I hear this phrase a lot, and have experienced it myself – “my infrared sauna is not getting hot enough” – a frustrating situation! There are a couple of reasons this may be occurring:
Most prefabricated infrared saunas are made with a few things in mind, weight (for shipping and installation) and cost. This can mean that both lightweight and cheap materials are used. As a result, these saunas are not well insulated and will exchange heat with the surrounding environment rapidly. This means the location of your sauna can be one of the biggest factors in its performance. However, there are things that can be done to improve your situation, even if you have your sauna outside:
- Insulating the Roof
No surprises here, hot air rises, and then it escapes! If you have a typical Home Infrared Sauna you will have a ceiling panel that has two lining layers, one on the interior, usually cedar boards and one on top, usually a thin piece of plywood. Between this is usually an open space, with some cables, lighting and control components. Installing insulation in this cavity can have a significant impact on internal temperatures. To do this simply unscrew the top lining of the ceiling and place some polyester insulation batts in the cavities, being careful to not restrict air flow to the control box, air vent or the back of the lighting. Then replace the ply cover and screw it back on.
- Sit the sauna on some rubber gym flooring
All materials have different thermal properties absorbing heat at different rates. For example, concrete will absorb heat quickly because it is highly conductive. In practical terms, concrete flooring will draw heat away from you and your sauna. If you have the sauna outside, or in a garage where the concrete temperature is low (cold) the concrete will draw the warmth out of the sauna. A simple solution to this is to buy some rubber similar to a gym floor and place that on the concrete under your sauna.
- Checking for gaps
Heat escapes wherever it can, especially when there is a greater temperature difference between two areas. Look over your sauna for gaps around the door and between the panels. If you can see through a gap it’s a good idea to try and plug it. If the gaps increase from the top to bottom of the door or panel the sauna might be out of square. Sometimes this imbalance can be fixed by simply pushing the sauna gently at the top to shift the wall. If your sauna has a glass door against a glass opening, or if you have two glass panels intersecting, you will probably have a plastic weather strip. If the weather strip has perished or been lost, you will want to replace it. These are readily available from most bathroom or shower screen suppliers.
- Covering your sauna with a dust cover or tarpaulin
Dust covers can improve the performance of your sauna by adding a small amount of insulation and slowing down the passage of air through any gaps that might be present. Some manufacturers sell dust covers for their saunas that protect them from the elements when being used outside. If you want to go a step further you can always add a blanket in between the sauna and the dust cover, like those used by moving companies. If you don’t have the manufactured option, or want to pursue a more cost effective route, you can use a tarpaulin or canvas and some rope to wrap around the unit, which will have the same effect.
Dust cover on Clearlight Premier 2 in the snow
- Make sure all the heaters are working
As your sauna ages the likelihood of certain components failing increases. It is worthwhile checking regularly to see if all the heating elements are working, as a sauna will continue to function even if many of the heating elements have failed. Using a temperature gun, or simply the back of your hand, hover over each heater for a few seconds as the sauna warms up to check whether they are getting hot. If some of the elements are not radiating the same level of heat as others it is probable that they have failed. For help identifying the type of heaters and a replacement option, feel free to reach out in the comments below, and note that pictures can help and this will assist with the same issues.
- Installing heaters on empty walls
The design of the sauna is important. Without going into too much detail about how infrared saunas work in this blog, placement of heaters is critical. If you have large sections of glass, or walls that have no heaters facing the user you are certainly not receiving the full benefits. I have a corner sauna with the outwards facing walls all glass. This left my front often feeling cooler than the back of my body and leaving me sweating unevenly. I have since upgraded this sauna to have a heater above the door facing down and towards my chest. The improvement was dramatic. This is notable in the higher end models, like my new SunStream that has full 360º coverage. Being heated from every side evenly allows the user to sweat faster and more completely at a lower temperature . Installing heaters on empty walls is one of the more involved improvements to do by yourself so I will expand on this in a separate blog and video.
Heater mounted to door of SunStream 10 EHS (left) heater mounted above door of Luxo Tavii (right)
Hopefully some of these have been helpful and can be applied to your situation. I will keep updating post as more solutions are found, and if you have any please included them in the comments bellow.
It is also important to note that regardless of how well designed an infrared sauna is it will only reach operating temperatures of between 50-70ºC. Often when people first get into the world of infrared saunas they have some experience with traditional or steam saunas. These operate using a different principal and at different temperatures, often between 70-100ºC and with higher levels of humidity.