleep is normally preceded by a drop in body temperature. Using a barrel sauna in the evenings will help you increase your body temperature which in turn promotes a dramatic drop in core temperature after sauna use. This in turn signals the brain that it is time to sleep. Users often recount the feelings of deep sleep after bathing in the calming heat of a sauna.

Me Time Can Be Us Time

Often an overlooked but important aspect of owning your own barrel sauna is the social and recreational benefits they can provide you, your family and friends. They’re a great way to relax and are conducive to some much needed open, intimate and quiet conversation with those close to you. With our increasingly connected, online lifestyles it’s important to take time to unwind and disconnect. A barrel sauna provides the perfect private, personal space to escape from the rigours of your hectic working schedule, switch off and re-connect with family and friends.

Improve Your Cardiovascular Health With A Barrel Sauna

High temperatures naturally heat up your skin and makes your core body temperature increase, this in turn dilates blood vessels near the surface of your skin increasing cardiac output. Medical research has shown that sitting in a sauna helps increase your heart rate by up to 50%. Regularly using saunas helps improve your heart rate and cardiac output together with your body’s natural regulatory system. Even more cardiovascular conditioning can be promoted with multiple sessions in your sauna. Each time your body rapidly changes temperature, from hot to cool and vice versa, your heart rate increases and can be comparable to the same physiological benefits of moderate exercise and don’t forget those all important improved sleep patterns!

Help Fight Illness

Saunas have been linked to a significant reduction in incidences of colds and flu among regular users. As your body is exposed to the heat and steam of a traditional barrel sauna more white blood cells are produced helping your body fight illness and kill viruses. Saunas are also the perfect way to relieve uncomfortable sinus problems associated with colds and allergies, warm steam vapour helps clear congestion and a touch of eucalyptus added to your water bucket will only help enhance your sauna experience.

Saunas Just Smell And Feel Good

There’s no getting away from it, the smell of natural wood together with a private, warm steam laden environment feels great! The stresses of a working day can be dissolved in the private, personal retreat of a barrel sauna. No distractions from the outside world, barrel saunas provide you and your family with a personal pampering retreat where you are able to relax and restore your body, mind and soul.

Our guide to buying hot tubs

There are a bewildering array of hot tubs and spas on the UK market and it can be confusing knowing which spa is going to be the right choice for you and your family. Thankfully All Swim have done a lot of the hard work for you. We’ve been in the swimming pool and hot tub industry for over 45 years and our hot tub expertise will help you make the right buying choice.

Choosing the right hot tub for you

Should I research hot tubs online?

The hot tub market in the UK is growing every year. According to Nick Clamp, owner of What Spa? magazine, feedback from retailers and manufacturers has the current UK ownership at nearly 300,000 households. Joining this growing market is certainly an exciting prospect, but do some research online and find out why people are choosing a hot tub lifestyle. What exactly is it going to offer you and your family? Decide what are the important factors in wanting an outdoor hot tub and read hot tub reviews and comments from other owners online. Researching our range of Caldera Spas will also give you a good indication of why they offer more for your money compared to other manufacturers.

Be warned though, that a great deal online may be too good to be true. It’s always better to view hot tubs or spas before you buy them. If the hot tub you’ve decided to buy online has an inferior build quality, cheap jets and pumps or sub standard cabinet and cover insulation you’ll probably end up with a spa that costs you more to run and repair than you expected. It’s also important to check that the product has official CE marking. An abbreviation of the French phrase ‘Conformité Européene’, it means ‘European Conformity’ and indicates to government officials that the product can be legally placed on a country’s market place and safeguards consumers best interests. A hot tub is likely to be a long term investment and should provide you and your family with years of entertainment, make sure you understand the quality of your preferred hot tubs by visiting a reputable hot tub showroom like All Swim.

Is how a hot tub made important?

