FAQ’s About Our Barrel Sauna
Sauna Bathing or Steam Bathing?
The "wet" sauna vs. the "dry" sauna
Why is solid wood so essential?
What about insulation?
How easy are they to install?
How much do they cost to operate?
What type of Sauna Heater do I need?
How much do the saunas cost?
Five Year Warranty?
Sauna Comparison Chart Far Infrared Sauna vs Rock Saunas
Want the real technical stuff?
Sauna ventilation - Natural and Mechanical
Sauna is the Finnish word for "bath." Finns who immigrated to North America brought with them a unique bathing custom, which has become popular here over the past decade. Often confused with a steam bath, a true sauna bath is very different, even though both types of baths offer the same therapeutic benefits.
The temperatures in a traditional sauna can actually exceed 90 degrees Celsius! The extremely low humidity present in the sauna makes these temperatures tolerable. Properly designed, the sauna's relative humidity rarely exceeds 5% when operated in the "dry" mode. This permits the copious amount of perspiration produced by the body to dry quickly thus having a cooling effect.
Most saunas (except the newer infrared ceramic emitters which I will get to later) have a radiant air heater, which has a tray for volcanic stones. These stones retain and radiate heat more consistently. They may also be sprinkled with water to produce the "wet" sauna. This creates bursts of steam, which disappear quickly into the porous cedar of the sauna. Humidity climbs from a few percent to 20-30% instantly. This intensifies the sauna's heat as if the temperature had increased drastically (although it may even have dropped slightly).
By contrast, a steam bath makes use of a steam generator. This device heats the water, not the air. The steam room enclosure fills completely with condensed vapor. Clouds of "steam" envelop the bather. The humidity exceeds 100% and the temperatures are much lower than those of the sauna. Because of their very different modes of operation, the choice of construction materials is critical. A totally non-porous material such as tile or acrylic is the choice for a steam room, which must also be made steam tight.
Although the steam room enclosure must be non porous and steam tight, the opposite is true of a sauna room. A sauna must be constructed of porous materials (meaning some type of wood), and it depends on air circulation through intake and outlet vents. The wood actually "breathes" absorbing and purging moisture. Many varieties of wood are acceptable for sauna construction, but care must be taken when selecting the type and grade due to leaching of pitch or slivers.
Whether it's dry heat or clouds of steam the choice is yours and it is only a matter of taste and lifestyle.
The "wet" sauna vs. the "dry" sauna
People often confuse a "wet sauna" with a steam room, although the two are very different. All saunas have a radiant air heater with volcanic stones. In the "dry" mode, the sauna is operated in the absence of moisture.
Temperatures in a dry sauna may approach 90 degrees Celsius! But, because the humidity is only a few percent, and the bather's perspiration evaporates quickly, these high temperatures are tolerable.
To create a "wet sauna," a small amount of water is poured onto the heater's volcanic stones, creating bursts of vapor, which disappear quickly into the sauna's walls. Although the temperature inside the sauna may even drop slightly, the humidity climbs to 20 or 30 percent, and the effect of the heat intensifies drastically.
The traditional Scandinavian practice is to begin with a dry sauna followed by a period of rest outside the sauna. The bather then re-enters the sauna, this time with a ladle and a wooden bucket filled with water. A "wet sauna" is then taken followed by another period of rest. Showers are taken before and after the bath.
What are the therapeutic benefits of sauna and steam baths?
Both sauna baths and steam baths stimulate circulation and respiration, reduce muscular tension and cleanse and rejuvenate the skin and body through perspiration.
We have heard that a heavy cigarette smoker can actually leave a brown stain on a white towel as they perspire toxins from their body in a sauna.
The benefits of sauna and steam bathing have been known to almost all of human civilization for eons.
Why is solid wood so essential?
Solid wood is the only choice for sauna construction. Avoid buying or making saunas from hollow walls of studs and veneer. The layer of wood inside may be too thin to absorb a large amount of moisture.
The inside of the sauna wall should also never be backed with a plastic vapor barrier, which makes lower humidity even more difficult to achieve and maintain. Hollow studded walls do not offer the durability of solid wood either.
