Two kinds of heat
Picture a sunny 50°F day. In the sun you feel warm. Step into the shade and the warmth disappears, even though the air temperature hasn’t changed. What you felt was radiant heat: energy that warms you directly instead of warming the air first.
A traditional sauna works the other way. It heats the air, often to 170°F or higher, and the hot air heats you. In a traditional sauna, the air temperature really is the measure of the session.
An infrared sauna is built around radiant heat. It penetrates the body directly, which is why it feels intense at lower air temperatures. The number on your display is the air temperature in the cabin. It doesn’t measure the infrared reaching your body, and that’s the part we believe matters most.
What the heaters are actually doing
Your sauna’s controller works like the thermostat in your home. You pick a set temperature and the heaters run until the cabin air reaches it. Then the controller switches them off, lets the cabin drift down a few degrees, and switches them back on. The small click you hear is the heaters cycling.
That’s how a thermostat is supposed to work. It also means that once the cabin is at its set temperature, the heaters spend part of their time off. When the heaters click off, the infrared output drops with them.
So if you wait for the cabin to peak before getting in, you step in at exactly the moment the heaters start taking breaks. If you get in while it’s still climbing, the heaters run the whole time you’re inside.
How to use it
- Set it to the top of its range. You likely won’t sit long enough to reach it, and that’s the point: a high set temperature keeps the heaters running for your whole session.
- Get in at 90 to 130°F. You’ll feel the infrared right away, even while the air is still warming.
- Start with about 10-20 minutes. As the cabin climbs into the 130 to 150°F range, many owners reach a deep, steady sweat.
- Adjust as you go. If it feels like too much, open the side vent window or end the session early. Comfortable and consistent beats hot and miserable.
- Hydrate before and after, and keep a towel on the bench and floor.
Why heat-up time and top temperature vary
We list 185°F on the ECO, and 165°F on our other models, because that’s what the digital panel allows the heaters to reach. However, the speed it gets there, and whether it can actually achieve that maximum temperature, depends on a few important things in your home:
- Your room’s starting temperature. A sauna that starts in a garage at 80°F has a big head start on one in a cold 60°F basement.
- Your power supply. This sauna runs on a standard 120V outlet on a dedicated 15A circuit. Plug it directly into the wall with no extension cords or power strips, and keep other large appliances off that circuit. Older wiring and long circuit runs can also slow it down.
- Drafts and airflow. Cold floors, nearby exterior doors and an open vent window all pull heat out of the cabin.
- Opening the door. Every time the door opens mid-session, warm air escapes and the cabin has to catch up.
None of these change how the infrared feels on your body. They change how fast the air temperature climbs.
Is hotter better?
Not necessarily. With infrared, what counts is the time you spend with the heaters running and your body in front of them, not the highest number on the display. A session you enjoy is a session you’ll repeat, and consistency is what owners tell us makes the difference. Research suggests regular heat sessions may support circulation and recovery, and many owners tell us better sleep is the first thing they notice.
If you want very high air temperatures, that’s what traditional heat is for. Our 2 Person Combination Sauna pairs infrared heaters with a traditional stone heater and reaches near 200°F, so you don’t have to choose.
The heat is also why materials matter
A sauna’s whole job is to get hot, and heat is exactly when adhesives tend to off-gas. Ours are built without glues, hidden plywood or synthetic materials: solid Canadian hemlock, held together by a specialized tongue-and-groove system with thousands of mechanical fixing points. The hotter it gets, the more that choice matters.