Cold plunge running cost calculator (UK)
Estimate what a cold plunge chiller adds to your UK electricity bill from tub size, insulation, location, target temperature and your own unit rate.
About £8 a month
Roughly 1.0 kWh a day, including 0.3 kWh for the pump and standby. Ambient assumed 19C. Add £5 to £15 a month for filters, sanitiser and water.
How the estimate works
The chiller is almost the whole running cost. We estimate the heat leaking into the water from tub volume, insulation, whether it is covered, where it lives and the gap between ambient and target temperature, then divide by a chiller efficiency of 1.5 (the brands that state both cooling and input watts give 1.7 to 2.7 at warm water, and less at plunge temperatures), add 0.3 kWh a day for the pump and standby (the gap the one-month meter reading published by Cold Plunge Store implies), and multiply by your unit rate. The default rate is the Ofgem price cap average; put in your own from your bill. It is an estimate: real figures depend on your chiller, how often you get in, and the weather. Read the running costs guide for the reasoning and the scenarios we used to calibrate it. If you want your real figure, a plug-in energy meter costs about £12; the accessories guide has one, and we would like to hear your reading.