I would venture to bet that until recently the majority of saunas built in the US have been built by Fins and outnumbered any of the other saunas mentioned. I grew up in a small town that contained numerous distinct cultural neighborhoods. One of them was called Finntown by the old timers. It wasn't derogatory but admiration for the families that migrated to the location and kept their customs. I swear every house built in the beginning of the last century in that neighborhood had a sauna. Dozens must exist still to this day. A lot of people living in them now don't even know it's a sauna. Friends would show me their house and explain they had no clue what the room was about and I tell them sauna. They'd just see it as a shack or extra room with odd paneling and vents to use as storage. Some have been restored tho.
Sauna
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Ain't it pronounced, "Sow-nah"? (Like a pig...)
I think most people in the US pronounce it "Saw-na".
I think most people in the US pronounce it "Saw-na".
Yes, it is pronounced like sow-nah according to US pronounciation.
That's how I thought I heard some Yoopers saying it.
Another broken Youtube link...
This site automatically makes all links video's, just gotta follow the link instead of autoplay it..
can't fix it, as the site automagically detects "youtube.com"
can't fix it, as the site automagically detects "youtube.com"
take off the http:// and it should break the youtube embedding. Also changing it to youtu.be or changing the http to https will break the embedding as well. I only know this from having to figure out how to do it the other way.
link should work as a link now, thanks
After watching that video I suddenly want to sauna more often! Wash and repeat!
So... it SEEMS as if everyone is naked? So like if you have friends over to sauna you all get naked? Together?
So... it SEEMS as if everyone is naked? So like if you have friends over to sauna you all get naked? Together?
In finland, families might go together, or might divide in men/women groups.
Public sauna's and when guests are over, mostly men and women go on seperate "turns"
own home sauna, usually couple will go together.
Public sauna's and when guests are over, mostly men and women go on seperate "turns"
own home sauna, usually couple will go together.
Usually that's what happens. Teen girls going through puberty usually decline but then they get over it after a while.
This is the place I go, Chicago Sweatlodge
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCuQlbh8xo[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCuQlbh8xo[/ame]
Mike Rowe featured my local sauna on his Somebody's Gotta Do It show! The segment starts at the 17:15 mark
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A59kc9tdSzc[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A59kc9tdSzc[/ame]
also, we throw the water on the stove, not the people....
We throw hot water on the rocks inside the stone oven, to help the rocks release their heat.
In the wet sauna (the second one in the Mike Rowe video), there are also buckets of cold water to toss on yourself or each other. Not as refreshing as the cold pool, but still damn good.
Naked man water fight
The russian banja is very similar to old style finnish smoke sauna.
Nowadays, there usually is the more modern stove with rocks on it style, which needs less rocks and less time to heat.
turkish steambaths are much cooler and much more wet though
Nowadays, there usually is the more modern stove with rocks on it style, which needs less rocks and less time to heat.
turkish steambaths are much cooler and much more wet though
In the US, in Chicago and New York, these date back to baths from the early 1900s. A couple of my older, retired friends remember going to the sauna with their father when they were a child. The dual hot rooms - dry and wet - are common and date from those days. The "Russian" and "Turkish" designations aren't literal. The wet is the more popular room, because of all the water being tossed about and the body scrubs, which my Jewish friends call a schvitz. There's usually more conversation and conviviality in the wet hot room, while the denizens of the dry hot room tend to be more serious and quiet.
1. russian sauna is not a real sauna. come on, they wear hats because they are scared of getting their heads hot.
2. i heat my sauna to 90-95 celcius and still throw water on the stove. makes a nice, hot steam and is always guaranteed to run swmbo out of the room.
3. my nose has healed from the hot cheese liquid squirting deal. whole life of going to sauna and first time that ever happened.
4. remember that it only takes 1 finn to scare the **** out of 4 russians.
2. i heat my sauna to 90-95 celcius and still throw water on the stove. makes a nice, hot steam and is always guaranteed to run swmbo out of the room.
3. my nose has healed from the hot cheese liquid squirting deal. whole life of going to sauna and first time that ever happened.
