Sauna accessories: what matters, what is decoration and why

The short answer

• Only a few accessories are essential. For a traditional sauna: a ladle and bucket, a thermometer (ideally with a hygrometer), and whatever safety items the heater’s manual requires, such as a guard rail.
• Ladle size matters. Harvia’s manuals limit each throw to 0.2 litres. Bigger throws don’t make better löyly.
• A thermometer at bench height tells you what you feel. It will read lower than the control, and that is normal.
• Anything wooden or textile must be able to dry. Removable backrests, headrests and floor grates let air and cleaning reach the surfaces underneath.
• Scents go in the ladle water, never neat on the stones, and only products made for saunas.
• Commercial rooms add equipment, such as guard rails, drip trays where the heater maker offers them, and automatic water dispensers.
• Everything else is decoration. Sand timers and decorative pieces are pleasant, not necessary.

The heater’s manual governs anything that goes on, near or around the heater.

Functional or decorative?

Ladle: the size is a safety figure

Harvia’s heater manuals set a maximum ladle volume of 0.2 litres. Harvia’s own plastic pail-and-ladle set has a 0.2 L ladle to match. Other makers set their own limits for their own heaters, so if your heater isn’t a Harvia, check its manual.

Why this matters: the stones can only flash a certain amount of water into steam at once. Pour more and the rest runs straight through the heater. That cools the stones faster than they can recover, can splash boiling water out of the heater, and gives you less löyly, not more. Several small throws, with time for the stones to reheat in between, work better than one large one.

Handle length. Harvia’s wooden ladles come in lengths such as 36 cm and 48 cm. A longer handle keeps your hand and forearm further from the stones and the burst of steam, which is worth having on a tall heater or where the heater sits behind a guard. Whatever the ladle, pour onto the stones only, never onto the casing, the guard or the walls, and never when someone is near the heater. Harvia’s wooden ladles have a cord loop so they can be hung up to dry.

Bucket: material and where it sits

Harvia sells buckets in three broad materials:

• Timber with an inner liner. Harvia’s 7-litre wooden bucket has a plastic inner container, which Harvia says makes it last longer and easier to clean.- Stainless steel, in its accessory sets.
• Plastic, in its Click pail-and-ladle set.

Whichever you choose, keep the bucket on the floor or bench, well away from the heater, never on or against it. Manufacturers treat anything resting on or against the heater as a fire risk. After the session, empty the bucket and take it out of the room with the towels, so no standing water is left to keep the room damp.

Fill it with clean household water only. The water in the bucket ends up on the stones, so the heater manual’s water rules apply. Harvia prohibits chlorinated water and seawater, so never fill the bucket from a pool or spa.

Thermometer and hygrometer: placement and why it reads differently

A sauna has a strong temperature gradient. The hottest air collects at the ceiling above the heater, and the room cools towards the floor. In an illustrative example in one of Harvia’s North American heater manuals, a room measured about 82 °C above the heater but about 60 °C at upper-bench level and 49 °C at lower-bench level.

The control’s sensor sits in the hottest part of the room. Harvia’s control manual places it above a wall-mounted heater, about 100 mm below the ceiling, away from supply vents. Its job is to control the heater and protect against overheating, so it reads the hottest air.

A thermometer is for the bathers. Mount it where it shows the conditions you sit in:

• at about head height for someone on the upper bench, where you will read it;
• away from the heater, so radiant heat from the stones doesn’t push the reading up;
• out of the direct path of löyly and away from supply vents, so it doesn’t swing with every throw or every draught;
• away from the control’s sensor, which must not be moved, covered or crowded.

Why this matters: if the thermometer reads 15 °C below the control, nothing is wrong. The control is measuring a different, hotter place. Owners who chase the control’s setting from a thermometer at bench height, or move the sensor to match the thermometer, can upset the heater’s control and its overheat protection.

A hygrometer shows relative humidity. In a traditional sauna it rises sharply after each ladle and falls back as the moisture spreads and condenses. Read it as a trend, not a fixed figure. Harvia’s thermo-hygrometers combine both gauges in one timber frame.

Dial instruments in a hot room are indicative, not laboratory-grade. They are useful for comparing one session with the next.

Timers

A sand timer lets you keep track of a session without a phone or clock in the room. Harvia’s wall-mounted sand clock runs for 15 minutes. How long to stay in is a personal choice; we don’t give health advice on session length.

A sand timer is not the heater’s timer. The heater’s on-time limit is a safety feature of the heater or control, set by the manufacturer, with longer limits allowed only for public and commercial saunas. Switch the heater off at the end of each session rather than relying on any timer. Our controls guide explains heating-time limits and remote start.

