Sauna Steam Generator- Sauna Steam Bucket

 Everyone knows, throwing water on the rocks makes sauna way more enjoyable. The steam makes it feel hotter while making the sauna more humid. Add some great scents to the water, and the experience is that much better. 

When I built my sauna, the first accessory I purchased was a wooden sauna bucket and a wooden ladle. It was expensive and small. The ladle cracked within weeks and was burned in the stove as punishment. The bucket didn't last much longer either. The changes in temperature caused both to lose their shape and fall apart. I needed an upgrade. So, I replaced the wooden ladle with a metal one. I did the same with the bucket. That worked great! Still have both to this day. However, I liked steam so much, I wanted to do better. This is when the Sauna Steam Bucket was born. I wanted to sit on the bench and enjoy as much or as little steam as I felt like at the moment. I didn't want to jump off the bench to throw water on the rocks. 

Today, I have the Sauna Steam Bucket sitting on my top bench next to the sauna stove. When I want steam, I simply open the valve, and the water rushes down the pipe and hits the hot stones instantly and evenly. No more water dripping on the floor past the rocks from putting too much on. No more cooling the stones more than necessary due to pockets of water. I have full control over the steam. If I want the room to be humid, I simply crack the valve open just a bit and leave it for the whole sauna session. The water then drips very slowly on to the rocks providing constant humidity and great aroma smell. If I'm at the end of the sauna session and really want to heat up, I can open the valve most of the way, then a wave of hot steam wraps the whole room. If I want it to stop, I just close the valve, and the steam stops.

Ever since I build the first Sauna Steam Bucket, everyone complements me on how good the sauna experience is. It's a perfect accessory that I think every sauna should have.

Buy Sauna Steam Bucket Now!

Sauna Steam Bucket

Buy Today! https://www.etsy.com/listing/4380624148/sauna-steam-bucket-add-steam-humidity

Sauna Fan - Move Hot Air and Aroma Around the Sauna Hot Room

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/1576365793/sauna-twister-for-aufguss-to-distribute

  You've done saunas for years. This is not your first rodeo. You get it nice and warm, put your favorite aroma oils in the water bucket, go in and get comfortable on the bench, with your favorite music playing. Throw a few ladles of that great smelling water on the rocks and enjoy. You're in your best sauna. But, are you really?

Have you ever had anyone in the sauna whip out their towel and start spinning it to circulate the air around? All of the sudden, the air gets hotter, the aroma scent thicker, and the sauna feeling much much better! The formal history of it, I guess, is that it's a ritual. The formal name-- Aufguss. From German meaning "infusion" as the following site explains:

https://chelsea.lenordik.com/en/2021/10/what-is-aufguss/

If you've read the blog post from the link above, there are professionals that do the towel spinning. They're called the Aufgussmister. But, no need to be that technical, this is your private sauna after all. However, if you don't feel like spinning your sweat-soaked towel around and adding aroma you don't intend, there are sauna accessories that can be purchased online that will help you achieve that next level sauna. 

One such fan was designed and is used in both of my saunas. The Sauna Twister is a fun an easy way to get the air moving and makes the sauna more enjoyable. Give it a try today and support this blog!

Buy Sauna Twister

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1576365793/sauna-twister-for-aufguss-to-distribute

Next time you go for sauna, give Aufguss a try. Then, come back and comment below with your thoughts.

Premium specialized sauna accessories-- not required.

Once the sauna was getting close to completion, usable, but not finished, a big step for me was to start buying the accessories for it. A necessary accessory is a wooden bucket and a ladle. My go to place for both was the web. However, I was a little surprised that I had to pay $60+ for anything close to decent (a plastic water liner in a 200+F sauna? Really?). Also, it was no secret that the same buckets/ladles being sold on different websites were also sold on AliExpress at about $20 cheaper per bucket or even cheaper when bought in bulk. After exhausting all my options, I bit the bullet and bought the best deal I could find, on Amazon, which fit my needs. Grand total for the sauna bucket and ladle, about $69.

Bucket I purchased online, specifically for sauna use $45.

Ladle I purchased online specifically for Sauna use $21.55.

When everything arrived, we were excited to try them out. Both the sauna bucket and ladle looked authentic and were a great fit to all the cedar used in the sauna. Things were good, however, after the first few sessions, we noticed that the ladle sprung a leak. The ladle, advertised as being specifically for a sauna, was carved out of wood. It seemed like the cup portion of it, was carved out of a piece containing a knot. After a few more rounds of sauna, with shrinking and expending, the wood gave and the ladle split. A few sessions later, the ladle broke completely. This was a special ladle, specifically for saunas, and thus, at a premium price of $21.55.

A wooden sauna ladle cracked from use.

For a few sessions after, we ended up using Styrofoam cups and whatever else we could find to dump water on the sauna stove. One day, I was at Walmart, in the cooking accessories isle. There was a stainless steel ladle for sale, with a wooden handle—for cooking. Ladles of such material, specifically for saunas, are $40 online!! This thing, under $6.

This brings me to my main point. An item doesn’t need to be specifically made for a certain use to be charged a premium on. Below is a screenshot of ladles on Walmart.com

A regular ladle is cheap!

Now, here is the same search with the word Sauna added. Do you see my point?

A ladle with the word "Sauna", is sold at a premium.

Furthermore, as one of my friends pointed out, if you go to say HomeDepot.com and do a search for Galvanized Pail, you’ll get the following, CHEAP, results. These things will outlive your sauna by many years.

Alternative cheap sauna buckets sold at Home Depot.

So, the moral of this post is, try and find non-specialized items to be used in a sauna, in a specialized way. It may save you some money as well as frustration of buying inferior specialized products sold at a premium.