Sauna Buying Guides
Six guides, one for each kind of thing we sell. They are the answers to the questions people actually ring up and ask, which are almost never about the wood and almost always about whether the room will work, what the circuit takes, and how a crate that size gets off a truck.
None of this is written to sell you the biggest one. Two of these guides tell you when to buy something smaller.
Infrared Saunas
Far, near, and full spectrum
Far infrared is the longest wavelength and the most common. It penetrates least deeply but produces the most sweat at the lowest temperature. If your goal is a comfortable daily sit, far infrared alone is usually enough.
Near infrared uses shorter wavelengths, typically delivered by LED panels rather than carbon or ceramic heaters. It is the wavelength most of the skin and circulation research is built on.
Full spectrum combines near, mid, and far. It costs more and it is worth it only if you will actually use the near infrared programs. Plenty of buyers pay for full spectrum and then run far infrared every session.
Carbon vs ceramic heaters
Carbon panels are large, heat evenly across a wide surface, and run cooler to the touch. Ceramic heaters run hotter and more concentrated, so they heat the cabin faster but less evenly. Neither is simply better. Carbon suits longer comfortable sessions, ceramic suits people who want intensity and a shorter warm-up.
Low EMF, and what the number actually means
Every electric heater emits an electromagnetic field. "Low EMF" is a marketing term with no legal definition, so the only useful thing is the measured number in milligauss and where on the panel it was measured. A manufacturer that publishes third-party test results at seat level is telling you something. One that just prints "Low EMF" on the page is not.
Sizing
Manufacturer capacity ratings are optimistic. A "two person" cabin seats two people who know each other well. If two adults want to sit comfortably without touching, buy the three person. The most common regret in this category is buying one size too small, and it is not fixable later.
Wood
Canadian hemlock is the standard: stable, light colored, no odor, and the reason most cabinets cost what they do. Western red cedar costs more, smells like a sauna should, and resists moisture better. Basswood is the hypoallergenic choice if cedar oils bother you. For an indoor infrared cabin any of the three will outlast the heaters.
Electrical
Most one and two person infrared cabins run on a standard 120V household outlet, though they want a dedicated circuit. Larger and full spectrum units often need 240V, which means an electrician. Confirm this before you buy, not after the pallet arrives.
Not sure which wavelength or size you need? Email hello@radiantsaunahq.com or call (424) 235-1861 and we will work through the room, the circuit and the models with you before you order.
See the infrared saunas we carry
Indoor Traditional Saunas
Electric or wood-burning
Electric is the practical choice indoors. Push a button, wait 30 to 45 minutes, done. It needs a dedicated 240V circuit and, for most residential room sizes, a 6 to 8kW heater.
Wood-burning needs a chimney, a flue, clearances to combustibles, and usually a permit. It also produces a quality of heat that electric owners quietly envy, and it works when the power is out. Outdoors it is often the better choice. Indoors it is a building project.
Sizing the heater to the room
Roughly 1kW per 45 to 50 cubic feet of room volume, then add capacity for any uninsulated surface. Glass and stone are the usual culprits. A large glass front can add the equivalent of a third of the room again. Undersizing the heater is the most common mistake and it produces a sauna that never quite gets there.
Precut room or freestanding cabin
A precut kit converts a space you already have, a spare bathroom or a basement corner. It gives you the exact dimensions you want and a built-in look, but you are responsible for the framing, the vapor barrier, and the electrical.
A freestanding cabin arrives as panels and assembles in a few hours. It costs more per cubic foot and it can be moved.
Bench layout
Heat stratifies hard. The difference between the upper and lower bench can be 30°F or more, which is the point: the upper bench is for heat, the lower is for recovery or for anyone who wants a gentler sit. You want the upper bench high enough that your feet clear the lower one, and the ceiling low enough to hold the heat, usually around seven feet. A tall ceiling wastes the heat you paid for.
Ventilation
Air in low near the heater, out high on the opposite wall. Skip this and the room feels stale and takes longer to heat no matter how good the heater is. Any manufacturer whose install guide does not cover ventilation has not thought hard enough about the product.
