Cold Plunge in summer

Many enthusiastic cold plunger and cold plunger inside want to climb into cold water around the year, including in the summer months. This is naturally a little more difficult, as there are not so good opportunities in summer to cool the water sufficiently. In this article we show you which aids you no longer have to do without the Cold Plunge in summer.

Cool water with flow cooler

In the world of cooling technique, water cooling with throughput coolers has experienced remarkable development in recent years. Originally used in gastronomy and industrial applications, this technology has now also spread to private households and various other areas. But what exactly does the cooling of the water for the Cold Plunge make with a througher cooler so effective and attractive?

A flow cooler is a device that leads water through a series of cooling ribs or pipes to cool it down quickly and efficiently. This method of cooling has several advantages over conventional air coolers. Among other things, flow coolers can cool down water at lower temperatures than air coolers. The flow coolers used by Cold Plunge .de can theoretically cool down water to 3 ° C-but from our practical experience, however, 4-5 ° C are more realistic when operating permanently. But these are still great temperatures for a pleasantly cold bath in summer!

In addition, the coolers are relatively compact (dimensions approx. 50x50x50 cm depending on the variant), but they weigh around 20kg and upwards. The coolers are therefore more intended for use in one place, even if we also transport them from A to B. Another advantage is the speed of the coolers. The more watt cooling performance they have, the faster the water is cooled down. There are many different variants starting with rather weak cooling performance of approx. 400 watts of up to 2,000 watts and more. As so often in life, the optimum is probably somewhere in the middle, in our experience even more on the bottom. With a flow cooler with an output of 800-1,500 watts, we believe that you are very well served. With lower cooling performance, it simply takes forever (approx. 6-10 hours depending on the outside temperature, amount of water and insulation), which is definitely also energy-friendly. In the case of very strong devices, you risk that the fuses and lines do not cope well with the operation of the device, especially if other consumers run at the same time.

Professional cold basin

Professional cold basins are specially constructed pools that are firmly installed with a cooling unit, filters and hoses or pipes. These are often weatherproof and can also be set up outdoors.

Professional cold basins enable a precise adjustment of the water temperature to ensure consistent and safe experience for users. The pools are also often equipped with modern filter and disinfection technology in order to keep water quality for longer. The materials used are often stainless steel or fiberglass to ensure a long service life and resistance to the requirements of regular use, but also to use outdoor use in some products. The optics also play an important role in these products, because an integrated cold basin can be a real eye-catcher and also comes with other gimmicks such as lighting, handrails, ergonomic seating areas, non-slip surfaces and app control. Accordingly, this manifests itself in the price, which is definitely to be located in the 4-digit range.

Ice cubes

Ice cubes or ice shapes are of course also suitable for cooling down water. However, not as good as you might be assumed, because for the summer ice cubes are actually more for the look than that a noteworthy cooling capacity would actually occur. The problem: you need tons of ice to generate a reasonably good cooling effect. We have tried this several times and came to around 7-15% ice cream in relation to the water. With a pelvis with moderate 200 liters of water, this would mean approximately 15-30kg ice cream! One way is, of course, to fill up only minimal water in the bathtub and then lay in. This is less comfortable and often some of the impractical parts of the body protrude 🙂 But pragmatists could certainly still enjoy the enjoyment of an ice rink-in this case you might even get by about 7-10kg of ice cream.

Remove freezers

With a little handicraft work, freezers are also a very tried and tested means to enjoy an ice cream bath in summer. Frozen devices that are normally used for storing foods can be converted to use as ice cream baths. They are usually large enough to absorb a person, have a precise temperature control to cool the water to the desired temperature and have very good insulation properties. This means that the water remains cold for a very long time and since freezers also have a lid that can be easily closed, dirt and dust are also kept away from the ice bath.

The disadvantages are optical on the one hand: a freezer is a freezer and also looks like this. There is the possibility to cover the chest in wood look, but it is and remains a freezer. With some cold plunger and cold plunger inside there is also a lack of space against this solution. You should (minimalst) be talented to seal the joints of the chest. It is also very important to completely separate the stream from the chest before you go to the ice pool. For those interested, we have written detailed instructions for Cold Plunge in the freezer .

Cold Plunge in cold waters

If you have the privilege to live in the Alps and have a glacier stream on your doorstep or at least somewhere in the immediate vicinity, you can of course save many aids. Alpine rivers, which are mainly fed from melting and glacier water, are a wonderful nature experience for every cold plunger and every cold plunger in. And even in summer these glacier streams rarely become more than 8-10 ° C.

Evaluation

vessel	Flow cooler	Cold basin	Ice cubes	Freezer	Water
Acquisition costs
Duration up to the 1st cooling					–
practicability
Energy efficiency
Water pollution
isolation					–
optics
cold plunge temperature

Conclusion

Unfortunately we are not blessed with a mountain glacier on the doorstep. Accordingly, the natural waters in summer are unfortunately not an option without extremely excessive travel costs. After a few attempts, we also excluded ice cubes because the space in a normal cooling and freezer combination is simply not sufficient and it is relatively a lot of fiddling with the water and the shapes. But what bothers us the most is the low cooling capacity and the long waiting time - after all, the ice also needs a while to melt.

The cold basin, on the other hand, is a really good way to operate Cold Plunge in summer. If costs only play a small role and it is, for example, a purchase for a business, a professional cold basin is definitely the right choice.

We personally opted for two variants, namely for a flow cooler and a freezer. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, which is why we did not want to commit ourselves 🙂 Our freezer is classified, has low energy consumption and it was cheap to buy. The flow cooler in turn is also relatively cheap, mobile, cools faster than the freezer and can be used with any container. Here, however, a clever insulation may be missing, which is given in the event of a freezer.

We would like to mention another crucial aspect that we only came up with after a longer use. If you want Cold Plunge very regularly in summer, i.e. every or every other day, the freezer is very suitable for it. The water remains consistently cold for a long time and you only cool down for the first time (approx. 10-14 hours). After that, about 1 hour of operation a day (if at all). The flow cooler, on the other hand, offers the advantage that you get a low temperature faster. In this respect, the instantaneous cooler is particularly suitable for occasional Cold Plunge in summer, so if you only want to do it 1-2 times a week or after the sport.

Happy Cold Plunge !