Construction of a sauna stove: principles of operation that need to be understood

If you intend to install a large stove in the house, then this is one situation - here we “squeeze out” everything that is possible and to the fullest extent: a brick stove on a solid foundation and a seriously thought-out and insulated chimney. When it comes to a stove in a bathhouse, the situation here is much simpler and more varied.

Let us at least take into account that the market offers many already developed options for every taste. And the best choice would be to choose a ready-made, proven model. However, you will have to do the maintenance yourself, so it will be necessary to know the structure of the furnace.

Economical sauna stove taking into account all the nuances of use

Materials for laying the furnace

When choosing a material, the main thing is to choose a high-quality and well-fired brick.
The brick must have smooth edges, without cracks or chips. When dropped, it should break into several large pieces. If you get a lot of little things, the batch is not suitable. Brick for laying a sauna stove must have smooth edges, without chips or cracks

For masonry, you need to use ceramic refractory bricks, which are also called stove bricks. Ideally, it should all be of a standard size - 125x250x65 mm. But the reality is that not only do dimensions differ between different manufacturers, but there can also be significant differences between batches of the same manufacturer. Therefore, you have to carefully select their size. Many stove makers first lay out each row without mortar, laying out the bricks one by one, leaving gaps for the seams. This way you can avoid many mistakes.

You can first lay out a row of bricks without mortar and select the appropriate size

There is also a special stove brick: only three sides are fired. One spoon is left without burning. And the uneven unfired side is laid out (out of the firebox). But this is quite rare. Most people use regular red ceramic ones.

For laying the fuel zone, fireclay brick Ш5 of white, light pink or slightly yellowish color is used. It can withstand high temperatures. Its dimensions are slightly different. But this does not play a special role - in most furnaces, the firebox, lined with fireclay, is not connected to the furnace body, and there is no need to adjust the rows to one level. But if, suddenly, you need to align, you can file it down to achieve the required compliance.

Fireclay bricks can be different. Sh-5 is used for laying the fuel zone of a sauna stove

The preparation of mortar for fireclay bricks is made from white fireclay clay. It is sold in specialized building materials stores. You can use ready-made compositions for laying fireclay. But you cannot place the entire furnace on this solution: at a temperature of 600-800°C, this composition is sintered into a monolith. There are simply no such temperatures in external masonry, so over time the mortar simply pulls apart and spills out, and the masonry is destroyed.

For the rest of the furnace structure, a solution of clay and quartz sand is used. The mortar mixture ratio is 1:5 (1 part clay, 5 parts sand). Sand can be used from a quarry or river. The river solution is somewhat worse - its grains of sand are rolled and round, and this solution has worse characteristics. To make the stove last a long time, it is better to buy quarry sand. It must be sifted through a sieve with 2-2.5 mm mesh to prevent large particles from getting into the solution.

The furnace is laid using a clay-sand mortar

Clay extracted from quarries with a depth of at least 2 meters is suitable. Her choice must be taken carefully. You can check the quality of the clay yourself. Soak a small amount in water for one day (200 g). Roll it into a bun with your hands and leave it to dry under a canopy. After two days, check it for cracking. To do this, you need to “drop” it onto a slab or stone tile from a height of 170 cm. If the bun crumbles into several large pieces, it means the clay is suitable for laying a stove.

Having chosen a suitable clay, you need to prepare it: soak it in water until it becomes paste-like and rub it through a sieve. First with larger cells, then through a small cell.

You will also need a wire with a diameter of 2-3 mm. It will be used for fastening the furnace and blower doors.

This is how the stove casting is secured using wires between the rows of masonry

To install furnace casting, you will also need an asbestos cord - they are wrapped around those parts of the casting that are in direct contact with the brick, thus reducing the temperature of the casting and preventing cracking of the masonry. You also need to be careful when passing the chimney through floors and roof structures: be sure to lay asbestos sheets with heat-insulating material (you can use clay mortar). For more information on how to route a pipe through the roof, read the article “How to route a bathhouse pipe into the wall and through the roof”

The fireclay core and the furnace body are laid out separately. To increase the temperature in fireclay, basalt cardboard is sometimes laid between them.

Brick oven: cladding features

Brick stoves are suitable for cladding like no other, since brick and cladding have approximately the same coefficient of thermal expansion, which cannot be said about a metal structure. The brick oven heats up gradually, and the lining has time to warm up evenly. The most popular facing materials are:

• Clinker tiles . Clinker is characterized by high refractoriness and heat capacity; it does not deform over time and gives a cozy appearance to the steam room. During production, dyes and fireclay clay are mixed into clinker.
• Terracotta . Pressed unglazed clay that has been fired. The tile has a characteristic red-brown color and excellent strength indicators.

The fashion for tiles spread in the 17th and 18th centuries and has remained in demand to this day Source forumhouse.ru

• Majolica . Tile material obtained by pressing; an improved version of terracotta. A colored design is applied to the tiles and covered with glaze.
• Tile (a type of tile). Special box-shaped tiles, often handmade, decorated with a sophisticated pattern and filled with glaze, were originally invented for lining stoves. The tiles have a special design on the back side and are fastened with special metal pins into the seams, simultaneously with the stove masonry.

