Saunas near you

Section 703 of BS 7671 covers rooms and cabins containing sauna heaters and treats them as a special location, which means additional requirements over and above the general ones. The IET's published summary of the special locations states the headline requirement plainly: all circuits for the location require additional protection by one or more 30mA residual current devices with the characteristics specified in Regulation 415.1.1, with an exception for the sauna heater itself unless such protection is recommended by the manufacturer. That exception exists because a heating element in a hot, damp cabin can produce enough standing leakage current to trip a 30mA device in normal operation.

The section also requires basic protection of live parts within the cabin's zones, irrespective of the nominal voltage used, either by basic insulation complying with Regulation 416.1 or by barriers or enclosures affording a degree of protection of at least IPXXB or IP2X in accordance with Regulation 416.2. Certain protective measures permitted elsewhere are not available here: obstacles and placing out of reach are not permitted in a sauna location, and neither is a non-conducting location or earth-free local equipotential bonding.

The equipment side is the appliance standard. BS EN 60335-2-53:2011+A11:2023 sets the particular requirements for sauna heating appliances and infrared cabins within the BS EN 60335 household appliance safety series, which covers matters including classification, protection against access to live parts, heating, moisture resistance and internal wiring and supply connections. Ask the supplier which standard the heater is declared to and keep the declaration, because it is the document that makes the installation defensible.

A sauna needs to breathe, and a badly ventilated cabin is both unpleasant and unsafe. Air should be drawn in low, near the heater, and exhausted high on the opposite side so that the cabin has a through path rather than a stagnant top layer. Cutting the ventilation to hold temperature is a common, and wrong, response to a cabin that heats slowly; the usual real cause is an undersized heater or poor insulation.

Clearances around the heater are a manufacturer's specification, not a convention, and they are the item most often compromised when a cabin is squeezed into a space. Guard rails, bench positions, the distance to the nearest timber and the head clearance above the stones are all set by the appliance instructions, and a heater installed tighter than those figures is a fire risk in a building made of wood.

Use is the other risk and it belongs on the page. High heat affects people differently, and anyone who is pregnant, has a cardiovascular condition, is subject to fits or takes medication affecting the cardiovascular or nervous system should take medical advice before regular sauna use — the same caution HSE gives for prolonged immersion in warm water. Nobody should use a sauna alone if there is any doubt, and a door that always opens outward and cannot be locked from inside is basic good practice.

Sauna prices separate on the cabin and on the supply. The variables are the size of the cabin and the number of people it seats, whether it is a prefabricated kit or built in situ, the timber specification, the heater type and rating, whether the existing consumer unit can take a dedicated circuit or needs work first, how far the cable has to run to an outdoor cabin, what base and drainage the garden needs, and how the ventilation is going to be formed. Indoor installations often cost more than the equivalent garden cabin because of what has to happen to the surrounding room.

LokalMatch connects you with the people who install them. Describe the space, the kind of sauna you want and where the supply is, once, with your postcode, and installers covering your area will get in touch themselves. Homeowners use it free of charge and the installers pay for the enquiries they receive. LokalMatch carries out no installation work, is not involved in setting prices, and does not vet, rank or recommend the firms that respond, so checking the electrician's credentials and the heater's declared standard is a job for you.