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9 Best Sauna Heater 2021: The Complete Review and Buying Tips

Fixing or creating your home sauna is a must. It’s as relaxing as yoga but just so much better, right? Great for your body and mind, especially on cold nights, the home sauna is an awesome way to pamper yourself without driving to the nearest public sauna.

But you already know this, it’s why you’re here. You’re looking for the best sauna heater and we’re happy to announce that we’ve found it. Well, found 10 to be exact.

Brace yourself, it’s about to get steamy (if sauna heaters are your thing, don’t read this at work)!

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Quick Summary – The Best Sauna Heaters

In a rush? No problem. Here are the best sauna heaters and what you need to know about them.

Best Sauna Heater Brand: Finlandia FLB-80, for quality, reliability and great aesthetics.

Best Electric Sauna Heater: TURKU TU90WD-OD, for durable Teflon coating and large room capacity.

Best Wood Burning Sauna Stove: Harvia M3, for charming traditional vibes.

Best Infrared Sauna Heater: SereneLife Portable, for personal-use ingenuity.

Best Budget Sauna Heater: VEVOR Coasts AM20A, for the low price and strong build.

All 10 sauna heaters on our list were carefully researched and selected. Don’t worry if the top 5 aren’t in your budget, you can get all hot and sweaty knowing you’ve got a quality sauna heater if you buy any from this list.

The Hottest Guide to Choosing Sauna Heaters

The sauna you usually visit is the holy grail for relaxation. But all those people you need to share it with? Well, wouldn’t it be better without them? Creating a private sauna at home is a tempting thought. But before you get carried away with your home sauna fantasies, follow this brief guide to get an understanding of the sauna heater you need.

1. The Different Types of Sauna Heaters

electric-sauna-heater-stove-with-stones-placed-on-top-of-it-5941478

Electric: these units are the cheapest and the safest to use. They only need electricity to work, so plug them in or wire them directly in (depending on the unit) and simply use the controls to release the heat.

Infrared: infrared heaters are way more expensive than electric ones and hard to get your hands on for home use. They work by directly heating objects and people in the room, instead of heating the air which in turn heats you. This means you can sit anywhere in the room to feel the effects of the infrared sauna heater and there won’t be any steam.

Wood-Burning: this is the traditional style of sauna heater from Scandinavia that the Finnish love – they look the most attractive but require the most work to get them going. These stoves burn wood in a lower compartment that heats sauna rocks on top to heat the room – splashing water on these rocks will create steam.

2. What Size Sauna Heater Do I Need?

Size Sauna Heater

It depends on how much space you have for the sauna heater. If it needs to be wired in, then that will limit where you can place it and you need to plan around your existing space.

Then there’s the size of the room. Your sauna heater will be useless if it can’t warm the whole room to steamy sauna levels! We’ve given an estimated max. room size that each sauna can heat in our mini-reviews below. Don’t worry too much if the heater you end up with isn’t suitable – Amazon has their standard 30-day return window.

3. How Much Does A Sauna Heater Cost?

Sauna Heater

The sauna heaters on our list range from $150 to $1,000 (make sure you check the current prices by clicking below each review) which is quite a wide array. The cheaper heaters on the list are for home saunas and small rooms that don’t need much to get up to temperature. The almost-unbelievably expensive sauna heaters could power a full commercial-sized sauna room. The top of the range sauna heaters you find on our list could very well be the sauna heater your nearest public sauna is using.

We recommend budgeting $500 to start with, then adjusting as you work out what you need to raise the roof with hot air.

9 Best Sauna Heater

1. Finlandia FLB-80 Sauna Heater

Finlandia FLB-80 Sauna Heater

Best Sauna Heater Brand

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 8kw
  • Unit Size: 16 x 11 x 24 inches
  • Room Size: up to 425 cubic feet
  • Construction: stainless-steel inside and out, with sauna stones
  • Controls: turn dials on the front of the unit at the base
  • Warranty: 1-year guarantee

Finlandia is one of the most trusted electric sauna heater brands in the business! The FLB-80 model is our favorite electric sauna heater for your home. It’s easy to install and even easier to use, just follow the instructions in the very detailed manual. The unit is sturdy solid steel painted a trendy maroon color. On top are the sauna stones (included with your purchase) held securely in a metal frame. Drop water on there to create a steamy sauna at home.

Controlling it is ultra-simple. You have 2 dials to turn located at the base on the front of the unit. 1 dial controls temperature (from min to max) and the other is a 1-hour timer dial with 8 intervals. So, settle down and turn the sauna heater on, or pre-set it to start in an hour or less.

