From Europe with love! Finnish sauna stove: how to choose the best model?

After a tiring workday, we look forward to the weekend to recharge our batteries and relax. A visit to the bathhouse, especially on winter evenings, will allow you to relax with health benefits.

It has magical healing properties and prevents the development of many diseases.

The effective impact of bath procedures on the human body is possible only when the a properly selected stove.

Features of Finnish stoves for baths and saunas

A modern person, in search of new sources of relaxation, visits a sauna or a bathhouse. Wealthier owners build them at home, in their summer cottages, in their cottages.

However, the main element in these places is the stove. More and more sauna lovers give preference to Finnish stoves, because They safe, durable, easy to handle, compact and on top of everything stylish.

The device provides not only fast heating of the room, but also keeps it for a long time, which in turn allows you to reduce fuel costs. This is due to the practical design of the stove, which ensures air circulation throughout the room.

Types: wood and electric

There are wood-burning and electric stoves, each of which has its own advantages and design features. Wood-fired appliances are considered very practical and have a number of advantages:

1. Heating speed. Wood-burning stoves produce steam that gently envelops your body and is evenly distributed throughout the room, providing effective, long-lasting heating.
2. Eco-friendlyThe devices are heated with wood.
3. Safe. Built-in ventilation helps to remove all combustion products, and the multi-layer metal body from which the wood-burning stove is made ensures safety in use.
4. Economical. To quickly heat up the steam room, it is enough to throw a few bundles of firewood into the firebox, and the exceptional air supply system ensures a uniform temperature in the steam room.
5. UniqueThere are designs that are installed both indoors and outdoors. The heaters can be open - they provide high humidity at high temperatures, and with a closed lid - they keep the steam room warm longer.

The wood stove consists of:

• From fireboxes — designed for burning wood.
• From cast iron grate — is a kind of grate on which logs are placed. Provides warm air for smoldering the lower layers of fuel.
• From ash pan - this is the furnace chamber where the ash falls after the logs burn.
• From heaters - its upper part is filled with stones that emit heat, and if water is poured on them, they create steam.
• From chimney — serves to remove combustion products.

For a sauna, a wood-burning stove is a classic way to heat the room. The efficiency of the device lies not only in its economical fuel consumption, but also in opportunities to contemplate fire through the heat-resistant glass of the door, which has a calming effect and helps to relax.

The electric design is gaining more and more popularity now. It consists of housing, electric heater and container, in which are located pellets. When the device is connected to the network, the heating particles give off heat to the stones. The air flow, being heated, rises and enters the room through separate openings. Heat control is provided by a thermal relay, which switches off the device when the room temperature is sufficient; if the latter drops, the heater switches back on.

The electrical device has a number of advantages:

1. Compactness. The electric stove does not take up much space and fits into any room. It is placed on the floor or mounted on the wall. The design allows you to place a sauna even in an apartment.
2. Fast heating. The design starts working immediately after switching on and produces dry steam, which instantly heats up the sauna.
3. Cost-effectiveness. There is no need to stock up on fuel or spend money on room design. Electricity costs will be low because there is no need to leave the device on for a long time, the stones can maintain a high temperature in the room for a long time.
4. Safety. Thanks to the multi-layer steel plates in the stove design, there is no possibility of getting burned, which allows you to visit the bathhouse with children.
5. Ease of use. Usually such devices provide for dry and wet steam mode, equipped with a remote control, which makes it possible to regulate the temperature remotely. The design has a mode for moistening stones with water to increase humidity.
6. PurityThere is no need to store firewood indoors, which in turn will protect the bathhouse or sauna from debris, dust and soot.

Photo 1. Finnish electric stove installed in a sauna behind a wooden fence. Manufacturer Harvia.

What should you consider when choosing a wood-burning sauna stove?

Before purchasing this type of stove, you should pay attention to some factors, which will allow you to make the best choice.

It is advisable to record the main ones in writing:

• Steam room volume. It is defined by, multiplying the area of ​​the room by the height, taking into account the heat consumption through windows and doors. If the bathhouse is located in regions with severe winters, then the resulting figure should be increased by one and a half times.
• Furnace performance will depend on the correctly calculated power. If the size of the heater is too large, it will not be able to provide stable heating, there will be a need to constantly maintain the fire, which, in turn, leads to a decrease in service life and breakdowns. The performance of an electric stove is determined by the ratio of the room volume to the power of the device.
• Duration of workIt is necessary to take into account how much time is needed for heating and for what period.
• Manufacturer. The design does not necessarily have to be made in Finland. There are other manufacturers that are not inferior in quality and are more affordable. When choosing a stove, it is worth paying attention to brands with an impeccable reputation.
• Heating tank. Some models have such a detail that allows you to use hot water in a bath, but you need to correctly determine the capacity of the tank in accordance with your needs.
• Material and volume of the heater. You should pay attention to these parameters, since the amount of steam directly depends on them.

An important factor is also the placement of the stove in the room. If you plan to buy a wood stove, it is important to have chimney exit.

If the room already has one, then the heat source is placed nearby. If the main task is to heat the room, then the structure should be installed in the center of the room.

In the case where the device combines several functions (cooking food, heating water), it is advisable to install it in the corner of the room. It will be effective to place the stove away from the door to reduce heat loss.

There are several major Finnish brands, producing similar devices:

1. Firm Castor provides durable and safe ovens thanks to the thick and heat-resistant steel body.
2. Manufacturers Harvia They produce the most durable structures, ready to serve for decades.
3. Products called Nam are considered very environmentally friendly. Accompanied by a classic design, they will become an object of admiration in the steam room.
4. Firm Helllo (Helo) is distinguished by affordable prices. The ovens of this manufacturer are inferior in design, but their quality remains high.
5. Company SAWO manufactures structures of various sizes, taking into account all consumer requirements.

Photo 2. Electric sauna stove from the manufacturer SAWO. The color of the device is white, in the upper part there is a heater.

When choosing a manufacturer, rely on the company's many years of experience and reputation.

Useful video

Watch the video testing several models of Finnish sauna stoves from manufacturers Kastor, Vira, Harvia.

What is the secret of the Finnish sauna?

The Finnish sauna combines not only useful properties, but also classic design. You take all the procedures with health benefits and enjoy the sight of smoldering logs. That is why these stoves are so popular.

The Finns have been able to provide us with a universal design. It envelops both dry and wet steam, heats up quickly and for a long time keeps warmThe durability and safety of this type of stove will please you for many years.