Electric Heaters

weirdjim

weirdjim

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weirdjim
I like to do a sauna to relax after a long flight. There, now this is an airplane thread.

I'm doing a do-it-yourself sauna and I've got the woodwork and the wall/ceiling insulation just about where I want them. Now comes time to build the heater. Conventional wisdom is that it takes about 15 watts/cubic foot to bring the sauna to about 175 air temp in half an hour or so and keep it there.

For a 6 x 6 x 7 sauna, this works out to about 4 kW. I'd like to do some sort of horizontal square metal plate with the heater element attached so that I can drip water on the plate for humidity without shock-cooling the heating element itself. I'd like to keep the plate to something on the order of 18" square (or a rectangle of the same area) so that the whole inside of the sauna isn't dominated by the heater.

Suggestions appreciated.

Jim
 
Were it I, I would design it so the heater resides under a plate that it heats and protects it from the water that you pour on it, which it sounds like you've already thought of. That said, by the time you buy a heater, package it safely, figure out how to mount it and control it you could have bought a unit from Amazon, 6+ kw, wet/dry, with a digital controller for less than $500. That's what I would suggest.
 
That's old school. Google infrated sauna panels. You can get them on Amazon and others. Much lower current requirement. Go to a hot tub store or any place that sells saunas and IR saunas will be on display. Very popular these days.
 
Old School RUS. And neither of these answers are DIY. I fail to understand how a kilowatt heating element that doesn't glow isn't infrared. But so far, no cigar for these answers.

Jim
 
weirdjim said:
Old School RUS. And neither of these answers are DIY. I fail to understand how a kilowatt heating element that doesn't glow isn't infrared. But so far, no cigar for these answers.

Jim
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Not sure I understand what you are looking for. A 4kw heater isn't really diy either if you can't run a circuit to power it. If you can run a circuit, or call an electrician, the amazon units look pretty easy to install, much less time than building something yourself. Plus you get a control system and reasonable assurance you don't electrocute or burn yourself.
 
I'd respond but I'm enjoying my 115v sauna!

Reinvent the wheel if you want.
 
Why does anyone want to heat electricity?
 
Why not go wood burning?
 
Clark1961 said:
Undoubtedly regulated in California.
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No, actually, it is not. We heat the house with wood and it is a PITA to clean out ashes, fiddle with the draft to keep the temperature constant, and all that stuff. I wired the house, the barn, the garage, and the shop myself. I think I can handle either 110 or 220 without a lot of trouble. However, as was noted, I don't need to reinvent the wheel. I'll probably settle for one or two of the K-mart upright 110 volt heaters and run a 20 amp service to the wall. Thanks all for the input.

Jim
 
I've got a small sauna that Margy bought a decade ago. It has your typical glow rod heaters in it. She's thinking about me building a new one and I was thinking I'd actually go for one that has the rocks. I've done a little research.

What is under the rocks appears to just be a metal tub (think those trays they put into the steam tables at cafeterias) with the heater below it.
That may be your best solution. It keeps water from hitting the heater and holds your pretty rocks which I assume provide some surface area to dissapate the water into steam/vapor.

The other fun thing (I'm more a steam man than Sauna) is my shower under construction has a 15KW steam generator in it. Looks pretty impressive. Can't wait to fire it up.
 
The correct way is to pile rocks on top of the heating element. You throw water (not drip, that's just pointless) on the rocks which obviously are very very hot. No problems with shock cooling the element.
I like my sauna in the 200-220F range, that's still enjoyable. 220 to 250 is a bit painful, and 250-300 is just stupid. 4-5kW should be enough for you.
The best saunas are obviously wood burning, it's not a PITA and if you know what you're doing, there's nothing to adjust apart from the amount of wood you burn.
 
mtuomi said:
The correct way is to pile rocks on top of the heating element. You throw water (not drip, that's just pointless) on the rocks which obviously are very very hot. No problems with shock cooling the element.
I like my sauna in the 200-220F range, that's still enjoyable. 220 to 250 is a bit painful, and 250-300 is just stupid. 4-5kW should be enough for you.
The best saunas are obviously wood burning, it's not a PITA and if you know what you're doing, there's nothing to adjust apart from the amount of wood you burn.
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I have been heating the house with wood for the past 45 years, and yes, it is a PITA by the time you chase the spiders out of the woodpile, keep the woodpile dry, get the sucker to burn cleanly without smoking up the house when starting, taking the ashes out twice a week (although they are useful in the compost pile), and painting the hotspots once a year so it doesn't look so crappy.

How in the hell do you stand 220dF when that means that the sweat on your skin is boiling? That just doesn't make sense. Were you off by a factor of +100dF when you wrote this?

Jim
 
weirdjim said:
I have been heating the house with wood for the past 45 years, and yes, it is a PITA by the time you chase the spiders out of the woodpile, keep the woodpile dry, get the sucker to burn cleanly without smoking up the house when starting, taking the ashes out twice a week (although they are useful in the compost pile), and painting the hotspots once a year so it doesn't look so crappy.

How in the hell do you stand 220dF when that means that the sweat on your skin is boiling? That just doesn't make sense. Were you off by a factor of +100dF when you wrote this?

Jim
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Your assumption that your skin temperature is the same as air temperature is where you are wrong. I think a sauna is pretty cold when its less than 100c/212f. I've been in a 170c sauna, but that's pretty painful. Humidity plays a big part on what the sauna feels like.
Our summer house has a sauna right on a lake. I usually heat it up to around 110c, sit there for 5 mins, then jump in the lake for a min, and repeat. Its even more fun in the winter when I cut a hole through ice, from 220f to 32f water. Nice shock to the system. And good for you.
 
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