Pros: can be used wet or dry, easy controls, durable and long-lasting

Cons: expensive

2. TURKU TU90WD-OD Residential Sauna Heater

TURKU TU90WD-OD Residential Sauna Heater

Best Electric Sauna Heater

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 9kw
  • Unit Size: 22.5 x 16 x 10.5 inches
  • Room Size: up to 450 cubic feet
  • Construction: stainless steel, Teflon element coating, aluminum thermostat sensor casing
  • Controls: outdoor digital controller
  • Warranty: unknown

This TURKU model is your high-tech alternative to the awesome Finlandia model – which is impressive considering the price difference! It’s an electric sauna heater with outdoor controls, allowing you to control the temperature of the sauna from outside the sauna room with digital display.

There’s some tech inside too. The overheating protection system automatically cuts the power if it detects abnormally high temperatures inside the unit. It does heat up very fast, thanks to the ventilated unit design and the direct contact between the heating coils and the sauna rocks (you can still sprinkle water on them for extra steam). So, overheating can be a problem with this model if you push it to the limits.

Otherwise, it’s an easy to use and fast sauna heater once you have it installed.

Pros: reasonable price, overheating protection system

Cons: harder to install by yourself

3. Harvia M3 Woodburning Sauna Heater

Harvia M3 Woodburning Sauna Heater

Best Wood Burning Sauna Stove

  • Type: wood burning
  • Power: n/a
  • Unit Size: 15.4 x 17 x 28 inches
  • Room Size: up to 459 cubic feet
  • Construction: galvanized black metal with stainless-steel
  • Controls: glass door wood burner
  • Warranty: unknown

The M3 woodburning sauna heater is the most attractive you’ll find. The sleek matte black unit with glass door to show off your smoldering logs and stainless-steel panel is topped with large sauna stones (included in your order) that produce wonderful steam when you throw water on them.

Installing this sauna heater requires more planning, from choosing an inflammable floor type (tiles) to burning through wood logs to get the temperature up to where you need it. Luckily there’s a video to help you (don’t worry, it’s translated into English).

Harvia includes the chimney parts of this sauna too, as you’ll need to connect the pipes up to direct the smoke out of the room – a necessary evil that comes with wood-burning stoves.

We adore this woodburning sauna heater because of all the heaters on the list, this one creates the most relaxing and natural environment. It’s also great for showing off to guests!

Pros: creates a relaxing atmosphere, heats larger room sizes than most electric heaters

Cons: requires patience and effort to bring the temperature up by burning wood

Preview Product Price
Harvia M3 Woodburning Sauna Heater Harvia M3 Woodburning Sauna Heater $1,500.00

4. SereneLife Portable Infrared Home Spa

SereneLife Portable Infrared Home Spa

Best Infrared Sauna Heater

  • Type: personal infrared sauna
  • Power: 1kw
  • Unit/Room Size: 27.6 x 31.5 x 37.8 inches
  • Construction: material, plastic
  • Controls: wired remote controller
  • Warranty: 1 year

The SereneLife is a new kind of sauna, a portable personal sauna! Yes, it looks odd so just make sure the curtains are closed before you indulge yourself in this sauna experience. It’s a fabric/plastic constructed box with a simple chair inside. You zip your body in with your arms and head sticking out, then let the sauna get to work. The controls are on a wire, so you can monitor the temperature from the outside.

We also liked that there’s a footpad heating mat, so your feet stay toasty while your body absorbs the heat. It’s not perfect, however. The heat seems to be more intense on your back than elsewhere and it’s not overly sturdy or well-made. You have a standard 1-year warranty that you can extend by 3 months by leaving a review (details in the warranty leaflet). 200 words total.

Pros: great price, total privacy, infrared heating

Cons: can’t be shared, looks weird!

5. VEVOR Coasts AM20A 2KW Sauna Heater

VEVOR Coasts AM20A 2KW Sauna Heater

Best Budget Sauna Heater

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 2kw
  • Unit Size: 11.8 x 7 x 18.6 inches
  • Room Size: up to 106 cubic feet
  • Construction: stainless-steel
  • Controls: turn dials on the front of the unit at the base
  • Warranty: 60 days

The VEVOR 2kw sauna heater is a small unit with an even smaller price tag! It’s our favorite low-budget option when you have a small space to heat. Just bear in mind that for this price, it’s not the most amazing. The time it takes to heat the room and the temperature you’re eventually sat in isn’t the fastest or highest.

It has many of the same features as leading sauna heaters including stainless-steel construction, wall mounting, and the turn dial controls for timing the sauna start and controlling the temperature. Unfortunately, there are no sauna stones with this model, so you’ll be enjoying your heat dry.

You could, potentially, buy multiple VEVOR sauna heaters to use, but that wouldn’t be recommended. If this heater is too small for your room, it’s better to get a higher-powered model rather than sit in lukewarm temperatures.

