We analyze in detail the difference between a wood-burning, gas and electric sauna stove

Probably the first question that a buyer faces when choosing a stove for a bath is not even its power, but the type - wood, gas or electric?

In some situations, the choice, of course, is predetermined (for example, the impossibility of installing a wood-burning stove for some reason, the lack of gas or a three-phase electric line, but most often there is an alternative choice, and then making a decision becomes difficult. Therefore, it is worth considering the advantages and disadvantages of all three types of ovens.

Wood-burning or electric stove for a bath: what to take?

Well, if we are not talking about a stove that will be in an apartment or house, then the choice is really relevant. A wood-burning or electric sauna stove has its advantages, as well as disadvantages, and by weighing them, you can come to a thoughtful decision.

Electric heaters are easier to maintain , wood-burning ones will require the skills of a stoker, and also guarantee constant concern about the condition of the ash pan, chimney, replenishment of firewood and other chores.

But electricity is much more expensive than firewood , and installing a sauna stove requires inviting a professional electrician , who can tell you that your wiring is unsuitable and needs to be replaced. (Of course, this does not always happen.)

By the way, to find out which of the stoves - 220 volts or 380 - is suitable in your case, we recommend reading this article.

Arrangement of a sauna also requires the creation of a grounding loop , and some of the work must be carried out at the construction stage - laying a mesh on the waterproofing, edging the perimeter with a steel strip to which the mesh is welded, and then connecting the structure to the zero on the panel.

A wood stove will require, at a minimum, the construction of a foundation , and at a maximum, a separate foundation. In addition, the correct installation of a chimney is also not an easy task . In the case of a remote firebox, you will also have to build a fire-resistant wall .

Thus, in no case will it be completely without difficulties , but we agree to some things easier, so the decision about which stove will be in your steam room is yours. We only advise you to read our article, which provides more food for thought about different types of sauna stoves.

And for those who are strongly inclined to purchase an electric stove for a bath , we advise you to read the article about the intricacies of its choice and this short review of electric stoves.

Ease of use

Is an electric stove suitable for a Russian bath?

We have already said that the traditions of the Russian bath are not yet forgotten in our country, so it is quite reasonable to ask whether it is possible to take a normal steam bath with an electric sauna heater?

Traditionalists , as a matter of course, will say that no, this is impossible . In fact, electric stoves were invented for saunas. And what they do best is to maintain the Finnish bath mode, that is, to dry the air and heat it to very high temperatures using high convection.

In a real Russian bath, the temperature should be lower and the humidity should be higher, and the humidity should come from good, light steam obtained from overheated stones. And those stones that lie in the open heater of the sauna stove cannot heat up to the required temperatures . If the stove is also electric, then it must be protected from excess water, which can damage the heating elements - heating elements located between the stones.

The photo shows heating elements for electric heaters, red-hot.

The problem of steam generation in a sauna with an electric heater is usually solved with the help of a steam generator - built-in or separate. We recommend that you read the article that examines this issue in detail. Here we will say that there are different types of steam generators - some produce heavy white steam, which has nothing in common with what is needed in a Russian steam room, others cope well with the task of creating finely dispersed steam - you need to find out about this at the purchase stage.

CONCLUSION! So, using an electric oven to create the conditions of a Russian bathhouse to the fullest extent is impossible, but with a good steam generator it will still be possible to steam, the main thing is to keep the temperature around 65 degrees and give more steam.

It remains to be seen which models of electric stoves for Russian baths are best suited for the task.

Firebox: which one is better?

In bathhouses, regular or extended fireboxes are used. A stove with a standard firebox design is heated from the room that will be heated.

The elongated design makes it possible to load fuel from an adjacent room: a dressing room or a rest room. Such models for wood-fired saunas are fireproof, eliminating the contamination of the steam room and the risk for visitors of accidentally getting burned. But there are costs associated with building a tunnel.

Finnish sauna stove

Electric heater for a Russian bath: what is on the market?

Finnish steam generators are mainly designed to produce heavy steam. But Russian ones, on the contrary, are specially made for those who are looking for a compromise between the speed of preparation for procedures and the Russian steam room. Therefore, we recommend that you pay attention to domestic products if we are talking about a more or less budget option , or buy expensive Finnish models with closed heaters, which will be discussed in the next subheading.

Here are examples of Russian electric sauna heaters with steam generators:

"Teplodar"

• SteamCartridge (separate)
• SteamCity (separate)

"Polytech"

• "Christina" with ENU evaporator (from 12I to 18I)

Electric stove for a Russian bath with a closed heater - the optimal solution, limited choice

Many people know that proper steam can only be obtained in a closed heater, but this is only true for wood-burning stoves . And here's why: heating stones to high temperatures (over 400 degrees) is impossible if the stones are lying openly, with access to air.

