How to Light and Heat a Sauna Oven Properly

This article is about how to heat a sauna oven BUT if you are looking for an affordable and flexible sauna solution, look no further than the Forge Sauna Tent (Badstutelt), designed for Nordic Winter conditions with thick insulation, a heavy duty and powerful sauna oven, and all accessories included. You do not require a pesky permit, or permission to set this up at your favourite spot and have a hot sauna with the gang. Read more here. 

Now onto the article about how to properly heat a sauna oven and keep it hot!

First Watch this short video about how to light a sauna oven. 

Read more to find out how to heat a sauna oven – and keep it hot!

“patience is a virtue”

• Saunas ovens have long, skinny chimneys for effective smoke filtration, so they need the power and force created by a hot fire to effectively push the smoke up and out. To heat a sauna properly you must generate enough heat in the sauna oven room to push this smoke upwards. 
• Rushed fire-starting or improper sauna heating steps may cause smoke to return into the sauna room through the sauna oven door. It is very important when you heat a sauna to not to rush and to use only small pieces of wood in the warming up stage, slowly adding larger pieces as the fire grows bigger and hotter. 
• Patience is crucial when you heat a sauna for a smoke-free and hot sauna experience.
• Do not put water on the Sauna rocks until the sauna oven is hot; if you put water on too early you will cool the entire sauna down, reducing the heat and prolonging the heating phase.

Please watch this short video showing how to light a sauna oven

Fire starting tips in a sauna:

“oxygen is life”

• • Make sure the ashtray is empty before you light / heat a sauna
  • Start fire with small bits of wood and fire starters (10 small pieces max).
  • Light a fire in the sauna, and close the oven door. 
  • Make sure ashtray under the fire door is pulled out at least 3cm, while the oven door is still closed.
  • Wait 10 – 15 minutes.
  • Add 3-4 slightly larger bits of wood to the fire.
  • Close the sauna oven door and wait 10-15 minutes for proper heating.
  • Do not forget to add more wood to maintain and increase heat (but never so full that the oven cannot breathe). When you heat a sauna it important that the flame is able to travel up the wood stack. 
  • Make sure the wood is not pressed up against the oven door. The fire needs to be in the middle and back part of the oven area.
  • Whatever you do, DO NOT ADD WATER WHILE THE SAUNA IS HEATING UP. This will cool the oven and it will take even longer for the sauna to heat up.

Common sauna heating mistakes

“close the goddamn door!”

• • Filling oven too fast with big pieces of wood.
  • Adding water too early, cooling down the oven (never put salt water on the oven).
  • Not pulling ashtray out 2 – 3cm (this is the air vent for the fire; without oxygen the fire will die!).
  • Not closing oven door properly.
  • Leaving the sauna too often and allowing cold air to enter.

Other helpful info when using the sauna

• Stay in the sauna for at least 20 minutes per sitting to avoid cold air entering the sauna. If you go in and out all the time it will not only annoy the other sauna users but also reduce the temperature in the sauna. 
• Always sit on a towel when in the sauna and wear swimwear, unless in the appropriate setting to be naked – then being naked in the sauna is actually more traditional and seen as more hygienic.
• Be nice to one another, stay hydrated, and do not drink more than 3 alcoholic beverages max.

Do you want to join us in the sauna in central Oslo?! Through our sister organisation Fjord CleanUP we use the Forge Badstutelt every Sunday after cleaning trash from around the central Oslo waterfront and Akerselva River. Read this blog on how the sauna tent is used and click here to sign up as a Fjord CleanUP member. 

Mad Goats also runs Oslos most popular kayaking and packraft tour in central Oslo, suitable for children and absolute beginners. We were the first company to invent and start running this tour over 11 years ago. The tour finishes in Bjørvika right beside all the floating saunas so you can go straight from the kayak tour to the sauna – we recommend Pust Sauna at Langkaia in front of the Opera House.

We also have two awesome saunas up at our whitewater rafting base in Sjoa, Heidal. The Forest and the river sauna. You can read more about that here. It is the perfect combination after whitewater rafting in Sjoa with us!