Heater guards and safety railings

A guard or safety railing around the heater stops people brushing against the hot casing or stones, or falling against them when stepping down from a bench.

• Some heater manuals require one, and many specify the clearances a guard must keep. Harvia offers safety railings for heaters such as the Legend, Spirit, Cilindro and Glow, and says that where a railing is built, the safety distances in the manual’s figure must be kept. Harvia’s commercial heater manuals include clearances for a safety railing.
• Guards are model-specific. Dimensions, height and fixing differ between heaters. Harvia’s railings for its Legend and Spirit heaters fix to the heater with stainless steel brackets at a chosen height. Its Cilindro and Glow corner railings are timber arches fixed to the heater. Some other manufacturers limit a guard to no higher than the top of the heater.
• Commercial rooms see heavy, unsupervised use by people who don’t know the room, so a guard is commonly specified there. Confirm the requirement for the selected heater and the venue with the heater’s manual and the project’s certifier.

Why this matters: a guard built too close to the heater becomes a heat and fire risk itself. A guard that takes away the clearances to benches or walls defeats the safety distances the manual sets. Never hang towels or clothing on a guard. Our guide to benches and heat layers covers guards in the bench layout.

Headrests and backrests

Backrests stop you leaning against hot wall linings and give a more comfortable posture on the upper bench. Headrests (Harvia sells a shaped wooden bench pillow) support the neck when lying down.

What makes them work:

• Timber, in a light species with clear grades, because skin touches it. Light, low-density timbers feel cooler to the touch than dense ones.
• Slatted, with an air gap behind, so air circulates and the wall behind can dry.
• Removable, so they can be lifted out to clean and dry the surfaces behind and beneath them. Harvia’s own bench systems are designed so benches lift off their supports.

Why this matters: sweat and condensation collect wherever timber meets timber. A fixed backrest that never dries out is where marks, odour and mould start. Textile cushions and covers need the same treatment: take them out after use and wash and dry them.

Floor grates, mats and duckboards

Manufacturers don’t agree about timber on sauna floors. Harvia’s North American manuals advise against wooden duckboards as flooring for hygiene reasons and prefer a tiled or similar cleanable floor. Harvia also sells a vinyl floor-board mat for wet areas, and other makers accept timber decking at the cost of harder cleaning.

If a grate, duckboard or mat is used:

• it must lift out so both it and the floor beneath can be cleaned and dried;
• take it out regularly, scrub and dry it, and dry the floor before putting it back;
• never leave it in place over a wet floor for days at a time.

Why this matters: water trapped under a floor grate is the slowest-drying part of the room and the easiest place for mould to start, particularly in Queensland’s humidity.

Drip trays

Harvia offers drip trays for some wall-mounted heaters, and some of its heaters have a drip tray built in. Fit one only where the heater manufacturer offers or specifies it for that model, following its instructions. A tray improvised from other materials can interfere with the heater’s airflow or clearances.

Automatic water dispensers

An automatic water dispenser puts water onto the stones without a ladle. Harvia’s Autodose sprays water, or water mixed with sauna scent, across the stones at the press of a button or automatically at set intervals. Harvia lists it for professional use and notes that bathers no longer need to lean over the heater to throw water.

What to know:

• It is mainly a commercial accessory, for spa and venue saunas where many people share the löyly and nobody should lean over the heater.
• It needs services. A water supply (Harvia sells the piping separately) and an electrical connection, installed by a licensed plumber and a licensed electrician to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Compatibility comes first. The nozzle position, the heater, its stone load and the room’s ventilation all have to suit it. Confirm compatibility with the heater manufacturer’s documentation before it is specified.
• Water quality still applies. The water reaches the same stones, so the heater manual’s water rules apply as they do for a ladle.

Sauna scents and essential oils

Scents are optional. If you use them, the rules are simple:

• Use only products made for sauna use. Harvia’s heater manuals say to use only aromas designed for sauna water and to follow the instructions on the package.
• Mix them into the water. Harvia’s sauna scents are mixed into the water poured on the stones, or used in parts designed for scent, such as scent cups or channels. Use the dose on the label.
• Never pour scent or oil neat onto hot stones. Other heater manufacturers warn that undiluted essences, alcohol and herbs on the stones can catch fire, and one says strong essences speed up stone breakdown.
• Keep scents off the timber. Harvia warns against smearing sauna scents, honey or body-care products on benches.
• Ordinary essential oils are not sauna products. Use them only if their maker says they are suitable for sauna water, and diluted as directed.

We make no health claims for any scent. Use them for fragrance only.

What not to put in a sauna

Related guides

• Caring for your sauna: cleaning, drying, stones and the maintenance schedule.
• Using your sauna for the first time: first heats, ladle use and your first session.
• Sauna stones: rock types, loading and replacement.