How you can build one by yourself BeiYin updated 16.11.05

There are very nice steam saunas available on the market, but when I searched the Internet for it I saw that I would need to spend a lot of money and knowing that the shipping would need several weeks maybe months, so I looked for another solution, because I felt really bad and my energy was going down more and more. To build the box wouldn't be a problem, but how could the steam be made? After some searching with steam producing tools (steam cleaner and wall paper remover) I found a very simple solution: I used a 5 liter pressure cooker from the kitchen. Where the safety bulb comes out on the top, I connected a hose, the other end of the hose I put through a hole into the steam sauna box. The hose shouldn't be longer than 2m (6 feet) otherwise it is loosing too much heat, even though you wrap insulation around the hose. The outlet of the steam hose should be under the seat. Then through an other hole the hose from the ozone generator enters the box. That's it! A simple gas burner will heat the water up in about 10 minutes, then I let it boil for 10 minutes and also I start the ozone generator. I found an old thermometer from a tractor with a sensor, this tells me the temperature inside the box. If it tells about 45 - 50°C then one can go into the box. The temperature goes down 3-5°C when one opens the door, but goes up again in a few minutes. It is good to have a clock nearby. The seat in the box should have the exact high for the person using it, otherwise it will be not comfortable, as the head is outside and with a towel around the neck so that no steam and ozone escapes. When you take the steam sauna, then there should be always a person near. It might be that you get thirsty or a fly insist to sit on your nose... Well, more important is that there is the right temperature and if it gets too hot then there should be somebody turning down the heater. It might be possible to make a hole on one side of the box to be able to reach out to regulate the cooker, but in my case the cooker stands in another room, so this is not possible.

box chair hole for head

Penelope enjoying 'heat for health'

to close the box producing steam

I am doing the steam sauna every second day, and I tell you that I feel much better now. I have more energy and after the sauna there is no muscle pain. I was told that I have to do it for at least 6 weeks. That I will do. [update 1 1/2 years later: I am healed from Fibromyalgia, but I found out that I feel better continuing the sauna, so I do it now every second day.]
Remark: I have done it now for several weeks and I don't want to miss the steam sauna anymore. I am doing it still every second day and my health is improving a lot. I think that soon I will do the sauna only every third day. (Later: I have tried this, but I'm back to every second day...) (Updated: I have done this now for more than one year. The first sauna box has fallen apart, because it was made from press wood and the humidity and the heat was too much. I build a new one from solid wood and this will probably last for a few years... I am doing now the sauna every third day and this feels right to me.)
I am preparing now an infra red sauna which doesn't need the steam... I will report about it when I have build it and have tried it. (I am waiting for the examples of the infra red heating elements since nearly one year and nothing happens. I will look for another company now... Update: It's now two years and I haven given up, also I think the humidity of the steam is important and better than the dry infra red, apart of my latest investigation about electro-magnetic fields, which are probably too strong and not doing any good if heated by infra-red elements...)