Will a Radiant Health Sauna Work in a Cold Environment? What You Need to Know

In this video we go through a question that comes up all the time about putting a Radiant Health 2.5 in a cold environment, but everything I explain applies to any infrared sauna. Whether it’s a garage, shed, basement, or any unheated space, the real issue is the same. If your sauna is sitting at 30 or 35 degrees when you turn it on, you’re asking a lot for it to swing up to 135 or 155 without help. I break down what actually happens with heat-up times, why insulation only helps with retention, and the simple things you can do to make an unheated setup work.

I’ve run saunas in Maine winters, cold garages, unfinished basements — you name it — and the principles don’t change. Any infrared sauna without real insulation is going to struggle in the severe cold months, and some companies won’t tell you that. If Radiant Health fits what you need, great, but everything in this video applies to any brand you’re considering.

Read the transcript >

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Transcript

Because here’s the real issue. You have no HVAC system in the garage. Let’s say the sauna sits around 35 degrees inside. When you go to turn it on you’re asking a lot for it to go from 35 to 135 or 155. If this brand works out to be a good fit for you, great. If not, apply what I’m about to tell you to any brand and you can make it work.

I’ve got a ton of questions that I pulled off the YouTube channel. You’re going to answer them. You’re going to give the people what they want. And while I’m fighting off a cold and cranky, this sounds like a great idea.

Radiant Health E2.5. Any issues with installing in a non-heated garage in Connecticut? Does it handle the cold well? In the winter months, January, February, in Connecticut it’s going to be 22 degrees to 28 degrees probably most days. 20s and 30s. Not going to do too well for heat up time. You can make it work. If you keep the garage shut up at night, there should be a 10 to 15 degree temperature difference from the swings outside. You could put a space heater in it while you’re preheating it to bring it up to temperature.

Because here’s the real issue. You have no HVAC system in the garage. When the sauna is not on, the door is shut. So whatever the ambient temperature is outside, you’re going to have a 10 degree difference from that into the garage. And the sauna inside also is going to be there. So let’s say the sauna sits around 35 degrees inside. When you go to turn it on, you’re asking a lot for it to go from 35 to 135 or 155 or something like that. So the time it’s going to take to complete that massive temperature swing, it’s going to need help. It’s not unique to this brand. Any sauna like this that’s on an outdoor sauna that’s not insulated, doesn’t have double wall construction like some type of insulation in the middle, much like a house framing or situation, isn’t going to be able to separate the ambient temperature from the internal sauna temperature very well. So it’s going to leak a ton of heat. So that is working against you all the time. Doesn’t matter which brand.

I know some companies will come out and say, hey, our saunas don’t work very well underneath 50 degrees or something like that. Other people just won’t tell you. They just want you to buy it. There’s not a 90% difference between the way these saunas perform, is there? So why would you expect a 90% difference in the way it’s going to perform for you in an unheated garage? So be really careful about the information that you get. Excuse me, I’m still fighting cold from some of these places because I don’t think they have personal experience running them in the cold. So they’re kind of leading you astray.

So if this brand works out to be a good fit for you, great. If not, apply what I’m about to tell you to any brand and you can make it work. In the garage, you’re already on a 20 amp circuit, right? So you’re 120 volt, 20 amp. You can do a couple of things. You can put heat lamps in the ceiling to give you an advantage for preheat. You could do some type of a space heater or something on the floor and only use it when you’re preheating it so it gets up to temperature and doesn’t take two hours to do so. And when you hop in, you still get a decent sweat. A patio heater or some type of heater to the ceiling. You can always over insulate the exterior of the sauna, but it’s only going to help you with heat retention. It’s not going to help you with building heat per se because the set time or the idle time of the sauna between you using it is still long enough to where the internal temperature of the sauna is still going to be relative to what it is in the garage. Meaning if it’s 30 degrees in here and you wrap the whole thing with insulation, you’re not really doing anything to help build the heat. You’re doing things to help retain the heat. And what we’re trying to do is build more heat quicker so it doesn’t take you so long you have to wait for it to be ready for you because it’s not practical. You probably need to go to work, pick up the kids, you have other things that you’d like to do, et cetera, et cetera.

The other thing that I might suggest is that you look into something like a hybrid combo sauna, like a Heavenly Heat. We just did a different video on that from Member Q&A. I’m losing my voice a little, but if you go watch some of those, you’ll see it has a traditional sauna heater in it as well as infrared. So it’ll help you build heat quicker. A little overkill to put an indoor sauna, or I’m sorry, an outdoor sauna in an indoor space, but for what you’re looking for and not have to modify it and everything is ready to work for you from the factory, that also might be a good fit. Any of the infrareds by themselves or inherently any sauna really in an unheated space is going to struggle in the severe cold months. Now in the summer, you’re not going to have any issues. You don’t need to do any of this stuff. It’s only for like three, four, five months. Well, Connecticut, probably five months. That should give you a really good idea to go on. If you have further questions about implementing these things, I’ve got hundreds of videos on the YouTube channel. Aside from that, we also have a Facebook group. If you’re not a member, it’s the Certified Sauna Community on Facebook. There’s 30 or 40,000 people in there. Tons of people are in exactly your situation. They have unheated, unfinished basements. They have gyms in their garage. I go to Maine half the year, so I know exactly what we’re working with here. Also building a basement gym myself, not really planning on heating it. I think you’ll like the series where I show you how I install mine. I’ll see you in the Facebook group.