Thinking of addind a soaker tub - water heater question

[CapnCrunch]

So the gf has been pushing me to look into a deep soaker tub with jets and all that crap The problem is we have the standard issue 40 gallon water heater which won't come anywhere close to filling any of the tubs we've been looking at.
I've thought about replacing the tank with a tankless system, but I've also considered just throwing in a seperate electric tankless heater for the tub only (something like they use in Asia), and leaving the rest of the house on the old tank heater. The tub would be used only once or twice a week, and the tank heater works just fine for us as it is.
We live on an acreage and all of our water is trucked in, so having endless hot water isn't really possible.
I'm just wondering if any of this sounds reasonable. Should we replace the old tank heater with a full blown gas fired tankless heater, or just throw in a small electric heater for the tub?

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by CapnCrunch
So the gf has been pushing me to look into a deep soaker tub with jets and all that crap The problem is we have the standard issue 40 gallon water heater which won't come anywhere close to filling any of the tubs we've been looking at.
I've thought about replacing the tank with a tankless system, but I've also considered just throwing in a seperate electric tankless heater for the tub only (something like they use in Asia), and leaving the rest of the house on the old tank heater. The tub would be used only once or twice a week, and the tank heater works just fine for us as it is.
We live on an acreage and all of our water is trucked in, so having endless hot water isn't really possible.
I'm just wondering if any of this sounds reasonable. Should we replace the old tank heater with a full blown gas fired tankless heater, or just throw in a small electric heater for the tub?
Why not just add another water heater to your existing one? Probably your least expensive option. And btw, a "soaker" tub refers to a non-jetted tub. You're looking for a jetted, Aka a "jacuzzi tub". Most end up not being used much, due to the fact they take so long to fill, are noisy, and because they sit drained most of the time...have you ever seen what warm, stagnant, un-treated water sitting inside the pipes harbours for bacteria growth? If you want that "jacuzzi" type feeling I'd much rather go straight for a full time Hottub.

[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by C_Dave45

Why not just add another water heater to your existing one? Probably your least expensive option. And btw, a "soaker" tub refers to a non-jetted tub. You're looking for a jetted, Aka a "jacuzzi tub". Most end up not being used much, due to the fact they take so long to fill, are noisy, and because they sit drained most of the time...have you ever seen what warm, stagnant, un-treated water sitting inside the pipes harbours for bacteria growth? If you want that "jacuzzi" type feeling I'd much rather go straight for a full time Hottub.

That's what I'm asking about. Adding a second tankless heater to the existing tank heater. Do you mean adding a second tank?


I've owned one of these tubs before. Never had an issue with the stale water but it used air jets, which ran for a few minutes everytime after the tub was drained. I heard the same thing with the old style water jets.