Which Sauna? The Infrared Sauna Buyers Guide

Shielded wiring in Rocky Mountain Saunas infrared sauna. Proper EMF Wire Shielding protects the sauna user from stray flux radiation and prevents wiring from coming into direct contact with wood fire hazard. Look for all major electronic components to be enclosed in a safe metal housing. Every heating panel should also be equipped with both an electrical fault sensor and thermostat to cut off power in the event of a malfunctioning or overheating panel.

Your Safety is a prime consideration at Rocky Mountain Saunas. All electrical wiring is the proper gauge with heavy duty insulation. All high-voltage electrical wiring is encased in reflective metal flex conduit covered by insulation and is certified EMF shielded. Junction terminals and all primary electrical components are encased in a sturdy steel housing. Our stringent safety precautions are documented and verified by Four Internationally Accredited, Independent Testing Laboratories.

Do not buy an Infrared Sauna that lacks proper safety certifications! Safety certifications from multiple international regulatory agencies are solid assurance that your sauna has been thoroughly tested to meet all safety and performance requirements for the United States, Europe and Canada. Saunas that use exterior buckles and clips compensate for poor workmanship, misaligned hardware and sloppy tolerance limits.

Walls that are too wide or too narrow, that have been forced together will warp and bow over time.

Buckles and clips are unsightly on the exterior or interior and make a sauna look cheap. Cold air leaks often result. Misalignment of hardware further weakens the structural integrity. While slightly better than buckles or magnets, slide clasp brackets mounted on the sides and edges of walls are often misaligned, causing one wall to be higher than another. Improperly cut walls sometimes prevent the slide clasp brackets from being connected at all.

With countersunk steel anchors to fasten the furniture bolt ends, side panels are easily and securely attached to the front and back panels. Bolt and anchor assembly avoids stripping out the wood and facilitates easy reassembly, in case you have to move your sauna. This furniture assembly method permits the natural expansion and contraction of sauna walls during hot and cold temperature swings.

Without undue pressure on the walls, there is little risk of warping, splitting, or cupping.

Sauna Decision Tip 2 -Wood Sauna Cabin

All Rocky Mountain Saunas have been assembled at the manufacturing facility and subjected to an extensive operational and quality control inspection. After passing inspection, saunas are then disassembled and each wall panel, base platform, and roof cap is individually wrapped and packaged in heavy duty cardboard shipping cartons. Custom designed cardboard corner blocks and thick Styrofoam sheets placed between wall panel layers offer maximum protection during shipping.

Wall Construction is a major component in determining quality and value in a far infrared sauna. Thin walls, both the inside and outside walls of the infrared sauna cabin are one of the most common shortcomings of inexpensive saunas. The majority of sauna manufacturers have inner and outer walls that are only mm thick. Thin walls are more likely to warp, bow and split with sauna use over time. They are more expensive to operate and more prone to damage. Rocky Mountain Saunas offers residential infrared saunas with wall panels that are mm thick.

These walls are the thickest in the far infrared sauna industry, meaning your sauna will hold up beautifully for many years of use.

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Vertical grain tongue and groove wood is more expensive and literally 4X stronger than Horizontal Grain or Reforested Wood used in price-driven saunas. All the wood used to manufacture Rocky Mountain Saunas is guaranteed against defects in workmanship and materials for as long as you own your sauna! This process takes weeks and some manufacturers tend to ship out saunas that have not been afforded the necessary time to be properly cured. Many inexpensive infrared saunas use inferior grades of lumber in their product.

All sauna woods should be completely non-toxic and non out-gassing. Panels with an excess of knots and cut horizontal to the grain of the wood are sure signs of poor grade wood. Knots can produce cracks and splits or sometimes fall out of the wall panel. Soft, light and low in strength and stiffness. Poor decay and shock resistance. Dents and scratches very easily.

Too soft to prevent warping with constant heat exposure. Also know as linden. Inexpensive, soft, light, low in tensile strength. Popular among hobbyists for model building and wood carving. Too soft for long term exposure to wide temperature fluctuation. Primarily used for fruit crates, picture frames and wooden matches. One of the softest woods in commercial use. Light, soft, moderately stiff. Low strength and shock resistance. Some saunas that use fir produce a distinct odor. Moderately stiff, low strength and shock resistance.

