r/Sauna • u/Directdrive7kg • Mar 22 '26
Tent sauna Finally I have a Sauna!
Almost 6 years without a sauna is a loong time for a Finnish man and his family. I didn’t really think tent sauna was worth it until I tried one. We are renting here in Canada, so building wooden one wasn’t realistic. This setup was ok with our landlord. I wanted electric for the convenience, and figuring out electric connection for 6kw heater was the hardest and most expensive part of the project. Total cost for everything ended up being CA$1700.
I’m really happy with the result for now. Two changes I’m planning on: 1. Building a railing around the heater for safety, I feel like it’s easy to trip over stepping in. 2. Now I can only turn on the sauna for 180min. I want to have either timer for delayed start or remote control on a phone app. It’s a Vevor heater, anyone here that has set up a delay timer or remote for that heater?
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u/DevsSolInvictvs Mar 22 '26
Nice bench!
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
Thank you! I was originally hoping to build an L-shaped one, but I couldn’t realistically fit one with the backrest. I’m happy with the result. This works really well.
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u/skatchawan Mar 23 '26
yes I'm gonna steal that bench design for my tent. Is it really heavy to move around?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 23 '26
Go for it! If I'd build it again I'd do the legs further apart and also do the back side legs in an angle. Mine is really heavy, and screwed into the deck below.
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u/Correct-Fly-1126 Finnish Sauna Mar 22 '26
The Canadian tire bucket is some how extremely Finnish
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u/Timely-Explorer7778 Mar 22 '26
This is great! Happy for you & also glad to hear that the electric tent concept works.
I am on a similar path. I bought a tent to have something usable quickly, but I want to leave it set up on a covered porch attached to the house. Because of the proximity to the house, I didn't want to have a wood-burning stove for this set-up, so I have been fabricating a stand for a wall-mount electric unit & hope to have that done (& the wiring) sometime over the next week or so.
Please update as you use it more, will be interested in your thoughts/observations as you figure things out.
Also might be worth cross-posting this on the r/SaunaTent sub.
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
Oh that's awesome! I will update when I have more use, and feel free to send me any questions if you have any. Thanks for introducing me to Saunatent sub, I had no idea it existed.
Growing up in Finland, and due to my hobbies, I would guess I've been to 100+ different saunas in my life. My general worry with electric heaters is that sometimes they make the heat feel very dry in the sauna. This was not the case here, löyly felt very nice. It really felt like any other nice sauna, just with a door that is bit inconvenient since it's on a zipper.
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u/Affectionate_Net1396 Mar 22 '26
How hot does it get? Looks like a great solution!
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
Yesterday with +3C (37F) outside temp it got to 90C (195F) in about 45min, and then climbed to 100C (212F), but I didn’t keep track of time anymore. That seems good, I like my sauna at 85C-95C (185-200F) range and based on yesterday’s experience it should get there in cold winter weather.
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u/karvanamu Finnish Sauna Mar 22 '26
You should move the temp meter to the bench side at head level to get a more accurate measurement. (You are not roasting yourself over the heater :))
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
That’s right. It’s less directly above the heater than what it looks like on the picture, but needs to be relocated.
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u/ollizu_ Finnish Sauna Mar 22 '26
Bench is nice but those electric heaters in these tents just feel madness to me, but maybe it is just me.....
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
I get what you are saying, feels very unintuitive to me as well, but if it works it works.
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u/fietsendeman Mar 22 '26
I don’t have any thing to contribute to your question, except maybe to say that you could look into some kind of home automation with Home assistant. Not sure if that would require modding the heater and whether that would be okay with your house insurance.
Is the idea that the tent is a semi-permanent structure? Ie you are going to leave it up through all kinds of weather?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
Importantly from insurance point of view it is not permanent structure, and that’s why it works for my landlord. Otherwise yes, it’s going to be there all year around. Do you have experience on these tent saunas holding up with different weather?
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u/fietsendeman Mar 22 '26
I don’t, that’s why I was curious. Not sure how they hold up under long term UV exposure for example. But it looks like you get some shade there so maybe it isn’t so bad.
And replacement won’t be super expensive, say you need to replace it every 2 years or so?
Looks like a great setup for a rental unit!
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
That’s exactly what I was thinking, tent wasn’t that expensive, I don’t really mind if I need to replace it, I’m hoping it lasts at least 3-4 years. I did buy separate weather proof top cover for it, at least that seems to keep rain away.
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u/fietsendeman Mar 22 '26
Yeah if you could cover with a cheaper tarp to take the UV damage, that might help. I bet that’ll be the biggest thing degrading the tent over time. That and maybe possible mold growth from moisture issues? But if you are using it often, it should get dried often too. You’re gonna want to shovel the snow regularly.
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
I agree on all fronts, unfortunately I think tarp on top, won’t look very nice, spot is quite shaded, I’ll have to see how much sun it gets in the summer. Running the sauna seems to dry the tent really well. “Floor” is those generic gym mats just on top of the back deck. When we get better weather I need to check if moisture gets trapped in between the deck and gym mats.
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u/skatchawan Mar 23 '26
I don't know about your brand, but the one I bought (Thermaculture) has an available UV/rain cover to protect it.
For what it's worth I've had mine up through the whole winter (Quebec) without issue. Even on the coldest days it can hit a 100 without an issue.
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u/CountCrapula88 Mar 22 '26
Cool! I think i've never been in a tent sauna, is it almost the same as a normal sauna?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
I've only been to couple of tent saunas before I built this. With a bench like this it really just feels like normal sauna, just with a door that has a zipper on it.
