Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Dry Sauna Heaters

By James Matthis


The most important part of the a sauna is the source of heat. Sauna heaters have to be constructed to produce consistently lofty temperatures. You can get electric, gas, oil, as well as wood-burning sauna heaters for traditional dry saunas. Electric sauna heaters are usually left on for the entire stretch of the sauna. When it comes to common sauna heaters, wood and electricity are the most common fuels used. However, sauna heaters fueled by natural gas or even propane are more economical and heat up very swiftly. In some countries they must be installed by licensed professionals for reasons of safety. Sauna heaters for infrared saunas come in two types: carbon and ceramic.

The Traditional saunas have stones placed atop the sauna heater. The stones absorb the heat from the heater, and are intended to produce hot water steam when water is sprinkled on them. Because the stones that serve as a heat reservoir in saunas are heated and cooled down repeatedly, they really need to have to have special properties that enable them to maintain this constant cycle of widely and rapidly waver temperatures. When choosing the perfect sauna steam rocks, you should look for ones without any signs of damage. Sauna stones with rough surfaces deliver hot steam faster because they have more hot surface area available for the moisture to come into contact. The sudden rapid addition of steam will make the sauna feel hotter due to the higher level of ambient humidity.

Infrared sauna heaters operate by a far different set of principles than regular sauna heaters. Whereas normal sauna heaters heat rocks and air in the sauna, infrared sauna heaters heat objects with the infrared light spectrum. Those "objects" also include the people using the hot sauna! As a consequence, the air temperature within the infrared sauna is quite a bitlower than the ambient air temperature in a traditional sauna, though there is a sensation of warming of the musclesand extremities by the rush of bloodflow as the far infrared spectrum of light rays penetrate the body.

There is an ongoing dispute in the world of infrared heaters as to whether ceramic heaters or carbon heaters are better. Here are some of the notable differences.

Carbon far infrared light spectrum sauna heaters create long wave infrared dry heat, but they do not create a lot of heat. Some users feel that these sauna heaters under-perform. Carbon sauna heaters are made of thin carbon plates and distribute heat evenly, virtually eliminating the problem of so-called "hot spots." Because the surface temperatures of carbon infrared dry sauna heaters is known to be lower than with ceramic far infrared sauna heaters, they are considered safer for longer duration sauna therapy sessions.

Carbon infrared sauna heaters output rays that are closer to the far infrared area of the electromagnetic spectrum. These wavelengths are believed to be the optimal range for "healing." Supposedly the far infrared rays penetrate deeper down into the dermis and muscular tissue than the rays produced by the ceramic sauna heaters. Though to-date the jury is still out on the veracity of these claims.

Ceramic infrared dry sauna heaters are powerful and generate a large amount of infrared heat. The infrared wavelengths emitted, however, are shorter, and argued to be less beneficial. (But, keep your skepticismabout this).

Today, there are also hybrid carbon / ceramic far infrared dry sauna heaters on the market. Made by a company Clearlight, these sauna heaters combine ceramic and carbon to generate the best of each of the types of heat. The carbon allows the sauna heaters to generate longer wavelength far infrared rays, while the ceramic gives the heaters higher infrared heat output, making it easier to concentrate the heat rapidly and directly onto the body.




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