5 ms·

Possibly, definitely in terms of relaxation, but in terms of heat shock I don't think so - Saunas in Finland tend to be heated quite hot - usually 70–80 °C, som

by dharma1 10y ago

Possibly, definitely in terms of relaxation, but in terms of heat shock I don't think so - Saunas in Finland tend to be heated quite hot - usually 70–80 °C, sometimes more. Installing one isn't too difficult - if you have a garden, you can get outside kits which are generally as simple to build as sheds, or indoors kits that you'd put in a bathroom - probably when doing renovation anyway. I recommend ones from Harvia - I bought a medium sized one (fits 4 people) for about £1600 in the UK, and it took me and a couple of guys less than a day to put up. Here are some pics - I built it as a part of a loft conversion and ended up tiling the outside so it looks like a part of the bathroom. Normally these prefab kits look like a softwood cladded mini-room from both inside and outside http://imgur.com/a/MNEFD http://imgur.com/a/MNEFD The stove is usually 4kw-8kw so you'll need to add appropriate wiring and fuse/breaker. If anyone is contemplating building one, feel free to ask me for advice.

rwmj 10y ago
You don't actually get in the water at 80°C right? I assume that would either kill you or severely burn.
- dharma1 10y ago
  I meant saunas get to 80C + - that's the air temperature
- pasiaj 10y ago
  You can easily go to a sauna with temperatures exceeding 110° C. Hot as heck, but even kids do it. The starting temperature of World Sauna Championships was 110° C, with water/steam added every 30 seconds. The competition ended up killing a person, tho. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Sauna_Championships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Sauna_Championships
  - userbinator 10y ago
    I'm surprised that sweat doesn't start boiling at that temperature, or that the users don't get severely burned since I assume everything in the sauna is going to be around that temperature --- even 50C is enough to burn skin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_burn
    - kaitai 10y ago
      My sauna last night was 84 C, 183 F. I personally don't like much hotter. The higher the temperature, the more you have to modulate the steam that you produce by throwing water on the stove. At a lower temperature I like lots of steam, but at higher temperatures a lot of steam at once can be too much. Steam is controlled by the users on a moment-by-moment basis while temperature is controlled more slowly by the stove settings (which of course you can change). The wood in the sauna does get hot: that's why you either sit on a piece of cloth (more popular these days) or put cool water on your seat to cool it down so your butt doesn't burn. However, wood in saunas is generally carefully selected as some varieties feel cooler than others (and you never want to use a wood that will produce sap drips for your benches! ouch!!). There are almost no metal components to touch in a sauna because those hurt -- some people use copper buckets for water but then you're filling it with cool water intermittently. Take off metal necklaces and earrings before saunaing, in general. Don't know about piercings (someone else can say). You can cook/burn yourself in a sauna but that is usually related to drug and alcohol use (as in the famous World Sauna Championship death: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/08/sauna-championship-russian-dead https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/08/sauna-champion...)
      - jpatokal 10y ago
        Yes, metal piercings also get hot. Cold water helps.
    - fulafel 10y ago
      Still air is a good insulator, it doesn't transfer heat to your skin very quickly. And skin has good cooling via blood circulation and evaporating sweat. These cooling mechanisms also transfer more heat as the temperature difference grows.
    - mcv 10y ago
      Sweat evaporates in the dry air, and that cools your skin. A bit. The wooden benches tend to get too hot to touch, which is one of the reasons why you sit on a towel. Glasses, watches and other objects are left outside. (I'm not sure how big of an issue piercings are, actually. If they get too hot, take them out.)
- mcv 10y ago
  > You don't actually get in the water at 80°C right? No, you get in the water below 10°C. The 80° (or 90°C, as I often see claimed on Finnish saunas in Netherland) is the air. Extremely dry air, where your sweat evaporates almost immediately. Until someone pours on the löyly.
fpoling 10y ago
In Finland they have portable saunas that they take to camping sides. Typically this is heavy-duty or army tent with a hole at top for a pipe from a small oven from cast iron.
nsher10 10y ago
Came here to say your Sauna looks amazing! Nicely put together. I'm thinking about putting one outside. May I ask you some questions?
- dharma1 10y ago
  Thanks! Of course - my email is on my site in the profile

by dharma1 10y ago

rwmj 10y ago

You don't actually get in the water at 80°C right? I assume that would either kill you or severely burn.

dharma1 10y ago
I meant saunas get to 80C + - that's the air temperature
pasiaj 10y ago
You can easily go to a sauna with temperatures exceeding 110° C. Hot as heck, but even kids do it. The starting temperature of World Sauna Championships was 110° C, with water/steam added every 30 seconds. The competition ended up killing a person, tho. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Sauna_Championships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Sauna_Championships
- userbinator 10y ago
  I'm surprised that sweat doesn't start boiling at that temperature, or that the users don't get severely burned since I assume everything in the sauna is going to be around that temperature --- even 50C is enough to burn skin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_burn
  - kaitai 10y ago
    My sauna last night was 84 C, 183 F. I personally don't like much hotter. The higher the temperature, the more you have to modulate the steam that you produce by throwing water on the stove. At a lower temperature I like lots of steam, but at higher temperatures a lot of steam at once can be too much. Steam is controlled by the users on a moment-by-moment basis while temperature is controlled more slowly by the stove settings (which of course you can change). The wood in the sauna does get hot: that's why you either sit on a piece of cloth (more popular these days) or put cool water on your seat to cool it down so your butt doesn't burn. However, wood in saunas is generally carefully selected as some varieties feel cooler than others (and you never want to use a wood that will produce sap drips for your benches! ouch!!). There are almost no metal components to touch in a sauna because those hurt -- some people use copper buckets for water but then you're filling it with cool water intermittently. Take off metal necklaces and earrings before saunaing, in general. Don't know about piercings (someone else can say). You can cook/burn yourself in a sauna but that is usually related to drug and alcohol use (as in the famous World Sauna Championship death: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/08/sauna-championship-russian-dead https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/08/sauna-champion...)
    - jpatokal 10y ago
      Yes, metal piercings also get hot. Cold water helps.
  - fulafel 10y ago
    Still air is a good insulator, it doesn't transfer heat to your skin very quickly. And skin has good cooling via blood circulation and evaporating sweat. These cooling mechanisms also transfer more heat as the temperature difference grows.
  - mcv 10y ago
    Sweat evaporates in the dry air, and that cools your skin. A bit. The wooden benches tend to get too hot to touch, which is one of the reasons why you sit on a towel. Glasses, watches and other objects are left outside. (I'm not sure how big of an issue piercings are, actually. If they get too hot, take them out.)
mcv 10y ago
> You don't actually get in the water at 80°C right? No, you get in the water below 10°C. The 80° (or 90°C, as I often see claimed on Finnish saunas in Netherland) is the air. Extremely dry air, where your sweat evaporates almost immediately. Until someone pours on the löyly.

fpoling 10y ago

In Finland they have portable saunas that they take to camping sides. Typically this is heavy-duty or army tent with a hole at top for a pipe from a small oven from cast iron.

nsher10 10y ago

Came here to say your Sauna looks amazing! Nicely put together. I'm thinking about putting one outside. May I ask you some questions?

dharma1 10y ago
Thanks! Of course - my email is on my site in the profile