No. 1. Criteria for choosing a stove for a bath

The issues of choosing a reliable and durable stove must be addressed before the construction of the bathhouse begins, at the design stage. This approach will allow you to calculate in advance the main parameters of the equipment, organize the necessary foundation, and provide options for installing the furnace. In this case, the main criteria for selection are:

• type and design of the stove, type of fuel used;
• power and performance, compliance of the specified parameters with the size of the steam room and bathhouse as a whole. Insufficient power leads to wear and tear on the equipment. Too high a performance means rapid heating of the room with insufficient temperature of the stones, which leads to an imbalance in the adoption of health procedures;
• operating principle of the furnace. Classic models require constant maintenance. Long-burning stoves can provide heat for 4-6 hours without requiring your intervention;
• availability of a water tank;
• presence of convection function;
• steam quality The stoves are equipped with open or closed heaters. In the first case, light, dry steam is created in the steam room, in the second - wet steam.

Comparison of a closed heater with an open one

The first and key difference between stoves with a closed heater is the location of the stones and the quality of their heating.
Heating in them is provided by all elements of equipment: from the walls and chimney pipe. Thanks to the closed system and heating from several structural elements, the stones are heated to higher temperatures - 400-700 degrees. You can distinguish a closed heater by its appearance. To supply water to the stones in such stoves, a small door is provided; open heaters are not hidden in the stove, but remain visible, fixed in the grate.

Advantages of a sauna stove with a closed heater:

1. The steam room does not overheat, the temperature rises evenly, while creating the highest quality microclimate in the room.
2. Uniform heating of stones. Yes, it takes longer, but once fully warmed up, the stones will remain hot for many hours.
3. Creation of pleasant light steam due to the walls. The steam is not released immediately, but accumulates in the walls of the sauna stove, gradually entering the steam room.
4. Long-term heat retention in the steam room without the need to constantly add firewood.
5. Increased fire safety properties.
6. Great power. Stoves with closed heaters are more suitable for heating large steam rooms.
7. The ability to regulate the speed of heating the room; to speed it up, simply open the ash pan of the heater.
8. Increased security. When steam is supplied, the possibility of scalding is completely eliminated.

With such a large number of advantages, only 2 points are included in the disadvantages:

1. Long kindling time for long-term heat maintenance.
2. Increased fuel consumption to set temperature.

The disadvantages are mitigated by the fact that the heater cools down as slowly as it heats up. If to maintain heat in open-type stoves you need to constantly keep the firewood burning, then you don’t need to constantly worry about adding fuel.

No. 3. Sauna stove power

The dimensions of the steam room play a decisive role when choosing the power of the product. In order for the temperature inside the steam room to be optimal for the body, the bath should not be overheated. With too much power, the air will be hot and the stones will be cold. If you choose a model that is insufficient to warm up the steam room, it will take a long time to heat the bathhouse with corresponding energy costs. In this case, the service life of the furnace will be significantly reduced. In general, the furnace should have optimal power and, preferably, a sufficient range of its regulation.

The method for calculating the required power is as follows:

• calculate the volume of the steam room. For example, for a room measuring 3*2 and a ceiling height of 2.3 m, the volume will be 13.8 m3;
• calculate heat loss from cold surfaces (windows, doors). We calculate the area of ​​these surfaces and multiply it by 1.2, since each such square meter absorbs the heat necessary to heat 1.2 m3 of volume. Let's say in a steam room there is a window 0.5 * 0.8 m (area 0.4 m2) and a door 2 * 0.9 m (area 1.8 m2). The total area of ​​cold surfaces is 2.2 m2. It is necessary to increase the calculated volume by 2.2*1.2=2.64 m3;
• We summarize the obtained indicators. Yields 16.44 m3;
• We make allowances for the material of the bathhouse. If the bathhouse is made of logs, without finishing (minimal thermal insulation), then the result is multiplied by 1.6. If the inside of the bathhouse is lined with clapboard and there is a layer of insulation (maximum thermal insulation), then you can take a coefficient of 0.6. Let's say our bathhouse cannot boast of high-quality thermal insulation, then 16.44 * 1.6 = 18 m3, which means we need an 18 kW stove. It is better to take with a margin of 20%.

Power range, i.e. The ratio of minimum and maximum power is ideally 1:10. Such a furnace can operate at both 3 kW and 29 kW. The power in furnaces is regulated in several ways:

• you can regulate the amount of fuel supplied. Convenient for gas stoves, but not wood stoves;
• limiting the amount of incoming air. Option for wood burning stoves;
• release of excess heat into the environment. Literally - open the door and ventilate the steam room.

If the manufacturer has not indicated the power of the furnace, then it can be approximately calculated by multiplying the volume of the firebox by 0.5.

