Infrared Sauna Buying Guide
The infrared sauna buying guide for 2019 provided here is designed in such a way which will give you relevant information and understanding about the far-infrared technology, safety measures, design, therapy, component comparison, and technological evaluation. After reading this buying guide, you will be able to make right choice for investment in sauna. The far infrared sauna is a recent phenomenon and also not so easy to differentiate it than other types of sauna. This guide will help you to figure out this problem. We have provided straight forward information regarding the features, safety, and components of far home infrared sauna. At first ask yourself below mentioned questions to get yourself 200% assure of the sauna installation day. So let's begin sauna buyers guide.
- How much do you want to spend on your sauna?
- Do you want to use the sauna for indoor or outdoor purpose?
- What is your preference in terms of the capacity of the sauna?
- Do you have a small or big space for installing your sauna?
- What type of wood do you prefer for your sauna?
- Do you want any special feature from your sauna?
The benefits of having an infrared sauna
- 1. Research shows that 30 minutes of far infrared experience can burn off around 600 calories.
- 2. The body toxins will be flushed away in a completely natural way.(Detoxification)
- 3. The body starts to sweat naturally.
- 4. Helps to burn calories.
- 5. Helps to reduce body weight.
- 6. Blood pressure will be in control.
- 7. Recline your muscles by increasing blood circulation.
- 8. Balances stress hormone and cortisol in our body.
- 9. Get yourself relieve from stress.
- 10. Helps you to have better sleep.
- 11. Cleans your skin deeply and creates clear, healthy and softer skin ever.
- 12. Helps to fight with illness.
- 13. Have a positive impact on your cardiovascular system.
- 14. Get yourself relieve from chronic pains.
- 15. Enjoy the sauna experience with fun.
The history of infrared sauna
Many people think that an infrared sauna is a new phenomenon. But actually it is not like so. The first time when infrared sauna arises was in 1893 which used light sources to create heat. Before this there was steam which was used to produce heat inside the sauna. In 1893 for the first time electric light bulbs were used to create heat invented by Dr. Kellogg. There was still the existence of on the wavelength as the light bulbs didn’t properly create infrared light. From 1920s it started using the infrared light. In order to conduct healing process, German physicians used it for their experiment. At present, human body can be healed through infrared lights with less possibility of long term risks. So whenever you hear the infrared technology is new thing, you should correct them saying that it has been used for over a century.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL VERSUS FAR INFRARED SAUNA
The main difference between traditional versus far infrared sauna is the technology of the heater used in both types of sauna.
- Traditional sauna: The method of heat production in traditional saunas is called convection heating system. Your kitchen oven is an example of convection heater. There is a pile of hot rocks and electric heater used for producing heat in traditional one.The electric heater heats the panel of rocks and this rock heats the air inside the sauna. The hot air heats your skin. You have to always sprinkle water over rocks to add moister to the sauna.
- Far infrared sauna: A far infrared sauna uses radiant heating technology to transfer radiant heat from an emitting heat source to human body. A far infrared sauna uses far-infrared light waves which are tuned to our body. That means our body and far-infrared light waves vibrate at the same frequency and because of this reason our body can readily absorb far infrared energy. This process is called resonant absorption and that’s how far infrared sauna conducts the detoxification of our skin. These light waves are emitted from a large high tech carbon heater panels which are embedded in the wall and floor of the infrared sauna.This resonant absorption process is responsible for many health benefits by producing numerous chemical and physical changes in our body.
- Traditional Sauna: The heating range of the traditional sauna is 160-200 degrees Fahrenheit. This high temperature is harmful to our skin. Excessive temperature overheats the surface of our skin which limits detoxification ability of the steam and heated rocks. It takes 20-35 minutes to heat at full range. Moreover, one can feel suffocated inside the muggy environment of the sauna. Excessive temperature can cause rashes and itching in sensitive body parts, irritate nasal and throat and also harmful for viscous membrane of our eyes.
