STEAM-ROOM-THERMOCLINES

Mixing Thermoclines: I BELIEVE THIS IS THE BEST GOAL FOR A STEAM ROOM

It really doesn't matter if you have a 7 foot or a 10 foot steam room, I never upsize a generator size unless it's the last resort and the person who is installing the generator is not going to use fans to bring down the steam trap.

What ever brand of generator is used, the goal is to keep the temperature around 110 if doing full body steam therapy or 114 at the at your upper body level. Four degrees makes a different when the room is at 100% humidity.

The goal is NOT to have a 114 degree room when the room is half steamed (long non-steam duty cycles). Many people have steam rooms that stay around 110 to 114 only because the walls are heated up but there is not a lot of steam (not at 100% humidity).

If the steam quality is dry and the steam around the body is within 110 to 114 degrees, a steam session should be around 20 to 25 minutes. So many people like to stay in for a half hour to 45 minutes. This is because most steam rooms have duty cycles and it lets the body cool down and most places have above a 7 foot ceiling, especially commercial places (8 to 9 foot). This brings the 110 to 114 sweet spot zone up above the body and most people that like to stay in a long time are in the 97 to 102 range with an 8 foot ceiling (with no downward blowing fan).

If someone has a 9 foot ceiling and no fan, this increases the steam trap 24 inches and 40% of the heat and steam will be above the head.This brings the 110 to 114 comfort zone to 98 to 91. This is when people usually can stay in an hour. There is very little vasodilation in this temperature zone so it is easy to stay in the steam room an hour. Having the ceiling 2 feet lower can make the difference in a 20 minute versus a 1 hour session to get same cardiac drift.

Also, if the steam is trapped at the ceiling, the humidity level at the body (especially the lower body) is not usually at 100%.

My goal is to get rid of the top thermocline and make the steam room have the most uniform temperature it can be. If the bench is high off the floor, I don't worry about the floor thermocline if that is cold. I turn my fan on high enough so that my body is always in the 110 to 114 zone. For those that want super intense steam sessions, you can get the room temperature over 114 but it is not comfortable.

Warning: Trying to heat up the upper torso without the lower torso is inefficient and not safe. When the entire body in a steam room is at 110 to 114 degrees, this is when the body core is heating evenly and it is rare to have over a 25 minute session.

Note: if the generator has too wet of a steam or is not an atmospheric steam generator, too much condensate can heat the body quicker and that can take another 5 minutes off your steam therapy. Those who are maintaining 110 degrees will probably be able to sustain a 25 to 30 minute session. Those who are getting full body steam therapy at 114 degrees usually end their session around 20 minutes.

Warning: if a steam generator is upsized even 1 Killowatt size, it can bring the head level from the 110 to 114 comfort zone to 116 to 119 which makes most people want to leave their steam room in 10 minutes as their brain gets too hot. If you upsize 1 KW size, it can bring the comfort zone to the middle body and the head gets way to hot. The head heats up exponentially faster than the rest of the body. Also the thermostat will heat up quicker and the steam will stop so you only get a very short time outsize the comfort zone. It basically messes up most peoples steam therapy almost the entire session. Also the average time for duty cycles are effected making you have to wait longer for the room to cool down for the next steam cycle to go back on.

Note: if upsized too much it can make a 30 minute session become a 45 minute session because the room is so hot and it takes longer for the thermostat to kick on the steam again.

Note: if upsizing too much on an atmospheric generator, if someone likes a 30 minute session, it will usually bring it down to 15 as the heat co-efficient will be way too high and people usually can’t sustain their normal time session. It usually will feel uncomfortable half way though the session. Cardiac drift can suddenly happen when the person has already reached 3 degrees over core body temperature.

My best recommendation is to start with a generator that has a 6 degree variance in temperature at the thermostat placement.

Note: for those who are trying to bring the entire steam room into a single thermocline, having an exhaust fan to suck out the top layer of heavy condensate can also help. It does not feel good if your generator is producing high condensate and you have a fan blowing that condensate on you. Atmospheric and high psi pressurized steam generators make it easier for displacing the thermoclines in a steam room if you want whole body steam therapy.