We are currently completing authorized dealer agreements with several manufacturers in this category. If you are planning a build and want a straight answer on heater sizing or room layout, email hello@radiantsaunahq.com.
See the indoor traditional saunas we carry
Barrel Saunas
Why barrels heat faster
A barrel has less air volume than a square room of the same footprint, because there are no cold upper corners for hot air to sit in. The curve also circulates air naturally as it heats. Practically, a barrel gets to temperature faster on the same heater than a square cabin of comparable seating.
Cabins give you a more usable interior, room for a changing area, and a shape that looks less like a novelty in a small yard. Pick on aesthetics and yard space, not on performance.
Wood, and what actually survives outside
Western red cedar is the default for good reason. Natural oils resist rot and insects, it handles wet and dry cycling, and it weathers to grey without structural loss.
Thermally modified wood, often spruce or aspen, is heat treated until the sugars that feed rot are gone. It is dimensionally very stable, it does not bleed resin, and it is increasingly what the Nordic manufacturers use.
Untreated pine or spruce is what you find on the cheapest listings. It will do a few seasons and then tell you why it was cheap.
Foundation
You need a level, load-bearing, well-drained base. Gravel pad, concrete pavers, a concrete slab, or an existing deck rated for the weight. A loaded barrel sauna with people in it can exceed 2,000 lbs. Setting one directly on grass or bare soil traps moisture underneath and will rot the cradles from below.
Sort the pad before delivery. Freight arrives on a pallet and you do not want to be moving it twice.
Electrical outdoors
An outdoor electric heater needs a properly rated circuit run to the structure, usually 240V, in conduit, on a GFCI breaker, permitted in most jurisdictions. Budget for a licensed electrician as part of the purchase rather than as a surprise afterward.
Wood-burning sidesteps all of it, which is why it is more popular outdoors than in.
Winter
A properly insulated outdoor sauna works fine at 0°F. It takes longer to reach temperature and holds it once there. What fails in winter is thin walls and no insulation, so a cheap unit that seems fine in October becomes a disappointment in January. If you live somewhere with real winter, insulation is not the upgrade to skip.
We are currently completing authorized dealer agreements with several manufacturers in this category. If you are sizing a pad or planning electrical before you buy, email hello@radiantsaunahq.com and we will help you get it right the first time.
See the barrel saunas we carry
Cabin Saunas
Why a cabin costs more than a barrel
Straight walls and a flat ceiling. You can stand up, the benches are full depth at both ends, and nobody is sitting in the curve. A barrel of the same seat count takes less material and less space, which is why it is cheaper, and the cabin is the one people stay in longer.
Footprint is not interior
The Palmer and the Georgian sit on the same 97.25 by 98.25 inch footprint. The Georgian spends that space on depth inside and ends up with a 343 cubic foot interior seating six, against the Palmer's four. If your pad is already poured, compare interiors rather than outside dimensions.
The Granby is the small one at 73.25 by 74.25 inches and seats three.
Measure for the roof, not the walls
The Avalon is described as 8ft by 8ft and its standing seam roof overhangs far enough that the real footprint is closer to 10ft by 10ft. Roof overhang catches people out on every brand. Measure the widest point, then add clearance for a person to walk round it with a snow shovel.
The changeroom is the winter decision
The Georgian comes three ways. Plain, with a covered porch that adds 24.5 inches of depth, and with a changeroom that adds 48.5 inches. The porch is somewhere to stand and cool down out of the rain. The changeroom is a real room to undress in and leave a towel, and it is usually the difference between using it in February and not.
Not every cabin takes a fire
The Granby is electric only. Leisurecraft do not offer it with a wood burner, so if you want a fire the Palmer is the smallest cabin that will take one. The Avalon runs the other way: it wants 9 kW and the Harvia KIP stops at 8, so we sell it wood fired rather than under-heat it.
Heater size follows volume, not seats
Across the cabins that is 4.5 kW for the Granby, 6 kW for the Palmer and 8 kW for the Georgian. A heater a size down will get there eventually and never feel right, because it is fighting a bigger air volume than it was built for.
