Unfortunately not beer

Got my new stove installed two days ago and finally got around to filling it up to working condition!

Old one for comparison, it had seen better days in the very distant past lol! Technically with a new set of coils it would still work but eh.. It was time to let her go, let's just say.

EDIT: If anyone is wondering about the expenses, here in Finland this whole thing cost me:

Stove, Harvia Cilindro PC70 Black Steel: 269€ ($301,44 USD)

Rocks, black vulkanite 4x20kg: 83,60€ ($93,68 USD)

Delivery fee: 30,90€ ($34,64 USD)

Physical install by me so technically free, just bloodied knuckles from setting the stones, but I did have a friend who's an electrician hook it up and paid 60€ ($67,24 USD) to him for the trouble.

Requested a price from sauna.ca The Sauna Specialist, for a part for our Harvia electric sauna heater and I get this reply asking for my personal information before they can give me a price lol!

I’ll buy my parts somewhere else.

I love to build cabins and forts, and so I built this one. It’s kind of just a little studio, but nobody uses it. Everyone in the family wants a sauna, and I’m thinking it’s possible to convert this?

It’s 7x8’. The interior height is about 6 at the walls, up to 8’ at the peak. That’s my biggest concern, but I know barrel saunas function, if not as well as flat ceilings, they do function.

I did use plywood sheathing on the exterior of three sides, but I would install foil and natural wood on the inside.

Also, the floor is currently single-layer 1x6 tongue and groove, so I’d need to beef that up.

I would put in an electric heater, not wood.

What do you think?

This is the condition of my elements when I did my annual-ish stone inspection. Everything was functioning fine and the stones were in great condition. Seeing this I'm not sure what to do:

A. Put the stones back in and pretend I saw nothing, or

B. Explore a likely costly repair.

This is a HUUM Steel 10.5kW.

Considering buying a sauna from a local builder but I wasn’t sure if this heat shield looked proper. It’s just aluminum siding. Bad idea?

Also the subfloor is plywood with exterior stain, also seems like a bad idea for VOCs. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance 🙏

Foundation floor done resting 6x6s on helical piers drilled over 4 ft into the ground. Helical piers is the only part of the project I am not DIYing. Well worth it so far! Minimal natural disruption to area and perfectly level with air flow underneath. French Drain is covered by the 2x8 in the pic. Thanks for all your advice in your book and online Glenn!

I'm designing a sauna with the help of a local contractor. Lassi recommends leaving a gap between the benches and walls to improve airflow and drying.

How do you actually accomplish this while keeping the benches structurally supported? Do you use spacer blocks behind the wall-mounted ledgers, special brackets, or something else?

I'm aiming for roughly a 2" gap and would love to see photos or construction details from anyone who's done this. Thanks!

The humble sauna wurst. This time with groats (similar to black pudding minus the blood) cooked on forever old trusty harvia.

Hi everyone,

I have a small sauna cabin, 120 x 120 x 200 cm (approx. 4 x 4 x 6.5 ft), and I’m trying to fix the ventilation. I’m hoping some of you with more experience can sanity-check my plan before I start drilling.

The problems:
Strong temperature stratification: it gets very hot up near the ceiling, while the floor area and my feet stay noticeably cold. The air feels stuffy and “used up” after a while, even though the temperature is fine.

My plan:
I’ve marked where I’m thinking of adding the vents: an intake right below the heater and an exhaust under the bench on the opposite wall. The idea is to bring in fresh air where the heater can warm it right away and to pull air through the cabin so the cold layer at the floor gets mixed in.

My questions:

1. Does my placement make sense, or would you put the intake and exhaust somewhere else?
2. What size should the openings be for a cabin this small? I was thinking of 5cm in, 10cm out.
3. Should the exhaust have an adjustable slider/damper?
4. Do I need a fan on the exhaust, or will natural draft be enough in a cabin this size? If a fan makes sense, what kind (heat-resistant, low airflow, adjustable speed)?
5. Is there anything else I should change to reduce the hot-top/cold-floor effect (heater position, a gap under the door, etc.)?

Thanks in advance, any input is appreciated!

Hi all, we're building our first sauna and need advice on bench layout and depth/ height etc. here's the general idea but the door is actually is over to the left more on that wall. I have a bar is stove with rocks about 33" high. We can also do a straight layout but like the look of the L shape.

Hi All!