4. remember that it only takes 1 finn to scare the **** out of 4 russians.
MTU? Me too quite a few years back. I never had a sauna though.
I have been planning to build one in the backyard for years. Maybe this summer... I like the outbuilding plan. That is the way my grandpa did it.
Cool thread. Can't believe I missed it til now. There are some nice saunas around here. Most are too fancy. My grandpa's was very plain with a cold shower. I miss it.
Ha. I've heard that before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War
The most embarassing endeavor for the Soviet Union, ever. Pretty embarassing for the "allied forces" as well. Probably, if the russians were able to go to sauna without a stupid little head protector then they also wouldn't run so easily when their tiny little neighbour says "boo" ;-)
At least Putin doesn't wear that stupid hat when he goes to sauna.
Yup I was there from 2005 to 2009.
electricity in finland must be expensive! after taxes and fees and all that jazz, i pay about $0.11/kwh for electricity. my 8.3 kw tylo unit costs less than $1 an hour to operate...but that is only when it is initially heating. my heater has three elements and starts turning them off as the temperature rises. once up to temp, there is typically only one element on or about 2.77 kw. now it is only costing about $0.30 an hour to operate. a typical sauna session for me is three rounds (15 min each, with a 15 min cool-down between rounds) and the unit is well-enough insulated that i shut the heater off entirely during the third round. so with 45 minutes of heating (three elements on) and another hour of the heater being on (one element), i'm looking at a little over $1 for each session. sometimes it runs more when it is cold out (it is an outdoor sauna) or i'll take an extra round or two but all told, my sauna only adds about $15 a month to my electric bill. and that's with me using it about three times a week.
podz get only the very best hand-polished electrons ;D
The rest of us in finland pay a lot less, I pay about 7 cents per kwh.
(then again, i have a wood sauna, so i don't pay electricity for that, except the lights )
The rest of us in finland pay a lot less, I pay about 7 cents per kwh.
(then again, i have a wood sauna, so i don't pay electricity for that, except the lights )
Oil lamps would make make better lighting for sauna romance...
I don't really think i would want to store any amounts of oil in a hot sauna.....
i debated going wood-fired when i built my sauna but opted for electric, mainly for convenience. i live in a somewhat urban environment (single-family homes, half acre lots) so it isn't like i have a big forest next to me for getting wood. i would need to buy wood and then split it, store it, etc. not much space for that and with as frequently as i use it, i would be burning through wood pretty quickly. plus it is easy for the wife to flip a switch if she wants to use it.
the other big reason was clearances. per the various woodstove manufacturer's recommended clearances to combustibles, clearance in front of the fire box, etc., my hot room would either be really cramped or i would need to go to a larger structure. electric heater had much shorter clearances.
No problem. You keep PEOPLE in there! I doubt the oil will be affected by the heat.
How small is your sauna? That small of a heater would take about 4-5 hours to heat my sauna to 90-95 celcius (194-203 f). That's the temperature range of sauna in Finland. Swedish people are a lot softer, they like the 60-70 celcius sauna
But yes, in general, electric is expensive. The kw hour might not be that expensive, but after transfer fees, connection fees, and 24% tax on the final total then it becomes pretty expensive.
I've lived in 4 places that had electric heaters in the sauna and 2 places that had wood burning stoves in the sauna. Wood burning stove beats the electric heater hands-down in terms of comfort and overall experience. In finnish I say "sähkökiuasta lähtee vihaiset löylyt" (from the electric heater, you get angry steams). Throwing water on the wood burning stove produces a much softer steam that doesn't, for example, scorch the top of my bald head ;-)
I actually have to small oil "candles" that are mounted to the wall. They are pretty cool, made of aluminum tube and with a screw cap that the wick goes through. I think they are a Swedish invention or something.
