Infrared vs Traditional Sauna: What You Actually Get

A traditional sauna heats the air, and the air heats you. An infrared cabin uses panels that heat your body directly and leave the air cooler. Price and wiring follow from that difference.

Temperatures from the makers

Sun Home makes both kinds. Its Solstice 2 infrared cabin is rated to about 145°F. Its Nova 3 traditional sauna, with a 6 kW HUUM heater, is rated to 230°F. Almost Heaven's Hillsboro, a 6 kW indoor traditional sauna, lists 185°F. An infrared cabin at full power is cooler than a traditional sauna on a low setting. If you like strong heat, buy traditional. If 190°F sounds unpleasant, infrared is a good choice.

What each one needs from your house

• Small indoor infrared cabin: often 120V. The Solstice 2 needs its own 20-amp circuit and a NEMA 5-20 outlet. No 240V run.
• Traditional electric: 240V. A 6 kW heater typically needs a 30-amp breaker and an 8 kW heater 40 amps, the same kind of circuit as an electric dryer. Details in the electrical guide.
• Large or outdoor infrared: 240V again. The 5-person Luminar draws 7,200 watts on a 30-amp circuit, so at that size infrared loses its plug-in advantage.
• Traditional wood-burning: no electricity, but you need a chimney and clearances, and in most places your building department will have a say.

Steam

You can pour water on a traditional heater's stones to make steam, which Finns call löyly. You cannot do that in an infrared cabin, which has no stones. Almost Heaven sells "hybrid" rooms that pair a stone heater with infrared panels if you want both.

Warm-up time and running cost

A traditional sauna has to heat the whole room first. Almost Heaven says its 6-person Princeton reaches 180°F in about an hour on an 8 kW heater. Infrared panels start warming you as soon as they are on. Both show up on the power bill; the running cost calculator estimates it, and the heater size calculator sizes a traditional heater for your room.

Health claims

Most of the research behind sauna health claims is on traditional Finnish sauna. The best known is a 2015 study in JAMA Internal Medicine that followed about 2,300 middle-aged Finnish men for roughly 20 years. Men who used a sauna more often had lower rates of fatal heart disease and death overall. It is an observational study, so it shows an association, not cause, and it says nothing about infrared cabins at 145°F. I'd buy either type because you like using it. If you have a heart condition or take blood pressure medication, ask your doctor first.