April —
the (unofficial) Month of Sauna Stones
Ceramic rocks are today’s subject. They add technology to natural materials to create shaped stones with a porous enough structure that allows moisture to collect on their
surfaces. Amazing!
Ceramic rocks, unknown to our grandparents, were
developed for use in electric sauna stoves, perhaps specifically for
far-infrared saunas. They are manufactured to be less prone to
cracking, and thus more durable. While that’s an important quality for a
much-used public sauna, where replacing stones often (several times a
year!) would be a significant bother and expense, it’s less of an issue with home saunas.
Other pluses
— ceramic rocks weigh much less and are said to heat more quickly.
A caveat —
people might stack them too closely, leaving too little space for air
to circulate, and possibly wearing out the heating element
prematurely. It’s more economical to replace the rocks than the
heater. And,
manufacturers recommend certain rocks for particular stoves — so stick
with what they suggest.
The
website writer at Sauna Site theorizes that hollow stones would be
the best for a single set of bathers. He wrote, “A hollow stone
gives up all of its energy, retaining none when the sauna-bathing is
over [whereas] stones with a large energy-storing capacity and all
large stones retain a lot of energy after a sauna-bath.” Hmmm.
Do you have
experience with ceramic rocks? Please comment — I’d
like to learn more, and so probably would other readers.
Nikki
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