I dont know if anyone else has noticed, but when you enter a sauna, it feels piping hot, and then after you lie down it suddenly feels like someone turned down the heat. I attributed it to your body getting used to the hotter temperatures inside the sauna.
The actual explanation is that the temperatures inside the sauna stratify so that when you stand up, your head feels like its burning, and your feet feel - well quite cool actually. This causes most saunas to not operate at optimal levels, but also waste a lot of energy heating above the required levels (both height wise, and temperature wise). I propose installing a ceiling fan that moves air at very low speeds (this could be done to be hardly perceptable to the occupants) to destratify the air.
-- energy guy, Jan 10 2005

(?) Finnish Sauna http://virtual.finl...asp?intNWSAID=26074
All about Finnish Sauna [Pellepeloton, Sep 15 2006]

(?) How to enjoy sauna http://virtual.finl...asp?intNWSAID=26075
According to Finnish traditions [Pellepeloton, Sep 15 2006]

how would this be different from a standard low velocity fan ? is it just because it's waterproof?
-- neilp, Jan 10 2005


Yup. Actually this was intended for dry saunas. The idea is to distribute heat more efficiently.
-- energy guy, Jan 10 2005


Actually that is why there are different levels of seats in a sauna. So that you can adjust what temperature you want to expose yourself to. With the fan, everyone in the sauna has to agree to the same temperature. Very rare to have two people spend a long time in a sauna without wanting to cool off by moving down a rung occasionally and not always at the same time. Got to go with [-].
-- Goesta Berling, Jan 10 2005


Different seat levels? Aah! Point taken.

I assumed in my naivety that all gyms were like mine and had only one level. I stand corrected. I guess this idea is useful only for single level saunas.
-- energy guy, Jan 10 2005


If you want more heat just throw water to the stones. Lot of saunas have signs not to throw water to the stones but it is wrong as that is you are supposed to do in a Finnish sauna. The stoves if designed and build in Finland are meant to be used that way.
-- Pellepeloton, Sep 15 2006


Yeah. Don't go messing with my Finnish sauna, man. Don't do it!
-- squeak, Sep 15 2006


A useful retrofit idea for existing single level saunas.
-- RunVentura, Oct 04 2006



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