Fitness & Exercise

Cold-plunge tub chills water – and users – without ice or refrigerants

Cold-plunge tub chills water – and users – without ice or refrigerants
The Snowcap tub is presently on Indiegogo
The Snowcap tub is presently on Indiegogo
View 4 Images
The Snowcap tub is presently on Indiegogo
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The Snowcap tub is presently on Indiegogo
Cold-plunge baths may also build muscle resiliency, restore balance to the nervous system, and improve cognitive function and mood
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Cold-plunge baths may also build muscle resiliency, restore balance to the nervous system, and improve cognitive function and mood
The tub measures 40 inches tall by 31 inches wide (101.6 by 78.7 cm) when inflated
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The tub measures 40 inches tall by 31 inches wide (101.6 by 78.7 cm) when inflated
An exploded view of the high-tech lid
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An exploded view of the high-tech lid
View gallery - 4 images

Although hot tubs may get all the glory, cold-plunge tubs are the ones that really help reduce muscle inflammation and soreness after exercise. The Snowcap tub makes that process more doable than ever, by chilling water without using any ice or refrigerants.

Currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign, the Snowcap is made by Australian startup Clearwater Ice Baths.

The inflatable one-person tub itself is composed of watertight drop stitch fabric, weighs 8 to 10 kg (18 to 22 lb) when empty, and can hold 300 to 320 liters (79 to 85 gal) of water. Its 18-kg (40-lb) lid incorporates a fold-down 20-micron water filtration unit, which draws the water up through an integrated thermoelectric cooler.

An exploded view of the high-tech lid
An exploded view of the high-tech lid

Putting it very simply, a thermoelectric cooler (aka Peltier cooler) uses an electrical current to draw heat from one side of itself to the other.

In this particular case, the side from which the heat is drawn is in the water, whereas the side that's releasing the heat is exposed to the air. This arrangement allows the device to cool water which is being circulated through it, without utilizing any moving parts, refrigerants or ice.

According to its designers, the Snowcap takes about eight hours to cool water from an ambient temperature of 25 ºC (77 ºF) down to a chilled temperature of 1.5 ºC (35 ºF) – the system uses about $1.10 worth of electricity to do so. The lid simply gets plugged into a regular electrical outlet.

Cold-plunge baths may also build muscle resiliency, restore balance to the nervous system, and improve cognitive function and mood
Cold-plunge baths may also build muscle resiliency, restore balance to the nervous system, and improve cognitive function and mood

Should users still want some actual ice in their water, the Snowcap is capable of making and dispensing ice cubes. It can also reverse the thermoelectric cooler's electrical current, turning it into a heater capable of warming the water up to 40 ºC (104 ºF).

An app is used to set/maintain the water temperature, and to schedule the times at which the water should be at certain temperatures. The app is also utilized to track the duration and frequency of the cold and hot baths.

Assuming the Snowcap tub reaches production, a pledge of US$1,257 will get you one. The planned retail price is $2,007.

It's demonstrated in the following video.

Snowcap Indiegogo Campaign

Source: Indiegogo

View gallery - 4 images
7 comments
7 comments
paul314
Just be careful where you put a 700-plus pound load in your house. That's a lot of weight in not very much area.
christopher
Peltiers are about 12 *times* less efficient than refrigeration, and to cool that much water is going to take most of the power a wall socket can deliver, for the full 8 hours, which is $10, not $1.
Thermal expert
Thermoelectric peltier coolers are incredibly wasteful, need to be well protected due to being brittle and are simply less efficient than refrigerant based coolers by a huge margin. I'd imagine this tub either consumes a second house's worth of electricity or takes a day and a half to get to temp. I can't think of a product that seems less well thought out, besides those that claim drinkable water from air by magically efficient dehumidifiers
Steve Pretty
I didn't see in the video anyone fully getting in or out of this device. Looks challenging!
mik3caprio
I thought this was going to be a heat pump device and was about to be impressed by the idea - but Peltier "cooling" is terrible. This is poorly conceived.
White Rabbit
@paul314 - If the floor of your house can't support 4 people standing together I wouldn't recommend having a cocktail party. After all, a standard bathtub holds 80 gal. of water AND probably sits on a concrete pad. Add an average sized person and the total weight will be in the order of 1000 lbs.
@christopher, et al - What's your hurry? Efficiency can be measured in terms of many things besides time! Peltier devices are MORE efficient than vapor-compression in that they have no moving parts and don't need an expensive circulating liquid which means they can't leak. Other advantages include the size and flexibility of their form factor and a very long life.
Not only that, but the same device can also heat the water simply by reversing the current. Trying that with your refrigerator will introduce you to another of the Peltier's advantages - extremely low maintenance/repair costs.
Besides $10 (if that figure was accurate) wouldn't buy you nearly enough ice to do the same job, even if you didn't need to drive somewhere to buy it.
MQ
Ummm, using Peltier devices where they yield no benefit, questionable high tech logic.. yep maybe application specific needs, energy use and noise all need to be offset.