Looking for ways to utilize my basement, I hit upon getting a sauna. I looked at them online, and finally settled on this one.
We got it on Ebay for about $1300 a few years back. It came in hemlock and cedar. The cedar was a little more expensive, but it really has a nice smell to it. It was made in China (like everything else), but some importer in Oregon sold them and shipped it to us for free. A truck backed into my driveway, then the fun started.
The sauna is completely modular with the pieces fitting together with these cool clips. You can literally put the whole thing together in about 30 minutes provided you can get the pieces to where you want the sauna to be. In our case, it was in our basement which is tough to get into with long, heavy, unbending things. Like any good box, there were six major pieces, all well-packed in separate cardboard containers. The first thing I did was to unpack them. I was able to get the top, bottom, both sides, and the back down the stairs, but the front with all the glass would not go. I got my neighbor to consult, and he suggested cutting the floor between the joists just above where I wanted the thing to go, and lowering it down. My wife wasn’t keen, so we removed the handrail, and several pieces of woodwork trim from the stairwell and had another go. This time success!
As advertised, it took about 30 minutes to clip the thing together. All of the electrical connections are either above the top or below the bottom. There are something like 50 carbon infrared heaters, and two benches facing each other. It’s advertised for four people, but it is usually just Denise and me. There is plenty of room for a tall glass of ice water and our Ipads. There is a car stereo that the Chinese thought would be a good addition (it’s not). We typically just use the Ipads.
It also has this ozone thingy that I’m not sure what it does, but I turn it on when I get in. And four color LED lights, five if you count the white one.
It looks great and is very functional. We don’t use it in the summer, but it is great in the winter. Best cure for a hangover I know is to sit in this thing for 20 minutes at 130F. You will also sleep like a baby that night.
A couple of negatives. It needed a 120V, 30A circuit and has a special plug. The outlet cost me almost $60, but I put the line in myself (had my electrician check it out for me) since it was literally right next to the breaker box. Also, it takes about 20 minutes to heat up all the way, so you have to work on your logistics if you want to use it at a certain time. It does have a timer which we keep at 90 minutes. If you forget to shut it off when you’re finished, it’s nice to know it will eventually shut off on its own.
We absolutely love our sauna. We use it at least twice a week in the fall, winter and spring. It is one of the best frivolous things I’ve ever bought. The company that seems to be selling these now on Ebay is heatwave.com. Can’t say what they’re like now, or if we just got lucky, but Denise and I love it.
Rick’s rating on the Heatwave infrared sauna is 5 sticks!
