Customers with 8 Foot Ceilings
Having an 8 foot ceiling is good (7 is optimal). Nearly everyone that contacts me has a 8 foot ceiling, about 90% of people. There are several ways to make an 8 foot steam room feel like a 7 foot room. It is much easier to bring steam down from 12 inches below the 8 foot ceiling than the 9 and 10 foot ceilings that are much harder to work with.
First, having a steam with the highest dryness fraction will help keep the steam from rising to the ceiling. The more water (condensate) the steam has along with the steam, the faster brownian motion causes the steam to rise and stick to the ceiling, especially if you have a ceramic, porcelain, or natural stone wall.
Another way to keep the steam down closer to the body is to keep the duty cycles as short as possible. The slow burn types and the high psi dual tank steam generators put out steam over a longer cycle so it makes steam continously instead of a quick burst like the single tank models. The models with lower psi (closer to 15 psi) give off a wetter, heavier steam that can make it more trouble if you have an 8 foot ceiling. If someone must get a single tank steam generator due to a low budget, then I have to consider placing a marine grade fan to blow the steam down.
Steam trap at the 8 foot ceiling:
The 12 inch steam trap with an 8 foot ceiling is much easier to fix than the 9 and 10 foot ceilings. It is much easier to avoid the steam trap if the steam coming out has a high dryness fraction and doesn't have lots of condensate. If you have a high psi generator and 3/4 inch pipes, a Kona fan is not necessary. With a good generator and even with ceramic or porcelain walls without a fan you can still get an A quality steam. If you have dry steam generator and you have natural stone walls no matter what I can't give it more than a B as far as quality without a fan. (see my page on natural stone walls or Ceramic walls if you are using that type of material.
With an 8 foot ceiling, if you want an even better steam experience on the last half of your steam session, I recommend keeping a bucket of cold water and doing a single ceiling and wall splash to cool all the walls down once during your session. This will make the room have a thick foggy steam you won't get otherwise. I want to avoid wet muggy steam at all times.
7 FOOT CEILINGS
If you have a 7 foot ceiling, there is no need to install a small fan in the steam room. 7 foot is the perfect height that all manufacturer’s base their measurements on.
The problem is when just say someone has a 250 square foot room that has a 7 foot and another one is 250 square feet and has a 8 foot ceiling, most manufacturer’s will recommend the same wattage and will not let people know they need a dryer steam if over 7 feet. Some people have 9 foot ceilings and I wouldn’t recommend a wet steam at all if the steam can go 12 extra inches above the head. If someone has a 10 foot ceiling, don’t even build a steam room.
Having an 8 foot ceiling gives about 20% less comfort than a 7 foot ceiling. I recommend a 2 level bench at this point.
A 9 foot ceiling is exponentially worse. Its about 50% less comfortable and you won’t feel the heat sitting 3 feet off the ground. You are 6 feet away away from the hottest point of the room.
Note: If the room is not going to be sloped and the ceilings are high I would only use an open tank steam generator that gives a drier steam or a high psi dual tank model only if 3/4 inch pipes are used (no 1/2 inch pipes). With dry steam, it takes a lot longer until the ceiling condenses the steam and starts dripping. With higher ceilings, the temperature above the head can be over 20 degrees hotter than at the person’s head level. Many people upsize the power of their steam generator to compensate for the higher ceilings. The open tank types if upsizing should make a more uniform steam so the latent heat doesn’t heat up the ceiling and instead fills up the room with the steam instead of condensing it mostly on the ceiling. If the ceiling is not going to be sloped, it is even more important to get steam generator that gives a drier steam. The wet moisture in the steam would push the vaporized steam to the ceiling and I wouldn’t get the benefit from that steam.
If you have an 8 foot ceiling please let me know on my sizing quiz. Many people call in and tell me their room dimensions and round it up to 8. If you don't know how to fix a steam trap with an 8 foot ceiling your steam quality will be lowered. My killowatt recommendation is based on the answers on the quiz. Take the sizing quiz here.
Notice: steam rooms with 8 foot ceilings are prone to steam traps. Those who are getting generators that produce high condensate may want to research my steam trap page.
Know before buying a steam generator
Know before buying a steam generator
Know before buying a steam generator
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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
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 114 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 8 foot or higher ceiling, the thermocline is shifted up 12 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 8 feet and a 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 8 foot ceilings will never get full body vasodilation, only half body steam therapy. That extra 20% heat loss in the extra foot makes the quality go down from an A to a B. 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.
I urge people to compare the differences between pressurized generator to atmospheric generators. If you have an 8 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.
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.
