Traditional Cedar Hot Tubs, Not Jetted Spas
If you came here looking for a 50-jet acrylic spa with LED waterfalls and a touchscreen, this isn't the collection for you. Topture carries cedar wood-fired hot tubs and traditional soaking tubs, the originals, before hydrotherapy got rebranded as a furniture-store impulse buy. No pumps to fail, no acrylic shells to crack, no $400 yearly service calls on a sealed jet manifold.
What you'll find here are wood-fired hot tubs built from cedar and spruce, with submerged or external wood stoves that heat the water by direct contact or thermosiphon. It's the same elemental design that's been in use since long before electricity reached the average backyard. Soaking temperature lands in the 100–104°F range, the same as a conventional spa, but the experience around it is fundamentally different: build a fire, stir the water with a cedar paddle, wait, soak. It's a ritual, not a button push.
How a Wood-Fired Hot Tub Actually Works
There are two basic heater designs, and the difference matters for how the tub feels to use.
Submerged stoves sit inside the tub, separated from bathers by a wooden guard rail. A stainless steel chimney rises through a port in the rim to vent smoke. Because the firebox is in direct contact with the water, heat transfer is fast. Typical heat-up times run 90 minutes to 3 hours depending on tub volume and outside temperature. The Dundalk Leisurecraft Starlight uses this approach with an Eastern White Cedar exterior and an aluminum or white-plastic interior liner to keep cleaning simple.
External stoves sit outside the tub and circulate water through two hoses using thermosiphoning, where cool water flows down to the heater and hot water rises back into the tub. This frees up interior space and removes the heat-source-near-bare-skin concern, at the cost of slower heat-up and a larger overall footprint. The SaunaLife S4 wood-fired hot tub uses an external-mount design engineered to heat in a fraction of the time a legacy submerged stove typically takes.
Some tubs are dual-fuel capable. The cedar exterior and aluminum liner stay the same; you swap the wood stove for an electric heating element if you want set-and-forget convenience. If you're weighing the experience trade-off, our breakdown of wood-burning versus electric heat sources (written for sauna heaters, but the principles carry over) covers what changes day to day.
How to Choose the Right Hot Tub
Start with capacity, not the spec sheet
A tub rated for "six people" comfortably soaks three or four adults who actually want room to extend their legs. Don't shop the headcount. Shop the interior diameter and seat layout. The Dundalk Starlight runs a 6-foot diameter (CT372W) and seats four adults comfortably. SaunaLife's S-series wood-fired tubs are sized for six and seven, but again, the honest seating number is two below that if you want elbow room.
Wood-fired versus electric
Wood-fired tubs heat slower (plan on 2–3 hours for a full tub from cold) and require firewood storage, but they're fully off-grid: no electrical permit, no dedicated circuit, no winter pump-freeze risk. Electric soaking tubs are ready in 30–60 minutes and let you maintain temperature for daily use, but they need a 240V dedicated circuit installed by a licensed electrician, and your operating cost is tied to your utility rate. We sell both styles; most of what's in stock is wood-fired because that's where the cedar-tub category lives.
Water care: chlorine, bromine, or fresh-fill
Three workable approaches. Chlorine or bromine treatment keeps water sanitized for weeks at a time and is the standard if you're soaking 3+ times a week. An ozone or mineral system reduces (but doesn't eliminate) the chemical load. The third option, popular with cabin owners and weekenders, is fresh-fill: drain after every 2–3 uses, wipe the interior, and refill. It uses more water but skips chemicals entirely, which is part of why cedar tubs hold appeal for people who left jetted spas behind. Aluminum and plastic liners (standard on the Starlight and most SaunaLife S-series tubs) make either approach easier to maintain than a bare-wood interior.
Climate and winter use
Cedar handles freeze-thaw cycles better than almost any other tub material, which is why the brands we carry are designed and built in Canada. Wood-fired tubs are particularly well-suited to cold climates because there's no pump or plumbing to winterize. Drain the tub when you're done for the season (or keep it full and fire it up year-round, which is how most Canadian owners run them). Electric models in cold regions need either continuous low-temperature maintenance or a proper winterization protocol.
Brands We Carry
We carry two cedar hot tub lines, both Canadian, both wood-fired by default with electric options available on select models.
Dundalk Leisurecraft builds the Starlight from Eastern White Cedar with a choice of aluminum or white-plastic interior liner. The brand has been making cedar saunas and tubs for over 25 years out of Ontario, and the build quality is consistent with their Canadian Timber barrel sauna line: heavy-gauge stainless hardware, mortise-and-tenon joinery, and wood that's selected for tight grain and minimal knots.
SaunaLife brings their Nordic Spruce build philosophy to soaking tubs with the SOAK series. The S4 seats up to six, the S6 seats up to seven, and the engineering emphasis is on faster heat-up times than legacy wood-fired designs, which is useful if you want to use the tub on weeknights without waiting half the evening. Same brand we carry for their outdoor sauna line, same quality control.
Foundation, Installation, and What You'll Need on Site
A filled hot tub is heavy. A 6-foot Starlight holds roughly 320 gallons of water. Water alone is over 2,600 pounds, before you add bathers and tub weight. Total live load lands in the 4,000–6,000 pound range for most models in this collection.
That weight needs a level, load-rated foundation. Most installations don't require a poured concrete pad. A compacted gravel base (4–6 inches of crushed stone over a tamped subgrade) is the standard recommendation and what most owners build. Existing decks need engineering review; standard residential deck framing is rated for 40 lb/sqft live load, which is roughly half of what a filled hot tub concentrates over its footprint. Reinforce the joists or pour a dedicated pad. Don't guess.
Beyond the foundation, the site needs water access for filling (a garden hose reaches almost anywhere), at least 3 feet of clearance around the tub for chimney safety with wood-fired models, and a non-combustible chimney exit path clear of overhanging branches. Wood-fired tubs ship with the stove, chimney sections, and basic hardware. You'll provide firewood (a couple of armfuls per heat-up) and a level surface.
Hot Tub Plus Cold Plunge: Contrast Therapy
If you're building out a wellness setup rather than just buying a tub, the natural companion is a cold plunge tub. Hot-to-cold contrast cycles (5–10 minutes in 100–104°F water, 1–3 minutes in 50–55°F water, repeated 2–3 times) are how the Nordic bathing tradition has worked for centuries, and the protocol has been studied for its effects on circulation and post-exercise recovery. Worth noting: Dundalk's Polar Plunge tub looks similar to the Starlight at a glance but is unheated and built specifically for cold immersion. If you want both, you want both. They're not interchangeable.
For a fuller wellness build, a wood-fired tub pairs naturally with an outdoor sauna and an outdoor shower for the rinse-off between rounds. Browse the full backyard wellness collection if you're planning the whole setup.
Most orders ship free, and our team is available by phone if you want a real conversation about which tub fits your site, climate, and usage pattern before you order.