I recently moved into a new house and inherited this sauna from the previous owner. It's 6x4x6'3. It works fine, but the temperature discrepancy between the lower bench (where feet go) and the upper bench is pretty drastic and I'd really like to do something about it. It seems clear that the heat is not circulating.

Could you please help me identify some options for normalizing the heat in the lower area?

From my limited experience on this subreddit, it seems like the issue might be related to the fact that there is no exhaust vent, just an intake and drying vent. Also the positioning of the heater isn't ideal, with the stones being several inches above the bottom bench.

Could I simply cut out a circle for a passive vent here (where circled), or is there more to it than that? Any other low-cost/effort solutions that might help, even modestly?

Thanks in advance!

What’s the best place to purchase a tinted glass sauna door? Any recommendations or any different types that might work better?

EDIT: these are just virtual renders! The installation starts next week!

Dear sauna enthusiasts, finally our dream is coming to true, and we are about to have a sauna installed into our home.

Both my husband and I have little experience with diy projects and we felt like we would not want to mess this up, therefore we decided to outsource the project. We received quite a few quotes from various local sauna workshops, most of which were staggering to say the least. We decided to go with a guy who does saunas by himself, both because of the cost and his attitude.

After many, many iterations of what we wanted, this subreddit helped me the most to understand that functionality goes above all other facets of a good sauna. We also had to think about the budget.

- The kiuas is going to be NARVI Ultra (either 9kW or 10kW).
- The cladding and seats are going to be thermo aspen. We thought about the very traditional (in our country) linden wood, but the sauna guy advocated for the aspen, and we agreed.
- The pebble mosaic wall behind the heater is going to be made out of leftover tiles we already had (the stone is natural).
- The LED lights are a bit modern to my tastes and I’m still debating about the ones next to the heater.
- The top bench is going to be at 100cm height. The lower one I believe will hang at 45-50cm.
- The air extraction is at the bottom right corner, underneath the lower bench. The air supply is at the top left, almost right above the heater. This is how the recuperation was installed a few years ago. The air supply is the thing I’m worried about the most.

Have in mind that I myself unfortunately cannot cope with löyly, and will use the sauna dry. Afterwards my husband will enter to create his own löyly chamber of heat as he likes extremely high temperatures.

The sauna be an indoor one, the chamber is adjacent to the shower/bath area. The space is roughly 2.2x2.3m, 2.8m high, although it will get smaller once the insulation and the cladding is installed.

What do you guys think? Somehow I’m kinda nervous. I want the room to be pleasant to be in, to breathe and relax in, for us and our friends to enjoy it.

I have an Almost Heaven Oasis outdoor sauna with the 6kW Harvia KIP heater with built in controls. I’m trying to figure out why I can’t seem to get the sauna to 185°F or higher.

The heater thermostat is turned all the way up. The heater cycles on and off, but my Harvia Smart Sauna Sensor (not connected to the Harvia heater) usually tops out around 160 to 165°F, occasionally getting close to 170°F. I’ve let it run for over 2 hours, so I don’t think I just need to give it more time. It’s located should/neck level about 20 inches from the Harvia heater.

I did a test this morning and moved the Smart Sauna Sensor right next to the Harvia’s temperature sensor. It climbed to about 175-180°F. When I moved it back to its original location, it was reading around 160 to 165°F. So there seems to be a pretty significant temperature difference from the smart sensor and heater sensor when they are about 6in from each other.

The Harvia sensor is mounted on the wall about 14 inches from the heater and roughly 14 inches below the ceiling.

I also rearranged the rocks to improve airflow, but that doesn’t seem to have made a big difference. The heater appears to be cycling normally.

Is this much of a temperature difference normal? Is the air around the Harvia sensor just that much hotter than the rest of the sauna, or could something else be going on with the sensor placement, ventilation, or heater?

I’d appreciate any suggestions from people who have this setup or know the Harvia KIP well. I’m trying to figure out whether this is normal or if something needs to be corrected.

OK, so for context, I was between the backyard discovery and the smaller almost heaven sauna @ Costco.

I decided on the backyard discovery specifically because I got 25% off on bed Bath & beyond. Final price was 2800-ish and I wanted the stronger 9 kW heater.

I do think that the almost heaven sauna would have fit a little bit better in my backyard, but I wasn’t willing to pay an additional thousand dollars just for that.