Yes you do but do they work well for romance? Is the question
Look at me talking. Still saunaless. My stress level is so high, I really need one. I'll take donations
How small is your sauna? That small of a heater would take about 4-5 hours to heat my sauna to 90-95 celcius (194-203 f). That's the temperature range of sauna in Finland. Swedish people are a lot softer, they like the 60-70 celcius sauna
But yes, in general, electric is expensive. The kw hour might not be that expensive, but after transfer fees, connection fees, and 24% tax on the final total then it becomes pretty expensive.
I've lived in 4 places that had electric heaters in the sauna and 2 places that had wood burning stoves in the sauna. Wood burning stove beats the electric heater hands-down in terms of comfort and overall experience. In finnish I say "sähkökiuasta lähtee vihaiset löylyt" (from the electric heater, you get angry steams). Throwing water on the wood burning stove produces a much softer steam that doesn't, for example, scorch the top of my bald head ;-)
my hot room is about 7x7x7 ft, right around 10 cubic meters. if it would take your sauna 4 or 5 hours to heat up with an 8.3 kw heater, it must either be massive or have some questionable insulation (i assume it is outdoor). even at -20 degree c, i can get my unit up to about 90 degree c in an hour. i built it with 6" walls that have r-19 insulation. floor is r-10 and ceiling is something like r-45. actual r-value is a bit higher with the foil vapor barrier. in summer, i typically have it set around 80-82 degree c but usually crank it up a bit in the winter, 85 to 90 degree c. due to the air intake below the heater, it heats up just as fast (if not faster) in the winter compared to the summer, despite it often being 20 degree c warmer in the summer compared to the winter.
agreed that wood is more authentic and has a better 'feel' but it just wasn't in the cards for me.
Yes you do but do they work well for romance? Is the question
Look at me talking. Still saunaless. My stress level is so high, I really need one. I'll take donations
You should start a gofundme. Say that people can help save your life.
Getting to the be the time of year where I should consider visiting the sauna again. Men sitting around in towels, throwing cold water about and sweating - ahhhh.
OoohhhKaaaaayyyy...
Seriously, I do love a good sauna. Did I ever tell you guys about that time back when I was a teenager and I almost got laid in a sauna at a local pool? Man was I naive back then!
OoohhhKaaaaayyyy...
Seriously, I do love a good sauna. Did I ever tell you guys about that time back when I was a teenager and I almost got laid in a sauna at a local pool? Man was I naive back then!
As they say almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. If I actually got laid for every time I almost got laid, I would get laid a lot more.
JB_Brewing2
Well-Known Member
Lived in Russia for a while and never saw anyone wear a hat into the banya. All but the one electric banya I visited had stones on top of the wood fired stove and we used birch branches with leaves to stimulate circulation. Water was periodically tossed on the rocks to create steam and there usually was at least three different levels of benches. This way one could regulate the stratified heat experience by moving up or down on the benches. Never drank beer in the banya for safety reasons but always drank beer after exiting. Never wore clothing either inside the banya.
I spent some time in Helsinki too and loved it. The Finns and the Russians are great people with a mixed history.
Not trying to offend any of our Finnish colleagues as humor permeates both sides of the border in Karelia.
Russian anecdote:
"A smart Finn, a dumb Finn, Santa Claus, and an environmentally responsible Russian spotted a one hundred dollar bill laying on the sidewalk.
Which one got to keep it?
The dumb Finn. The other three are fictional."
Finnish joke:
A large group of Russian soldiers in the border area in 1939 are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a small hill: "One Finnish soldier is better than ten Russian". The Russian commander quickly orders 10 of his best men over the hill where upon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence. The voice once again calls out: "One Finn is better than one hundred Russian." Furious, the Russian commander sends his next best 100 troops over the hill and instantly a huge gun fight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again Silence. The calm Finnish voice calls out again: "One Finn is better than one thousand Russians from: The enraged Russian commander musters 1000 fighters and sends them to the other side of the hill. Rifle fire, machine guns, grenades, rockets and cannon fire ring out as a terrible battle is fought... Then silence. Eventually one badly wounded Russian fighter crawls back over the hill and with his dying words tells his commander, "Don't send any more men...it's a trap. There's two of them."
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