Infrared Sauna Info

Getting to Asian models, which become more and more widespread in recent time, I’m going to review Waterstar infrared sauna brand, which is manufactured in China, and is very popular among infrared sauna dealers, probably because of good price/quality value.

Waterstar brand includes many models, with both carbon and ceramic heaters. One of this models is a 2-person WSD-8002LD:

Wood: Hemlock/Russia Spruce/Red cedar.

External dimensions: Width: 47 in/120 cm, Depth: 46 in/117cm, Height: 75 in/190 cm.

Heaters: 5 ceramic heaters, 2 on back (350 Watts), 2 on front (350 Watts) and one under the bench (200 Watts).

Outlets: 110 V, 15 Amps, 1600 Watts.

Accessories: CD player/radio, ionizer.

Warranty: Lifetime, except CD player (1 year).

Price: Usually falls in $1000-$1500 range.

This sauna is standard in many ways. It does not provide any outstanding features, and its appeal is in low price and quality of a smoothly running manufacturing on its own factory in China. Quality doesn’t mean luxury - it just means that saunas are well-made and ratio of defects is low. But maybe it is that most people need - an sauna infrared sauna that just works.

What is interesting, manufacturer of Waterstar warns that there are many fake Waterstar saunas on the market, and encourage to buy only from authorized dealers. You can find the list of dealers on this page.

Link to model page on official website - Waterstar WSD-8002LD

Visiting local home improvement, builder’s, home & garden shows and expos is a great idea to see and try live infrared sauna models from their manufacturers and ask vendors questions. For example, Sunlight Saunas have a page on their website with list of shows where you can see their products - 2007 Events Calendar.

I think it is a very good idea for vendors and manufacturers to list upcoming events on their sites where they will present infrared sauna models, because it benefits both customers and sellers. It brings more exposure to brands, and gives people information about opportunities to see and test infrared saunas.

So, if you are a vendor reading my blog, you can let me know via contact page about shows your infrared sauna company will participate in and I will cover it on my blog.

If you are a consumer and know any upcoming shows (or how to find any) which will feature infrared saunas, I will be happy to hear from you too. If I will gather enough information, there will be a separate section on this website which will help to locate shows in one’s neighborhood.

Wood choice on second place after heater choice is a common thing in an infrared sauna buying process. Are the heaters really so important? Note how promoters place heater qualities above all other traits of saunas offered. Most attention is given to wavelengths of a heater. Claims made about wavelengths are unprovable as they are formulated; every seller tells that only his infrared sauna have heaters that give most “healing”, “vital” and “far” infrared rays. It can even be made into a joke - that essentially all that they are saying is their infrared is the most far of the farerest of all far infrared on the market.

For a moment, move away that emotional hype associated with far infrared. I personally see it only as a mean to deliver heat (supposedly, more effective and comfortable than a stove in a traditional sauna). From that viewpoint it becomes apparent that other things are important in an infrared sauna. These things are placement of heaters, how comfortable and uniform feels the heat they generate. How heaters behave throughout session. These thing are more real than healing traits of specific wavelengths. You can try and feel them. And the most real is the wood your sauna cabin is made of. Unlike heaters, which are hidden with covers and have no smell or texture, and have no biological materials, wood is what you will see, smell and feel while using your sauna.

Imagine, that you choose your sauna based on heater type it have only to discover later that you don’t like how wood smell, or, even worse, that you have allergy on that wood type. If you look from this viewpoint you will see that wood choice is important, and should have its part of your attention. Let’s summarize main aspects of wood choice for infrared sauna, from medical aspects to questions of aesthetics and comfort.

• Wood as toxic and allergy-inducing substance. Should be first to think on. Good news is that most of us do not have allergy on wood, but if you cannot be sure, consult your doctor. This is also one more reason to try a sauna before buying.
• Wood smell. Sauna wood comes without paint, and has fresh smell. You can like or dislike it. Pay some attention how a sauna wood smell feels to you when choosing a sauna.
• Wood patterns and color. Wood have many different patterns and colors. It should be compromise between practical (there will be inevitable stains) and easthetics side (you need to like what you see around when taking a sauna session).
• How wood feels to touch. This part is not as critical when buying an infrared sauna, as you always can finish your sauna at home with sand cloth, but it will be better to find an infrared sauna that feels good to touch already.

Today I want to present a strong European infrared sauna brand, Physiotherm. The model which will be covered falls into 2-person models category. Its Home-Fit 2 infrared sauna model:

Wood: Spruce (Austrian).

External dimensions: Width: 49 in/120 cm, Depth: 41.2 in/101cm, Height: 79.1 in/194 cm.

Heaters: 4 ceramic heaters, on each cabin corner.