I had to pay an electrician 1700 to wire it and I also paid that Electrician and additional $500 to build it.
It took three people from 8 AM to 1 AM to wire the house and build the sauna. I was so glad that I paid them to build it because after starting to build at the day before 3 to 4 hours later, I was on step two.

Anyways, I read a lot of negative reviews and so far the only negative review I have is that the touchpad doesn’t work that well knob for temperature and time would’ve been much easier in my opinion.

It does have a Wi-Fi available. I’m yet to connect it but anyways, I am loving the experience so far pretty much the best 3000 or so dollars I’ve ever spent.

Despite it being a little bit bulky, it can definitely fit four people comfortably and I’m loving it so far

I am definitely getting an indoor sauna but I have changed my mind at least times on which one to get.
First was vidalux 3 person hybrid then after reading some reviews the hybrids are more maintenance etc then decided on Vidulux traditional 3 person but apparently the bench is too low to enjoy the heat.
My budget is £3000. I did look at Oceanic saunas but the heater is not a Harvia.
TIA

I made a base of slabs ( pictures 1 & 2) and the sauna I ordered only comes with a wooden foundation beneath the four walls and a simple duckboard ( example of another customer in picture 3 ).

I read that insulation, airflow and drainage are important for a sauna. Although many people here in Germany don’t consider a drainage to be a must, since we use towels under our bottoms and only splash water onto the rocks sparely.

I bought XPS (Jackodur) plates for insulation and read that they are basically mold resistant, because they can barely soak up any water. AI research and example pictures showed that they could even be put right onto the slaps, with nothing between. Makes me wonder… could I install them with a little slope towards something like a small gravel bed or a few drilled holes in the slabs, so that any water could run down there. Kind of like in picture 4, just without the wood in between.

I’ve seen people create wonderful foundations with wood, XPS, treated wood above. I think due to the duckboard, that is not really necessary. And a real proper drainage system won’t add much to my experience either, as long as I keep the sauna clean and flush the drainage every now and then.

Please share your thoughts on my plans, since I’ve been planning this thing for months now and it will arrive in a few days.
Thank you so much

I'm quite sure the answer is no. But I just would like to be sure. Is the finishing and varnish of the wood, and I'm assuming glue and other chemicals, bad for you when they are under the high heat of the sauna?

I know it sounds silly, but I can't find any answers.

Doesn't matter what height your sauna is, moving the hot air to the bottom would help reduce the temp differential which seems like the goal of many design choices when constructing a sauna. This would be an addition to an already properly vented sauna.

Saunum attempts to do this with their "air blending" system. But why isn't this simple idea up there with "build taller!", "place benches higher!", etc. Seems like you could reduce the differential significantly, with about $150 (probably way less) of materials. I don't care how it's done, it could be interior to the sauna, exterior to the sauna, or even just a stand alone fan pointing up/down. You'd want to avoid creating drafts which shouldn't be an issue as long as you keep the CFM reasonable (wouldn't be any different than mechanical exhaust).

Why isn't recirculating air the norm and not the exception?

Hey everyone. I just got my first sauna. It should be all set up, but the Harvia HPCS9U1H (Cilindro) won’t heat. The control unit says it’s on and heating, the app says it’s on and heating, but nothing. Can anyone help?

I posted my build a while back (see link) and since then I've had some time to get used to the experience. I realized at the time I built my benches that the top bench could have been a little higher (about 47" from ceiling), but this was my first real sauna experience and loyly seemed great so I put those thoughts aside and just enjoyed it as it was for a while. It took some time before I started to realize that 8" closer to the ceiling is a totally different experience. I build my throne in the corner recently and it has made a night and day difference in the way the loyly wraps your entire body. The top benches are still very good (good enough for any guest to be in total bliss) but I definitely have found my new favorite spot. Long story short, the loyly pocket is real and if your not entirely in it, you're missing out.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sauna/s/DIYdl6CLFS

For those using a standard insulated chimney (not a dedicated sauna chimney) with a wood-fired sauna stove, how did you handle the vapor barrier at the ceiling penetration?

I'm using paper-backed aluminum sauna foil and was considering running it up into the framed chimney enclosure, while maintaining the required clearance to combustibles.

My concern is humid sauna air getting into the enclosure around the chimney and condensing in the roof cavity. How well does the ceiling trim ring seal around its outer edge, where it meets the ceiling boards?

How did you handle this junction? Did you use a gasket, high-temperature silicone, or something else.. I'd love to hear what worked for you thanks!