Essential Guide to Home Sauna Maintenance for Long-Lasting Performance
If you are lucky enough to own your own personal home sauna, you can enjoy the many health benefits on your own time. Having a sauna at home may sound luxurious, but home sauna maintenance is essential to keep it clean and safe for all users. Saunas can become dirty and fall into disrepair rather quickly. While spas and sports clubs have teams dedicated to sauna upkeep, you’re likely on your own when it comes to maintaining a personal sauna. However, don’t think that keeping your sauna clean is too much work! With some simple tricks and regular maintenance practices, you can keep your sauna in top condition without spending more time cleaning than enjoying it.
DIY Sauna Maintenance Checklist: Step-by-Step Guide
Let’s begin with some best practices related to the most common components that will require ongoing maintenance in your home sauna:
Sauna Bench Maintenance
One of the biggest problems that arise in classic wood-burning saunas is that hand-made wooden benches can attract mould and rot. While these saunas tend to be dry, poorly maintained saunas can still create conditions favourable for mould growth. So, how do you make sure that your benches stay mould-free? First, think about what your regular sauna guests are wearing when they use your sauna. This is important because if your sauna users are entering in wet clothes, such as swimsuits, they are introducing moisture that encourages bacteria and mould growth.
To prevent bench mold, tightening up your sauna dress code is essential. A good practice is to provide clean, dry towels for all sauna guests. Sitting on a dry towel, rather than a wet swimsuit, will significantly improve the lifespan of your sauna benches and prevent mould.
Today, sauna owners have the option of using real wood or synthetic materials when installing their sauna benches. While synthetic materials mold much slower and retain less heat, many prefer the authentic feel of real wood for their DIY sauna. If you choose to stick with wood, there are some simple maintenance tricks you should follow. Regular cleaning and proper drying techniques will ensure that your benches last longer, saving you money on major replacements.
Wood Care: Protecting the Wood Inside Your Sauna
First, consider applying a wood finish to your sauna benches. A finish helps prevent water from seeping into the wood, which is crucial in a high-moisture environment like a sauna. However, finishing agents often come with strong smells, so after finishing your benches, leave them to air out for several days. Ideally, place them in the sun, but if that’s not possible, ventilate your indoor sauna by opening windows or doors for at least 48 hours. Even if you don’t smell the finish immediately, heating up your sauna too early can still release odours, so allow enough time for the finish to set.
For ongoing maintenance, wipe down your benches with an antibacterial solution or wipes after each use when the sauna is at normal temperatures. Regular disinfection is important even if your benches are treated with a waterproof finish, as bacteria can still thrive in the heat. Keep an eye out for any cracks or warps in the wood, as these are signs that your benches have been compromised by water contact. If your benches start to split, it’s best to replace them quickly to avoid further deterioration or potential splinters, which can be hazardous for your sauna guests.
Sauna Stove Maintenance
Maintaining your wood-burning sauna stove is essential for optimal performance and safety. Most traditional sauna stoves have a similar design: a wood stove with a door for adding wood and a vent leading to the outside and over a pad of rocks. The rocks help to diffuse heat and create the signature steam experience when water is poured over them.
Before performing any maintenance on your stove, make sure it’s completely cool to avoid burns. Regularly clearing out ash buildup between fires is crucial for a clean, efficient burn. If your DIY sauna is off the grid with no electricity, this task can become tedious, but neglecting it can cause poor fire performance. Use a metal shovel to scoop out large piles of ash and charcoal, and a stiff brush to remove smaller particles. Wearing eye protection and a mask is important to prevent ash from getting into your eyes or lungs during cleaning.
Next, focus on the stove’s flues, as they play a critical role in heat distribution. A clogged flue can lead to dangerous conditions, including carbon monoxide buildup. Use a wide-bristle pipe cleaner to scrub the inside of the flues and ensure proper airflow. Avoid using water or cleaning agents during this step, as dry cleaning is more effective for loosening and removing ash buildup. This simple yet essential maintenance step can help prevent serious safety issues and extend the life of your sauna stove.
