What's the difference between a hot tub, a spa and a whirlpool?
When people refer to a whirlpool hot tub spa – are they all talking about the same thing? Or are they something different? Here is a brief look at the history of the modern day hot tub and the names we use to describe them. Hot Tubs. The term hot tub originally referred to the wooden, barrel shaped tubs, which became popular in the late 1960’s and early 1970's. Based on ancient roman and asian hot water bathing ideas, early hot tubs were made from redwood or cedar. These types of hot tub were often very deep, and similar in style to a wine barrel, with steel hoops holding the boards in place. They used wood-fired heaters to varying degrees of success, and as they lacked a filtration system they were not very sanitary - but that didn't seem to dampen people's enthusiasm for them! When the industry began building hot tubs of molded fiberglass shells in the late 70's they also added filters, jets, pumps and heaters which heralded the birth of the modern day “Spa”, &quo