A sauna is supposed to be able to "breathe." A sauna is meant to be dry heat. The soft wood walls must breathe and absorb and purge moisture from the sauna room, hence our choice of only solid wood.
What about insulation?
Since a sauna is only heated when in use, and because a properly operating sauna is constantly exhausting hot air through its outlet vent, there is little sense to adding insulation to the sauna's walls. Those manufacturers who use insulation do so mostly just to fill the hollow space between the studs that make up their sauna's walls. This saves VERY LITTLE ENERGY.
How easy are they to install?
All our saunas are freestanding which can save hundreds of dollars by greatly simplifying the entire installation process. There is no need to provide any support framing whatsoever. Our saunas can easily be set up in the corner of a larger room or outside on an existing deck.
No special tools or skills are required, and our instructions are written with the do-it-yourself customer in mind. All pieces are precut, and complete assembly takes less than 3 hours.
How much do they cost to operate?
Unlike a pool, spa or hot tub, a sauna is only heated when it's in use. This means that you are using electricity only for an hour or two per day at most.
Even in areas where electric rates are rather high, regular use of a sauna will add only pennies per day to your utility bill.
We also offer a wood burning sauna heater.
What type of Sauna Heater do I need?
Many heaters are available. We offer the Harvia heater with multi-stage thermostat, which improve its performance and efficiency.
Four styles of sauna heaters are offered, and all incorporate the features mentioned above. The only difference between the heaters is the location of the controls.
How much do the saunas cost?
A barrel sauna will cost between US$5,500.00 and $5,900.00. This depends on the species of wood used as well as the diameter and the length of the barrel. Our newest barrel sauna has a clear acrylic bubble for the roof of the vertical unit and the same bubble as the entire back wall of our horizontal sauna. These units range from $7,000 to $10,000.
Five Year Warranty
All our saunas are sold with a limited five-year warranty. If you have any questions or you would like additional information or have a question answered, please contact us at: 1-888-494-3218 or Local: 514-704-3239
Sauna Comparison Chart Far Infrared Sauna vs Rock Saunas
At the present time Barrel Enterprises is not offering Far Infrared saunas.
The following is from a Finnish Newspaper & really refers to mechanical air exchange:
According to the latest research by Valtion Teknillinen Tutkimuskeskus and Reijo Perala of Saunatec in Finland as published in the 01/00 Helsingin Sanomat of Helsinki, Finland, the intake vent for air into a electric sauna room should be located over the stove at about 2/3'rds up the wall (20 in. above stove). The out vent should be installed down low, like underneath the benches; the gap underneath the Sauna door most often is adequate for this purpose. The traditional method of venting has been to take the air in down below, underneath the stove, and let it out near the ceiling. This type of ventilation -underneath the stove- only works well when the unit is wood burning and requires fresh oxygen for the fire pit. The out vent for the room should always be down low for heat rises and vent up high would only let excessive amounts of heat to escape. In larger sauna rooms the air circulation should be aided mechanically and can be easily accomplished like explained next. The in vent is in the wall above the heater mixing cool fresh air with the hot air rising from the stove; The out vent is located underneath the benches on the far wall; A duct is run from the out vent to above the sauna room and attached to a simple bathroom exhaust fan (preferably a quiet one). The air is then vented from the fan to the outside or to a indoor room where possible humidity and condensation pose no threat (rec. room etc.). The fan sucking the air out of the sauna room forces air circulation and pulls the hot air from the ceiling level lower for a smoother and more even bath. In the next table I am listing the temperature ranges and differences with the wrong and the right way of ventilating a sauna room.
Traditional ventilation .................................Proper ventilation for Electric Saunas
| HEAD LEVEL | 90 degrees Celsius | HEAD LEVEL | 89 degrees Celsius |
| SITTING LEVEL | 73 degrees Celsius | SITTING LEVEL | 89 degrees Celsius |
| FOOT LEVEL | 45 degrees Celsius | FOOT LEVEL | 80 degrees Celsius |
| FLOOR | 30 degrees Celsius | FLOOR | 57 degrees Celsius |