Zeph

I've seen this phenomenon quite a few times in friends' hot tubs so I anticipate dealing with it too. Maybe my friends are pretty friendly. I do understand that this is overloading the spa's seating design so there's no point to the manufacturers dealing with it. But since it does nevertheless happen (and buying a larger than 8x8 hot tub is not likely), how to more gracefully handle the situation is a fair question. There's the wasted heat and chemicals - and also the sucking air and reheat time after people leave. I was just thinking about the same concept as billy - a somewhat insulated overflow barrel with a pump to refill. I picture a pipe going horizontally from the tub plumbing into the tank, making a right turn upward, and rising to the desired overflow level. Another pipe from the bottom of the tank would have a pump to reinject water as desired. Or perhaps with an appropriate valve situation could use the main pump (drawing from the barrel as well as the shell's outtake when trying to refill). Is there such an accessory? Or has anybody rigged one up? The idea of buckets isn't bad if this doesn't happen constantly but only at parties - I'm sure people would cooperate in taking a few buckets of water out when yet another person wants in. For those folks with the huge white 120 qt camping coolers, that's enough to add another 240 pounds of below-surface flesh (the coolers may not take the pressure tho). Or just a plastic barrel, with or without some added insulation. This can't be a new problem! Zeph