In this case, they will heat up to 200-250 degrees from above. This means that you add water once and they will cool down, and the steam will not be of the best quality. Only stones superheated in a closed volume will produce finely dispersed steam, which is what is needed in a Russian bath.

A closed heater is placed in the firebox, closer to the fire that washes it. There is nothing like this in an electric stove - it is a bowl with heaters that convert electricity into thermal energy. Heat is transferred from the heaters to the stones.

If the heater is open, then what is said about the temperature of the upper stones applies to it. But there are also closed electric heaters. And the task that is primarily assigned to the lid in such an oven is to stop convection.

Electric heater-thermos

The fact is that the heating rate of the steam room directly depends on how quickly the stove can transfer heat to the air. If there is a constant flow through it, the process goes quickly. But in a Russian steam room, it is customary to stop convection (heat flow) in order to create a “steam cake” under the ceiling. A lid on an electric stove is a way to stop convection.

But whether it is possible to get good steam from a closed electric heater is a question of the number of stones and the power of the stove. The more powerful the furnace, the more it heats the stones. The more stones there are, the less likely it is to damage the heaters by flooding them with water.

However, a powerful stove is only suitable for a sufficiently large steam room. Therefore, the creators of electric stoves took a different route - they used electricity to convert water into steam separately from stones.

ADVICE! For those who have a small steam room, it is better to buy stoves with steam generators (combi or separate).

The best option today among electric stoves for a Russian bath with a closed heater would be the so-called “thermos” stoves, similar to the following models:

• Harvia Forte;
• Harvia Symphony;
• Helo 18 UKKOTONTTU

Warning! “Thermoses” are expensive, more than 100 thousand. However, these electric stoves are quite suitable for a Russian bath, because they allow you to get high-quality steam from the stones.

General issues

Life time

Among wood-burning stoves, cast iron ones are the most durable, but it is very important to observe the combustion mode and not overheat the stove, since cast iron can burst due to overheating, after which the stove is most likely beyond repair. Overheating of steel furnaces is also dangerous, which leads to deformation of panels and rupture of welds. The thickness of the slab above the firebox does not always directly reflect the intended working life of the steel furnace, but we can definitely say that frequent overheating will also lead to faster burnout of the slab.

The service life of gas furnaces largely depends on the quality of individual components and elements. With proper quality, the operation of a gas furnace can be very long.

The service life of electric stoves is approximately 10 years, but it must be taken into account that they are designed for different intensity of use: from a private, home sauna with 2-3 steam sessions per week to a public commercial sauna with many hours of daily loads.

Fire safety

Fire safety assessment is largely subjective and often based on personal negative experience. It is traditionally believed that a wood stove is the most dangerous in this regard. But in order to minimize risks, it is enough to fulfill all the necessary fire safety requirements when building a bathhouse, regularly clean the chimney, and be careful when using the stove. A gas furnace can pose no less a danger if the installation and connection were not carried out in good faith, low-quality materials were used and a gas leak occurs. Using a gas cylinder is an even greater risk factor. The same applies to electric furnaces: a fire due to a short circuit is very likely if the power line wiring is careless, the cross-section of the wire does not correspond to the load, there is no flammable cable protection or used, etc.

Mandatory and optional components of an electric sauna stove

After the article mentioned heating elements more than once, it’s time to clarify what they are, which ones are better, and what else is included with electric stoves.

Heating elements for electric heaters

A heating element is a tubular electric heater ; it is found not only in heaters, but also in washing machines and kettles. This is a spiral in a durable shell - a tube, usually made of stainless metal.

Heating elements are relatively cheap , but at the same time they are very fragile , especially when they are in the open state, as in heaters. When laying stones, they can be damaged. Filling them with water can ruin them. And yet most manufacturers still include them in their products.

However they have an alternative:

Electric heaters with band heaters

Tape heaters have two advantages: they are stronger and more economical than their predecessors. Cost-effectiveness is expressed in the fact that, with equal power to heating elements, tape heaters heat 1.5 times more volume , and strength lies in the fact that it is much more difficult to damage them, because the heaters are located inside the ceramic tape.

Electric heater with tape heaters. Photo source

The cost of electric heaters with tape heaters may be higher, but they are still somewhere in the middle price category ; there are heaters with heating elements that are much more expensive.

Electric heater control panel

Models with two modifications are often found on sale: built-in and remote control panel . In the first case, all buttons and knobs will be located on the body, in the second - on a separate remote control.

