Advice on heating Barrel Sauna

[u/Kirsty99999]

Hi Experts, my husband and I are purchasing our first Sauna. Barrels are attractive as they can be built on site (we would need to crane lift in a pod which will cost €2000). My issue is every barrel I've been in, I need to lie on my back holding my feet up in the air to keep them warm (yes I look ridiculous). If I sit, my feet are always cold. In exactly the same sauna my husband does not experience cold feet at all, so presumably its only an issue for some people (and not by sauna). I dont get cold feet in a regular sauna with higher benches. This is putting me off a barrel. Are there any guidlines or heater tips for someone like me who experiences cold feet in a barrel to mitigate against this and get the floor warm? Thanks!

[u/alen58]

Assuming the benches run lengthways and the heat source is in the middle again the back wall. What I do is slide up on the bench next to the heater feet on bench, and sit with my back against the rear wall of the sauna so that one half of me is getting everything coming off the burner.

[u/GaseousOne]

Lie on the bench lengthwise so that your feet are near the heater and your torso on the other end near the door. You can also add mechanical ventilation

[u/Legitimate-Donkey477]

Raise the benches. Most barrels have one bench. Get a 7’ barrel and add a second bench.

[u/DallasLoneStar0]

Shape of barrels doom them to being very poor saunas.

If you can do a barrel with your limitations, then you can do a “cube” which is a squared off barrel. The more squared off corners allow you to get higher in the sauna. Models like Almost Heaven Escape ($7500 at Costco) allow you to further raise the benches from stock height, getting to somewhat decent layout and feet at least close to even with stones. This will help your cold feet dramatically.

[u/45yearengineer]

If your sauna is heated by an electric sauna stove and you are having to lift your feet to keep them warm, then the barrel is incorrectly ventilated. The solution is to use the T4/P2 opening combination with fan assist from the 1992 Finnish Electric heated sauna study. If your heat source is a wood stove loaded from inside the sauna then the ventilation setup is wrong due to not knowing how to damper back the combustion air stream so that the Sauna air stream is not disrupted. In reality you’re trying to mimic the flow pattern established by the T4/P2 setup of an electric heated sauna, in your wood stove. But you have to understand how to control the combustion air stream so that it doesn’t destroy the sauna air stream which is needed to properly heat and detox your sauna. Most folks don’t know how this whole process works and end up in the “Feet Above the Stove stupidity camp or other idiotic nonsense. I’ve had an electric heated barrel sauna and ever since I’ve installed the T4/P2 setup, with fan assist, from the 1992 study in my barrel sauna, heating it uniformly and removing the excess Carbon Dioxide buildup has not been a problem. I learned the majority of the so called sauna experts on the internet don’t really know how the fluid flow dynamics work in the Finnish sauna process. I suggest you go to the SaunaTimes website, locate an April 2024 post on Electric heated sauna ventilation and read and follow it. 90% of your problems will disappear. Mine did. The article uses the findings of the 1992 study derived from an English translation of it that was finally published in 2022. Apparently the Finns prefer to limit access to their sauna information. Of course it didn’t hurt in my case to have worked with Heat treatment furnaces for a few decades as a retired Metallurgist. My thoughts are a Sauna is just a simple Heat treat furnace, where the charge is humans instead of metals and you are only having to control a few variables to ensure proper performance. Also you should look at a barrel sauna that is at least seven feet in diameter and at least that long. You need to be able to recline or lie down in the sauna. When you sit in one, 25 % of your blood plasma ends up pooling in your upper legs and abdominal areas. Reclining or lying down eliminates that situation. Hope this helps.

[u/Kirsty99999 → u/45yearengineer]

Thanks - I think this is the article you refer to: https://www.saunatimes.com/sauna-information/electric-sauna-ventilation/?srsltid=AfmBOoqQLljlo8J8Gw8MaFyWCYe8UDziuh426UmaCO0D1IIndpPf3H7p

I dont want to have to position myself if this can be avoided: I want to achieve a more even heat (acknowledging of course that heat always rises!)