Why ChillSizer exists
Cold plunge shopping often reduces a complex system to one headline number: chiller horsepower, pump GPH or tub capacity. Those numbers are useful, but they are not enough to know whether the complete loop will work. A pump loses flow through hose, fittings and filters. A chiller can have enough nominal capacity but still miss a very cold target in a hot, uninsulated tub. A filter can work perfectly when clean and become the hydraulic bottleneck later.
ChillSizer was built around the opposite approach: treat the vessel, chiller, pump, filter, plumbing, insulation and environment as one system.
What the site publishes
- A browser-based System Designer that combines thermal and hydraulic calculations.
- Source-linked chiller and pump records with confidence grades.
- Detailed build, sizing, plumbing, filtration, cost, commissioning and troubleshooting guides.
- Cold plunge and ice bath hubs written around the way users actually search for the problem.
- Open methodology explaining equations, uncertainty and known limitations.
How product data is handled
Primary manufacturer documentation is preferred. Where a pump curve is digitized or a filter pressure drop is only available as a planning range, the page says so and lowers the confidence level. Missing data is not silently replaced by a precise-looking number.
How monetization is separated from recommendations
ChillSizer is designed to earn revenue from advertising and, when approved, affiliate links. That commercial layer is separated from the recommendation engine. Affiliate URLs are stored in configuration; commission rate, merchant payout and campaign status are not inputs to the physics or ranking logic.
If a lower-cost supported product clears the same thermal and hydraulic gates, affiliate economics are not allowed to push it below a higher-paying product.
What ChillSizer does not do
The calculator is an engineering planning aid, not a substitute for manufacturer instructions, electrical codes, GFCI/RCD protection, professional installation or product-specific environmental limits. It also does not give medical advice or infer microbiological water safety from a filter, UV lamp, ozone device or chemical product.
See how the engine works
The methodology page documents thermal load, UA, solar gain, pump heat, capacity uncertainty, pump curves, system resistance and confidence.
Read the methodology