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Comment by nyjah | Hacker News Reader

I sauna every single day. I started about 4 years ago. When I got my sauna I could only go for 2-3 minutes at time without having to take a break. Now I am comfortable for 15 minutes and struggling for last 5-7 minutes. I usually go 20-22 minutes at 175-195F. I enjoy it, I have no idea if there are major health effects. Its always rejuvenating in the moment and relaxing after.

I bought an old school one. I ordered from https://almostheaven.com/ and it was a great delivery experience so I recommend them, but there are plenty of other sauna companies out there. And the infrared is just not something I am familiar with so I stayed away. I purchased the small 4 person sauna, but got the bigger heater to get it hotter quicker. I don't regret it, but I don't recommend it either.

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I moved to Finland, and soon settled into a routine of going twice a week. Generally a session lasts for an hour or ninety-minutes:

* Take a shower.

* Go to the sauna, and sit there for 10-15 minutes. Temperature around 95-100.

* Come out, drink a beer, sometimes in the lobby, sometimes on the balcony, sometimes outdoors wrapped in a towel. The latter is especially satisfying in winter when the outdoor temperature is -15, -20, or so.

* Have a shower, and go back inside.

The process repeats 2-4 times, until I'm nice and relaxed. Monday & Friday is my average routine, but if friends are coming over I might do an extra session.

>Temperature around 95-100.

lucky bastards. Judging that such setting is everywhere here in US, it looks like some public standard prohibit higher than 160 or something like this. Playing with the temperature sensors (like cold toweling it) i usually can get it to only 180-190F at some places with 195F (90C) at best.

There are often mini-saunas at the local swimming pools which have similarly underwhelming temperatures.

They're nice, but they're not as nice. (Though I suspect in my case at least partly because if I go to a pool I often have a five year old with me, and he wants to leave very quickly - plus I've come to associate drinking beer with being near a sauna!)

Just cover the internal thermometer with a wet towel or sock, that lets the temp rise beyond the low limits they set.

95-100 C is hot. I prefer 65-70 C. Depends on sauna, moisture, ventilation etc though.

I think they meant Fahrenheit ?

100 F is 37 C. That's not a sauna (maybe in Sweden).

If you are drinking 3 beers during your breaks forget any health benefit my friend

Do you live in the states? I live in Estonia and these are the types of Saunas you see eveywhere. These days more factories are popping up with more interesting/modern takes on the traditional sauna.

Shameless plug for my brother who started building luxury saunas during lockdown and they ship worldwide. Check out https://haljas.com

I built a super cheap "traditional" dry sauna. It's basically an electric burner, a pot to increase surface area and humidity, a 25 foot roll of thermal foil, and a sleeping bag as the ceiling. I disassembled the burner, removed all the plastic pieces, and short circuited the safety cutoff. It's jank AF, but in the end less than 100$. AFAIK there aren't any dry saunas under $1000 - the heater alone is ~$200. Mine is also portable, so it's in the garage in summer and in the laundry room in winter. There are portable infrared saunas for ~$100, but most studies are on the "dry" type. I rubber band a block of ice to my phone and do my reading/social media in there, so the time cost is reduced.

https://i.imgur.com/Lml7Vms.jpg

About 1 year in and I haven't burned down the house... yet.

So you pull that tube over yourself and then cover the top with the sleeping bag? No worries about air circulation or passing out? Is it pitch black in there?

> So you pull that tube over yourself and then cover the top with the sleeping bag?

Yep. Ghetto AF. That's why the chair is there to elevate the sleeping bag - otherwise I wouldn't be able to reach the sleeping bag from inside the tube.

> No worries about air circulation or passing out?

Circulation is fine. It's far from airtight - air creeps in from the bottom through the cracks, and I can always just open a small hole in the "ceiling" if needed. Never done it though cause it doesn't get stuffy. Haven't passed out, though that would be seriously dangerous since the heating element is exposed and I'd likely be burned.

> Is it pitch black in there?

Yes, so that's why there's a nightlight on an extension cable in the pic. Also a flashlight on my phone.

Seems like more of an oven than a sauna.

I actually just built a 6 person one from the same vendor last week and am extraordinarily happy with it. There were some minor flaws (the packing on the pallet was undesirable and several of the staves were warped) but overall it is a good product from a reputable vendor that I feel like I will use for the rest of my life.

Nice. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed mine. Some tips if you are a newbie:

-when you get in: splash some water on your jewelry. -And bathrobes. Love a good wrap in a bathrobe after a sauna.

I have the same unit from them, it's great. But I am worried about how long it will last - is yours covered or did you add any protective coating to the outside wood?