There are many different manufacturing processes involved with building hot tubs and if there’s a difference in price, there’s likely to be a difference in the build quality. Look carefully at a hot tub retailer’s website. You should be able to find plenty of information on their products, technical specifications and warranty details. Pay particular attention to the level and type of insulation used in your hot tub, our Caldera hot tubs utilise a revolutionary new loose, wool-like fibre called FiberCor® insulation - with four times the density of traditional urethane foam (used in most hot tubs) it has vastly improved insulating efficiency and fills all voids and gaps in the hot tub compartment. With a better insulated cabinet you will be spending less time heating your hot tub water, and that translates to lower running costs which, most consumers would agree, is an important consideration for purchase. It’s also important to look at the quality of the rigid cover supplied with your hot tub. Most of the heat loss will occur on the surface of the water so a strong, full-foam insulated cover with a durable, marine grade vinyl will help you reduce your running costs. Also check the cover has skirts on all sides of the hot tub when it’s closed as this will ensure the very best thermal seal.

What size hot tub should I choose?

Hot tubs are available in many different shapes and sizes. Your first consideration should be how much space you have in your garden and how many people are likely to be using your new hot tub. If you have a big family or like having friends around regularly for parties then you will probably need a larger hot tub with multiple seating positions. Be careful though, how much access you have at your property will also be a consideration for delivering your new hot tub. Don’t worry though, All Swim offer free site surveys so if you’re unsure of anything we are happy to advise.

It may sound obvious but always try and sit in a new hot tub in a dealer’s showroom, hot tubs look very different from the outside than they do sat in them! Visiting your local hot tub showroom with family or friends will allow you to try them on for size. Pay particular attention to the size of the foot well and the ergonomic design of the seating positions. A hot tub may specify a large array of seating but if it comes with a small footwell you’re likely to be struggling to fit everyone into your new hot tub!

What is hot tub hydrotherapy?

Hydrotherapy is a term used to describe the use of water for pain relief and treating illness. Water is a great way to soothe aching joints, help relax and reduce stress levels. The design, configuration and quality of hydrotherapy jets in your hot tub is probably the most important aspect of your new hot tub purchase, you’ll want to ensure you’re getting the best possible massage for your money. Caldera hot tubs differ to any other on the market with the introduction of their unique Hot Tub Circuit Therapy. Similar to the approach used by personal trainers, a Caldera Spas hot tub treats individual muscles with strategically placed jets and purposefully designed seats throughout the hot tub itself, moving you from station to station helps deliver a full body workout and intense all over massage.

Do I need help looking after my hot tub water?

Buying a hot tub is an important decision to make but proper care and maintenance of your water can be just as important. Well maintained spa water will ensure you and your family are safe and you will help prolong the life of your hot tub. Buying cheap hot tubs online or from large high street retailers may save you money in the short term but you could be left to make costly water balance mistakes on your own. All Swim ensures you have ongoing support from our trained staff and helpful advice on correct water balance tips if you ever need them.

Our Caldera spas have also been purposefully designed with you, the end user, in mind. The integrated spa frog system takes a lot of the work out of dosing your hot tubs water correctly and the Utopia and Paradise series feature Monarch CD Ozone systems that naturally kill bacteria helping reduce the cost of chemical sanitisers.

We will always provide an informative introduction to your new hot tub with our delivery, positioning and commissioning service. Our trained spa engineers can talk you through the set up of the hot tub and answer any questions you may have on looking after the water on the day your hot tub arrives.

How important is a good hot tub cover?

p>Most of the heat lost from the water in your hot tub will occur from the surface so a well designed, efficient hot tub cover is a great asset. Caldera hot tub covers are designed to be energy efficient, meeting the most stringent energy standards established by the California Energy Commission for portable spas. Keeping your hot tub covered when not in use will not only ensure you spend less money heating the water but it will also prevent airborne debris entering the hot tub water and adversely affecting the water quality.

Can I play music in my hot tub?

Absolutely! If music is an important aspect of your hot tub lifestyle then our Caldera Spas won’t disappoint. Almost all models across the Utopia, Paradise and Vacanza ranges are available with a fantastic bluetooth enabled music system, a few clicks and your smart phone, tablet or laptop can be synchronised effortlessly with your hot tub.

Can I spread the costs of a hot tub purchase?

Yes you can. All Swim have always put the customer first and our finance packages will help you spread the payment costs and ensure you find an affordable hot tub to suit you and your family’s budget. We can offer 12 and 24 months interest free credit at 0% APR or a 60 month finance option at 4.9% APR. You can even apply for finance online today!