Ice Barrel chiller review: skip it
The Ice Barrel chiller costs $3,999.99 and carries a one-year warranty. What its maker claims, what owners report, and the chillers we would buy instead.
Cold plunge chiller guides
Cold plunge chillers: what size you need, what the horsepower label does and does not tell you, and what each one costs to run. Every figure sourced.
A cold plunge chiller is a refrigeration unit that cools the water in your tub and filters it as it circulates, so you stop buying ice. This section covers which one to buy and how to size it. Our picks are in the best cold plunge chillers.
A chiller is the one part of a cold plunge with a compressor, a pump and a circuit board, so it is also the part that fails. That is why these pages lean on what owners report after months of use, and on the warranty, as much as on the spec sheet. We do not test chillers ourselves, and how we review explains the method.
Where to start
| If you want to know | Read | The short answer |
|---|---|---|
| Which chiller to buy | The best cold plunge chillers | A 1/3 HP unit for most tubs under 80 gallons |
| What size you need | Chiller sizing | Size by BTU per hour and gallons, not by the HP label |
| What one costs to run | What a cold plunge costs | $8 to $45 a month in electricity |
| Whether the Ice Barrel chiller is worth it | Ice Barrel chiller review | Not at $3,999.99 with a one-year warranty |
| Whether to stay on ice | How much ice an ice bath needs | About 50 lb a session for 100 gallons |
All chiller guides
What size chiller for a cold plunge?
What size chiller for a cold plunge? A 1/3 HP unit suits tubs up to about 80 gallons, a larger one up to 130. How to size by BTU, not by the HP label.