- Far infrared sauna: The heating range of the far infrared sauna is 120-150 degrees Fahrenheit. This range of temperature is gentle for your health. It is important to know that high temperature doesn’t mean the high performance of a sauna. The temperature of a sauna should be in moderate level which can remove the carcinogens, expelled acids, toxins, and heavy metals from our skin through our sweat which is the result of detoxification. This moderate range of temperature creates a relaxed and comfortable environment for you inside the sauna. It takes 15-20 minutes to reach its full range.
10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHILE BUYING AN INFRARED SAUNA
1. Heaters: Before buying an infrared sauna, you have to look for the heaters used in an infrared sauna. You have to avoid buying those saunas which have Steel/Incoloy Rod Heaters and ceramic rods. Steel/Incoloy rod Heaters utilizes a reflector plate mounted behind the producer to adjust for the way that a lot of infrared energy being delivered is coordinated far from your body. A significant part of the infrared warmth doesn't make a trip sufficiently far to enter your body. The problem in areas and poor scope all through the sauna lodge. Again, Ceramic rods have a very small infrared emission surface. They are not durable, comfortable, safe and efficient. So you should avoid those infrared sauna which has these type of heater.
2. Wiring: You should avoid those inexpensive sauna which have cheap wiring configuration, poorly insulated gauge wires, improper shield for EMF, unenclosed central processing unit, junction blocks, power converters. All of this may result in poor performance to handle excessive heat.
3. Safety certification: You should not buy those saunas which are not accompanied by proper safety certification. Lack of safety certification may indicate destructive to health and presence of toxic chemical in their production.
4. Quality of assembly: Exterior buckles and clips are responsible for poor workmanship and sloppy tolerance limits. Too wide or narrow walls will warp or bow over time. Magnets that are not consistently fit from top to bottom between adjoining walls weakens structural integrity. All of this should be avoided before going to purchase a sauna.
5. Thin wall construction: If the thickness of the inner and outer wall of the sauna is only 3-5 mm thick then those wall known as thin walls and more likely to bow, warp or split in temperatures ranging 70-140 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Type of wood: If you are looking for an infrared sauna then this type of wood is not best choice. Such as aspen, basswood, fir white, western pine, Sitka(spruce) and California redwood.
7. Horizontal backrest: It is impossible to lean back on horizontal backrests. There is inadequate number of slats in horizontal backrests. It also causes direct contact with carbon panels or ceramic faceplates.
8. Interior Design: There are many interior factors which should be taken into consideration before buying a sauna. A sauna should not have many large glasses. It is an indication of not having enough room for adequate far infrared heaters. You have to look at several internal pictures of the sauna. Poorly designed sauna naturally have fewer and smaller heating elements in order to reduce manufacturing cost and compromise sauna benefits. You have to avoid lightweight piano door hinges which is an indication of cheaply built sauna. Sauna floor is also a factor to consider while buying a sauna. Weak floors are not properly attached with floor joists. There is also weight limit in a sauna which must be known. The saunas of Rocky Mountain Sauna has 300 pounds weight limit.
9. Third party seller: You should be careful about the third-party seller who will be middle man between you and the manufacturer. An unreliable third party seller has some symptoms to recognize. For example, they have hastily built websites, function in “drop ship”, don’t carry infrared sauna in stock, limited product information, few pictures of the sauna, absence of quick response or real-time customer service, warranty claims, no phone number of the customer service, no customer reviews on their website, no verified purchase, don’t carry replacement parts in stock and no technical support is outsourced. So you should be careful to avoid these matters before buying an infrared sauna.
10. Warranty and customer service: If the terms of the condition of sale or warranty are not readily available that is clear evidence of poor warranty and customer service. Those sauna vendors should be avoided.
10 THINGS TO LOOK FOR CONSIDERING WHILE BUYING AN INFRARED SAUNA
- Heaters: You should look for only those infrared sauna which uses Organic Nano-Carbon™ Heater Panels Carbon Wave 360 System. This heating panel can remove all drawbacks of ceramic rods. Nano-Carbon heater panels produce 8-12 micron bandwidth of infrared light energy which proves it to be 95 – 98%.The maximum infrared absorption level of the human body is 9.4 microns which perfectly tunes the frequency of lightweight energy.
