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Barrel Sauna Benefits: How They Compare to Square Saunas

Barrel Sauna Guide
Barrel Sauna vs Square Sauna Buyers Guide

Barrel Sauna vs Square Sauna: Which is Right for You?

In today’s world of personal and family sauna solutions, there are two new major players who have made big moves. First, there is the barrel sauna, which have quickly become one of the hottest sauna choices of the decade for their slick sauna barrel design look and ease of assembly. Then, there’s the square sauna, a more contemporary option that impresses with its modern look. While the barrel sauna appeals to a more traditional aesthetic, the square sauna offers a more modernised approach to sauna design.

Choosing between these two outdoor sauna types can be difficult. Both options excel in terms of price and ease of assembly. Our goal today is to explore the key differences between a barrel sauna and a square sauna. By the end of this article, you’ll understand the benefits of a barrel sauna versus the benefits of a square sauna and which type better suits your needs.

What is a Barrel Sauna & How Does it Differ from Other Sauna Types?

Outdoor Barrel Sauna
A Typical Outdoor Barrel Sauna

What exactly makes a barrel sauna stand out? The most obvious fact that makes barrel saunas distinct is, of course, their unique shape. Barrel saunas look like barrels lying on their side. Barrel saunas typically range around seven feet long and tall, though sizes may vary. A popular choice is the wooden outdoor sauna, which is often seen in backyards and gardens. For example, Sun Home Saunas offers a great outdoor barrel sauna model that perfectly showcases the benefits of this design. A standard barrel sauna can comfortably fit up to three people.

When it comes to heating options, barrel saunas can be equipped with either a full electric stove or a wood barrel sauna stove. However, if you’re installing a barrel sauna indoors, an electric stove is usually a safer choice due to ventilation concerns. Without proper ventilation or a costly filtration system, using a wood stove in an indoor barrel sauna can be unsafe. Many modern barrel sauna designs can also accommodate infrared setups, making them versatile for different sauna preferences. The barrel shape of this traditional sauna helps retain heat efficiently, which is another reason why barrel sauna benefits are often favoured over other sauna types.

What is a Square Sauna?

Square Infrared Sauna, Indoor Sauna Type

A square sauna is even easier to explain: a square sauna is a sauna that looks like a square! Square saunas are almost never actual squares but more realistically longer than they are wide. While square saunas can be similar in size to barrel saunas, they are often larger because they’re built on sturdier foundations. This allows them to support more weight and accommodate more people, making them ideal for larger gatherings or family use. Square saunas are sometimes referred to as cabin saunas due to their resemblance to classic log cabins with a modern twist. Most square sauna kits come with reinforced wooden slats, adding extra support and stability.

Barrel Sauna Benefits

Now that we have a good handle on what each style of sauna really comprises, let’s talk further about why exactly someone may come to prefer a barrel sauna and why a barrel sauna may suit certain sauna users rather than others.

Ease of Assembly

At first glance, someone may find it hard to believe that a barrel sauna is generally easier to build compared to a square sauna but it truly is. The biggest reason why a barrel sauna can come together a bit easier than square saunas is that the majority of square saunas require a full foundation when being installed as a outside sauna. This is due to the weight distribution of a square sauna over a larger surface area and the fact that square saunas generally require more wood to construct.

While barrel saunas have a curved shape that may seem tricky to build, most barrel sauna kits include metal guides to help. These metal guides already fit the proper curve, allowing the builder to simply attach the planks, which makes the overall assembly more efficient.

While neither sauna type is typically a one-person job, a barrel sauna can likely be constructed with fewer people due to the lack of foundation required for an outdoor barrel sauna.

Heat Efficiency

Barrel saunas are widely praised for their excellent heat retention and distribution. The cylindrical design of a barrel sauna allows heat to rise and circulate efficiently, preventing hot air from getting trapped at the top as often happens in a square sauna. This natural airflow ensures the sauna reaches and maintains the desired temperature quickly, making for an optimal, relaxing experience. In addition, the smaller size of most barrel saunas means they require less time and energy to heat, offering a cost-effective and energy-efficient solution. For those looking to maximize heat efficiency and enjoy consistent warmth, the barrel sauna provides a superior experience compared to square saunas.

