Sauna Watts compares home saunas from the figures their makers publish, then does the arithmetic. This page sets out exactly what we read, when, how saunas are sorted and picked, what is missing, and what we never do.
What we read, and when
- Seven brands, 116 saunas, read by script on November 7, 2026, from each brand's own store or spec sheets: Almost Heaven (almostheaven.com, 50 saunas), Redwood Outdoors (redwoodoutdoors.com, 16), Sun Home (sunhomesaunas.com, 15), Peak Saunas (peaksaunas.com, 11), SaunaBox (saunabox.com, 4), Sweat Kingdom (sweatkingdom.com, 4) and Sunlighten (16 spec sheets from sunlighten.com). Catalogs and prices from each store's public product feed (Shopify
products.json), specifications from each product page. - Prices: the lowest-priced version in stock on that day, including sale prices, and the store's own compare-at price when it shows one. For traditional saunas that version is named, because the heater changes the price, the wattage and the breaker. Sunlighten publishes no prices.
- One seller per sauna. These brands sell direct; we list the brand's own store and its price. Some models are also sold elsewhere (Almost Heaven has a product page on costco.com, for instance); we have not read other retailers' prices yet.
- Electricity: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A, average price of electricity to residential customers by state, August 2026 (50 states, D.C. and the U.S. average of 18.16 cents per kWh), read on November 7, 2026.
- Electrical rules: NEC 210.19(A)(1) and 210.20(A) (125 % of continuous loads) and Article 100 (continuous load, three hours or more), as quoted by IAEI Magazine and EC&M. We did not read the NFPA text itself.
- Heat-up: Harvia BC heater manual (Y05-0320), "about an hour for a properly insulated sauna"; SaunaBox, Solara 2-Person, "reaches 158°F in approximately 45 minutes".
The figures we compare
- Type (infrared, traditional with an electric heater), indoor or outdoor, shape, and the number of people the maker sells it for.
- Power: total watts for infrared, as printed; the heater kW of the priced version for traditional. Peak's Crown is printed as "~1,800W" and shown as approximate; Peak's Mini page prints two figures (1,200 W and 1,500 W) and we use the higher.
- Electrical: volts, the circuit or breaker the maker asks for, the outlet (NEMA type) or "hardwired", and the wire when it is printed.
- Outside dimensions in inches, as printed (feet and fractions converted). When one page sells several sizes, we cannot tell which size the lowest price buys, so we show "varies by size" and leave the model out of the fit check.
- Our arithmetic is marked [calc]: current = watts / volts, 125 % of it, floor area, cost of a session at your state's price.
How picks are chosen
Each "Our picks in 30 seconds" box applies one written rule per badge: the cheapest sauna, in stock and with a published price, that meets the condition in the badge; a sauna already picked in the box is skipped for the next badge. Conditions use only published figures: "plugs into a 120 V outlet" means the maker names a 120 V plug or outlet; "for 4 people or more" uses the maker's own count; "with its breaker size published" means the product page prints it. Tables are sorted by price (cheapest first) or by the figure in the column. Commissions are not part of any rule and never change an order: Almost Heaven, for which we found no affiliate program, is picked whenever its price wins.
What is missing
- Not exhaustive. Brands we have not covered yet: Clearlight (prices on request only, and its affiliate program excludes most of its saunas), Dynamic and Golden Designs (a large catalog, no affiliate program found), RecoSauna (prices shown in euros with Finnish VAT, heater sold separately), Medical Saunas, True North, SaunaSpace, and the big retailers (Costco, Home Depot, Amazon), whose prices we cannot read reliably.
- Left out on purpose: 7 Sweat Kingdom models whose pages publish no dimensions or electrical figures; out-of-stock and discontinued models; bundles with cold plunges; heaters sold alone; wood-burning versions.
- Not published by the maker: watts for 6 Sun Home infrared models and 3 Almost Heaven infrared models (only volts, amps and outlet); breaker sizes for 9 Almost Heaven models; outside dimensions for 12 models. We write "not published" and never estimate.
- Running costs are ceilings: no maker publishes how much its thermostat cycles once the room is hot.
How often we update
Prices were read once, on November 7, 2026, in the middle of Black Friday sales. We plan to re-read every catalog at least once a month, and first in early December 2026 when the sales end; each page shows the date it was last updated, and each price the date it was read.
What we never do
- We do not test saunas. We have not bought, used or sat in any of them, and never describe heat, comfort or build quality from experience.
- No star ratings, no scores and no customer reviews written or imported by us.
- No health claims, and we do not repeat the makers' health claims.
- No discount percentage computed by us: a struck-through price only appears when the store shows it.
- No fake urgency or stock counters.
How we are paid
Some links may earn us a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you, once an affiliate program accepts the site (none has yet). Details: affiliate disclosure. Who writes: the Sauna Watts editorial team, see About.