Home sauna

zagmund

We're getting Chateau Zag refitted at the moment and are thinking of getting a small 2 person sauna installed. The only thing is that they don't seem to be the most popular things in the showrooms around Dublin so it's hard to get a feel for what the real options are.

I've looked at various DIY sites and (certainly in the US) they seem to be relatively straight forward to fit and equip, but a lot of the stuff talks about dropping down to your "local sauna stockist" and picking up the bits you need. Somehow I can't see that happening here in Ireland.

Does anyone have any experience of fitting a sauna in a bathroom in Ireland, things to watch out for, stockists, etc . . . ? We're not looking at wood burning, so most likely either infrared or electrical with gas a distant possibility. The plan would be to integrate it into the bathroom in some way.

Thanks,

z

antoinolachtnai

I did one last year. I built it from scratch into a peculiar space. Details of what I did and where I got the bits and pieces here.

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056071909?page=1#post_68704233

(hope that link works for you.)

There is a place in the north, ballymena I think, that does prefab saunas. I think a ready made sauna is a good choice if your space is the right shape.

zagmund

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I was away for the last while and am just getting back to it now.

As a matter of interest, how do you find the running costs and general maintenance of the sauna. One thing I'm afraid of is finding out that it costs some astronomical amount of money to bring it up to temperature with the result that we don't switch it on.

What sorts of ventilation do you need for the surrounding room ? I know the sauna itself is mostly sealed (to keep the heat in), but in the room that the sauna is in do you find it gets extra dry/damp/hot when the sauna is in use ?

Thanks,

z

antoinolachtnai

You can work out the cost per sauna by multiplying the cost of a unit of electricity by the size of the sauna heater in KW. This tells you how much it cost to heat the sauna for one hour, which should be plenty time.

If it is a Finnish style sauna, which is basically dry, ventilation isn't an issue. It will get a bit hotter but not much.

If you are putting it in a bathroom it certainly requires no more ventilation than the shower.

hot to trot

Did you get your sauna and how are you getting on with it?
I have been considering this for a long while and my new house has a very large bathroom which could take a small one.

I saw an ad on the paper for a sauna still in the box . Worth 1100 sterling and selling for 400 euro. Think an elderly couple won it and son is selling it .
He is to get back to me with details, name etc but he says it is not an infrared type.

I thought that I would be only able to access IR ones and had done most research on those. I know I would have to power those from outside the bathroom but they seem to be a bit more cost effective and easier to use.

What way do the traditional ones work and would i have to get an electrician to install it ? Cant seem to find advice on the difference other than some websites tell you that you sweat more toxins with the IR ones. ( doesnt seem logical ) .
Any feedback would be super.

antoinolachtnai

There is a big electric heater in a traditional sauna. It heats basalt rocks and they in turn heat the air in the room. The unit you are talking about is probably 3KW or 4.5KW. That means that running it for an hour will take between 3 and 4.5 units of electricity. How long it takes to heat up will depend on how big it is.

If you take a sauna every day, you will need to consider the energy consumption. If you only use it once a week, the energy consumption won't make much difference.

The heater sauna is much more like the traditional sauna than infrared.

You will need to get an electrician to wire in either, really. You don't want to have extension cables running around in any case.

I have a traditional sauna like this with electric heater. I built it, rather than getting it out of a box. I like it just fine.

You can throw a little water on the hot rocks to get some steam with the traditional sauna. This will not work (obviously) with the infrared sauna.

I would be very suspicious of health claims in relation to the relative merits of either type of sauna.

zagmund

We didn't get ours yet. The Chateau Zag refit is taking a little longer than planned. We did investigate the options a while back though. I could never understand the difference between traditional and infrared, but a visit to a showroom cleared it up for me.

The traditional one is effectively like stepping into a big, very hot room. The infrared ones are different in that (as far as I can tell) the space doesn't actually heat up much, but when you sit directly in front of the fittings you heat up. Step away from the fittings and you lose the effect, step back in place and you get it back again.

z

hot to trot

Thanks guys, ( anto the thanks wouldnt work on your message)
definitley will consider this sauna then. It seems a pretty good deal ?