What to look for when purchasing

When purchasing a heating device, first of all, you need to pay attention to its power. This is a key characteristic that affects performance. To be sure, you can order a calculation of the power of a wood-burning stove for a bathhouse from specialists on the eve of purchase.

In addition, it is equally important to choose the right oven size. If the size of the stove is too large for the room, then it will overheat and fuel will be wasted. The choice of stoves is very large, so it is possible to select the optimal equipment for absolutely any type and size of premises.

Before choosing a stove, you need to find out the area of ​​the potentially heated room and decide on the required set of technical characteristics. Using different models of stoves, it is possible to heat rooms with an area of ​​80-250 m2.

This type of units, in addition, has two varieties. The first is used exclusively for heating the room. The second model is more functional and, in addition to heating the air, provides the ability to cook food.

The simplest models are very affordable in cost. More complex models with advanced functionality vary in price and can be quite expensive. Therefore, you need to know which features are needed so as not to overpay for unused features.

Metal pipe stove

A very good sauna stove can be made from a metal pipe.

Metal pipe stove

First step. Cut a meter-long piece of pipe to make a heater.

Second step. Cut a 70cm piece of pipe for the water tank.

Homemade stove from a metal pipe. From a piece of pipe we make a chamber for stones. We make a stove for a bath from a pipe.

Third step. Closer to the bottom of the heater pipe, cut a blower hole measuring 6x20 cm.

Fourth step. Weld a metal plate to the top edge of the blower hole.

Fifth step. Make holes in the welded plate to fix the grate.

Sixth step. Cut a hole in the center of the pipe for the firebox.

Pipe sauna stove

Seventh step. Weld curtains and door latches.

Pipe sauna stove

Eighth step. Fix a pipe with a diameter of 300 mm above the firebox by welding, perpendicular to the wall of the combustion chamber. This will be a heater.

Ninth step. Fill the stove's heater with stones.

Tenth step. Install a smoke exhaust pipe.

Almost finished stove from a pipe

Eleventh step. Approximately 15 cm above the heater, install a water tank with a tap and a removable lid.

Twelfth step. Remove weld marks using a grinding wheel.

To further increase heat transfer and safety, you can line the finished metal stove with bricks.

When determining the height of the chimney, keep in mind that on the street it should rise above the roof by at least 50 cm.

Prices for Hephaestus sauna stoves

Bath stoves Hephaestus

Insulate the part of the smoke exhaust pipe passing through the ceiling with non-combustible material.

Before installing it in a bathhouse, it is recommended to heat the stove outdoors several times. This will allow the construction material to give the necessary shrinkage.

Install the ovenInstall the oven

When installing a stove in a bathhouse, follow basic fire safety rules. The stove must be installed on a non-combustible base. The minimum distance between the stove and the walls is 30-50 cm (depending on the material of the walls). It is recommended to lay a metal sheet on the floor in front of the furnace door.

If the bathhouse is wooden, then the pipe stove must be lined with bricks

Follow these recommendations and you will make an excellent stove for your sauna without any problems.

Horizontal pipe sauna stove

Good luck!

Classification by fuel type

Depending on your region of residence and access to a particular fuel, you can choose a sauna stove that will show the optimal cost of operation. At the same time, some models will force you to put up with some features of their use. Others will offer the maximum level of convenience and comfort.

Wood burning

Firewood is the most accessible and inexpensive type of fuel in most regions of the world. It is thanks to its prevalence that there are a huge number of models of heating devices on the market. Wood-burning sauna stoves come with closed and open heaters and are equipped with a flue gas afterburning system. They heat up quickly and offer a natural smoky flavor.

A wood-burning stove is ideal in places where there is no centralized gas supply or the ability to inexpensively purchase liquid fuel. However, it will force you to adapt.

1. Firewood supplies need to be stored somewhere.
2. Control of combustion intensity and fire safety rests entirely with the owner.
3. The third negative factor lies in the service. You need to remove the ash yourself and periodically clean the chimney. And finally, fuel will have to be constantly added.

If such difficulties do not frighten you, wood stoves will provide their owner with:

• reasonable cost of purchasing fuel;
• excellent level of heat transfer;
• the opportunity to choose one of the many models on the market.

On a note! You can build a wood stove with your own hands. And if you use some inventions, for example, equip the unit with a water supply unit for its splitting and participation in combustion processes, it is easy to obtain a device that works for a long time on one portion of fuel.

Gas

Gas furnaces are equipped with a burner system and automatic controls. They definitely have security measures in place. Thus, equipped with automatic ignition and automatic shutdown of fuel supply in the absence of flame, gas sauna stoves become very safe installations.

The disadvantage of the unit is precisely its source of thermal energy. A gas stove must either be connected to a centralized supply system, or sacrifice safety by connecting a liquefied fuel cylinder to it. However, after solving one of these problems, the heater will provide very comfortable operating conditions.

1. The heat output is very large, the steam room warms up quickly.
2. Fuel consumption is low.
3. Gas sauna stoves are compact and lightweight.
4. You can buy a closed or open type system.
5. The chimney and fuel chamber require virtually no maintenance.
6. You can set the operating mode once and enjoy the comfortable atmosphere in the steam room.

