A dry sauna is a traditional Finnish-style sauna that uses hot stones or an electric stove to heat a small room to temperatures high enough to make you sweat. Saunas are a great way to unwind, relax, and improve your health, but with so many different types of saunas available, it can be challenging to know which one is right for you. 

What is a Dry Sauna? 

A dry sauna, also known as a Finnish sauna, is like a hot, dry oven for your body. It’s a small enclosed space usually made of wood, with pine, cedar and spruce being common choices. Wood can withstand high temperatures and low humidity without warping or deteriorating. 

These small spaces are heated to temperatures between 160-200°F which induces profuse sweating. Inside, you’ll usually find wooden benches at different levels- the upper row has a higher temperature while the lower row is slightly less intense. 

Heat was traditionally created with a wood burning stove, but many modern saunas use electric heaters to create an environment that’s great to warm up on a cold day or to relax after a tough workout. In a dry sauna, the heated air surrounding you causes your body temperature to increase, which makes you sweat. Your sweat then evaporates and cools your body. Dry saunas incorporate vents to allow steam to escape. Humidity is usually in the 5-30% range, so although they are sometimes called “dry” saunas, the air inside still retains a certain amount of moisture. The wooden walls also absorb moisture which helps reduce the humidity inside the sauna.

To make matters a little confusing, it’s a common practice to ladle water over the hot rocks in a dry sauna. This is totally safe and acceptable as sauna heaters have been designed to withstand water and will produce some when water is added onto the rocks. This practice does make the “dry” sauna a little more wet and is done to raise the humidity in the room which can make you sweat faster. It’ll also feel hotter because your body gets direct heat from the steam, but it doesn’t actually raise the temperature. Whether you want a humid hot temperature feeling or a dry hot heat feeling is just a matter of choice.

What’s the Difference Between Wet and Dry Saunas? 

The terms “wet” or “dry” don’t really apply to the type of sauna or the type of sauna heater, because all saunas can be either wet or dry environments as all sauna heaters can be used with or without water. It’s merely a personal preference whether you want to ladle water over heated rocks in your sauna to create steam, or enjoy a simple dry heated experience. The exception is an infrared sauna which uses lightwaves to heat your body from the inside, and is not designed to produce steam or withstand water or moisture. 

A wet sauna is usually used to describe a steam room, which isn’t really a sauna at all. It features a machine that boils water into steam and releases it into a nearly airtight room, creating a humidity level that approaches 100%. Although steam rooms are not as hot as traditional saunas, usually around 100-120°F, the high humidity can make them feel hotter than a dry sauna. Humidity is the biggest difference here, the low humidity in a dry sauna makes it feel like sitting under the hot sun in a desert, and the high humidity in a “wet sauna” is more akin to sitting in a tropical rainforest in the middle of the day.

Steam rooms are usually made of materials like ceramic, glass or plastic that can withstand high humidity and like traditional saunas, often have graded seating with the higher areas being hotter and the lower parts slightly cooler. Both environments promote perspiration, but the high humidity of a steam room prevents your perspiration from evaporating, so it tends to drip off your body, just like on a hot, humid summer day. You’ll also sweat in a dry sauna, but your perspiration evaporates readily because of the relatively low humidity. 

If you have questions about finding the right type of sauna for your home, or how to care for your sauna,  give us a call at 970-879-4390 or drop us a note.