- Wiring: Search for all major electronic parts to be embedded in a secured metal housing. If your EMF wire shielding is in the proper order that can prevent the users from stray flux radiation and wiring coming into direct contact with wood which may result in fire hazard. You can have all secured wiring components from Rocky Mountain Saunas.All electrical wiring is the best possible gauge with substantial obligation protection. All high potential electrical wiring is encased in intelligent metal flex channel secured and is guaranteed EMF protected. Intersection terminals and all essential electrical parts are encased in a strong steel housing.
- Safety certification: Security accreditations from numerous universal administrative organizations are strong confirmation that your sauna has been altogether tried to meet all wellbeing and execution necessities for the United States, Europe, and Canada.
- Quality of assembly: You have to look for a bolt/anchor assembly system for strong assembly quality. This system requires tight tolerance wall and pre-drilled hole alignment. It will ensure side panels to attach securely and helps to create secure, tight, solid, no air leaks and durable assembly. It will prevent natural expansion and contraction during hot or cold weather.
- Thick wall construction: Rocky Mountain saunas provide all saunas that have 7-9 mm thick walls. This walls can beautifully hold up the sauna for many years. You also have to look for Vertical grain tongue and groove wood which are 4x stronger and expensive than Horizontal Grain.
- Type of wood: You should look for Canadian/Western Red Cedar and pacific coast hemlock if you are looking for an infrared sauna.
- Vertical backrest: This type of backrests are truly comfortable and allows optimum exposure to Far infrared light energy. It protects your hands, torso, and arms from direct contact with the carbon panels. You don’t have to wiggle around all the time for a comfortable position.
- Interior Design: In a high-quality sauna, there are large infrared heating panels covering all walls, including front and back heaters, lower leg heater in the front of the bench seat and for feet there are floor heaters. An expense sauna belongs to heavy adjustable stainless steel door hinges.
- Third party seller: You must look for a reliable third party seller. Amazon customer service was recognized as the most reliable customer support for sauna users with quick response and quick replacement of parts of the sauna or entire sauna in case of critical damage. Here you will get the exact price of benefits that you are assured to get. For example the interior view,construction quality details, Chromotherapy lights, number of heaters, reading light, oxygen ionizer, size and types of heaters, assembly method, close up view of radio/ location.
- Warranty and Customer service: You have to look for sauna vendors Replacement Parts policy, Customer Service Policies,Return of Defective Parts,Company’s History and Shipping Costs of defective and replacement parts.You must look for delivery within 24-48 hours of determination of defective components Postage Paid, Standard Company Policy is for all replacement parts which will be shipped and availability of live phone service assistance.
Types of Saunas for Home Use
You can get many health benefits from both dry and hot heated sauna treatment. This sauna is placed in fitness center, luxury resorts, health clubs and in spas. From rock sauna to smoke sauna, you can enjoy detoxification or reducing toxins from your skin which may come only after hard and tough exercise and sweating. There are various types of sauna in market but you have to choose what perfectly fits your needs and home.
Traditional sauna have sectioned off area or a small room. There is a water heater inside the room and electricity, wood, rocks or gas are used to produce heat inside the room. But far infrared sauna uses ceramics or metal to produce heat. Almost all sauna seems equal to look but many offer particular benefits. To learn more depth knowledge, you have to know differences among different types of sauna which are given below:
- Wood heated sauna: This type of sauna looks good in the garden or backyard and seems like log cabin sauna. The wood heated sauna is popular among the Europeans which is an example of Finnish sauna.The room of the wood heated sauna is like a small oven where woods burns to heat up the stones. You will enjoy nice relaxing smell with penetrating warmth. Here is a crackling sound of the burning wood which will ease your body and blow your mind away. The main benefit that you will get from wood heated sauna is no requirement for electricity consumption. And that’s why it can be installed inside your garden or backyard. Though the wood-burning temperature is relatively high than any other sauna, you can control the rate at which wood will burn in the stove.
