
Are you thinking of using wood sauna 
stoves in winter? If yes, then you have to take a few precautions so 
that the system doesn’t freeze because of the surrounding temperature.
A wood-fired hot tub offers enjoyable 
experiences in winter as your body is going to be submerged in hot water
 when the cold winter air is surrounding you. However, it’s even 
believed that a hot tub helps in minimizing sore muscles.
When it comes to heating a hot tub in 
winter, you have to consider a couple of things. The first one is that 
the starting water temperature remains colder than in summer and will 
need more time to bring the hot tub to the operating temperature. The 
second thing is the heater may freeze when turned off.
For using a wood-fired hot tub in winter,
 you’ll have to spend enough time looking at your heater and feeding it 
wood. When the tub goes to the operating temperature, you’ll want a low 
fire going to keep the heater producing less amount of heat.
No one likes a cold hot tub, and the same
 goes for too hot water. In most circumstances, the temperature of the 
water remains between 102 and 104F. However, all North American electric
 hot tubs have the maximum regulated temperature for safety purposes of 
104F. Wood sauna stoves can become much warmer, so careful supervision is required as temperatures over 104F can bring in health hazards.
How Do You Prevent Heater from Freezing? 
Northern Lights wood sauna stoves are 
excellent for any season, but in winter, you should take proper care of 
the system to get rid of a chance of freezing. It means you’re done hot 
tubing; you have to either drain the hot tub or use port plugs or valves
 for heater isolation or drainage.
In general, a hot tub that’s warm and 
insulated can keep its temperature for days before it would freeze 
eventually. Though there’s no insulation on the heater, it’ll lose its 
heat energy soon and could freeze. If you want to use the wood hot tub 
over days in winter, you should do following after every use:
- Make sure that the fire is extinguished completely.
 - Isolates the heater from the hot tub with gate valves or port plugs
 - Drain the heater
 - When you heat the hot tub the very next day, you may need a short fire to bring it back to operational temperature.
 - Remember to remove the plugs or open valves before starting a fire
 
Using an Aux Heater –
You can add a backup electric heater to 
the hot tub to protect the system from freezing. Northern Lights uses 
Balboa EFX Heaters, the small 1.5KW inline heaters. They will keep the 
hot tub at operational temperature and will prevent the system from 
freezing. These units are considered as great accessories for those who 
want to experience the most out of winter hot tub with a wood sauna 
stove.
Bottom Line –
When it comes to investing in wood sauna 
stoves, you should look no further than Heaters4Saunas. For more 
information about wood-fired sauna heaters and other necessary sauna 
accessories, please visit our website.