Sauna Electric Oven Maintenance
Modern home saunas often use electric ovens, which mimic the heat of traditional wood-burning stoves but with less maintenance and a cleaner burn. The key to maintaining your electric sauna oven is ensuring that the upper metal grill remains clear. Most electric ovens come with a sliding mesh barrier beneath the upper grill to prevent debris from falling into the heating elements, especially when rocks are placed above the grill. Periodically check and clean the mesh to avoid any blockages. As long as you follow these steps and consult your oven’s manual for specific guidance, your electric oven will require minimal daily upkeep.
Sauna Floor Maintenance
Floor maintenance is the final and perhaps most critical step in cleaning a traditional wood-burning sauna. During the cleaning process, ash and dirt often accumulate on the floor from the sauna heater and benches. Start with a thorough dry sweep to remove the majority of the debris.
Most sauna floors are constructed from stone or concrete, and the spaces between stones are filled with grout, which can easily accumulate mildew in the moist sauna environment. If neglected, the mould can produce an unpleasant smell and impact your sauna experience. The key is to prevent mildew buildup before it becomes a problem. For prevention, sprinkle baking soda over the most susceptible areas of your floor.
If mildew has already begun to form, scrub the affected areas with a brush and water or, for more severe cases, a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar. The vinegar will react with the baking soda, causing it to fizz, which helps lift the mildew. For extensive mould issues that cannot be addressed with scrubbing, consider using a power washer to deep clean the floor. This method is equally effective on stone walls with grouting, ensuring your entire sauna stays mould-free.
How to Clean and Maintain Your Home Steam Sauna Properly
While installing a personal steam sauna is less common due to the high cost and complexity of boilers, maintaining one follows similar principles as a traditional sauna. The key difference is that steam room maintenance is more demanding, as humidity damage occurs faster. Steam sauna benches are often made from plastic composites or well-finished wood to resist moisture. For steam rooms with stone floors, investing in a power washer is highly recommended to eliminate bacteria that inevitably accumulates in the humid environment, even with good hygiene practices.
Boiler Maintenance for Steam Saunas
Maintaining the boiler in a steam sauna is a delicate task that should only be handled by a professional. Steam sauna boilers are often pressurised, and attempting repairs without proper knowledge can be dangerous, risking both damage to the equipment and personal injury. If you’re concerned about the condition of your steam room boiler, always consult a professional technician.
Maintaining Home Infrared Sauna’s
Compared to the maintenance of a full wood-burning sauna, there is luckily much less to worry about when it comes to taking care of an infrared sauna. But let’s still get into the best practices that you ought to carry out when maintaining your infrared sauna.
Regularly Disinfect the Seat
If you are using an infrared sauna in a public facility like a spa or a gym, it likely isn’t your choice whether or not you want to wipe down the seat. It’s common courtesy to wipe off and disinfect seats that you know are going to be shared but when it comes to our personal saunas, it’s far from unheard of to take some shortcuts. Consider this a reminder that there is a good reason we disinfect the seats on infrared saunas and it’s not just to be kind. Leaving sweat behind on your seat means that bacteria is going to grow on your seat and if left unchecked for long enough could even cause a rash on your skin.
Infrared Sauna Not Heating Up? Check Radiation Bulbs
In an infrared sauna, there are usually several lightbulbs all used for heating the body. Being that there are generally more than 40 or 50 bulbs in the average infrared sauna, it is more than possible for one or two to lose their intensity or burn out without you noticing outright.
Inspecting your bulb heads requires a bit of precaution, however, as starting directly at the bulbs of an infrared sauna without the guard can be very bad for your eyes. Consumer-grade sunglasses, also, may not give you enough protection either. It may be in your best interest to look into blackout protection shades like the type people use to watch a solar eclipse. This type of glass also focuses on sources of light and shortens their aura meaning that you can probably see even more clearly if one or two small bulbs have burned out or lost their intensity.
Conclusion: Keep Your Sauna in Top Shape with These Expert Maintenance Tips
Owning a home sauna is a significant investment, and maintaining it requires a consistent commitment of time and effort. When performing maintenance tasks, always use proper protective gear like gloves, face masks, and goggles. This reduces the risk of damaging your sauna or injuring yourself. If maintaining your sauna becomes overwhelming, you can hire specialised professionals who focus on sauna maintenance and restoration. However, there’s a unique satisfaction in taking care of your personal sauna. Knowing you’ve played a part in keeping your sauna clean and well-maintained enhances the therapeutic benefits of your sauna sessions.