- Smoke sauna or savusauna: This type of sauna is a famous and traditional sauna in Finland and they are rare in the European countries. The smoke sauna doesn’t have any chimney. And that’s why smoke from stove fills the sauna, covers the room completely and smoky smell fructify your body naturally.
- Electric Sauna: This type of sauna is popular in hotels and homes in Europe and U.S. The main feature of the electric sauna is electric sauna uses electricity to heat up the stones. The attached electric heaters offer a smooth sauna experience. It comes with a remote by which you can control the temperature and timer. Users who are used to with traditional sauna for woody experience, they may not find it as authentic relaxation sauna.
- Infrared Sauna: This type of sauna is popular in health clubs, private houses, and spas. One of the most important features of infrared sauna is its compact size. You can fit this sauna in any small space and opposite to the electric sauna. Infrared sauna emits infrared rays which are absorbed by your skin. Here warming components mirror the warmth specifically to the human body as opposed to warming stones or the encompassing air. No steam or water is utilized as a part of the sauna rooms. They are exceptionally productive for expanded blood dissemination, helping in weight reduction, and also facilitating muscle torment. Also, infrared saunas expend less vitality contrasted with electric saunas and are moderately more reasonable.
So the ball is in your court to decide what the best sauna to buy for you.
What about wood?
Saunas are naturally made of softwoods because softwoods can absorb steam heat. Some considerations regarding sauna wood are given below :
- As the sauna wood is made of softwood, it tends to warp because of excessive heat produced inside the sauna. So you have to look for whether it is treated or not. Untreated softwood will result in outgassing. During outgassing, the wood will release toxic gases due to excessive temperatures. The process of treating the wood is known as kiln drying process. It treats the softwood in two ways. At first it prevents the wood from getting twisting, cracking, bowing and bending.The second one is it acts for detoxification. It does so by preventing resin and wood oils from outgassing during sauna use.
- The wood used in the sauna must yield smooth contoured lines and edges.
- The wood should prevent mildew, mold, and bacteria.
- The wood must prevent expansion and contraction unless it may result in splintering, bending, cracking and bowing.
- In case of cedarwood, you have to know whether it has cedar chest fragrance. This should be burned away in the drying process.
What type of woods are used in the sauna?
- Hemlock: Nowadays hemlock is randomly used in infrared sauna construction. It is light-colored wood, naturally resistant to mildew, less odorous than other woods and good for allergy sufferers.
- Cedar: It is resistant to mildew, corrosion and insects, offers nice aroma. Cedar woods are expensive than other woods.
- Aspen: This wood has no smell. This wood is best for those who are sensitive to odorsand patient of allergy. This wood is generally used indoor purpose.
- Pine: This wood has larger knots which is difficult for curing.
- Spruce: This type of wood is budget friendly, white in color and traditionally used in Finnish sauna.
The 4 Best Infrared Saunas 2019
JNH Lifestyles 2-Person Indoor Far Infrared Sauna
This infrared sauna has 7 carbon heaters owned by far infrared technology. The heaters are situated at the back, side, calf which assures higher heating power. The wood quality of this sauna is Canadian hemlock wood with no added chemicals under T & G construction. This sauna fits in any tight spaces without any hassle due to insulation and heat expansion.
It also has a transparent door which can tolerate high temperature and provides visibility from inside the sauna. The structure of the sauna is tool-free which gives you the flexibility to break it down and again assemble it back. JHN also has a premium sound system with two premium speakers and an amplifier which has 3.5mm auxiliary plugin system. This sauna belongs to on/off switch, a volume rocker, and portable radio appliance. The LED lighting bulbs used here is cost-efficient and soothing. The control panel used here is able to adjust the temperature as you want. The power source requirement is 110-120v/15 Amps. All the components have 5-year warranty.
