Infrared sauna do it yourself
Buying an infrared sauna cabin can be too expensive, especially if you are not sure that you will benefit from it. Infrared sauna blankets, bags or domes force you to lie in one spot for half an hour and they aren’t cheap either. However, there is another option – to make an infrared sauna yourself.
In this article I want to tell you about two ways to build a sauna completely with your own hands, without prefabricated kits. It can be a relatively inexpensive solution, so you can enjoy a sauna in your home environment for a reasonable price. You can build it to prove to yourself that infrared will bring some benefit to your health before purchasing an infrared sauna cabin, or it can be a convenient way to have a home sauna when you don’t have a lot of free space in your home.
Before going into explanations, I want to warn you about security. Building a sauna yourself may involve running some electrical wiring. Infrared heaters used in a sauna typically have high power requirements, up to 1,000 watts. Please do not try to build a sauna yourself if you do not know what you are doing. Better ask or hire someone who has experience with electricity to do it for you. If you are going to install a sauna in a bathroom, keep in mind that, as a humid place, it has strict requirements for the safety of electrical wiring.
Infrared sauna with two infrared heaters
Jim Clements describes the first way to install a home sauna in his article The Bathroom for FIR Sauna, in which he explains how to use two infrared heaters placed in a relatively small room (5 ft × 11 ft suggested). He uses two 500-watt, 9-amp infrared heaters from THMI and says these heaters provide an experience similar to an infrared sauna cabin. He doesn’t give any specific information on these heaters other than wattage and doesn’t know if any other brands of heaters will fit this sauna setup. I think it’s important that the heaters are not too high wattage (no more than 600 watts).
These two heaters should be placed on either side of the room (5 to 6 feet apart). Since they are 9 amps, you should either use a 20 amp outlet or use an extension cord from some other outlet in your house to split the current between two 15 amp outlets. Make sure the extension cord can safely handle the power requirements of an infrared heater.
At the preheat stage, Jim recommends placing the heaters on a door or wall for faster heating. He does not place heaters too close to walls or other objects due to the risk of inflammation. The heating time is usually longer than with the infrared sauna cabin and can be from 30 minutes to an hour. When the room heats up, he can use it as an ordinary infrared sauna, just go and sweat there. He may want to place a towel under the door and not use ventilation as it will allow air to flow through to lower the temperature in a room. He doesn’t necessarily have to use a bathroom for a sauna; he can use any suitable place or make a special enclosure.
As a supplement to two space heaters, Jim uses a 250 watt infrared lamp hung from the ceiling in the bedroom (in his description, he suggests putting it on the shower curtain rod. He says he uses a Sylvania light bulb, but I think Other manufacturers will be fine. Try to get a lamp with non-focused but radiant infrared light.
Infrared sauna with infrared lamps
Dr. Lawrence Wilson proposes another way to build an infrared sauna in your home. On his page on sauna therapy, he describes how to use three 250-watt infrared light bulbs to build an infrared sauna. He will need three 250 watt infrared bulbs (not light heat, as he writes they have the wrong spectrum). He recommends using Philips, General Electric or Sli lamps. He will also need three ceramic or plastic sockets for the light bulbs, fifteen feet of heavy lamp cord, medium-duty male wall plug, and a switch, or better yet, a timer switch that is capable of handling seven amps of current.
The outlet must be mounted to a 46″ high by 15″ wide (or 12″ high by 24″ wide if you want to mount it on a wall) wood, plywood, or veneer board. They should form a triangle with the middle socket on top. The upper lace should be at chest height when sitting. Plugs must be connected in parallel. Connect the plug cord to a switch. After connecting the sockets to the plate with screws, you need to make a chain link cover to prevent the bulbs from touching anything.
Be very careful when using this sauna, always secure a board to the wall to make sure it doesn’t fall over. Do not let children play with it or use it without your supervision.
Dr. Wilson also describes how to build an enclosure for your sauna using a set of pipes. They form a frame that can be covered with blankets or other fabric to create a small room that can be used for sauna sessions.
Comparison of two methods
The first method described by Jim Clements is much easier to implement than the second, by Dr. Lawrence Wilson. And more importantly, it uses prefabricated equipment, so no additional wiring is needed, so the risk of damage or malfunction is low. The heaters are covered so they cannot be touched by design and all wiring is done at the factory. The downside is that infrared heaters cost more than infrared heat lamps.
On the other hand, Dr. Wilson’s sauna, if done well and accurately, is no worse than the first, but costs significantly less. To build it one must know how to do the electrical wiring or have someone do it for them. The safety of this sauna depends on the skill of the person who made it and it can be dangerous if not done correctly.
Once again, I want to warn anyone who wants to build a sauna that they should only do so if they are sure they are doing it. You must be familiar with electrical wiring and must have the skill and knowledge to do it well. The authors of the original articles or I cannot be held responsible for misuse of a sauna or any problems with poor construction. Remember: safety comes first.
I hope this overview of ways to build an infrared sauna yourself is helpful. If you are interested, I recommend reading the original instructions of the authors of these methods.