Easier Mobility

While it, unfortunately, isn’t possible to just take a barrel sauna off its slats and roll it where ever you would like (or we should say, that is highly unadvised!), a barrel sauna is much easier to take apart and reassemble the majority of barrel saunas compared to the majority of square saunas. Barrel saunas tend to be smaller, as we described before, but also because there is nothing tying them to the ground like the foundation required for most square saunas. f you have enough help, it’s even possible to lift a small wood barrel sauna from one spot to another in your backyard.

Alternatively, the DIY barrel sauna route makes it easier to take down and set up again if you need to move. A square sauna, on the other hand, usually has a more permanent foundation, making relocation much more difficult.

Natural Air Ventilation

Backyard sauna

Because barrel saunas are built with a strong circular curve, this means that barrel saunas allow the hot air of a sauna to circulate slightly more compared to classic sauna chambers like those found in square saunas. The logic goes like this: as your stove releases heat, it instantly starts moving toward the highest point in the sauna. The highest point in a barrel sauna is the curved top of the sauna which allows air to cycle back down to where the sauna users are more likely to be sitting.

In a sauna with a flat roof, the hottest air tends to rest at that highest point and the air has no incentive to move to any other point in the room. But the curve of a barrel sauna makes a big difference in the air activity in your sauna. While not a guarantee, as we will explore later, it is technically possible for a barrel sauna to heat up slightly faster because of its more efficient shape.

Benefits of a Square Sauna

Especially after reading all about the benefits of a barrel sauna, it may sound hard to believe that there could be reasons to choose a square sauna but there certainly are. Depending on what you hope to get out of your sauna, there are more than a few good reasons to consider a square sauna.

Square Saunas Typically Have More Bench Options

One of the most classic elements of a sauna you can take advantage of in a square sauna is the choice to have multiple benches in your sauna at multiple heights. Because of the interior curve of barrel saunas, it is impossible to have more than one row of benches in the actual sauna chamber. But since the walls of a square sauna are straight like the majority of traditional wood-burning saunas, it is more than possible to install multiple heights of sauna benches.

The key reason why you may want multiple benches in your sauna is that the higher you sit in a sauna, the hotter the air is. This means that sauna pros can get more out of the heat of their saunas and sauna novices can sit in cooler spots as they get more and more used to the heat of a sauna.

For the same reasons that it is possible to add more benches to a square sauna, it is also possible to add more to a changing room too. While it is likely impossible to add more than a bench for sitting in an interior changing room, the walls of a square sauna make it more than possible to add a cabinet or other shelf storage in an interior changing room. Learn more on customising bench options in our DIY home sauna design article.

Can Be Space Efficient

In terms of space utilisation, a square sauna tends to be more efficient. If you’re planning to install an indoor sauna, a square sauna will likely fit more snugly into a corner or fill an entire room, while a barrel sauna may waste space due to its rounded shape. This makes square saunas a more practical choice for indoor installations where space is limited. Additionally, square saunas often come with more storage options for adding shelves or a small changing area.

Square Saunas Are More Weather Resistant

While the wood on both a barrel sauna and a square sauna are both equally resistant to degradation and weather conditions, square saunas have a big advantage over barrel saunas when it comes to extreme weather. This advantage is that square saunas tend to be tied to a real foundation when installed outside. Very serious winds have the potential to topple over a barrel sauna. And even worse, because barrel saunas have a circular curve, it’s, unfortunately, more than possible for a barrel sauna to get caught and roll out in the wind during a real storm. This could irreparably damage your sauna and even cause electrical problems if you have an electric stove directly connected to your sauna.

