Discovering Sauna Essentials With Harvia Wood Burning Stoves
The earliest Finnish saunas focused on an elemental experience. They combined wood, stone, and water to create a warm and relaxing ambiance that felt no less than a cocoon. The air felt almost ethereal, with the incandescent flame, the heady aroma of wood, and the pleasant crackling of a slow-burning fire.
This warmth and atmosphere bring about the benefits of saunas you hear about. Mental relaxation, pain relief, enhanced blood circulation, improved skin and heart health, and better immunity result from an authentic, wood-fired sauna experience.
You can recreate this experience in your private sauna with Harvia's Wood Burning Stoves. Often deemed the gold standard in the sauna bathing experience, Harvia's collection of wood-burning stoves upholds the longstanding tradition of wood-fired saunas.
They're environment-friendly, ensuring you only breathe clean air during your sauna sessions. Harvia's wood-burning stove range includes everything from Harvia M3 heaters to Harvia Legend stoves.
Let's look at what makes Harvia's wood-burning stoves essential to the sauna experience.
Key Features of Harvia Wood-Burning Stoves
Harvia's products, especially the Harvia M3, are renowned for their smart design and innovation.
Here's what makes them unique:
Fire Grate
Harvia stoves feature a robust cast-iron fire grate for improved durability. The fire grate is supplemented by a glass door, allowing you a view of the radiant flame.
The stove has two distinct burning channels. This guarantees that the sauna heats up faster, unlike traditional wood-fired saunas, which take at least an hour to heat up. It's worth noting that every Harvia wood-burning stove, whether the Harvia M3 or the Harvia 26, needs a chimney attachment for safety.
Harvia Stones
Harvia's designs are advanced but still uphold authentic, time-honored traditions that make the sauna experience magical. Stones are essential to any wood-fired heater, and Harvia stones are carefully selected to ensure optimal insulation.
Harvia makes use of split-face sauna stones in its products. These stones have a larger surface area than conventional stones, allowing water to evaporate more quickly. This generates the intense heat and steam needed for a satisfying sauna session.
You can also stack them easily, which further optimizes the heating process.
Some of the specialized stones used by Harvia include:
- Olivine Diabase heater stones, a subvolcanic rock mined in western Finland
- Black Vulcanite heater stones, which date back circa 2000 million years
- Rounded Olivine Diabase heater stones
- Red Granite or white decorative stones for use on the top layer of the heater
Another interesting fact about Harvia's stones is that the Geological Survey Institute of Finland inspects them. They're compatible with any Harvia wood-burning stove, including the Harvia M3 and Harvia Legends models. For wood-burning stoves, sauna stones between 3–5 inches are ideal.
Protective Sheaths
Harvia saunas are safe to use, ensuring your well-being and making your experience as atmospheric as possible. Every wood-burning stove has a protective sheath encasing the heater.
The sheath is made of a steel plate but is painted black for a sleeker look. It is also available in a painted aluminum-zinc coated sheet, suitable for stoves installed on a tile floor.
There are two kinds of protective sheaths:
- A full version that encircles the stove
- A one-sided sheath that you can install on either side of the stove
Selecting the Right Harvia Stove for Your Sauna
You want to ensure your home sauna has a sauna heater that meets the necessary size, material, and insulation criteria. Thankfully, the Harvia wood-burning stove range is designed to accommodate a wide range of needs.
Here's how you can select the right one:
- Stove power is essential for ensuring that the room heats up nicely. It depends on the size and material of your sauna. For wooden sauna interiors or those with a non-insulated log, a stove power 1.5 times the cubic capacity of the sauna is required.
- For glass or stone-based interior cladding, the stove power requirement increases by 1.2 cubic meters per square meter of the surface.
Ensure that your sauna room is well-ventilated to encourage proper air circulation. While Harvia heaters are designed to promote superior air flow, a properly ventilated sauna goes a long way in ensuring that you breathe clean air.
You'll also want to ensure your sauna is sufficiently insulated, especially the walls and the ceiling.
Other Factors to Consider While Selecting a Harvia Wood-Burning Stove
Other aspects to consider while purchasing a Harvia wood-burning stove include:
- Installation, i.e., how difficult or easy a heater is to install. Most Harvia heaters come with comprehensive installation instructions.
