Traditional sauna heaters use electronic heater elements, similar to what you would find in a kitchen oven. Sauna rocks are placed on the heater elements and the heater heats up the rocks. Water can be poured over the rocks to create steam and humidity.

The rocks used are volcanic rocks. People also use these saunas without using the water, this gives more of a dry heat sauna. Many gyms and health clubs do not allow patrons to put water on the heaters. Adding water creates steam and this produces humidity. In Australia we have a lot of humidity, so it is not that necessary, but some people do like the feeling. Usually, most traditional heaters will turn off at 80c, but the rocks continue to heat up the sauna. once the heater cools down, the heater will come on again.

Near infrared use a glass bar as the heater, the bar emits NEAR infrared heat.
Near infrared heat penetrates deeper than traditional Sauna heaters, but not as deep as FAR infrared heaters. Near Infrared is very good for the skin, but in saying this, all saunas are good for the skin.

We use these Near Infrared heaters in all of our Infrared saunas (Under Bench only) as they heat up quicker and are better in cooler floor areas. In the WISE full spectrum sauna’s we use NEAR Infrared glass heaters with visible light, under the bench and on the front glass facing the person in the sauna.

These are a lot larger panels than Near Infrared and cover a wider area, therefor the heat is lower from any one point, because the heat is spread out over a larger area. FAR infrared goes quite deep into your body, this helps eliminate the toxins from deeper in your body, it also helps with aching muscles and joints, as it penetrates much deeper.

These are the heaters we use the most in our range. They are called Carbon Nano Fibre heaters, no mesh, no toxins and Ultra Low EMF, there is no better heater than this one. One good way to think of FAR infrared is that it is Far better and goes Far deeper.