Important! Gas furnaces are extremely unpretentious devices. You don't need to pay attention to them. Equipped with automatic control, they simply turn on and work without owner intervention.

Liquid

Liquid fuel stoves belong to the category of less common devices, the reason is the high cost of fuel . However, if there is no other alternative, it is worth purchasing just such a model. Today, the industry produces units that run on gasoline and diesel fuel. According to the principle of operation, they are similar to gas installations; they have nozzles and a control system.

However, in terms of maintenance requirements, a liquid stove will require you to do almost the same operations as a wood stove. The combustion chamber and chimney must be cleaned and the amount of available fuel monitored. But at the same time, liquid fuel stoves offer comfort at the level of gas equipment.

There are also homemade solutions. Sauna stoves that run on waste machine oil or low-quality diesel fuel are extremely simple devices. If desired, everyone can find drawings of installations for self-assembly on thematic forums or websites.

Electrical

Electric ovens are simple in design and easy to understand in their operating principle. They install several heating elements of high total power. The stove warms up in minutes and quickly creates a comfortable atmosphere in the bathhouse. Most electric stoves come with an open heater. Units of this type do not burn fuel, so they do not need a chimney. The overall installation can be very easy and compact. Most of its mass is always made up of cobblestones.

The electric oven is safe, quickly installed, and repairable . The lack of need for a chimney has led to widespread demand for it from apartment owners. With the help of an electric stove, it is easy to turn a bathroom into a sauna or allocate a dressing room for this purpose.

Important! The only disadvantage of units of this type is the wiring requirements. Before connecting an electric oven, you should make sure that there is no overload with all the ensuing negative consequences.

Hybrid

By the name of the type of furnace, you can understand that they are capable of using several types of fuel. This is convenient if gas, wood, and coal are available in certain seasons. The use of two types of fuel allows you not to make significant reserves and consume the most preferred source of thermal energy.

Gas-fired sauna stoves are equipped with a system of removable blocks. You can install a container for firewood, with a grate, a blower door and an ash pan, or use a burner block with automatic control for burning gas. Today, most models are focused specifically on solid fuel. Gas equipment is offered as an option.

Combination stoves, depending on the fuel burned, have advantages and disadvantages of the corresponding types of units. When using firewood, you will have to monitor the installation, clean the firebox and chimney. And gas burners will offer all the convenience of self-regulated equipment that does not require the attention of the owner.

Types of construction

Nowadays you can see a variety of portable heating elements in hardware stores, but people mostly prefer a traditional brick stove.

Instagram @barbekiukaminypechi

If you decide to install it, then before starting its construction, measure the room, because the traditional type of heating element may simply not fit there. Most often, their width exceeds 100 cm, and their height varies from 160 to 220 cm.

For all its massiveness, such a unit has a number of significant advantages:

• fireproof;
• retains heat well;
• warms large rooms.

However, if you do not have enough money for materials or the space does not allow you to build a full-fledged stove, then you should give your preference to the compact metal version.

Useful video

Not just diagrams, but also a description of the advantages and disadvantages of vertical and horizontal structures (not necessarily made of pipes). Plus interesting life hacks.

Even more diagrams, even more explanations about them. However, the main concern of the author of the video is that you get a stove for a real Russian bath. So sauna lovers don’t have to watch it).

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We hope that you have received some kind of holistic understanding of what a sauna stove is. Other things can only be learned from practice and experiment. Good luck to you!

Modernization methods

You can make the oven more powerful and convenient yourself. There are several proven options for this:

1. Place a tank of water over the stones. It can be used for rinsing after staying in the steam room and taking a shower the next day.
2. Inside the brick stove equipment, you can install pipes to make a heating circuit that is filled with water. By installing a special pump, you can make a homemade heating system suitable for heating large bathhouses.
3. If the heater is an open type, problems may arise with poor heating of the upper stones. To fix this, you need to make a special opening metal lid on the heater.

Modernization should not reduce the fire safety of the structure.

Main types of ventilation for baths

The classic Russian bathhouse is a small room. Not all types of ventilation can be implemented in it. Often, complex air exchange systems are not necessary in this case. And most owners of country cottages and dachas who build a steam room with their own hands prefer to look for the simplest solutions.

All variations of ventilation systems are divided into:

• natural;
• forced (supply, exhaust and combined).

Air distribution in a steam room with proper ventilation

In the first case, ventilation is arranged so that air exchange processes in the room occur due to natural draft and convection. In the second, the air is forced to move around the room using a fan installed in the exhaust, supply, or both directions at once.

To organize ventilation in the bathhouse, you can use all these methods. However, the natural option is more preferable. It is cheap, energy independent and does not require supervision of electrical equipment. But in some cases it is not enough.

Air flow during natural ventilation

For example, it was decided to build a steam room in the house itself, and not as a separate building on the street. Then only exhaust or supply ventilation can help. It is not recommended to install a combined supply and exhaust analogue with a recuperator or electric heater in a bathhouse due to the high cost and complexity of installation. And in a steam room, this option with additional air heating is simply not needed.

