Cheap tub plus separate chiller vs all-in-one cold plunge (2026): which should you buy in the UK?

Every chilled cold plunge sold in the UK is one of two designs. Either the chiller is a separate box on the ground with two hoses into the tub, or it is built into the tub with a single plug. The first costs from £598 complete, and half the bundles we list cost £2,480 or less; the second starts at £2,999. This guide sets out what the extra money buys, what it costs you later, and which design suits which buyer, using the 126 tubs and baths and UK prices in our catalogue.

Updated 5 October 2026: the Monk Nomad with Shiver is marked as sold out. Earlier, on 29 September: the Lumi example now says that the company behind it is in administration and the shop has changed hands, and the 445 W figure is now shown as unlabelled. Earlier, on 26 September: the cheapest in-stock all-in-ones have changed and the Chill Tubs Halo chiller has been withdrawn. Earlier, on 23 September: price bands, weights, sizes and the bundle and all-in-one figures moved to the catalogue after that week's additions made several of them wrong.

Written by Aodhan, who has owned both designs. Prices and specifications are from the Plungepedia catalogue, read from each brand's own UK page and last checked on 5 October 2026. Brand links and the Amazon UK links may earn us a commission; the price to you is the same.

What the catalogue says

Of the 126 tubs and baths in the Plungepedia catalogue, 63 come with a chiller and 63 do not. The tubs without a chiller have a median price of £549. The ones with a chiller split three ways: 28 tub-plus-chiller bundles (£598 to £5,880, median £2,480), 19 all-in-ones with the chiller inside the shell (from £2,999, median £4,967), and 16 stainless or cedar premium systems with the chiller built in. The bundles are not all cheap: the stainless and timber ones cost more than most all-in-ones. So the premium for a built-in chiller is about £2,400 at the entry point and about £2,500 at the medians, and that gap, not the cold, is what this guide is about.

The two designs, defined

Tub plus separate chiller. A tub (from £65 for an inflatable, into the thousands for timber and steel) with in and out ports, and a chiller (£499 to £2,880) that pumps water out, through a filter and a refrigeration coil, and back. The chiller sits beside the tub on the ground. Examples: The Pod Company Ice Pod Pro with Pod Chiller (£598), Kove Arctic with Core chiller (£749), MyoMaster MyoIce Pro with MyoChill (£799), Lumi Pod Pro with Mini Chiller 2 (£873; the chiller is also on Amazon UK), Monk Nomad with Shiver (£1,295; sold out when we checked on 5 October 2026), Monk Cocoon with Shiver (£2,690). A caveat on the Lumi example: Lumi Therapy Ltd has been in administration since 29 August 2025, lumitherapy.co.uk is now operated by Sno Solutions Ltd, and Lumi owners on Trustpilot this year often report a dead chiller or a warranty claim going nowhere, so it is listed here as an example of the design, not as a recommendation.

All-in-one. The chiller, pump and filter are inside the tub body. One power lead, no hoses. Examples: Chill Tubs Lite (£3,499), Chill Tubs Original (£4,499, also on Amazon UK), Odyssey Plunge Tundra (£3,509) and the rest of the Odyssey range to £6,495, Chill Tubs Pro (£5,999), Brass Monkey from £11,245.

Price: what the gap actually is

The cheapest all-in-one costs about five times the cheapest complete separate setup, often for the same 400 to 450 litres. The gap narrows to £800 between a rigid-tub separate setup (Cocoon plus Shiver) and the Lite, and at that point the Lite includes heating.

What the extra money buys

Heating. Every Chill Tubs all-in-one heats to 40C. Most separate chillers under £900 are cold only (Pod Chiller, MyoChill, Kove Core, Lumi Mini Chiller 2, Monk Shiver). The exceptions are heat pumps: Poolex's O'Spa Flow (£887, 2 to 40C, pump built in) and Polar Recovery's Ultra Mini (£799.99, to 38C). Urban Ice Tribe sells the O'Spa Flow with a galvanised stock tank, filter and cover as a complete heat-and-cool system for £1,864, the cheapest complete contrast setup we list. Compressor chillers that heat start with Cold Plunge Store's Pro at £1,185 and Kove's Pro at £1,199. Add a Kove Pro to a Monk Cocoon and you are at £3,194, about £300 short of a Chill Tubs Lite.

Insulation. All-in-ones are rotomoulded, stainless or acrylic shells with insulation designed around the chiller. Hard-wall pods have a 50 to 80 mm air gap; inflatables have anything from a few millimetres of foam to a 50 mm drop-stitch wall. Better insulation means the chiller runs less; see running costs below.

One plug and no hoses. No fittings to leak, nothing on the ground to trip over, nothing to carry inside in winter. This is the reason people buy all-in-ones and it is a good one.

Warranty. Chill Tubs and Brass Monkey give 24 months on the whole unit. Separate setups are usually 12 months on the tub and 12 to 24 on the chiller, from two different warranties.