3-Person, Corner Fitting Infrared Far Sauna
At present this sauna is the best corner sauna in the market. You can keep it at any corner of your room to save the space of your room. Though it is compact in size, this sauna is enough for family purpose. The highest temperature range of this sauna is up to 141 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat is distributed evenly because of 7 carbon heaters. It not only takes less time to get heated but also keeps cost down.It has dual interior and exterior controller which allows you to regulate the temperature and mood lighting.
You can enjoy the relaxing music of the spa through CD/mp3 plug in system. The manufacturers of this sauna has considered total comfort through backrests, towel racks and magazine rack. You can aware whether any outsider is peeping inside the sauna through transparent doors. The tongue and groove construction allows you easy assembly with a pleasing design.
1 or 2-Person Dynamic AMZ-DYN-6106-01 Low EMF 6 Far Infrared Carbon Sauna
While making this sauna, manufacturers taken into consideration about the environment and sustainability of the heat inside the sauna. It has become possible because of using reforested Canadian hemlock wood thickest interior wood planks.
That’s how this sauna can retain more heat inside it and reduces the cost of energy. The number of far infrared carbon heaters is 6 with industry-leading foot heaters. These foot heaters are responsible to distribute heat evenly. Though you have to replace heating panels in ceramic case of ceramic heaters here you don’t need to do so.The size of the heating panels are 30% larger than ceramic tubes and also able to penetrate your skin 40% than ever. That’s how it gives the benefit of the therapeutic facility. Though the sauna has the capacity of reaching 140 degrees it can show its performance best at 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This will let you enjoy the benefits of the sauna for a longer period of time with comfort so that it will maximize all your desired health benefits. This sauna also has dual interior and exterior soft-touch control panels along with LED light. LED control panels will allow you to adjust the temperature of the sauna and control the timing of the sauna. You can play music by using MP3 aux connection speakers. This sauna is really easy to assemble. You will not require special wiring because of 15 amp 110-volt outlet plugin. You can install it on carpet, garage, bathroom, walking closet or in any indoor area.
4 Person Outdoor Ceramic Infrared Sauna Hemlock Wood
This outdoor ceramic infrared sauna is perfect for your garden. It will not occupy any space inside your house. The roof of the sauna fully shingled and made to resist water which is known as waterproof construction. The wooden panel is made of hemlock wood which is 100% waterproof. You can see the outside view and weather pattern through glass doors and windows. You can both enjoy the outside view and sauna benefits at the same time.
There is a digital control panel which is used to control the temperature. You can create a fantastic atmosphere within and outside the sauna due to MP3/aux input including 2 speakers and 4 LED reading lights. It takes 30 minutes to heat up and the maximum range of temperature is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The even distribution of heat has become possible because of 6 ceramic far infrared heaters. You can not only enjoy the health benefits of the sauna but also experience the beauty of nature without occupying any space inside your house.
Some important aspects during the delivery of the sauna purchased
- Shipping: You must have to know how can your sauna be shipped and the way you are receiving your sauna.
- Liftgate service: Liftgate service is protection taken to prevent the sauna from breaking down in the truck while bringing for delivery. Unless the delivery agent takes such initiative, you may get your sauna broken down even after palletize.
- Palletize sauna: It may happen that the damage didn’t occur during freight shipping rather it actually occurred due to lack of experience in palletizing. The companies who deal with a large volume of sauna, have expertise of good palletizing. But lack of this skill is also a reason for damaged sauna in your doorstep.
- Pattern of palletizing: You should know whether the sauna is palletized in stacked or standing on edge manner. If the sauna is pelletized in a stacked manner then the freight carriers may stack other shipments on the top of your sauna. But if it is palletized in standing edge pattern then it can prevent stacking by freight carriers while in transit.
So we hope that this buying guide will help you to make the right decision before going for a sauna purchase decision. This buying guide will provide you information about benefits and history of far infrared sauna, mistakes and considerations which should be taken into account, types of sauna suitable for your home, types of wood used in sauna, trending saunas in the market and some important aspects of sauna during the delivery of the sauna purchased.