Building your own wood-burning sauna stove might sound strange, but with the right tools and guides, you make your dream fireplace into a practical experience. That is why we are always here to ensure that your dream sauna heating place is achieved in the easiest way.
Today’s guide will focus more on how to build a wood burning sauna stove, the different sauna types available, and how the whole fireplace operates.
And as winters approach, you need to find a way to warm up your home sauna. As always, we work hard to ensure that each project you start this winter end with awesome success, and with that being said, here are some ideas on how you should come up with your wood-burning stove.
How to build a wood-burning sauna stove?
1. Remove the upper or top plug end of a 208.2-liter or 55-gallon steel/iron barrel; this is the stove’s cooking disc or warming disc.
2. Clean out the sauna barrel with a cleaning agent; you can use steel cleaners or clean water.
3. Put a piece of sauna pipe on top of the stove barrel, give it an allowance of 2.5 centimeters or an inch away from the main seam. Trace or draw a circle around the seam pipe scribe the second circle with 1.9 centimeters smaller or inside the large circle.
4. Drill or make pilot holes in the smaller circle; the smaller circle is the one that is 1.9cm smaller than the outer one. Fit in your jigsaw and cut the scribed lines.
5. Cut out the smaller circle with at least a ½ inch or a 1.3 cm wide lines from the circle center, then bend up all the taps with a hand pliers; at this stage, you can fit in the stovepipe over the new tabs and bolt them with L braces.
6. Cut an 8-by-12 -inch or 20-30.5-centimeter rectangle above the upper crimped ring of the steel barrel, which is located on the opposite side of the seam. Save the larger steel metal piece for the sauna firebox door and the smaller barrel for drafts or any fittings.
7. Attach the newly designed firebox door with a self-closing door hinge for an easy opening and closing or to allow any thermal expansion to occur without cracking the stove.
8. Design a door latch or an opening box out of the two L braces from step 3.
9. Bolt or join the new firebox floor in place and fill the cracks around the edges with some aluminum foil.
10. Cut a piece of barrel metal into 2.5-by-9.0-inch or 6.50-by-32.0-centimeter piece for an extra air draft; scribe the ½-inch or the 1.27 cm columns across the draft; you can hold this with the door.
Then drill 3 holes in every column, going through the door and the draft, and attach all the six bolts or carriage joints so that the door and the draft can easily slide to and forth.
You can attach an extra knob for easy closing and opening, or close the door by sliding so that the half-inch space cove the new holes in the draft and the door.
11. Set a test sauna fireplace to burn all the steel paints off; this is important as it allows you to notice if there are some flaws or defects that require correcting; it is safe if you conduct the test outdoors while wearing gloves you don’t get injured or burned.
12. Paint your wood sauna stove with spray paints or painting brushes, depending on your design and interior décor.
Safety Considerations You Need to Know
Safety is crucial when it comes to wood stoves, and as we mentioned earlier, these fireplaces always draw in some air from the outside of the sauna, which means they don’t use or suck the oxygen in the room.
You will be required to allow more room in your design and extra installations of a chimney and other fittings. This is very crucial because smoke inhalation can be dangerous or lead to suffocation.
It is wise and smart to ensure that your chimney is always attended to and kept clean. Find more information on how much the sauna chimney is supposed to be cleaned and under what circumstance you should not lit your wood stove.
You may also want to consider installing the heater entrance on the outside of the stove or sauna to reduce some wood clutter in the stove and reduce coals from falling into the woodstove.
If your heater is smaller, make sure that you keep it intact and stroke the wood and fire anytime you feel like coals are falling to the sauna.
Most wood-fired stove temperatures can be regulated by a digital thermostat like in electric and gas saunas; getting the temperature to your liking is also essential.
FAQs
1. How Does Wood Stove Sauna Heater Work?
A wood heater is installed in much the same approach as a gas or electric heater but requires an extra chimney for air ventilation in and smoke out.
Even though the stove sire is a convective source in the system, it should still have some stones because they disperse more heat than normal stove; the woodstove or sauna heaters also draw in some air outside the sauna if possible.
So, if you are looking for a system that will offer a full supply of warmth this winter, then a wood heater is your best gamble and can heat up to 80 degrees Celsius.
2. What Types of Wood Sauna Should I Use?
The warmth you receive from a wood-fired sauna will depend on the size of the woodstove or the heater, and more on the type of wood you select to use in your heater.
Heavier woods or hardwoods such as ironbark, maple, and a grey box will burn hotter and longer than softwoods such as Cypress and pine.
Try to experiment with various woods for different aromas; this is because many hardwoods have different scents, improving your sauna and heating experience.
Conclusion
As the cold season approaches, you need a wood-fired stove to warm up your sauna room, and the best way is to install a wood sauna.
Buying can be easy and straightforward, but it is wise to make your own with the prices in the market. The guide has done some research on how to build wood burning sauna stove for the sauna.
