Sauna in the shower?

[Redneckbikerjedi]

Looking for a plumbing person who can help out....

I was at a massage therapist several years ago, and I was asked if I wanted a sauna prior to. (I have crippling arthritis in my back and knees) I was put in an enclosed shower on a bench with some towels - it was enclosed wall to floor with glass walls and doors. There was a spigot at the floor that was turned on and it was piping in very hot and very humid air into the shower. In short time it was nice and toasty and my pain eased up.

I have been thinking about hiring a contractor to build a sauna for me to help with my pain, but if I can just enclose my shower and do it that way, I can save a fortune. A plumber for a couple hours beats shelling out thousands for a sauna right now - so I can put it off and use the money for other things. (Got a baby on the way) Does anyone have any idea of how they did that? What do you think the source of the air might have been? How was it "wet" air instead of "dry" air?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[John Grabowski]

Do a search for steam showers. In addition to a plumber you will also need an electrician to wire it. The hard part is finding a good spot to put the steam generating unit.

Personally I find a Jacuzzi style hot tub very beneficial for aches and pains. Hydro massage bath tubs are good also.

[Redneckbikerjedi]

All that stuff helps, and my parents have a hot tub I soak in sometimes. But I have found that I get the most relief from a sauna. I get almost as much relief from it as I do from taking prescription pain killers. I love them. (Saunas, not the pills.) Not to mention they are great for sweating out a lot of toxins and what not.

Steam showers - I'll check it out. Thanks. Any other >

[Redneckbikerjedi]

All that stuff helps, and my parents have a hot tub I soak in sometimes. But I have found that I get the most relief from a sauna. I get almost as much relief from it as I do from taking prescription pain killers. I love them. (Saunas, not the pills.) Not to mention they are great for sweating out a lot of toxins and what not.

Steam showers - I'll check it out. Thanks. Any other >

[SteveB]

Had a steamer unit in a shower once. It cost a bit to install, as it required it's own electric line. I used it for a bit at first, but then sporadically, and finally none. In the meantime, it corroded. So, it sits there unhooked and unused.

I'd never do it again.

A sauna sounds like a simple thing. Not a lot of moving parts or plumbing or lines.

I do have spas and like them. I have two Jacuzzi tubs in my house, and NEVER use them.

It's a catch 22 because you have to spend a lot to find out if you really like them. Whatever them is. And if you find out you don't like "them", you're out the money.

I thought I'd like the Jacuzzis, but they are get cold quick. A hot tub, on the other hand, is ready to go, and to me penetrates deeper into the muscles. But then, there's the cost of keeping water warm a lot and using it a little.

One size don't fit all.

Steve

[Redneckbikerjedi]

I know we are a bit off topic for this group, but....

I've been research>

[nicksanspam]

Sounds like steam, vs a dry sauna...

I made a steam generator to bend wood from a $20 1500 watt coffee urn, bypassing the thermostat and adding a tube to the top. Autofill would be nice, eg a toilet or stock tank float valve on a cold water bucket that connects with a tube to the urn spigot. You might push the steam output tube into a downsloping hole in the drainpipe above the trap.

Keeping a shower enclosure 120 F with a thermostat controlling the steam generator in a 70 F room with 1500x3.41 = 5.1K Btu/h makes the enclosure conductance 102 Btu/h-F max. If it's 2'x6'x8', its 152 ft^2 of surface needs needs an R152/102 = R1.5 R-value, not much. I'd go higher, eg R15, like 2" of foil-faced polyiso foamboard with fiberglass facing, to lower the average power to 150 watts.

A remote bulb hot tub thermostat might bubble steam into the tub water from a non-conductive tube over the side to keep it 105 F, adding less than 5 lb/h of water.

Nick

[nicksanspam]

Some gravel in the urn made boiling less explosive...

Nick