I am actually typing this from a sauna with less than ideal ventilation (slightly ajar glass door) - need to cut vent holes to the sauna/house walls but haven’t gotten around to it - so the timing is good. The main use of the ventilation is to not end up with too high CO2 concentration
A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
31–40 of 74 posts
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#32Why is the age of any relevance here?
45 year engineer, not 45 year old engineer. It's not about their age but their experience. The relevance is that someone spent 45 years, as a trained adult engineer no less, not 45 years merely breathing, aware of a problem and only after than much experience, solved it. It would also be interesting if they had been a 1 year engineer or not an engineer at all, just for different reasons.
Fwiw it didn't read naturally to me either. I suppose I'd say 'an engineer of [or 'for'] 45 years'. Or 'Malcolm, 45 years an engineer, [...]'.
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#33Am I reading this right? Is there no heat exchanger in the ventilation? That seems like an obvious improvement.
The ventilation within the sauna is actually more effective the greater the temperature gradient between the entering low-CO2, cold air and the stale, hot air in the sauna. You want the entering air "falling" on the stove because it's colder i.e. denser than the surrounding air. It then heats up and mixes with the hot air in the sauna. That being said, almost any real implementation in a cold climate place like Finla…
What does "at the building level" mean? Is the sauna only part of the building and not the whole building? The article says it's a backyard sauna, which to me sounds like the sauna is the whole building.
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ventilation within the sauna is actually more effective the greater the temperature gradient between the entering low-CO2, cold air and the stale, hot air in the sauna. You want the entering air "falling" on the stove because it's colder i.e. denser than the surrounding air. It then heats up and mixes with the hot air in the sauna. That being said, almost any real implementation in a cold climate place like Finla…
What does "at the building level" mean? Is the sauna only part of the building and not the whole building? The article says it's a backyard sauna, which to me sounds like the sauna is the whole building.
Can't speak for this article, but an electric sauna in Finland is almost always inside the building/apartment, accessed via the bathroom. A separate sauna building would have a wood heated stove.
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#35The sauna design rabbit hole is a very deep one. If anyone is interested in more information about sauna design in general, Trumpkin's Notes are by far the most referred to guide out there. [1] There are also new products [2] which help improve saunas which are not ideally designed or where there are constraints (ceiling height mostly) to deal with. 1: https://localmile.org/trumpkins-notes-on-building-a-sauna/ 2: htt…
been browsing r/sauna for years in the lead up to building my own sauna. Those trumpkin notes really are the key. It's unfortunate that the sauna industry has very few (if any) DIY kits that follow best practices for traditional saunas
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#36tldr: place air inlet above the heat (B); air outlet on the other side at the floor (D). See figure: https://www.saunatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_6556-1-560... This ensures: 1) quick heat up of fresh air 2) vertically uniform heat 3) creation of better steam
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Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#37The sauna design rabbit hole is a very deep one. If anyone is interested in more information about sauna design in general, Trumpkin's Notes are by far the most referred to guide out there. [1] There are also new products [2] which help improve saunas which are not ideally designed or where there are constraints (ceiling height mostly) to deal with. 1: https://localmile.org/trumpkins-notes-on-building-a-sauna/ 2: htt…
Just looking at those Trumpkin notes for the first time. As a North American, I’m very surprised to see that cedar should not be used. I always thought that was the wood to use for Saunas.
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#38Am I reading this right? Is there no heat exchanger in the ventilation? That seems like an obvious improvement.
A sauna is a small, enclosed area with an extremely high moisture content that is only used for short periods of time. The expense of a heat recovery ventilator that could work with this extreme level of moisture wouldn’t even come close to recouping any potential cost savings. The combination of ventilation and heat source along with water poured on to the source is a way to regulate and adjust the temperature. The…
"The goal isn’t to trap as much heat as possible because having some of the heat flow out is key to regulating temperatures."
Rather to get old air out and fresh one in. Temperature regulation is done by more or less heating, or if all fails, opening the door.
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#39Off-topic but I've been curious: how well do phones handle saunas? I thought the heat and moisture would pretty much be the worst environment for electronics. Is that not the case?
Re: A 45 year engineer clears up electric sauna ventilation
#40The sauna design rabbit hole is a very deep one. If anyone is interested in more information about sauna design in general, Trumpkin's Notes are by far the most referred to guide out there. [1] There are also new products [2] which help improve saunas which are not ideally designed or where there are constraints (ceiling height mostly) to deal with. 1: https://localmile.org/trumpkins-notes-on-building-a-sauna/ 2: htt…
what is some crazy sauna fact?
In Finland sometimes we take advantage of the heat and we cook sausages on our sauna stove by wrapping them in aluminum foil and placing them on the hot rocks. You can still take a sauna normally and afterwards you have a cooked sausage to eat!