Pros: very affordable, small size, easy controls

Cons: only heats a small room, doesn’t get exceptionally hot

6. Finlandia FLB-60 Sauna Heater

Finlandia FLB-60 Sauna Heater

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 6kw
  • Unit Size: 16 x 11 x 24
  • Room Size: 300 cubic feet
  • Construction: stainless-steel inside and out, with sauna stones
  • Controls: turn dials on the front of the unit at the base
  • Warranty: 1-year guarantee

The FLB-60 model from Finlandia is a slightly lower-powered version of our best Finlandia model, the FLB-80. This one has a slightly lower power rating at 6kw rather than 8, and it heats a maximum of 300 cubic feet.

Did you know that Finlandia sauna heaters are made in Finland? It does make them more expensive to get in the USA, but it’s a sign of tradition and quality. You’re buying a sauna designed and made by the people who know saunas the best.

The first time you switch it on will be a “burn off” to get rid of the coating on the heating elements. Once that’s out of the way, you can enjoy your new home sauna.

It’s sturdy, reliable and an all-round good sauna heater. Even though it didn’t make the top 5, it’s still an excellent choice that you won’t regret.

Pros: sturdy construction, sauna stones included, heats fast

Cons: quite expensive, doesn’t offer anything different to lower/higher powered models

7. Coasts AM90MID3 Sauna Heater

Coasts AM90MID3 Sauna Heater

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 9kw
  • Unit Size: 28 x 17 x 12 inches
  • Room Size: approx. 450 cubic feet
  • Construction: galvanized sheet metal
  • Controls: external wired digital controller
  • Warranty: unknown

Coasts is another well-known sauna heater maker in the industry with various models available. This one is their most high powered with 9kw which should heat a 450 cubic feet room (approximately, as we cannot find a figure from Coasts themselves). This one is great for long sauna sessions one after the other, as it will heat a room continuously for 4 hours.

It also has an auto-off feature which will stop powering the unit if the room temperature gets dangerously high. The controller, which is one of the best we’ve seen, shows you both the temperature and the time the sauna has been on. You can wire this to show outside of the sauna room at eye level.

What we didn’t like was how it looks. Yes, we believe that’s important! It’s an ugly unit made from sheet metal, not stainless-steel and doesn’t come with any sauna stones although you can buy them separately.

Pros: auto-turn off when the room temperature is too high, great controller, decent price

Cons: doesn’t look very attractive, no sauna stones, average construction

8. VEVOR AM60Mt Sauna Heater

VEVOR AM60Mt Sauna Heater

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 9kw
  • Unit Size: 15.7 x 11 x
  • Room Size: 459 cubic feet
  • Construction: stainless-steel
  • Controls: turn dials on the front of the unit at the base
  • Warranty: 60 days

Wait, haven’t I seen this one before?

Yep, that’s something you think a lot to yourself when you’re comparing home sauna heaters. Don’t they all look the same? It’s what’s on the inside that counts. The Mt models from VEVOR are all about creating a steamy, hot sauna for your home. We reviewed the 9kw model, but you can also find it in 6kw, 3kw, and 2kw versions.

You can opt for the same model but with an external controller. For some reason, this allows the model to reach 105°C rather than the standard 90°C that all VEVOR saunas can reach.

Overall, this is a good high-powered model if you already have sauna stones to spare. Just be aware that some users that we spoke to are reporting issues with the unit that require it to be returned. Luckily, Amazon’s 30-day return policy makes this very simple.

Pros: excellent price, high power, heats up quickly

Cons: not the most reliable, no sauna stones included

9. Happybuy 9KW Sauna Heater

Happybuy 9KW Sauna Heater

  • Type: electric
  • Power: 9kw
  • Unit Size: 15.7 x 11 x 22.4 inches
  • Room Size: 459 cubic feet
  • Construction: stainless-steel
  • Controls: wired digital control pad
  • Warranty: Amazon 30-day returns

The final sauna heater on our list is from a completely different brand, rather than the tried and tested Finlandia, VEVOR, and Coasts. The Happybuy 9kw sauna heater with a external controller is an affordable sauna heater model with a sleek stainless-steel exterior that would suggest it’s a great unit…

Looks can be deceiving.

It’s not all that sturdy. While you have the same features as standard (dials, external control pad to wire to the wall, wall mount, sauna stone-compatible, etc.) it’s just not built to the same quality level. It takes some time to heat up, so we’d recommend it for smaller rooms that need to be heated at lower temperatures.

It won’t raise the roof, but it will still make you sweat!

Pros: excellent price, external controls are easy to use

Cons: light and not durable, not suitable for heavy use