How to Choose Between a Barrel Sauna vs Square Sauna

Outdoor Barrel Sauna

So, now that we have a good hold over what makes a barrel sauna different from its square counterparts, let’s explore the most common questions a would-be buyer may face when making their final decision. This is a buyer’s guide after all, so let’s address everything a buyer would need to know before making their final choice.

Which Sauna is Cheaper?

The cost difference between a barrel sauna and a square sauna largely depends on size, wood type, and additional features. In general, barrel saunas tend to be the more affordable option, especially for those looking for a cost-effective outdoor sauna. This is primarily due to the fact that barrel saunas are smaller and require less wood to construct compared to square saunas. Additionally, their design allows them to heat up more efficiently, leading to energy savings in the long run.

For backyard sauna installations, square saunas often require a solid foundation, which can add significantly to the overall cost. Barrel saunas, on the other hand, usually don’t need a foundation, making them more affordable in terms of both materials and labor. If cost is your main factor, opting for a smaller DIY barrel sauna might be your best bet.

Does One Style Work Better Than the Other?

Luckily, both the barrel and square saunas are equally capable of holding in heat and creating the perfect sauna environment for honing in on the health benefits that are most accessible in a sauna. The biggest consideration when it comes to making sure that your sauna gets hot enough is making sure that you have a strong enough stove to match the size of your sauna. If you choose a stove that is too small, that is likely the one thing that will stop you from getting a good sweat going in a well-built barrel or square sauna.

The best way to know if your stove of choice is the right match for your sauna is to consult with your sauna seller directly, as they are the most likely to have a good understanding of what level of heat you would need to get the best experience out of your sauna.

Which Sauna is Easier to Build?

DIY saunas have become a popular choice lately due to the huge installation cost savings. As we’ve talked about above, barrel saunas are generally easier to build because they often don’t require a foundation when installed outside. But this doesn’t mean that they are universally easier to build. The reality is that every sauna is different. Depending on the number of people you have helping you during the process, even the biggest square or barrel sauna could take only a few hours to bring to completion. But let’s look at the raw specifics of each kind of build.

Barrel saunas are actually assembled in a way almost identical to that of a real barrel. Barrels are made up of metal rings that line the interior of the barrel and bind all of the planks. The same building method is used when building a barrel sauna. As long as you attach all of the planks of the barrel sauna in the way that your instructions show, you can have your entire outside section assembled in no time.

When it comes to square saunas, there are actually a few different ways that they can come together. The first method is to have interior metal rungs quite similar to that of a barrel sauna but instead in the shape of a square. In that example, you would assemble the exterior wall of your square sauna in almost the exact same way. But there is actually one more method common for larger square saunas which is to install several long metal rungs along the full length of the square sauna in order to fully reinforce those larger saunas. Putting this style of rungs together unquestionably will require two or three people to install them correctly.

Which Sauna is Best for You?

Let’s lay out the key takeaways from this piece in a digestible way. Specifically, let’s lay out the moments when a barrel or square sauna may be a better fit.

Reasons to Choose a Barrel Sauna

  • Easier Assembly
  • Easier Mobility
  • Better Air Ventilation

Reasons to Choose a Square Sauna

  • More Bench Options
  • Can Be Space Efficient
  • More Weather Resistant

Conclusion: Making the Right Choice for Your Sauna Experience

The good news is that both barrel saunas and square saunas can meet the needs of most people looking for an ideal sauna experience. Both styles are relatively easy to build, even for beginners, and they offer a sleek, modern look that stands apart from older sauna designs.

When choosing between these two options, the key considerations are:

  • How many people will use the sauna at once?
  • Will your sauna be installed indoors or outdoors?
  • What is your budget?

By answering these questions and reflecting on the details outlined in this guide, you’ll be well-equipped to determine which sauna style will best enhance your wellness journey. Whether it’s a space-efficient outdoor barrel sauna for your backyard or a more traditional square sauna for a home spa, either choice will offer a rewarding experience for you, your family, and friends.

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