Sauna

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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.

Throwing cold water onto hot stones is seriously risky.
 
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).

It is indoors, and the size is approximately 34m3. So, about 3 and a half times the size of yours.

Also, in Finland we do not hermetically seal our saunas - there is a opening at the bottom of the door about as tall as your hand to allow oxygen to flow in and out.

Plus, I live in a 60 year old house ;-)
 
It is indoors, and the size is approximately 34m3. So, about 3 and a half times the size of yours.

Also, in Finland we do not hermetically seal our saunas - there is a opening at the bottom of the door about as tall as your hand to allow oxygen to flow in and out.

Plus, I live in a 60 year old house ;-)

wow, that's huge! sounds like something you would see in a hotel or health club. how many people can it comfortably seat?

my unit is also vented, sorry if i gave the impression it was super-tight. it is very well insulated but does have fresh air venting. there is about a 120 cm2 opening right below the heater, that draws in fresh air from the adjacent changing room. i then have a damper on the corner opposite the heater, with a chase below the top bench that leads to the changing room, for return air.
 
This brings me back to where I grew up. A lot of my friends and neighbors were Finns who had real Saunas. After I left the area I realized that normal American saunas are nowhere near as good as the ones I grew up in. Also, people in the rest of the country look at me funny when I pronounce the word "sauna" correctly.

Also, I don't know if it's a traditionally Finnish thing to do, but when we were kids we would heat up in the sauna and then run outside and roll around in the snow to cool off. -20°F and the snow felt like a cool spring rain.

Some day I'll build my own Sauna. I'll probably grab plans from the company (Finnleo) who built the saunas in the area where I grew up.
 
This brings me back to where I grew up. A lot of my friends and neighbors were Finns who had real Saunas. After I left the area I realized that normal American saunas are nowhere near as good as the ones I grew up in. Also, people in the rest of the country look at me funny when I pronounce the word "sauna" correctly.

Also, I don't know if it's a traditionally Finnish thing to do, but when we were kids we would heat up in the sauna and then run outside and roll around in the snow to cool off. -20°F and the snow felt like a cool spring rain.

Some day I'll build my own Sauna. I'll probably grab plans from the company (Finnleo) who built the saunas in the area where I grew up.

whereabouts did you grow up?

jumping in the snow is the best. a total rush to go from a 200 degree f hot room to a snowbank in 0 degree f weather. the initial shock is intense but the best is when you hop out of the snow and it is stuck to your sweaty body. then your internal heat melts it off a few seconds later, washing away all the sweat and oils and worries. another few minutes standing in the cold with a delicious brew and it is back into the heat!:ban:
 
kuuma means hot in finnish, i'm guessing they are at the very least from finnish origins, or pretending to be ;)

Most sauna outside of finland is either too cold, or hot but dry, neither makes for a good sauna.

In finland we do cool down as well by going out, even when it's -30 C. rolling in the snow, or diving in the lake(even in winter, we cut out holes in the ice) is optional, but i tend to like it.
 
If we're being technical and talking only narrowly about 'sauna', then yes, that technically means the Finnish style sauna. Everything else isn't that, by definition, and if that's our only standard, then nothing else measures up to it.

But really, why should we be narrowly definitional like that? Around the world, there are so many traditions related to using heat to relax, for health, cleanliness, community, religion or fellowship. The Bania (Russia), the Hamman (Turkey), and the Temescal (original peoples in the Western Hemisphere) are just three examples.

I'd also add that in the US, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, in cities like New York and Chicago, there developed another tradition. These were communal, multi-generational saunas and lodges that usually had a variety of rooms for guests to use, using ovens and hot rocks, dry and wet 'saunas', steam rooms, and sometimes hot and cold bathing pools.

So, while I understand national pride and the 'my country's sweating traditions are better than your country's' it seems a little jingo-istic to me.
 
agree with all of the above. 'sauna' has somewhat come to be an all-inclusive term for any type of sweat therapy but in reality, it has a specific meaning. nothing at all wrong with a bania, schvitz, jim jil bang, etc. they each have their own unique means/methods but at the end of the day, they all kind of accomplish the same thing.

its just those defensive finns. ;)
 
fun site that, the wood stoves look quite similar to old-style saunastoves with waterheater, though usually we have the waterstorage inside stove "frame" instead of bolted on. these are still popular at cottages where you might not have running warm water.

The electric ones look a bit weird, very little space for rocks.
 
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Wow...those are works of art!

My sauna is a 1997 GMC pickup truck....but it only works in the Texas summer! (I finally fixed the electric Windows and the air conditioner)
 
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