Worth having a licensed electrician confirm the circuit before you order. These are the manufacturer's own figures and we are glad to talk them through or send them straight to your electrician. What your panel can actually carry is the one part nobody can see from here.
Pod Saunas
What a pod actually solves
A barrel wastes its corners. The curve means the bench meets the wall at an angle and the space above your head at the sides is unusable. A pod keeps the rounded shape, because curves shed water and heat evenly, and squares off enough of it to give you headroom where you are actually sitting.
The shape is doing work
The MiniPOD's raindrop profile is not styling. The peak carries the headroom and the slope pushes hot air back down over the bench rather than letting it sit against the ceiling where nobody benefits. It is 85 inches square and still seats four, which is the densest use of a small yard we sell.
The Luna takes the other approach: rounded corners rather than a barrel curve, which buys usable headroom along the walls.
Roofs differ more than the photographs suggest
The MiniPOD carries three layers, cedar planks, then an ice and water shield, then a black Cambridge asphalt shingle. The Luna uses an EPDM rubber membrane under its cedar. Both are built to sit out in weather, and both are worth understanding before you put one under a tree that drops sap.
Check the heater options before you fall for one
The MiniPOD takes a wood burner or an 8 kW electric. The Luna is electric only at 6 kW, so if the appeal is a fire in the garden with no circuit run, the Luna is the wrong one.
Smallest footprint, not smallest capacity
Pods are the ones that fit where a barrel or a cabin will not, and they do it without dropping to a two seater. Both Canadian Timber pods seat four. If the constraint is the size of the yard rather than the budget, start here.
Worth having a licensed electrician confirm the circuit before you order. These are the manufacturer's own figures and we are glad to talk them through or send them straight to your electrician. What your panel can actually carry is the one part nobody can see from here.
Cold Plunges
The tub and the chiller are separate purchases
The tub is the vessel you sit in: a cedar-clad barrel, a stainless-lined barrel, or an inflatable you can pack away. Every tub listing on this page says "Tub Only" in its title for that reason.
The chiller is a compressor unit that sits beside the tub and circulates water through a hose. It cools, most models also heat, and the better ones add ozone and a filter so the water stays clear between changes. Chiller listings say "Chiller Only".
Tell us the tub you are looking at and how you plan to use it and we will confirm the pairing before you order. Water volume and where the tub sits both change the answer.
Sizing the chiller
Chillers are rated in horsepower, and the number you need depends on water volume, how cold you want to get, and how fast you want to get there. A 0.8 HP unit suits most single-person barrels. A 1.0 HP unit pulls a larger volume down faster and holds temperature more easily in a hot garage or an uninsulated outdoor spot. Rated capacity on the Premier units runs to 150 gallons.
Ambient temperature matters more than people expect. The same chiller that holds 39°F in a cool basement will work considerably harder on a west-facing patio in August.
Cedar, stainless or inflatable
Cedar-clad barrels with a plastic liner are the value choice. The cedar is the exterior, the liner is what the water touches, and it is easy to clean.
Stainless-lined barrels cost more and feel it. A 304 stainless interior resists staining, takes sanitiser without fuss, and is the one most owners point at when they say the plunge looks like it belongs.
Inflatables pack down and travel. They are a reasonable way to find out whether you will actually keep doing this before committing to a fixed tub.
Electrical, drainage and where it goes
A chiller needs a dedicated outlet near the tub, and the manufacturer's spec sheet for your model states the draw. Have your electrician confirm the circuit before delivery rather than after.
Plan the drain too. You will empty and refill periodically, so a tub sited somewhere you cannot run a hose to becomes a tub you stop using. Outdoors, think about the same things you would for a hot tub: a level pad that can carry a full tub of water, and winter access you will still tolerate in January.
Pairing a plunge with a sauna
Contrast therapy alternates hot and cold, and it is the reason most people end up buying both. If you are planning a sauna and a plunge together, tell us early. Siting them near each other, on circuits that can carry both, is far easier to do at the planning stage than afterwards.
Sizing a plunge or working out which chiller fits your tub? Email hello@radiantsaunahq.com or call (424) 235-1861 and we will work through the volume, the circuit and the siting with you before you order.