Soft, light and good stability in service. Not normally recommended for saunas. Subject to out-gassing, which can irritate eyes and nasal membranes. Moderately low in strength, but very high strength to weight ratio. Light and soft with low decay resistance. Non out-gassing, but prone to excessive knots. Some splitting, cracks and splinters are common. Most species are typically soft and porous with average ratings for strength, stiffness, decay resistance and durability.

Very easily bruised and dented. Contains high levels of tanic acid.

Tends to have a fuzzy finish. Cheap and widely available. Generally straight grained with a medium rough texture. A light and soft wood with moderate stiffness, very good decay resistance and good stability in service. Heat retention is average. High cost limits widespread use.

Low shrinkage factor and superior to all other coniferous woods in its resistance to warping, twisting and checking. With its low density and high proportion of air spaces, Canadian Cedar is the best thermal insulator among the woods commonly used for sauna construction.

Non out-gassing when properly kiln dried and treated to remove volatile oils. Best heat retention and durability for outdoor locations. Very stable with little tendency to cup, check or twist. Good cellular properties for expansion and contraction. Hemlock yields clean, straight edges and accurate contours. The combination of stability and smoothness has made Hemlock a favorite wood for the construction of saunas. An excellent choice if you have allergies, as it has very low resin and virtually no odor.

Many sauna manufacturers use widely spaced, horizontal slat backrests. It is literally impossible to lean back on a wide-spaced horizontal backrest and be comfortable. The slats dig into your ribs and spine.

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Cheap saunas builders lower their production costs by offering an inadequate number of backrest slats and pretend as if it's a feature to maximize exposure to the carbon heating panels. However, wide spaced horizontal slats allow arms, elbows and hands to come in direct contact with carbon panels or ceramic face plates.

These heating elements are made from carbon fiber panels or rods. Cheaper to produce than a ceramic heater, a carbon fiber infrared heater creates a long wavelength of infrared heat, but it does not create as much heat as a ceramic heater does. However, one advantage of carbon fiber heaters is that they distribute heat more evenly than a ceramic heater, albeit at a lower overall temperature. Because they are less expensive to make, saunas that rely upon a carbon fiber heater are also less expensive to buy.

Infrared heaters are rated by their emissivity, or ability to produce low, middle, and far infrared rays in relation to the amount of energy they use. The heaters with the highest emissivity ratings produce the best infrared heat. Panels typically have a higher emissivity rating than rods. The highest-ranked heaters are ceramic trough-style panels, which are ranked with an emissivity rating as high as 96 percent.

Sand-filled ceramic tubes also have a high emissivity rating, hovering around 90 percent, but some sauna owners warn that poorly manufactured tubes can break down after just a few years of use. The lowest-rated elements are carbon sheets, ranked only at 5 to 10 percent emissivity. Low surface temperatures of the heating element lead to a longer wave; longer waves make for better saunas. Some manufacturers use infrared wavelength as a selling point for their saunas.

Unfortunately, there are many deceptive claims about wavelengths made by manufacturers. For example, a claim that a peak wavelength reached by the sauna is 9. Given that super-heated ceramic or carbon fiber is much hotter than the temperature of the human body, buyers should be suspicious of manufacturers making such claims.

A reasonably high wavelength would be around 6. Besides the heating element, another important consideration when choosing an infrared sauna is the type of wood used in the construction of the sauna. Traditionally, saunas have been built with cedar wood or a similar high-quality wood.

Cedar produces a natural oil that protects it from both insects and deterioration. Not all cedar wood is the same. Many sauna builders claim that they will only use Western Canadian Cedar, stating that this variety is the highest quality of cedar wood available.

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Sauna lovers who are concerned about the environment might also like to check if the cedar wood used in the sauna that they purchase has been harvested in a sustainable manner. Some sauna sellers tout their "green cedar," referring not to the color or age of the cedar wood but to its sustainable harvest. The majority of infrared heaters used were ceramic and metal, with ceramic being the preferred type because of higher efficiency and infrared output.