Just use it weekly and let the stove run hot an hour more after you’re done if there’s any hint of moistness in the wood. It’s better to never turn the heat off immediately after using. I’m a finn and the thing looks very proper with the harvia stove and all

This is such a great tip! Thank you!! I think this will make a big difference and I can't believe I haven't been doing this. I do run a dehumidifier in my basement where the sauna is located, but I think keeping the heat on for an hour after is a game changer for longevity.

A couple of the things that surprised me when I got my sauna was how gross it is. For me, I am lucky its a personal sauna. I sweat everywhere. And people think of saunas and they think of a spa, but its a workout and mental challenge for me every single time.

Yes, it can be gross. Thats why there are rules in public saunas, like shower before. Use a towel. Shower after before jumping into the cold basin, ...

But I still would prefer my personal sauna

Always shower beforehand, sit on a towel or a tissue, afterwards rinse the benches with some water. Wash the sauna more properly a few times a year or so.

It sounds like it's too hot if it's a workout and a mental challenge every time. It should be mostly relaxing. Get out when it starts getting painful.

I would recommend to move it outside as there’s probably not enough ventilation for it to dry between uses. The sweat should vaporize without trace almost within minutes when the stove is hot. It doesn’t need cover outside and can handle rain and snow no problem. Just don’t let it get buried in snow for extended periods of time. The possible electric connections need to be protected from water though.

The sweat does vaporize, but I still think keeping it hot helps to clean it maybe? I also like the smell of a hot sauna. The main reason I don't do that and I run the dehumidifier is that I like to flip the power off to the sauna at the panel when I am done, just in case. The dehumidifier is heavy duty fwiw.

Sounds good then! I'd try running it hot after use -trick to see if it makes any difference. You could probably get good 50 years of use out of it if you treat the wooden parts inside with oil such as [1]. The sauna should be extremely dry before treating it and you can do that by running it couple of hours hot without using. The oil needs to be non toxic and non water soluble so high temperatures won't vaporize any toxins from it to your breathing air. It deepens the color of the wood a bit but should look even better.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Liberon-003815-Finishing-Oil-Liter/dp...

Outside wood? Is your sauna outside? Or the wood on the outside of the sauna?

I didn't protect mine, just put it together from the factory. But mine is indoors. I think the wood will need replacing within the next 4 years probably, but the heater seems like it will last forever.

I hot tub at 100F, but the sauna is a lot hotter than that, wow! And I'm only in once or twice a week, definitely not daily.

Water conducts heat better than air. It also disables cooling by perspiration.

Yeah, I think most tubs are hard limited at 104 for safety reasons.

Google tells me 100F is just 37,8C. This is pretty damn cold for a tub, no? Just a bit warmer than body temperature.

Have you tried walking outside in 37.8 C weather? It's blistering hot. Your body should be quite a bit warmer than the environment because we have to radiate heat away to preserve homeostasis. 21 C is a comfortable room temperature.

Well, I walk for hours, people don't sit in a tub for that long when they are washing themselves off.

Water's specific heat capacity is such that you feel the temperature right away. I've been in 39 degree hot springs and it's almost too hot.

I find 100F to be pretty warm for the hot tub, after 15 minutes I'm too warm and ready to get out (or sit up on the top step to cool off).

We usually keep it at 101F in the winter (since it feels nice to walk out in the cold and soak for 15 minutes) and 98 in the summer -- at 97 I can stay in indefinitely, but my wife gets cold at 15 minutes, so 98 is a compromise.

I wonder if a 100 degree hot tub has a similar benefit as a hot sauna.

I'm similar— slightly warmer in the winter so you get that nice core-temp boost to enjoy afterward, plus a pillow of steam to sit in during.

But yeah, it's striking how putting it down to 96F can quite quickly make you feel a chill. And not the refreshing chill of jumping into a much-colder-than-that swimming pool, but like the bone chill of having had the heat bled out of you.

I have my hottub at 40C which is hot when you get in but comfortable to sit in for a while.

Me too I keep mine at 104 F

The issue is that wet bulb temperatures above 35°C aren't hospitable to human life for very long. That's why sauna sessions are limited and frequently punctuated by going into the cold.

Humans radiate a lot of heat, and if we can't dump that waste heat into our environments or take advantage of evaporative cooling, we overheat. Saunas condition people to survive this for longer periods, but they're not something you could make use of in the tropics without any air conditioning, for instance.

Saunas are meant to be dry.

Banyas on the other hand... (okay, they can be both)

Did you have a room in your house that you used, or is an outdoor sauna?

I thought about an outdoor sauna but I'm worried it would become just another insect and spider habitat that I don't want to go near...

> got the bigger heater to get it hotter quicker. I don't regret it, but I don't recommend it either.

Any speccific inconveniences with oversized heater?

No. When its super hot and getting towards the end, the mind starts to say 'stupid me, its too much heat from the oversized heater' but when I am back to rational, I don't think thats the case. I just don't think I am saving that much time, so not sure if it was necessary.

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