Electric or wood-burning heat
Electric sauna heaters, like the HUUM Cliff, Drop and Hive models, run on 240V single-phase power and are controlled by a timer or digital controller. They're the standard choice for indoor and basement saunas.
Wood-burning stoves give a softer, crackling heat and need no electrical circuit, which suits cabins and outdoor saunas. The range includes Cozy Heat thru-wall stoves, which you load from outside the hot room, and the 12 kW HUUM Hive Wood.
Sizing the heater to the room
Heaters are rated by the room volume they can warm. Multiply length, width and height in feet: a 6 x 7 ft sauna with a 7 ft ceiling is 294 cubic feet.
The HUUM Cliff Mini 3.5 kW covers up to 212 cubic feet, while the Hive Heat comes in 6.5, 9 and 10.5 kW versions for rooms up to 566 cubic feet. Glass, stone and concrete absorb heat, so size up one step if your room has them.
Prehung glass sauna doors
Prosaunas doors arrive prehung in their frame, in 24 x 73, 24 x 81 and 36 x 81 inch sizes. The 36-inch door, about 35.5 inches wide, is ADA compliant.
Most use frameless 8mm tempered safety glass, clear or gray tinted, on aspen, thermo-aspen or black alder frames. The hinges are reversible and the doors swing outward, the safe direction for a sauna.
Bench and wall wood
Bench boards come in aspen, thermo-aspen, thermo-spruce, thermo-radiata pine, hemlock and western red cedar. S4SEE means smoothed on all four sides with eased edges, so no sharp corners press against skin. Aspen and hemlock are pale and low in resin, while western red cedar has a stronger scent.
Thermally modified woods are baked to stay stable in heat and moisture. Leave bench wood untreated inside the hot room, and save sealers like SaunaShield for exterior surfaces.
Planning the build
Before ordering, settle three things: the room size, the power supply and the door position. Electric heaters need a dedicated 240V circuit; wood stoves need a flue and the clearances listed in the manual.
Where you can, put the door on the wall farthest from the heater, and plan benches at two heights. Heat rises, so the upper bench runs noticeably hotter.
Stones and finishing the room
Sauna stones are sold separately for many heaters, in sets of boxes. A bigger stone load holds heat longer and gives gentler steam; the HUUM Hive takes up to 165 pounds.
If the sauna is part of a wider wellness space, see our home saunas, acrylic bathtubs and other bathroom fixtures. Together they cover most sauna accessories and the room around them.
