Customers with 10 Foot Ceilings: POSSIBLE 36 INCH STEAM TRAP
No one builds a steam shower with 10 foot ceilings. The people that have homes that already have 10 foot ceilings, mainly old homes are the ones that have 10 foot steam rooms.
Ten foot ceilings are the worst but it can be fixed and bring the quality of steam closer to the quality of a 7 foot ceiling. Note that the steam will be 36 inches more over your head and it is super hard to bring this steam down if the starting steam is wet and not a slow burn and continuous.
With a 10 foot ceiling, I would never recommend a single tank generator and definitely not one with a 1/2 inch steam line. Just by avoiding that should save you have the trouble from the start.
Many people with 10 foot ceilings call me up saying someone recommended a 12 killowatt generator and I'm like, no, you need a 9 kw model. Then the customer gets more confused and they have to figure out who to believe. Yes, the 12kw model will put out more steam but going up 3 sizes will put out too much steam at once and will not keep an even temperature for the room. The temperature will fluctuate too much and it will feel more like the single tank models with long wait times for steam. The thermostat will heat up to fast and the generator will just cut off too quick. You will have a hot room from the high latent heat of the steam and a room with little steam.
Kona fans will be recommended and I don't care what brand someone gets if they have a 10 foot ceiling. Even if you have a generator that has the dryest steam and you have a 20psi model and 3/4 pipe, having 36 inches of room above your head requires a fan. That is, unless you don't care about the steam quality and just want to feel heat and muggy steam.
If you do have a 10 foot ceiling and are not going to bring it down there is no way of avoiding the 3 foot steam trap unless you do things to fix the room. If the steam coming out of the generator has a low dryness fraction it will be even harder to do this.
The best way is to install at least 2 Kona fans if you have a small room (up to 4 if your steam room is big). Another way is to keep a few buckets of cold water. During a 30 minute session, many people splash water on the walls and ceiling to make the walls cool again. This keeps the steam cloud dense where you can't see the person across from you. You will notice when you first go into a steam and turn it on, the steam in the beginning when the walls are cool make the steam cloud dense and heavy. The hotter the room gets, the less you will see the steam cloud.
10 foot ceilings and floor temperatures.
Unless you have enough Kona fans, your legs and feet will probably not feel a hot steam. I recommend an Atwood fan (this is different than using a Kona fan to bring down the latent heat. Having an Atwood fan will raise the heat co-efficient on the body. It feels amazing. See the video below on how I use the Atwood fan.
There will be so little steam near the lower back and legs that I have to use an Atwood fan on the floor (always with a 10 foot ceiling)
Once you experience a higher heat co-efficient, you will probably never use your steam room without your fan.
These fans cost about 70 dollars and I set this on the floor to keep the steam blowing on me to create a higher heat co-efficient. See my page on steam room fans here.
Know before buying a steam generator
Know before buying a steam generator
Know before buying a steam generator
DiscountSteamGenerators.com
We're open now
1-800-336-9285
Ask for Sharon
We're open now
1-800-336-9285
Ask for Alex
DiscountSteamGenerators.com
We're open now
1-800-336-9285
Ask for Sharon
We're open now
1-800-336-9285
Ask for Alex
Steam Room Thermoclines - 60% steam trap if not taking care of - the valuable steam is lost at the ceiling
Those who have a 7 foot ceiling still need to read this. The top thermocline near the ceiling will have such intense heat that it is over the 110 degree comfort level. A 7 foot ceiling is perfect so that your upper body level (waist up) is in that 110 to 114 degree range that most people like to stay within.
The problem is when someone has an 10 foot ceiling, the thermocline is shifted up 36 inches and the body is now in less than the 110 to 114 comfort zone. If the steam is not constant or is not a slow burn, the hot steam will travel up to 10 feet and a 3 foot difference from the standard 7 foot ceiling will create an exponential shift in the temperature and steam quality of the room. Those who don't have a fan at the ceiling will never experience full body steam therapy. Those who have 10 foot ceilings will never get full body vasodilation, only half body steam therapy. That extra 60% heat loss in the extra 3 feet makes the quality go down from an A to a D to an F if not using a fan to bring down the steam trap. The lower steam room temperature (legs down to feet) can have a steam quality from fair to poor if the flow rate of the generator is too high and doesn't make a constant steam. Note: if a several fans are not hardwired in with a 10 foot ceiling, the steam quality at the normal sitting level will be beyond poor. You might as well not even buy a steam generator if you are just installing a generator and nothing else to fix the steam trap.
I urge people to compare the differences between pressurized generator to atmospheric generators. If you have an 10 foot or over steam room, I only recommend 3/4 inch pipes and either atmospheric or 20psi generators, not the 15 or 10 psi models that release too much condensate. I urge people to bring the ceiling down to 8 foot or 7 foot but having a 10 foot ceiling can still have an A+ steam quality if do what is needed to fix it.
The bottom room temperature is the hardest to get hot and maintain that heat unless you fight the rising heat and the steam dropping to the floor.
If you like a very hot steam and you want to contain that heat and steam the entire session, you have to choose if you want to settle with a hotter room with less steam or a more steamy room that mixes the thermoclines (floor thermocline and ceiling thermocline) and the room temperature is near the same from the ceiling to the floor. When I experience full body steam therapy and it is all at my desired temperature, that is the best steam quality I can get.
Warning: if you upsize in kilowatts to compensate for the higher ceiling, you may want to consider the extra force coming out of the steam head that will blow steam on your feet. Even if the steam is an atmospheric or a low condensate 20 psi steam generator, it can still burn your feet and you probably won't enjoy your steam room like you thought you would.
Note: if you have a 10 foot ceiling you may want to get a hygrometer. I have a whole page on hygrometers. Having a hygrometer makes it easy to tweak the 110 114 degree sweet spot zone. If you research on my site you can find my pages on how to stay in that temperature zone with as close to 100% humidity as possible. Full body vasodilation is my end goal in every steam session and I know the temperature I need to stay at if I want to do a 20 minute session, a 30 minute session or even a 45 minute to an hour session. With a hygrometer and as you get experience, if you want to stretch and relax for longer, you will know exactly the tweaks you need to make (temperature, fan speed, etc.)
If you have a 10 foot ceiling and are not going to bring it down, please let me know on my steam generator sizing quiz here.
If you are not ready to take my quiz yet, please see my hygrometer page. See my hygrometer page here.
