ThawLoft
Skip to the machine room
0:00
water 7°C · you are going in anyway

The water is seven degrees.

You are going in anyway. This page lasts exactly one plunge; scroll at your own pace, the water keeps the time.

scroll = time

Ninety seconds. That is all it ever takes.

The door of the warming hut swings shut behind you. Stove ticking, towel rough, hands buzzing. This is the part you will come back for.

The sign on the hut wall

Every plunge culture ends up carving the same rules. They are not decoration; they are what keeps the ritual safe enough to repeat for years, which is the entire point.

Carved by whoever came before you
  1. Start at 12 to 15°. The bragging temperatures can wait a month.
  2. Exhale as you enter. A long slow breath out keeps the gasp yours.
  3. Ninety seconds, then out. Three short plunges beat one shivering epic.
  4. Warm up by moving. Walk, squat, stack wood. Save the sauna for later.
  5. Heart condition? Doctor first. Always. No exceptions carved here.
Cold plunge tub
the vessel300 to 600 liters. insulation decides your ice bill
the loopchiller pulls the lake down to 7°C and holds it
the filterweekly water changes become monthly
drag to turn the tub

The machine that makes the lake portable

Size the chiller to your water and your summer, on the workbench, before any shop sizes it to their stock.

0.8 hpPulls your tub down overnight and holds temperature through daily plunges.

Three vessels people keep outside their huts

All three hold a real plunge. They differ in what they ask of you.

Starting out

The ice-and-water tub

No chiller, just insulation and bags of ice. The cheapest way to learn whether you will actually plunge.

300-400 L · real cost is the ice run
The daily plunger

The tub + 0.8 hp loop

Holds seven degrees through summer, filtration stretches water changes to weeks. The setup most people should buy first.

the calculator's usual answer
Two-person households

The 600 L + 1.5 hp

Recovers temperature between back-to-back plunges. Overkill for one, right for two.

quietest of the big loops we compared
The tub steaming at dawn
The hut door opens. The water is already steaming.

Same time tomorrow.

Size my setup