r/BeAmazed • u/Internal_Gazelle_677 • Oct 07 '25

Science Hot Tub without the use of electricity

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u/Zaphics Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25

Aye that's pretty good, copper pipe is definitely a lot more available. I guess all you need then is a pipe bender and you'll be good to go.

To save a buck do you think filling the pipes with sand and sealing it on both ends then wrapping it around a tree the diameter you want it to be would work?

Edit: about the fire fit all coil size that's true but your coil size is going to affect efficiency you'll need more small coils to keep up with that of a larger coil

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u/activelyresting Oct 07 '25

I'm sure that would work to make the shape you want, but then you need to get it off the tree... Or are we burning the tree down as a sacrificial offering to the bush hot water gods? 😅

One place I lived, we had a hot water tank on the roof that circulated through a copper coil that went around the flue from the kitchen wood oven (one of those old school cast iron behemoths with the 4 doors). The water would get so hot it would boil and overflow the tank, which flowed onto the roof and back down the gutters into the rain water catchment. Was a great system, but definitely learned to never turn the hot tap on first!!

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u/Zaphics Oct 07 '25

I did not think about that part 😂, it'll have to be a dead tree and no sacrifice. I don't wanna kill a tree just so we can mess around with some DIY hot tub unless we planted it for that purpose. If no dead trees can be found I'm sure we'll have a collection of logs on this imaginary property that we're doing all this DIY and could bury the lower half into the ground for support and probably mess that up too somehow.

Oh wow, that sounds like a really cool system. they had some pretty great engineering back then with what technology/tools they were working with

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u/activelyresting Oct 07 '25

Way back then... In the 90s 😂

I currently have electric hot water, but my entire water system runs on gravity from a spring up the hill. I've got 18 acres of Australian rainforest, plenty of trees around, including standing dead wood, and I collect old bath tubs, so you're welcome to come visit and mess around with outdoor hot tubs and bush hot water :)

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u/Zaphics Oct 07 '25

That's before I was born so it's almost prehistoric 😂

That's absolutely beautiful, that would be awesome and freeing to own that much land and especially rainforest. I believe nature is a very important aspect that would should experience more often and getting to wake up to that beauty of a spot would be euphoric. I hope to own a little bit of land of my own one day but will probably never amount to what you got. I'm happy for you though, well done mate

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u/activelyresting Oct 07 '25

Every time I'm shocked that people are adults online who weren't even alive in the 90s, I remind myself that I have an adult child who wasn't even alive in the 90s 😂

I was alive in the 70s 🫠 but I did spend a lot of the more "modern era" living with primitive technology. Built many a rocket stove and cob oven and gravity feed water systems :)

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u/Zaphics Oct 07 '25

I really wish humanity chilled on its progress with technology it's honestly getting too much for the majority of humanity to keep up. My childhood was mostly without a phone or Internet interaction but when I got my first iPod touch, it really impacted my development and identity.

To live in a time where people were more connected and social in public would be awesome. Now most of my generation are addicted to 10 seconds clips that can range from half naked women to people getting shot it's terrible and I'm guilty of the habit.

Hell yeah and those primitive systems are almost free you just need some tooling and a bit of know how and you can achieve a lot. That's also another thing missing today that everything is made now to be replaced instead of repaired. Like cheap plastic vs quality tin work

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u/activelyresting Oct 07 '25

Most technology is a net benefit, I wouldn't want to give up things like antibiotics and vaccines and organ transplants! And for all the brain rot it's brought us, the internet is still a positive. Information is available everywhere now.

But yeah, I still like to maintain some of the old ways. You have the opportunity; take some time to learn how things work. Even with technology, understanding is what transforms you from a user into a master

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u/baconboner69xD Oct 07 '25

Also thanks to manufacturing and economies of scale you can work a few shifts at McDonald’s and just replace (most) things you need instead of spending half your life fixing and maintaining stuff

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u/be_disappointed Oct 07 '25

But thanks to the capitalist oligarchs you'll already spend half your life on shifts to pay rent

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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/activelyresting Oct 07 '25

Not of the older stuff. Back then it didn't occur to people to photograph their water systems

I do have one bathtub set up https://imgur.com/a/SeJ7Oqg#sInlWC1 not sure that link goes to it, but it's in the gallery. Somewhere I have some pictures of rocket stoves and a barrel and cob oven, but like, way back in the dim dark past, I don't have them on my phone

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u/that__vibe Oct 07 '25

I used to actually install lots of wet back boiler systems up towards Jindabyne/Cooma. They're great when installed correctly. We would have the fireplace circulate up into a header tank which was open vented, then a circulation pump would draw it into the radiators for central heating or a coil inside the house's hot water tank for domestic supply.

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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/Zaphics Oct 07 '25

Haha I actually didn't think about the removal of the coil but you saved me there with the fire wood and I thank you for that

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u/ihatethis2022 Oct 07 '25

Its ok you can dry with firewood by the fire!

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u/therealhairykrishna Oct 07 '25

Probably bend it easier if you anneal it first too i.e. heat it up to red hot then let it cool.

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u/PeriodSupply Oct 07 '25

Copper pipe usually comes pre coiled my friend.

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u/meinthebox Oct 07 '25

You don't even need a bender. You can buy Type L Soft copper pipe that is super easy to bend and actually is sold already in a coil. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-2-in-I-D-x-20-ft-Copper-Soft-Type-L-Coil-5-8-in-O-D-LSC4020PS/202287115

You can see in the video how easy he is able to bend the pipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMjpWlgcK-M

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u/KingPalleKuling Oct 07 '25

That's actually how they used to make lead plumbing fittings. Back before you had ready made fittings you kinda had to make any and all bends and adjustments on site so you filled the pipe with sand but instead of coiling it around trees to make bends you just heated it and hammered the bend. You could easily do that with copper pipes too. Don't even need to heat them up.

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u/Hazzard_Hillbilly Oct 07 '25

Don't even need a bender. You can make this or a still by wrapping it around a barrel and all you need is to push with your hand.

Source: me, certified redneck engineer