Electric heater control panel

Standard features include temperature control, the ability to delay start up to 9 hours, and the ability to automatically turn off after a set period of time . If the heater has a steam generator , then there is humidity .

More remote controls for electric heaters

Electric sauna stove with water tank

Sometimes Internet users search online for an electric furnace with a water tank. Here we will disappoint them. When it comes to a water tank in a bathhouse , it usually means that there is no connection to a hot water supply, so you have to heat the water yourself for the needs of the washing room (we have detailed information about such stoves). However, this does not work for electric sauna stoves: yes, they also come with water tanks, but we are talking about models with steam generators that need this water to create steam. We simply didn’t find any other options!

Manufacturers of electric furnaces for baths

In order not to lump everything into a heap, we have divided the manufacturers of electric stoves for baths into domestic and foreign ones. In cases where entire articles are devoted to groups or individual manufacturers, brief information is provided here.

Domestic electric heaters for baths

Among them, it is worth mentioning the company "Polytech", which produces various stoves under the general name "Christina", varying only the second part of the name. The advantages of its heaters include the relatively low cost and the presence of strip heaters, the advantages of which were discussed above.

There are other manufacturers of electric furnaces for baths who supply strip heaters - these are Ermak and Elektropech . In addition, they are found in Vesta ovens, the manufacturer of which remains unknown to us. In all cases the price is moderate .

For a more complete overview of the most popular Russian heaters, we recommend reading the article at the link provided.

Video on topic

A video that talks about two Christina stoves of different power:

Foreign electric heaters

People in Russia are most familiar with Finnish-made heaters. And they really are the majority among the products of foreign companies represented on our market.

In this regard, we devoted several articles to Finnish electric stoves: a review of different companies, which, by the way, included the Swedish Tylo, which recently merged with the Finns, as well as two articles about the most popular company in Russia, Harvia - a review of the stoves of this companies and an article to help those who want to know whether Harvia is suitable for their steam room.

Video on topic

Video about the range of electric furnaces ]SAWO[/anchor]:

In addition to the Finns, you can also find German-made electric furnaces on the market, in particular from EOS.

Electric heater EOS

A characteristic feature of EOS stoves is that the company does not rely on attractive appearance, believing that strength and reliability are attractive in themselves. Therefore, there are relatively few cheap stoves in their model range, and among the expensive ones you can find such a refinement of design thought as a mill wheel that supplies water to a red-hot metal pyramid. Well, everything here is for everyone.

Therefore, we will risk expressing our own opinion: if durability is important to the buyer, EOS electric furnaces are quite suitable for him, even in the angular design that is typical of most models. Everything else, in essence, doesn’t matter. By the way, strange-looking cylindrical models appeared at last year’s exhibitions - Zeus and Orbit, for example. But they still lack grace.

EOS electric heaters are available in floor-mounted, wall-mounted and under-counter versions . Power varies within average limits: from 2 to 12 kW. Some models are equipped with steam generators .

IMPORTANT! It is worth paying attention to the network requirements - there are models that require non-standard 400 volts.

Reviews

Of course, we are all tired of advertising and want information that comes directly from users. But it has long been the subject of falsification, so let’s proceed from common sense: in general, reviews of the electric heater will be positive from those who received exactly what they wanted - either a sauna stove, or that rare variety that allows you to arrange a sauna “in Russians." And if you want more detailed information, take a look at the articles that are devoted to specific models, where reviews will concern both real advantages and real disadvantages.

Problem: the electric heater is humming

We can assume that the reason your electric heater is humming is due to an increase in air draft (this happens in chimneys). All electric furnaces have holes at the bottom for the intake of cold air, which flows to the heated stones, and from there goes upward with force. The upward movement of lighter hot air creates draft. It may be more or less, depending on the temperature difference .

Of course, the cause of the hum may also be a malfunction of the device. In this case, you should contact a specialist or service center.

Operating rules

When operating combined heating equipment, a number of rules must be observed:

1. It is prohibited to allow small children near the stove.
2. Do not turn on the gas burner if any elements are faulty.
3. After finishing the bath procedures, you need to check the gas taps. There is no need to overlap them.
4. We must not forget to regularly clean the chimney and combustion chamber from soot and ash.
5. It is forbidden to douse the flame in the firebox with water.
6. You can use liquefied gas, natural gas or any type of firewood.

Gas-burning stoves have gained great popularity due to the ability to use different types of fuel to heat bath rooms. A complex device requires precision installation work and consideration of operating features, but the result will please you with its efficiency and versatility.
30.11.2020