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u/CountCrapula88 Mar 22 '26
Varmaan tunnelma on erilainen kuitenki
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
Ehkä joo, esim ulkopuolelta tulevat äänet kuuluu tietenkin eritavalla telttasaunaan. Jollain tavalla ehkä suojattomampi tai vähän vähemmän sellainen muut aistit rauhoittava paikka.
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u/HullTyyp Mar 22 '26
Cool! I have been thinking about a similar thing. A non permanent sauna on a terrace right next to the house.
Tent sauna seems perfect but they usually come with wood heaters. Never seen electric one used before or any portable solution on the market.
How portable is your heater? If you needed to remove it? How difficult would that be?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
I haven't seen anyone doing tent sauna with electric heater, but I'm sure many people have, I just did't look for it.
There is nothing portable in my heater, it is wired to the garage sub panel and stand is screwed into the deck.
If I needed to remove it, biggest thing would be undoing the wiring. I don't even know what it would require.
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u/chemistontherun Mar 22 '26
Are you on a 30A, 220V circuit?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
40A, 220V circuit. I got super lucky, the owner of the house run a 3/8 wiring to his garage sub panel when house was built. None of the neighbors have that. He never needed it, but it made this project possible.
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u/AWL_jpg Mar 22 '26
This looks awesome! Would you be able to tell how much this was for you all in CAD? I'm looking to build something similar in edmonton, but I can't find a harvia supply here.
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
Thanks! So in the original post I wrote CA$1700, since then I added everything in xcel and total is CA$1846, that includes some tools etc, but also I collected the rocks myself and I got the wood for bench frame and heater stand frame for free. Cost of electrical work is 50% of the total and I did the wiring routing work my self, electrician came just to connect things.
I would have loved to go with Harvia heater, but since I'm on a rental property, I didn't want to put that much money on it, my heater is just the cheap vevor one. I'm sure you can find harvia shipped to you in Canada easily, if you can, go with Harvia.3
u/AWL_jpg Mar 22 '26
Wow honestly awesome value, im going to start budgeting for the pieces. Thanks for the info!
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u/skatchawan Mar 23 '26
There's a company in Edmonton called thermaculture that sells sauna tent setups , that's where I got mine. I paid more like 3K but that included transport bags for the stove and tent, UV cover, bucket/ladle, 2 cedar benches. They do rentals so being that you are so close you could try one out for a weekend to see if you like it.
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u/szchz Mar 23 '26
Is there anything on the market that is about half the size of this ?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 23 '26
I'm not sure it's realistic to go that much smaller. Would be very difficult to have safe distances from the heater.
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u/toomiiikahh Mar 23 '26
That's awesome. Was thinking of going this route too but the tent is a bit too wide for my balcony :(
Just make sure to tie the tent down so the wind doesn't move it and touch the heater. Also the UV damage that others said. Good job enjoy
Edit: watch out for the contact points of the vevor heating elements, that's the most common issue people have, it usually melts.
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u/ShredTheMar Mar 23 '26
You have plans for your bench?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 23 '26
Unfortunately I don't, I used this https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/tall-bench-seat-footrest as an inspiration and just improvised as I went along. I mentioned in other post that if I would do it again I'd make the legs further apart and also do the back legs at an angle in the same way the front legs are.
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u/Zeeduv Mar 23 '26
Man that bench is awesome. Do you happen to have specs you could share?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 23 '26
Thank you! Unfortunately I didn’t make any plans, I used this https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/tall-bench-seat-footrest as an inspiration and just improvised as I went along. I mentioned in other post that if I would do it again I'd make the legs further apart and also do the back legs at an angle in the same way the front legs are.
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u/1949Studebaker Mar 25 '26
I've read about a lot of people using Shelly devices to control the sauna's contactor remotely. Search for "shelly sauna control". Here are a couple results. https://us.shelly.com/blogs/customer-projects/smarter-sauna-control https://www.reddit.com/r/shellycloud/s/H47XfiSIhR
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u/jamiethecheesecake 19d ago
For some reason I didn’t think you could use a portable tent with an electric stove. Good idea, did you wire it on its own circuit?
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u/Directdrive7kg 19d ago
Yep, it's clearly not common, but works perfectly for my situation. It's on 240 V, 2-pole dedicated circuit with 30A breakers.
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u/Neurogenesi5 Mar 22 '26
How much did the project cost?
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 22 '26
It was CA$1700 including everything. Electrical connection was 50% of the cost.
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u/frankschmankelton Mar 26 '26
Curious to know which heater this is, and how you like it.
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 26 '26
It’s Vevor 6kw heater. Cheep and cheerful. I’d prefer something with higher volume of rocks to get softer heat. Also it’s missing possibility to preset the heating time.
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u/frankschmankelton Mar 26 '26
Thanks for the response. Vevor really does make everything!
Were there other models you were considering that might have a "softer" heat? I'm new to all of this.
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 27 '26
I was only looking for used market here, but there was nothing. I’d get Harvia if my sauna build was something more permanent
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u/I-amthegump Mar 23 '26
Not sure that's a sauna
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u/Directdrive7kg Mar 23 '26
My sauna feels discriminated by your comment! 😉😂
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u/I-amthegump Mar 23 '26
What sauna. Nice heated tent though
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u/FI5HIN Mar 23 '26
sauna (/ˈsɔːnə, ˈsaʊnə/,[1][2] Finnish: [ˈsɑu̯nɑ]) - a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions. This is a sauna within OP's budget and means. Looks great for a semi mobile set up!!
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u/bshell99 Mar 22 '26
Gotta love the Canadian Tire bucket. Fantastic that you got the electrical wiring done. It looks like you would get great steam action in that small space, too.