Rigid quality control of woods and glues used, electrical safety and consistent after sale support have been the hallmarks of our industry. In the last 7 years, the growth of the internet and cheap manufacturing has spawned numerous upstart sauna companies importing containers of infrared saunas with no understanding of the therapeutic benefits of infrared therapy. They offer low cost and low quality saunas on the web; saunas as a cheap commodity.

1. Food, Globalization and Sustainability.
2. How to be a Mermaid in Spirit.
3. Haggai and Zechariah (Robertsons Notes Book 37);
4. Infrared Sauna Buying Guide: Introduction?
5. Infrared Sauna Buying Guide.

When this started happening, we were approached by several of these manufacturers to sell their low quality saunas. We thought if we could give our customers a high quality sauna for a better price that would be great. We set about to look at and inspect the different saunas. We started looking and were immediately appalled at the quality in materials and construction and lack of safety down to even the basic wiring. The controls and heaters were cheap and barely functional. The aesthetics were all wrong.

Some had a noxious odor from toxic glues being used. Others had horrible smells from the wood itself. The wood had not been finished sanded; rough to the touch as you passed your hand over the wood. Staples, mismatched veneers, dangling and bare wires… not acceptable.

Infrared sauna buying guide

In the last years, some of the manufacturing quality has improved to a more passable level, but the quality is at best average and the companies both manufacturing and importing the sauna have no real knowledge and understanding of Infrared Therapy. For example, large glass windows on the front of the sauna my look good, but the glass will not allow them to put front heaters in the sauna. This is a big mistake. The idea behind infrared therapy is to heat your body so you want to heat the front and back of your body. Without front heaters, the sauna is only running half way.

We had a short meeting and decided that we were not interested in offering this type of product to our customers, ever. The cheaper saunas were made from inferior wood, low quality and inexpensive metal rod or carbon only heaters and were manufactured with inferior quality standards. Some call it inexpensive, we call it cheap.

At Clearlight we have a philosophy. We consider that our customers are like our friends. We hope that they will love our saunas so much that they will tell their friends and then their friends will try the sauna and eventually buy their own. We believe your Clearlight Infrared Sauna purchase is a once in a lifetime investment in your health and your lifestyle. The challenge for the consumer today is that unless you can see it in person, you cannot tell the difference between a quality infrared sauna and a cheap knock-off, the pictures on the web look basically the same.

Many companies are importing containers of the same saunas or saunas with only slight variations. Quality of design and construction and superior heating technology. All saunas are built by hand to our strict point Quality Control. No sauna leaves the factory without being fully tested and approved. We use no toxic glues. Our saunas are hand sanded, the handles and trim are hand crafted, the tongue and groove cedar is color matched to look beautiful and all Clearlight Infrared Saunas are designed to give you a lifetime of health and relaxation benefits.

Almost every other infrared sauna company uses industrial heaters that have been adapted to be used in an infrared sauna. Being innovators and trend setters in the infrared sauna industry, we have always set the trends that guide the industry. Our True Wave II far infrared heaters are the only infrared heaters on the market that combine both the high output of ceramic with the long wavelengh of carbon to produce a sauna session that is unmatched.

These heaters are designed to heat the human body. With over 20 years in the infrared sauna business, all we do is manufacture and sell infrared saunas. While our sauna cabin are exceptional quality with hand sanded panels, high quality close grain wood and attention to detail, the therapeutic benefits are our main focus. With our full lifetime warranty, we stand behind our saunas.

This warranty covers the entire sauna; the wood cabin, heaters, controls and even the audio system. We will be here next year and five years from now should you need replacement parts or have any questions about the proper use or your sauna. When comparing far infrared sauna heaters you need to look at the size of the heater, the material that is producing the infrared heat, the quality of the heat and the temperature that the heater runs at. The two most common materials used in far infrared heaters are ceramic and carbon.

Ceramic is a very efficient, effective material when heated to produce infrared heat. Ceramic has a very high emissivity rating, meaning it produces a lot of infrared heat.