What the extra money costs you later

Repair. A separate chiller that dies out of warranty is replaced for £499 to £900 and the tub is untouched. An all-in-one with a dead chiller module is a repair on a 60 to 220 kg unit: ask the brand what a chiller module replacement costs and whether it is done at home before you buy. None of the all-in-one makers publishes that figure.

Upgrade. A separate setup upgrades in halves: Nomad plus Shiver becomes Cocoon plus the same Shiver; a Kove Core tub takes a Pro chiller later. An all-in-one upgrades by selling the whole thing.

Resale. Two smaller items sell faster and to more buyers than one 125 kg tub; if there is any chance you stop plunging, that matters.

Delivery. Most all-in-ones are 1.7 to 2.2 m long and 730 to 900 mm wide (the round ones are about a metre across) and weigh 60 to 220 kg empty where the maker says: kerbside delivery, two people, and a door that is wide enough. Separate setups arrive as parcels.

Running costs: closer than you would think

The chiller is the running cost, and the same chiller runs less in a better-insulated tub. At 25p per kWh with a cover on, an insulated tub held at 5C costs about £10 to £20 a month in a garage or shade and £20 to £35 outdoors in summer; an uninsulated, uncovered inflatable in the sun can cost £50 to £90. A hard-wall pod with an 80 mm air gap sits close to an all-in-one; a £89 inflatable does not. The running cost calculator does the sum with your tariff and your tub.

The lid matters more than the format. Most heat enters through the open water surface, and an insulated lid can halve chiller run time in either design.

Cooling power: the number that is not on the box

Separate chillers publish watts or horsepower: Kove Core (0.5 HP), MyoChill (no rating stated), Lumi Mini Chiller 2 (445 W, with no label saying whether it is cooling or draw), Monk Shiver (880 W), Chill Tubs Mini Chiller (1.5 m³/h flow, 48 dB), Kove Pro (1 HP) and Elite (1.5 HP). All-in-ones mostly do not: Chill Tubs states 3 to 40C and Odyssey 3C (42C only with its Hot & Cold upgrade, which it does not price) but not the chiller rating, except Odyssey's Olympus (1 HP), Icetubs' IceBarrel and IceBath and Balance Recovery's 1 Person (all 1 HP). For a 400 to 500 L covered tub in the UK, 880 to 1,200 W of stated cooling (Monk Shiver, Kove Core) suits shade or a garage; size up to 1 HP for full summer sun. Lumi's 445 W figure could be either cooling output or power draw, so it cannot be compared directly with the Shiver's. See chillers explained for sizing.

Which should you buy

Buy a tub plus separate chiller if your budget is under £1,500, you are not sure you will keep plunging, you want to upgrade in steps, the tub will live where a box on the ground is fine, or you want the lowest minimum of any separate chiller (Polar Recovery's Ultra Mini and MyoMaster's MyoChill Plus state 1C).

Buy an all-in-one if you want heating as well as cold, you want one plug and nothing to assemble or carry, it is going somewhere on show, you have measured the door, and £3,000 or more is comfortable. Steam & Oak's InvigorIce Storm and TimberIN's Nordic Ice are the cheapest in-stock ways in, then the Chill Tubs Lite and Outdoor Living's Glacier; the Original if you want stainless; Odyssey Tundra if you want a round stainless tank with a seat.

Buy a rigid tub plus separate chiller (Monk Cocoon plus Shiver, £2,690) if you want it to look permanent but keep the chiller swappable, and you do not need heating; if you do, a heat-and-cool chiller such as the Kove Pro closes most of the price gap to an all-in-one.

Before you order, either way

Measure the door and the route to where it will sit. Put it within a hose length of a drain: you will empty 300 to 700 litres every four to eight weeks. Use an RCD-protected 13A outdoor socket; the chillers that publish a draw take 280 to 1,800 W, and one plunge in our family needed an electrician before it could be switched on. Read the safety guide: cold immersion raises heart rate and blood pressure sharply, and anyone with a heart condition, high blood pressure or a pregnancy should talk to a doctor first.

Is an all-in-one cold plunge worth it?

Yes if you want heating as well as cooling, one plug, no hoses and a 24-month warranty, and you have £3,500 or more. No if you might upgrade, might stop, or want to spend under £1,500: a tub with a separate chiller does the same cold for a third of the price and can be sold in two halves.

Can I add a chiller to any tub?

To most hard-wall and inflatable tubs sold in the UK, yes, through the in and out ports; check the port size matches the chiller hoses. Very cheap tubs with no ports need a submersible pump kit, which is fiddly and not recommended.

How much does a separate chiller cost in the UK?

£499 (The Pod Company Pod Chiller) to £895 (Monk Shiver) for a small or 0.5 HP home unit with filtration, up to 1,200 W of stated cooling; and £1,185 to £1,950 for 0.8 to 1.5 HP units (Kove Pro and Elite, Cold Plunge Store Pro and Elite, Keico Pro).

Which is cheaper to run?

The all-in-one, slightly, because the tub is better insulated. The difference is a few pounds a month for a covered tub; the cover and where the tub sits matter more than the format.