Air circulation in the bath depending on the location of the stove

Finnish sauna vs Russian bath

The Finnish and Russian approaches to arranging a steam room and the steaming process itself are fundamentally different.

In the sauna we are in hot (about 90-100 degrees Celsius), but dry (humidity from 5 to 20%) air. The heater is practically not watered. Due to the dryness of the air and its high temperature, brooms are also not particularly used there. If you try to do this, then very quickly the broom will turn into a bunch of dry branches, and the massage will be more like the process of beating.

In a sauna, people SIT and warm up, becoming more and more relaxed over time and sweating profusely - which removes toxins from the body.

In the bathhouse everything is completely different. In it we enjoy the thick steam that is formed due to the regular supply of water to the heater. The air humidity in a Russian bath is much higher (from 50 to 65%), and the air temperature, on the contrary, is lower (about 45-65 degrees).

Fig. 1. Table comparing humidity and temperature regimes of baths and saunas.

An integral part of the Russian steam room is thick steam under the ceiling, which is otherwise called “steam cake”. The steamer uses a broom to grab the amount of steam he needs from the “pie,” gently lowering it onto the LYING person. Over several approaches, the whole body is gradually warmed up from the outer skin to the internal organs, followed by contrasting procedures: dousing with cold water, immersion in a font or the favorite of many, jumping into the snow, where would we be without them :)

So, air temperature, humidity and the presence of steam are what distinguishes a bathhouse from a sauna. Let's now understand the design features of stoves and find out how, when purchasing, choose exactly the stove that will create the microclimatic conditions you desire.

Decorative finishing

A stove in a bathhouse is not only a source of heat, steam, and increased danger, it can also be a decoration for the room.

If you only care about the safety of the stove, then it is enough to paint it with modern paint to protect the metal from corrosion. The use of heat-resistant enamel based on silicone paints is no different from conventional enamels, but protects metal at temperatures up to +800 degrees. The metal is degreased and then paint is applied. After the first layer has dried, the next layer is applied. It is recommended to paint those metal elements that will be covered with brick and insulation.

The decoration of the stove in the bathhouse can perform a purely decorative function in the form of forged decorations and additional decorative elements of the stove itself. You can use heat-resistant paints of various colors with an antique effect. Decoration can also be used to eliminate the increased danger of a sauna stove.

The stove can be lined with red brick masonry (we have already considered this method), but the masonry on the sides can be decorative, in the form of a grid. On the firebox side, the stove can be covered with a screen made of forged elements or simply with a beautiful mesh fixed in the frame.

It can be covered with a beautiful casing, also covered with heat-resistant paint, in the color you like.

A stove lined with heat-resistant stone will look impressive; this will not only give a noble look to your product, but will also improve the quality of the stove itself.

The decorative decoration of your bathhouse stove depends only on your desire, taste and wallet size.

Distinctive features

Not every person can afford to buy or build a real brick oven. Therefore, manufacturers offer many variations of heater stoves, the elements of which are made of cast iron or metal.

They have some design and functional features:

1. Screened walls. Double casings around the unit body reduce convection - hard IR radiation. Some models are lined with natural minerals. If the unit does not have such walls, then it is recommended to make a brick screen and vents with doors around the body.
2. Steam gun. The operation of a closed heater depends on the quality of its insulation from the walls of the unit and the state of the air in the steam room. The better the indicators, the hotter the stones become hot. Therefore, inside the heater there is a system of tubes with holes. The top of the tubes is equipped with a special container for water. The liquid heats up, transferring heat to the stones, and steam enters the room.
3. Sealed doors. Such elements are securely fastened with bolts and do not form even the smallest gaps. The heat is retained and the safety of using the stove increases. Many models are equipped with a door made of heat-resistant glass, which allows you to create a unique atmosphere in the bathhouse.

IMPORTANT! The operating principle of a closed heater looks like this: fuel is loaded, the door closes, and the combustion process begins.

When a certain temperature has been reached inside the unit, the door opens and steam enters the room. The air in the steam room is heated to 45-60 degrees. Typically, such an event requires 4 hours.

Ways to increase furnace efficiency

Increased equipment efficiency, economical fuel consumption is possible with complete combustion.

When the firewood is on top of the grates, the primary air passes from below through the grate from the ash pit. This air promotes the oxidation of fuel, releasing water vapor and carbon dioxide. As soon as the temperature of the wood increases, flammable gases begin to be released. They burn out in the space directly above the fuel and come into contact with coke elements, forming carbon monoxide.

If this is not done, there will be underburning of the wood and increased deposition of soot on top of the stones. The consequence is that heat transfer decreases and the risk of fire increases due to the large amount of soot in the pipes.

At the beginning and at the end of the firebox, excess air enters the firebox. The intensity of wood burning decreases. Heat leaves through the chimney along with flue gases. To reduce heat loss, it is better to close the dampers on the chimney.

