Infrared Sauna Info

Typical wood in an infrared sauna is not covered with any polish or paint, and it will smell naturally. Different woods have smells of many tones and intensities, from strong-smelling cedar to the mild smell of poplar. A smell thus becomes one more factor in a choice of wood for a sauna. Obviously, no definite recommendations can be given here, because its more the matter of taste than of a logical choice.

In my opinion, a sauna wood smell is a very important thing. In our daily life, we give little attention to smells, spending most of the time in a smell-neutral environment, but in intimate moments, when we relax, meditate or enjoy our meal, the value of a smell rises greatly. The same is with a sauna, be it infrared or traditional one. A smell that is coming from heated wood is more intensive than from polished and/or veneer made furniture. It will enter your world when you will be taking a relaxing infrared sauna session, and it will co-create your overall experience of a sauna.

Your task when shopping for an infrared sauna is to choose the wood which smell will enhance your pleasure. However, there are many other factors which should be taken into account, and a wooden smell is clearly not the most important one. Do not seek for the sauna which smells best, just give attention to a smell, and look for one that is pleasant to you, or at least neutral. Put your head in a sauna, close your eyes and breath slowly. Imagine that you are taking this sauna regularly, and ask yourself is you like the fragrance.

Go for a strong smell only if you like it. If you read my other article about wood allergies and their role in infrared saunas you know that some woods can cause allergic reactions. The general rule is the stronger the smell the more potentially allergic the wood is. Very small amount of people is allergic to wood, but the point is that strong smell have more chances to become annoying even if it was acceptable at first.

Even most neutral woods have smell. If you don’t like (or can’t stand for medical reasons) the smell of your sauna, you can use a fan to ventilate it before a session. Another idea is to leave new sauna open for some time and wait until intensity of smell will decrease.

On the contrary, if you want to return the smell of a fresh new wood, polish it with a sandpaper and the fresh smell will return. There is another thing you can do – bring a piece of a different strong-smelling wood into your sauna, and enjoy the variety of smells.

I wish you to use sauna smell to help you relax and enjoy the time spent in a sauna.

Infrared sauna from EaconSauna are manufactured in China and I actually count is as a plus that they are saying it clearly on the website, while many other sauna companies do not like to disclose the origin of their sauna. English language on the website is somewhat awkward, it is apparent that is was written by a persion with Englifh as a second language. I would get a good writer/proofreader if I was on their place. Eacon Saunas say also that their models has passed ETL, CE and ISO 9001:2000 certification (read more about infrared sauna certification).

In the model line of EaconSauna there is a two-person Eacon 002 sauna:

Wood: Hemlock.

External dimensions: Width: 49 in, Depth: 41 in, Height: 77 in.

Heaters: 10 ceramic tube heaters, 4 on back , 2 on front, 1 on door, 1 under the bench and 2 on the roof.

Outlets: 110 V, 15 Amps, 1500 Watts.

Accessories: CD player/radio, ionizer.

Warranty: Lifetime on wood and heaters, electrical components 2 years.

Price: Around $3000.

There are two things in this sauna that makes it unique in some way and why my attention was caught.

First is the number of heaters. There are ten (10) heaters in this two-person model, when industry average is 4-6 heaters. There are heaters on its doorand even on the roof. This doesn’t mean that there will be hotter in this sauna – overall heater power is still in the same range with other 2-person models – 1500 Watt. With more heaters, heater surface temperature is lower and heat distribution should me more even. Theoretically. Surprisingly, in Eacon 002 there are no heater on side walls, which I think is compensated by tilted front heaters, but only first-hand expirience can determine if heat distribution is even.

Second feature is the heater on front door, which can be moved vertically on a metal bar, and tilted to loft or right. This is the only model I know with such heater placement, which you can adjust to your needs.

Fron the other hand, this sauna model appear rather small for me. It has below the average depth dimension. And only when you try it yourself you can tell if features mentioned really give it a advantage over other infrared sauna cabins.

Link to model page on official website – Eacon 002

In our ordinary life we rarely need to think about hazards that wood in our furniture exposes. If you don’t have allergies of high sensitivity for different biological of chemical substances you will probably won’t have any medical problems with sauna wood. But if you have allergies, you should be aware, that in closed heated space of infrared sauna cabin wood tends to outgas more that furniture in a room and can trigger an allergic reaction. So you may need to consult your doctor for recommendations.

The fact that wood can give you allergy or just bad feeling should not scare you or repel from buying a sauna. Probability of this is very small. Still, it won’t be superfluous to check you reaction for a given wood for sure. Price for having an infrared sauna made of inappropriate wood is high – it will render your expensive sauna useless.

Most common allergens are wood pollen, dust and smoke. While smoke and pollen aren’t usual things in a sauna cabin, wood dust is common in a new sauna. Take some time to wipe it with damp cloth prior to use.

Less common is a contact allergy to wood. If you have this type of allergy to wood, you should avoid the wood type which give you such reaction altogether.

There is no agreement between infrared sauna manufacturers on which wood is best. Some use cedar because of its good traits as a furniture material, others offer woods like basswood and poplar saying that they are hypoallergic, so you need to take this choice yourself. You may not know beforehand that you have an allergy to certain wood type, thats why ideal way is to put the candidate sauna on trial. Find a place in your neighborhood where you can try a sauna you want and test it for a month.

To reduce the risk of developing the allergy to wood it is recommended to look for wood with mild flavor. Also, leave your new sauna open for a few days to let it outgas. You can also use a fan before the session to get rid of the smell.

There are some resources which go into detail about what hazards specific wood types have:

Wood Hazards – BME Encyclopedia
Wood Toxicity and Wood Identification Resources – American Association of Woodturners
Wood Toxicity – Hobbywoods
Wood/Dust Toxicity – Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild
Toxicity of Wood – theWoodbox.com

Take a look at these pages and use charts of wood toxicity for reference when you will evaluate different sauna models.

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.