Will Cheap Saunas Prove Their Worth?
Charlie Cory
Getting a cheap sauna from Ebay is not necessarily a bad idea, because if you can find a quality sauna at a good price, then you could be laughing all the way to the bank. However, a cheap sauna in terms of price and quality is not such a good idea.
What we are talking about here, are not bargains, but cheap in terms of price and cheap in terms of quality.
One of the Canadian watchdogs, the ESA (The Electrical Safety Authority) has done some investigative work and studies into cheap sauna imports, and have come to some startling (and worrying) conclusions. The electrics in many of these cheap imported saunas were poorly constructed and from inferior materials. Amongst other things, the use of unapproved electrical heaters caused the temperature rating of the heater elements and the heater element guards to exceed standard requirements. The lack of a suitable non-metallic guard or fence to restrict physical contact with the heater or heater element guard if the temperature exceeds standard requirements was also missing. The ESA strongly advises against purchasing one of these unapproved saunas, and to stop using it and unplug it immediately if one has already been purchased.
Whilst not necessarily indicative of the state of all imported saunas, it does help to reinforce the notion that with cheap saunas as with everything else, you generally get what you pay for. And when we are talking about health and safety with cheap saunas, it does tend to suggest that extra precautions should be taken when shopping for cheap saunas.
The wood that saunas are usually made from, at least historically and in the case of the high quality saunas, is cedar. Apart from being soft and generally resistant to cracking, especially useful in a sauna here the continual raising and dropping of temperature will put the best materials to the test, cedar wood is naturally anti-fungal and anti-bacterial owing to the unique properties of the cedar oil. This is especially important in the sauna where bodies, moisture and heat combine to make the environment perfect for moulds and bacteria. From an aesthetic point of view, cedar wood is one of the most beautiful woods available ranging from a very light honey to a deep walnut shade.
So if you are tempted to buy a cheap sauna, then you need to think very carefully and do some research into the materials from which the sauna is made. Will it stand up to the stresses that it will be put under in terms of the rapid and continual temperature changes or not?
In many cases, cheaply manufactured saunas will use cheap soft wood. It may look nice to start with, but not all soft wood is suitable for the extreme conditions to which they are being subjected. Do your research.
Before you lose your shirt on a http://www.whatsauna.com/ cheap sauna start your research at http://www.whatsauna.com/cheap-saunas.html Cheap Saunas and reduce the risks to your wallet.
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