Other ways to increase efficiency include:

1. Increase in the volume of stones.
2. Increasing the heated surface area.
3. Reducing the thickness of the walls of the structure (material – metal).

It is necessary to take into account the direct relationship between the size of the firebox and fuel consumption. The larger the volume of the firebox, the greater the fuel consumption. At the same time, the heat transfer of the furnace also increases.

Why do you need a heat exchanger?

The vast majority of sauna stove designs do not contribute to saving wood fuel. This is due to the specific requirements for them, namely:

• the steam room should be heated in the shortest possible time to a high temperature;
• the stove cannot take up much space;
• the presence of a heater is mandatory;
• The heater operating mode is periodic.

Based on the listed requirements, sauna stoves are designed in such a way as to quickly reach a high temperature in the firebox and maintain it for a certain period of time. In this case, a lot of unused heat simply escapes into the atmosphere through the chimney. It would be a sin not to use this thermal energy to heat water for washing or even heating the rooms adjacent to the steam room.

Note. An exception is Kuznetsov's brick bell-type stoves intended for baths. A well-thought-out design allows you to significantly save firewood, the stove retains heat for a long time and also heats neighboring rooms. There are also modifications using a water heat exchanger.

One of the simplest solutions is to use the heat generated by burning wood. Currently, there are many models of stoves with a built-in coil on the market. If a heater without a water circuit is already installed and functioning, nothing prevents it from being equipped with a homemade or factory-made heat exchanger. Then you won’t have to spend money on a boiler and then pay for electricity.

How to properly install a stove in a bathhouse

Proper installation of a stove in a bathhouse requires compliance with fire safety rules. Existing PPB standards stipulate the need for fire breaks, insulation of walls adjacent to the body and chimney pipe, as well as a non-combustible base for installation.

Where to put the stove in the bathhouse

The choice of location for a sauna stove is influenced by several factors:

Type of construction - installation of an iron sauna stove with an external firebox in a bathhouse somewhat limits the possibility of choosing a place for placement. Modern models are equipped with a telescopic firebox. If necessary, you can increase the length of the firebox by adjusting the size to the thickness of the partition.

Some owners install a stove, deepening it by 10-15 cm, which allows increasing heat transfer and heating temperature of the floor covering. The solution is effective. But, installing the stove significantly below floor level, although theoretically possible, is inconvenient. You will have to make a pit of sufficient size to make it possible to put firewood into the firebox from it.

Fire safety when installing a sauna stove

Fire safety rules when installing an iron stove in a bathhouse stipulate requirements related to mandatory compliance with fire breaks and measures aimed at preventing emergency situations.

Provide safe distances between the stove body and walls made of flammable materials.

There are general rules that must be followed during installation:

It is recommended that the finishing of the walls around the stove be made of non-combustible materials. If this is not possible, surfaces made of timber or logs are covered with thermal insulation and sheathed with steel sheets.

Distance from the stove to the wall of the bathhouse

The PPB specifies fire-safe distances - gaps that prevent a possible fire. The standards state:

A gap of 110–125 cm is left between the stove body and the wall made of flammable material. After thermal insulation, the distance is reduced to 50–80 cm.

Fire safety standards indicate the minimum distance to combustible objects from the stove body. All other objects: shelves, wooden partitions and walls are removed by at least 110 cm.

How to install a stove on a wooden floor in a bathhouse

The stove in the bathhouse is installed from the floor, at a level as close as possible to the base, or 10-15 cm below it. It is easier to comply with this standard if the foundation and installation site are prepared in advance.

Cushion – an even layer of clay mortar is applied to wooden boards. A row of ceramic bricks is laid on it. This cushion is heat-resistant and provides the necessary protection for the tree. The disadvantage of the solution is raising the stove above the floor level by 10-15 cm.

Metal stoves weigh up to 80 kg. The rules for installing a metal sauna stove on a wooden floor in a bathhouse do not indicate the need for a full foundation for installation. The standards are aimed at protecting wooden floors from fire.

How to insulate the walls around the stove

Thermal insulation of the stove from a wooden wall is a mandatory standard. The surface of flammable materials is protected in several ways:

After installing the heater and protecting the walls, they proceed to installing the chimney.

Installation of a chimney in a bathhouse

There are basic recommendations for installing a chimney. The temperature of the flue gases reaches 450-550°C. An ordinary metal pipe heats up red hot.

Choosing a chimney type

Ceramic and insulated stainless steel sandwich pipes are used to connect the sauna stove. Each option has its own advantages and purpose:

Ceramic chimney is used for internal connection. The pipe passes through the floor slab and roof. The advantage of ceramics is durability, resistance to aggressive and acidic environments, and the almost complete absence of condensation.

Safety precautions

To avoid getting burns from hot surfaces and to reduce the risk of fire, you must follow the safety rules:

1. There must be a fire extinguisher in bathhouses.
2. Regularly clean furnace equipment from soot and ash.
3. Install the stove at a distance of at least 80 cm from the walls, cover them with heat-resistant material with reflective screens.
4. Perform a test firing of a homemade stove to check the tightness of the connections.

