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Fibreglass-reinforced walls
Rigid enough to hold its shape even under pressure. Premium fibreglass-reinforced PVC.
Capacity
498 L
Dry weight
16.5 kg
Build
Fibreglass PVC
Packs to
Carry bag
01 / What three minutes does
Minute by minute,
inside the body.
Cold immersion at 2–5 °C is the shortest, most metabolically expensive of the three modalities, and the one with the longest tail. A pharmacological-scale catecholamine release with none of the pharmacology.
0:00
Vasoconstriction kicks in within 5 seconds; peripheral blood retreats to the core.
0:30
Cold-shock response reaches a peak: sharp inhale, elevated heart rate. With practice the gasp reduces; response changes after a week or two.
1:30
Norepinephrine — focus, mood and pain modulation — rises to roughly 5× baseline. It stays elevated for hours.
3:00
Exit. Re-warming triggers a slow flood of dopamine that holds for 4–6 hours and shows up subjectively as clarity and an uplifted mood.
CHILL TUBS ESSENTIAL POD
Product details
Description
The Essential Pod is the most portable tub in the Chill Tubs range. Rigid, durable fibreglass-reinforced PVC walls, insulated build, thermal lid — same brand standard as the bigger tubs, in a compact pod that packs into a carry bag.
At 1,000 × 900 mm and 16.5 kg dry, it folds down for storage and travel. Fill, plunge, drain via the hose-pipe connection. No chiller, no plumbing. The starting line if you want to try cold-water therapy without committing to a rigid build.
498 L
Water capacity
16.5 kg
Dry weight
No chiller, no plumbing
The Essentials sit outside the chiller-equipped range. There's no electrical hookup, no compressor, no scheduling. You inflate, fill from a garden hose, add ice when you want a colder session, drop the thermal lid on between sessions.
When the daily practice sticks and the ice runs become a chore, the chiller-equipped tubs take over — see the cross-sell at the bottom of the page.
CHILL TUBS ESSENTIAL POD
Features
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Compact footprint
1,000 × 900 mm — fits a balcony, a smaller patio, or a room indoors.
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Insulated + thermal lid
Insulated walls and a thermal lid keep ice-cooled water cooler for longer.
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Travel-ready
16.5 kg dry. Folds into the carry bag — supplied. The portable option.
Free with every Essential
Everything that turns up
in the carry bag.
Six pieces, one bag. Unbox, inflate with the supplied pump, fill from a hose, drop the lid on. The kit is everything you need to start a daily cold-water practice — no extras, no upsells.
- 01Essential Pod unitFibreglass-reinforced PVC, insulated build
- 02Insulated thermal lidSlows the water warming back up between sessions
- 03High-pressure floor pumpInflates to working pressure in a few minutes
- 04Carry bag + strapFolds the tub down for storage or travel
- 05Puncture repair kitPatches and adhesive — keep it in the carry bag
- 06Digital user manualSetup, first plunge, care, and warranty terms
CHILL TUBS ESSENTIAL POD
Specifications
| Build | Fibreglass-reinforced PVC |
|---|---|
| Length | 1,000 mm |
| Width | 900 mm |
| Water capacity | 498 litres |
| Dry weight | 16.5 kg |
| Insulation | Insulated walls + thermal lid |
| Drainage | Hose-pipe connection |
05 / What the research says
The numbers behind
cold therapy.
A short, controlled stress that triggers a health and wellbeing-boosting recovery response. The literature on cold immersion (peer-reviewed, replicated) is consistent for cold immersion intervention.
5×
Norepinephrine (alertness, focus, attention, heart rate, and blood pressure) elevation during a 3-min, 4 °C plunge
European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2000
250%
Increase in dopamine sustained for several hours post-exit
Šrámek et al., 2000
+15%
Resting metabolic rate elevation linked to brown-fat activation
Journal of Clinical Investigation
−29%
Reduction in upper-respiratory infections in regular cold-shower group
PLOS ONE, 2016
When you outgrow the ice bag
Ready for set-and-forget?
The chiller-equipped range.
Most owners start here. Some upgrade. The rigid Chill Tubs swap the ice bag for a sealed refrigerant chiller — sets the water to 3 °C overnight and holds it there, with heat mode standard up to 40 °C. Ozone purification, weeks between water changes, plug into a 13 A socket.
- Built-in chiller — 3 °C without ice
- Heat mode standard, up to 40 °C
- Ozone + cartridge filtration
- Schedule + auto modes
Better together
Pair with heat for the
full kontrastbad protocol.
Heat dilates. Cold constricts. Cycling between the two — what the Nordic countries call kontrastbad — pumps blood through your vasculature in a way neither does alone.
Chill Tubs Essential Pod
£499