Bench sanding and waxing at AUT Millennium.
Not much to say about this one. It's self-explanatory, so have a look at the photos. But there's a good lesson behind it too.
Five years on one set of elements.
This is a heavily used commercial sauna at AUT Millennium. I can name them because they've been exceptionally good at maintaining their sauna: changing the stones, and so on.
The sauna is on seven days a week, from 5.30am till 9.30pm, and the heater still ran for five years before an element blew. Only one. We've now changed them all, so they'll get another five years out of it.
- Open
- 7 days
- Hours
- 5.30am–9.30pm
- Elements lasted
- 5 years
Two usual suspects: small heaters, old stones.
I've heard of places where the elements blow once or twice a year. That's usually for two reasons: the heater is undersized, or the stones haven't been changed.
Read: importance of changing stonesThe AUT sauna is 10 square metres with a glass front. I convinced them to upgrade their electrical, and we put in a 16 kW heater; they used to have a 10 kW. That's one of the main reasons the elements have lasted so long.
And it's something I come across all the time when we redo existing saunas: undersized heaters, in homes and commercial saunas alike.
- Room
- 10 m²
- Old heater
- 10 kW
- New heater
- 16 kW
Do it yourself. It's easy.
You don't need us for this. You can do it yourself, or get your handyman or service team onto it.
Start coarse
160 grit if the benches are in really bad nick.
Then finer
Go to 180 grit, then finish off with 200 or 220.
Get the dust off
Use a vac with your sander if you have one, then blow or brush off the dust.
Treat it
Apply Supi Sauna Wax or our Sauna Paraffin Oil, and you're done.
Sanded, waxed, photographed.