To protect visitors from possible burns, you can make a protective fence made of wood. Before this, the slats are impregnated with a fire-resistant compound.

After building a bathhouse, a person must choose the appropriate stove equipment. If you don’t have enough money, you can make a stove yourself. To do this, you need to select the material from which the heating unit will be made and prepare the base. After the foundation has hardened, the manufacture of the furnace can begin.

Construction of sauna heaters

Furnace equipment is installed in the steam room. Its main function is to heat the room and generate steam. The constant temperature range in the steam room is from 40 to 100 degrees.

The heater has a firebox for firewood, a closed chamber, where stone cobblestones and cast iron ingots are placed on top of the firebox arch. The average layer thickness is up to 22 cm. Cast iron pigs gain temperature faster than stones, which speeds up the heating of the heater. Gaps are deliberately left in the vault. Flue gases then pass through these gaps through the cobblestones and exit through the smoke circulation into the chimney to the outside.

To generate steam, hot stones are poured with water through a special hole. Steam comes out into the same opening.

To increase the strength of the heater, you can place it in a metal frame.

The principle of operation of a sauna stove with a water tank

Heating units have the following operating pattern: fuel (wood) is placed in the firebox and set on fire. During the combustion process, a sufficient amount of thermal energy is released. Warm air moves from bottom to top and heats the cobblestones in the heater. This way the stones heat up and maintain the desired temperature in the room.

The wood is ignited from below. Some models of sauna stoves need to constantly add fuel, otherwise the stones quickly cool down.

Other types of units have a longer combustion period. They can work for 7-20 hours without constantly adding firewood. This possibility is achieved due to the reverse direction of combustion - from top to bottom.

It is best to use peat briquettes, alder logs or coal as the main fuel. To warm up the room faster, use only dry firewood. There is no need to use logs made from coniferous trees; they will quickly pollute the chimney, releasing a large amount of soot.

How to install it yourself?

When choosing the correct location for the stove, take into account the location of the components that must be accessible for periodic inspection. A reliable and high-quality pedestal will be a screed with insulation, poured over a primed base, at the same time as the foundation during construction. If the floors in the bathhouse are non-flammable, for example, made of cement or concrete floors, no additional protection is needed. Fire retardant materials are used only for wooden floors.

If the soil on the site is heaving, there is no need to lay a slab pedestal for a stove that is not connected to the foundation on screw piles. It may be connected to the base of the bathhouse if the device is shallow. For the connection, the foundations of both the stove and the bathhouse are anchored.

Rules for arranging a pedestal for a stove

The dimensions of the base should be larger than the dimensions of a metal stove with protective screens of 20 cm. The height of the base should be equal to the depth of the bathhouse foundation. The free part can be filled with brickwork.

The technological step-by-step process involves:

• Preparing the pit.
• Installation of formwork.
• Laying the armored mesh.

• Pouring with cement mortar.
• Covering the settled base with a layer of waterproofing.
• Laying bricks in several rows.

Installing a separate pedestal for the heat exchanger can be avoided if the joists and subfloor are strong enough to support the weight of the structure.

Solutions options:

• laying a metal sheet on top of a basalt sheet;
• laying a brick or stone base under the stove;
• laying ceramic or porcelain tiles.

The vertical parts that will come into contact with the structure are protected with heat-resistant sheet material. Specific parameter values ​​are indicated in the sauna stove manufacturer's instructions. The values ​​are interrelated with the actual thermal level of the stove and its design nuances.

Chimney

An important part of the stove design is the chimney and connecting pipes. Installation of wood-burning stoves both in houses and in bathhouses requires special care and precision. The process of installing a chimney is especially complicated. Therefore, the features of installing a stove should be thought through at the stage of building houses.

In general, the design of the stove is simple, due to which it operates for the longest possible service life, is easy to repair and is easy to maintain.

Compact sauna stove

Compact sauna stoveStove design

Prices for Sawo sauna stoves

Sawo sauna stoves

First option

The main advantage of this option is the absence of the need to purchase expensive materials and the extreme ease of assembly.

The main structural elements of such a furnace are:

• metal body;
• brick wall;
• smoke exhaust pipe;
• water tank;
• firebox;
• cast iron grate;
• stones.

A firebox is installed in the lower part of the unit, and a water tank is installed in the upper part.

Compact sauna stove

First step. Weld the stove body from sheet metal. The recommended material thickness is from 0.5 cm.

Second step. Line the furnace firebox with refractory bricks. Install masonry elements on edge.

Third step. Cover the heater with bricks.

How to cover a metal stove

Fourth step. Place a base for stones on the walls of the heater. Angles, channels and other rolled products can be used as a base.

Fifth step. Make a side door. Through it you will pour water onto the stones to create steam.

Scheme of lining an iron stove with bricks

Sixth step. Make a water tank of the required volume. The most common volume is 30 liters. Equip the tank with a removable lid and fix it above the heater.

