Infrared or traditional sauna — which suits you?
Infrared and traditional saunas are different experiences, not different price points for the same thing. Answer five questions about heat, space, electrics and what you want out of it, and get a straight recommendation.
Five questions on heat, space, electrics and budget.
What are you mainly after?
The difference in one paragraph
A traditional sauna heats the air to 70–100°C with a stove and stones, and you can throw water on the stones for a burst of steam (löyly). A infrared cabin does not heat the air much at all — it warms your body directly with radiant panels, and runs at 45–60°C. Infrared is gentler, warms up faster, uses less power and usually plugs into a normal socket. Traditional is the real sauna experience, needs a dedicated electrical circuit, and is what most people who have used a proper sauna are actually looking for.
Common questions
Is an infrared sauna as good as a traditional one?
They are different rather than better or worse. Infrared runs at 45–60°C, warms up in 10–15 minutes and usually plugs into a 13A socket, which makes it far easier to install. A traditional sauna reaches 70–100°C and lets you throw water on the stones, which infrared cannot reproduce. If the sauna experience itself is the point, traditional is what you want.
Which is cheaper to run, infrared or traditional?
Infrared, usually by a wide margin. A 2 kW infrared cabin at a 30-minute session uses roughly 1 kWh; a 6 kW traditional sauna including warm-up uses around 4 kWh. At a typical UK unit rate that is a difference of roughly £1 per session, which matters if you use it daily.