Outlets: 220 V, 1540 Watts.

Accessories: Portable CD player, aromatherapy, full spectrum sunlight, colour therapy.

Warranty: 8 years on electrics, including heaters.

Price: £3,259.99 (single online shop data, not average price)

Certainly falling into the high-end old-school category, this model is supposedly manufactured in Austria and has quite a high price. However, model is packed with a wide range of features, and looks like a quality product. Also, I found Physioterm website to be one of the most well-structured infrared sauna sites. However, it does not say anything about quality of saunas themselves.

One interesting this is that the heaters placed on the corners of the sauna, instead of traditional backrest/front side scheme. It certainly changes the experience - distribution of heat in such sauna is different. I think, that in a traditional heater placing, there is a risk that back heaters heat more intensively than front heaters, because they are very close to your back. In this sauna, heaters are on approximately equal distance, but the downside is that you will probably have not to lead in the wall to get your back heated.

Avalaibility of different light- and aroma- therapies allow to bring a lot of variety into sauna experience. While the benefits is somewhat questionable, they will help you to not to get bored with sauna sessions.

Link to official model page - Physiotherm Home-Fit 2

As Randy Gomm writes on his www.infraredsauna.net website, Soft Heat Saunas has Calgary factory shut down and all operations are being moved to USA. Randy was selling Soft Heat saunas before on his website. On the notice, he writes:

Once the existing stock is gone, it will no longer be possible to purchase a sauna like we have been making.
Even with the factory shutting down, the parent company will be honoring all the warranties for the Soft Heat saunas.

Soft Heat is one of the old manufacturers in infrared sauna industry, making infrared saunas since 1991. As stated on their other website, www.softheatsauna.com, they were official suppliers to 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. By the way, the only note of closing a factory I found was on Randy Gomm’s website. Other websites related to Soft Heat look like they weren’t update for a long time. But I found this auction which supports this information. I personally have a feeling of regret that such an old manufacturer had to close his sauna assembly facility.

I don’t know the reasons why this happened, and Randy also doesn’t tell any. Maybe it’s because cheaper models from Asian factories started to make a serious competition to manufacturers in North America. Or this can be just a step of Soft Heat to restructure their business and they will continue to make saunas somewhere else.

Anyway, in his notice Randy writes that he conducted an extensive research to find a replacement for Soft Heat saunas, but for more affordable price. He says that his experience with current sauna market was mainly negative, with many saunas lacking of electrical approval, and with wrong information supplied about materials heaters are made of and micron range of infrared they emit.

Finally Randy found the sauna brand he believes in. New saunas are supposed to become available on early February. By his description, they have full-wall carbon heaters and cost much less that Soft Heat models. He also mentioned CarbonFlow(tm) technology. This trademark is unknown to me, and I wasn’t able to find any information about it. The only product line that has whole wall surface covered by carbon heaters is CarbonFlex saunas by SaunaTec.

It seems like carbon heaters continue to gain popularity. Also, there is a clear trend that infrared saunas are becoming cheaper and more affordable. Competition from Asian markets increases. Let’s hope that this will lead to improved quality of saunas for better price.

Infrared sauna studies generally fall into two categories. One category, are long big lists of studies about numerous benefits of infrared saunas, which all tell that IR saunas have extremely positive effect on a human health. These studies are usually only mentioned and talked about, but no direct references or texts is given. As you understand, I talk about studies in ‘infrared sauna health benefits’ pages on almost every website which sells infrared saunas, directly or indirectly.

Other type is studies which you can dig in medical databases like PubMed. These ones are heavily stuffed with medicine words, and usually do not talk about infrared saunas, but about ‘thermal therapy’ or ‘heat’. An infrared sauna is frequently used in such studies as a mean to generate heat, but titles suggest that the key word here is heat, and not infrared. An additional detail is that such studies are very specific, they done to persons with one specific diagnosis, like ‘patients with chronic heart failure’. And not all of these studies show clear positive effect.

That’s why the recurring theme in my writings is the call to finish spending your time guessing the truth from studies and to go out and try an infrared sauna. Find out how an infrared sauna works for you, for certain. Conduct an experiment - find an infrared sauna in your neighborhood, and go there two-three times a week for a month or two. Note what changes you will notice during these period, regarding your own condition - weight, skin, heart, joints, depression, stress or anything else you want infrared sauna to help you with. What can be more certain than your own study, conducted by you and on you (and funded with your money :))?

If you are still looking for that ‘many Chinese studies’ that have proved benefits of an infrared sauna therapy, then read Health Studies Are Worthless to Those Who Care About Health, an article by Steve Pavlina, which applies well to infrared sauna studies.