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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 11

by 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.)

by pasiaj 10y ago

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.)