Seventh step. Install the flue pipe by passing it through the water tank. The water in the tank will be heated by the heat of the chimney.

To increase the efficiency of the stove, you can line it with bricks.

Second option

Furnace design

Such a stove heats up in the shortest possible time with minimal fuel consumption.

The furnace includes the following elements:

• metal case;
• chimney;
• firebox;
• blower;
• steam door.

The assembly procedure is practically no different from that discussed earlier. You weld a sheet metal body, install a side door, install a chimney and line the main structural elements internally with brick. Line the walls of the oven with half a brick.

Water and steam enter the oven through the side door.

Briefly about the main thing

Stoves for baths are made of brick, metal and hybrid.

Most often, sauna stoves are heated with wood. You can also use coal, diesel fuel, gas, electricity.

The firebox can be located in the dressing room or in the steam room.

The heater can be heated by the stove body or by combustion products escaping. A hybrid option is also possible.

A metal sauna stove can only be made from steel with a thickness of at least 5 mm.

Mortar for stove masonry is best mixed using clay.

The brick must be of the correct shape, without defects. Only fireproof material is suitable for the firebox.

A sauna stove can even be welded from scrap metal.

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Stove base

Before correctly installing the stove in the bathhouse, you need to decide which base to mount under the heating device, taking into account the features of a particular model and the type of soil at the construction site. You cannot build shallow foundations if the soil is prone to swelling in winter; it can simply be squeezed out in cold weather.

Foundation - standard size of the structure

Everything will depend on the specific gravity of the heater and the type of soil on which the bathhouse is built. There are several varieties:

• monolithic, deep;
• pile-grillage;
• shallow slab.

Each type has its own positive characteristics and different arrangement methods.

Pouring a monolithic slab base

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

• dig a pit with a height of vertical walls of 50 cm. Compact the bottom, leveling the horizon;
• arrange a cushion of crushed stone and sand, in a layer of 25-30 cm. Sprinkle with water, level and compact well;
• to make a concrete base, for this purpose a liquid solution is mixed. Pour over crushed stone and allow to harden;
• lay a layer of waterproofing - roofing felt glued with bitumen or mastic;
• install formwork from old boards or panels so that the walls are strictly vertical and the angles are 90 degrees. Secure a plastic film on the inside of it so that the plywood does not deform from moisture;
• make reinforcement - the frame should be 10 cm smaller than the formwork on each edge, install a reinforced frame;
• distribution of the solution - you can prepare it yourself or order ready-made. All layers of the mixture are well compacted by piercing them with a sharp iron rod.

After pouring the concrete mixture to the level of the finished floor and allow it to harden for 3 weeks. After this time, the formwork is dismantled and backfilling is carried out - the distance between the base and the walls of the pit is filled.

If you plan to install a brick sauna stove with a firebox from a dressing room, then the installation of the base occurs by deepening it to the freezing line of the soil.

Pile-grillage

This method of arranging the foundation is much simpler and not as labor-intensive compared to the one described above. But it is ideal for unstable, water-logged soil. The execution technology consists of the following stages:

• make markings on the surface, first removing the turf layer;
• in the corners of the future foundation for installing a metal stove in the bathhouse, dig pits 10-15 cm deep;
• screw in piles with a diameter of 10 cm. Be sure to check the vertical;
• cut the posts with a grinder along the bottom line of the subfloor;
• weld a corner channel of the optimal size, arranging a place for pouring the solution;
• place a steel sheet on the beam and secure it with a weld;
• dilute the concrete mixture and pour it into the prepared frame.

Once the concrete has gained the required strength, installation can begin.

Shallow base

This is a simple foundation option for installing an iron stove in a wooden bathhouse.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

• mark boundaries;
• dig a ditch 50 cm deep;
• fill the pillow with 20-25 cm;
• make a footing;
• arrange waterproofing;
• install formwork;
• pour 30 cm of concrete mixture and compact.

As soon as the concrete sets and dries, you can remove the formwork and lay a layer of insulation - the foundation is ready.

Note: if the base is below the planned level, you can lay 2 rows of brickwork on top of the roofing material.
Such a podium will serve as additional thermal protection for the floor covering. Date: September 25, 2021

How to choose the optimal design

In essence, we have already answered this question in the previous chapter, but the answer referred to the specifics of a particular bath.

Let's look at the defining points again:

How to calculate the required volume of container? Assume that one washable item requires at least 10 liters of water.

How are adjacent rooms supposed to be heated? If there are no other options, you can use a remote tank for this purpose. It goes without saying that in this case it should not be thermally insulated. Another option is to use a furnace to heat the antifreeze in a separate heating system.

Are you ready to create forced circulation? If yes, then there are no obstacles to choosing any of the described designs. In this case, you will receive not only a shower, but also, if desired, heating through radiators. True, you will have to organize the system according to all the rules.

We recommend reading:

Construction of a bathhouse from timber

For example, do not forget about the need to install an expansion tank, which absorbs excess fluid in the system.