How to Avoid Buying the WRONG Sauna

When you buy a sauna, the most important decision happens before it ever shows up at your house. Once it’s delivered, returning it is a major hassle. A lot of people get stuck because they didn’t think through the size or electrical setup first.

In this video, I walk through what to check before you order. If your breaker panel is far from where you want the sauna, or if you don’t have 220 power available, it might make more sense to choose a smaller unit. I go over how to size it for your family, what kind of outlet each sauna type needs, and how to avoid wasting money on installation that doesn’t fit your setup.

After testing over 30 saunas and helping hundreds of people install theirs, I’ve seen every kind of situation—from easy plug-and-play installs to $2,000 electrical upgrades. Watch this first before you buy anything.

Read the transcript >

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Transcript

Once it gets delivered, if you wanna change it, it’s a huge deal. It’s doable, but it’s a big deal. There’s a reason that all this equipment is in this room. I don’t need all these just for myself, but it’s incredibly helpful to figure out what size you need. And when you’re thinking about the size to take into account the electrical requirements.

Anything that’s two person and smaller, you usually can get in a 15 amp power supply, which means a regular household outlet will power it. So basically if you can plug a vacuum cleaner into it, you can run a one or a two person infrared sauna. Anything bigger than that is gonna switch to a 20 or 30 amp, or it’s gonna go to 220, 240 volts.

So when thinking about what to get or how to put this stuff in, you need to consider that because it’s like we talked about in the other videos. If the power panel of the breaker box is 100 feet away from the location that you want to sauna, and you want this big sauna so the whole family can use it, it may not just be, it might not be cost effective to get somebody to trench around the house and put in a line for 220 or 20 or 30 amp to run that big guy.

Does it mean that you shouldn’t get a smaller one? No, but every person’s situation is different. $2,000 for an electrician to set this up for one person is no big deal to some people. For other people, it’s a complete deal breaker. They won’t buy the sauna at all. And so I think that’s a huge thing is to consider your install location, what your electrical requirements are versus the size that you want to get and find something that’s suitable for you and your family and your house.

So one or two person sauna, it’s pretty simple. Make sure you have electrical requirements, three or four person, maybe you need a 20 amp dedicated 120. If the panel’s not too far, usually an electrician can put that in for you for anywhere from 250 to 500 bucks. As long as it’s not a long run, there’s no trenching around the house.

The reason that I immediately go so long-winded into someone’s individual circumstance is because once the dang thing gets delivered, you’re not stuck with it. Like you can send it back, but it’s a huge deal. It’s a pallet delivery. It’s on, you saw, it’s a box truck. Now imagine that sauna, we couldn’t use it that day. And you call the company and say, hey, we want to return this thing. What are they going to say? Okay, put it back in the box. We’ll send a truck, you know, a week from now, five business days to come pick it up.

All right, well, number one, how are we going to get it back in the box like they had it? We’re going to try our best. It’s not going to be perfect. We’re going to tape the hell out of it and we’re going to get it back on that pallet. Now what’s going to happen with the pallet? We don’t have any way to get that inside. So what are we going to put it all back on the pallet and then tarp it? And then A, hope so no one steals it. B, no rain gets through it and destroys the thing because it’ll ruin the electronics and then they won’t give us a refund or exchange.

Right, like so the reason that it’s so important to select the right thing is because once it gets delivered, if you want to change it, it’s a huge deal. It’s doable, but it’s a big deal. So immediately I’m way too long-winded. I’m trying to ask people questions. There’s no one-size-fits-all for selecting like the perfect home sauna. Maybe you and your wife and you want your kids to use it as well. It’s not the same as, you know, I just worry about me or a spouse, right?

Like so a two person, a two and a half person, like you helped film the install video for, that would be a great size. Do we need one that’s three times that big? Probably not, right? So getting that hammered down so that once the dang thing gets here is fine. From there, it’s pretty simple. We’ve taken the guesswork out of it. You’ve helped with that. We’ve got installation videos that show you, I mean, once you select the right thing, the right thing for your house, right thing for your budget, take it out of the box, follow the instructional tutorial, goes together, there’s really only six pieces, a floor, a roof, left and right, front and back, and then some bench pieces in the middle, hook it up, and then we’ve got training videos that teach you how to use it.

Cleaning videos, like there’s not really too much left. Most of the work is done on the front end, kind of like you took all the guesswork out of the videoing. Well, we try, you know, we try, we try to figure out, so how can we be of service, right? Like there’s a reason that all this equipment is in this room. It’s not for, I don’t need all these just for myself, but it’s incredibly helpful if you bought one of these and you get in a pickle, and then I say, hey, just FaceTime me. I’ll walk in it. I’ll show you exactly what that piece is.

This is what you do. I mean, people get into weird situations, like these saunas here on carpet, a lot of times people, like this sauna here is notoriously known for the doors to be misaligned. There’s a tack strip in front of the baseboard on the back. So we could do the best job in the world at shimming this thing, but if you move this to another location, the way the doors are adjusted is gonna change.

So I mean, this stuff comes up and then the doors won’t close, and then people think they have a defective sauna. Well, no, they just need to join the Facebook group or have a 15 second video and say, I’m making this up. Hey, Sherry, the door is not defective. I can tell by the alignment across the top that the floor is out of level, right? You’re either on a tack strip, you’re in a basement that has an unlevel floor, you’re on a piece of tile where the grout is raised or whatever, or in some cases where it’s damaged in shipping, hey, Sherry, your sauna is messed up. Let’s get you a new piece or something like that.