- Wood stove size, corresponding to how big your sauna is
- Material of the heater — stainless-steel or cast-iron
- Catalytic or non-catalytic wood stove
- User-friendliness
- Heaters with or without protective sheath
- Wood loading type — inside or outside
- Ashbin requirements
Best Harvia Wood Burning Stoves to Add to Your Wishlist
Harvia M3 SL Wood-Burning Stove
Soothing sauna sessions are guaranteed with the Harvia M3 SL Wood-Burning Stove. The Harvia M3 SL wood-heated stove is a stunning, sleek product wrapped in black graphite. Its highlight is its square-shaped fire chamber, which contains the fire behind a secure, glass-tempered window. This model can accommodate up to 66 lbs of heating stones.
The glass window features a cast-iron frame for additional durability. The Harvia M3 SL stove is ideal for small to medium-sized saunas (6–13 cubic meters), allowing you to enjoy this heater in the privacy of your home or backyard.
To start the fire in this heater, one needs to add the firewood to the Harvia M3 from the other side of the heater wall. The glass door allows a calming view of the glowing fire, adding to the serenity of your sauna session. Are you wondering what else is included in the Harvia M3 SL stove?
- Two boxes of Harvia's heater stones
- Stainless steel airflow spoiler
The chimney installation kit for the Harvia M3 is sold separately.
Alternatively, you can also purchase the Harvia M3 Wood-Burning Stove Kit. This handy kit includes a Harvia M3 stove, protective bedding, a sheath, a chimney kit, and heating stones. This Harvia M3 kit has a 3-sided sheath and bedding with a 2-year warranty. Another great thing about this Harvia M3 kit is that it comes with a 1000MM chimney extension.
Dimensions:
- Width: 39 cm
- Height: 71 cm
- Depth: 43 + 22 cm
Harvia Legend 150 Wood-Burning Stove
If you love conventional sauna heaters, the Harvia Legend 150 Wood-Burning Stove is for you. Unlike the Harvia M3, which boasts a sleeker, more modern look, the Harvia Legend 150 has more rustic elements. Cast in classic graphite, this model can hold an impressive capacity of sauna stones (up to 265 lbs). This ensures incredible heat and steam generation within your home sauna.
The Harvia Legend 150 is also designed with a top-notch air and flame-circulation system. Additionally, there is an elegant glass-tempered window similar to the Harvia M3 so you can watch the comforting blaze of the fire from your perch in your private sauna.
Some other interesting features include:
- Removable ash pan
- Fire grate
- Stainless steel airflow spoiler
- Six boxes of sauna stones
Dimensions:
- Width: 53cm
- Height: 74 cm
- Depth: 53 cm
If you're concerned about additional safety, you can purchase the chimney installation kit separately.
Harvia 26 Wood-Burning Stove
The Harvia 26 Pro Wood-Burning Stove is perfect if you have a medium-sized sauna at home. This model is similar to the Harvia M3 but has a larger chamber for the heater stones. This ensures consistent and generous steam throughout your sauna session.
There is also a cast-iron grate and a tempered window with a view of the fire. A stainless-steel spoiler over the fire window completes the look, adding character and atmosphere to your home sauna. The purchase includes the heater stones. However, the chimney is sold separately.
Dimensions:
- Width: 43 cm
- Height: 81 cm
- Depth: 51 cm
Enjoy the Warmth of a Harvia Wood Burning Stove at Home
The beauty of a home sauna is that you can customize your sauna room the way you want. You can control the amount of heat and steam produced by your heater. You can also choose the mood you want to create, whether it's a modern and casual vibe or a comforting retreat reminiscent of a traditional sauna.
Harvia's wood-burning stove range caters to all your sauna musings. For smaller home saunas, choose the Harvia M3 model. For an intensive sauna session, opt for a heater from the Harvia Legends line.
Harvia's wood-burning stoves deliver an elemental journey that combines wood, stone, and water to create an atmosphere of relaxation, focusing on smart design, innovation, and a commitment to traditional sauna practices. Shop now to create an ideal sauna haven in the comfort of your home today.
If you still want to learn more about the saunas, hot tubs, cold plunges, and wood-fired or electric stoves you can purchase at My Sauna World, take our quick two-minute quiz.