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Steam Shower vs Sauna in Orlando: Cost, Power & Humidity · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:05
  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Remodel Report
• 0:07
  by USA Cabinet Store. I'm Chris. Today it's steam
• 0:12
  shower or sauna for your Orlando home, what each
• 0:15
  one costs, what it does to your power bill, and
• 0:18
  what our humidity does to both. And I'm Jessica.
• 0:22
  Here's why we wanted to do this one. We read
• 0:25
  the top guides that rank for steam shower versus
• 0:28
  sauna, and none of the ones we read mentions
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  Florida. Not the humidity, not the permits. Not
• 0:34
  the breaker sizes. So they're answering for somebody
• 0:37
  in Minnesota, not for us. Okay, let's start with
• 0:40
  the money. What does each one cost to install
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  here? A prefab steam system runs about $3 ,000
• 0:47
  to $7 ,000 installed, and most custom steam showers
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  land between $6 ,000 and $15 ,000. Saunas spread
• 0:55
  wider. Infrared runs about $2 ,300 to $8 ,500.
• 1:00
  And nationally most home saunas land between
• 1:02
  $3 ,000 and $10 ,000 installed. Then add a dedicated
• 1:06
  240 -volt circuit. $250 to $900 plus permits.
• 1:12
  Alright, humidity. Everybody assumes a sauna
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  in Orlando is going to feel muggy. True? Not
• 1:17
  true. And it's just physics. Our typical summer
• 1:20
  dew point is around 73 degrees. Heat that sticky
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  August air to 170 degrees inside a sauna. and
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  relative humidity drops to about 6 .6%. The session
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  stays dry. The real risk is the other 23 hours,
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  so keep the sauna inside the air -conditioned
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  house. Steam showers are wet on purpose, so you
• 1:41
  need a vapor barrier on every surface, a sloped
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  ceiling, and a bathroom exhaust fan outside the
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  enclosure that vents outdoors. Got it. And running
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  costs? Every page quotes a cost per session,
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  but nobody says which electricity rate they used.
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  So we use the real Orlando Utilities Commission
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  tariff, 11 .55 to 14 .05 cents per kilowatt hour.
• 2:04
  A six kilowatt sauna costs about 52 to 84 cents
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  a session, or $9 to $15 a month at four sessions
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  a week. A nine kilowatt steam generator is about
• 2:14
  35 to 42 cents a session. The sauna costs more
• 2:18
  because it preheats a whole room first. Which
• 2:21
  makes steam cheaper to run. Just not a savings
• 2:24
  plan, right? A $6 ,000 sauna takes roughly 10
• 2:27
  years to pay for itself against a $65 gym membership.
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  Okay, what about breakers? Both usually need
• 2:34
  their own 240 -volt circuit. Common sauna heaters
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  need around 30 to 40 amps, and midsize steam
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  generators around 40 to 50. But the exact number
• 2:44
  comes from the model's manual, not a formula.
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  That's where Orlando quotes jump. Service size
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  varies house to house. And plenty of older homes
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  in College Park and parts of Winter Park still
• 2:56
  have 100 or 150 amp panels that are already full.
• 3:01
  That can mean a subpanel for $500 to $1 ,000,
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  or a panel upgrade for $1 ,300 to $4 ,000. Then
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  permits. Inside City of Orlando limits, the city
• 3:12
  issues them. In unincorporated Orange County,
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  the county does. Any job over $2 ,500 needs a
• 3:20
  recorded notice of commencement. HOA rules mostly
• 3:24
  target changes you can see from the street, but
• 3:27
  condos are another story. Yeah. In a Baldwin
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  Park condo or a downtown high -rise, get written
• 3:34
  confirmation from the association before you
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  sign. Space matters, too. A steam shower fits
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  inside a typical 4 by 5 foot shower. A sauna
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  needs its own room from 4 by 4 feet up to 8 by
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  10. In Dr. Phillips or Windermere, there's often
• 3:51
  room for both. And one combo we like is a steam
• 3:54
  shower plus a compact infrared sauna, which usually
• 3:58
  runs on 120 volts. Now the health side. Carefully.
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  The best -known study followed 2 ,315 Finnish
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  men for about 21 years. Men who used a sauna
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  four to seven times a week had a 63 % lower rate
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  of sudden cardiac death than men who went once
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  a week. But that's an association, not proof.
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  And it's studied dry saunas, not steam. Steam
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  is more about comfort. Some people find warm,
• 4:28
  humid air soothing, but the evidence that it
• 4:30
  treats anything is thin. Neither one melts fat
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  or detoxes you. Harvard Health recommends 15
• 4:37
  to 20 minute sessions and checking with your
• 4:39
  doctor first if you have heart disease or uncontrolled
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  blood pressure. So which one? Already remodeling
• 4:46
  the bathroom? Steam, spare room and love dry
• 4:49
  heat? Sauna, full panel or a condo? Look at infrared.
• 4:55
  And honestly, the builder matters more than the
• 4:58
  feature. USA Cabinet Store installs steam showers
• 5:02
  as part of bathroom remodels across central Florida.
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  And if a sauna room is in your plan, we design
• 5:09
  the space and roughen the 240 -volt circuit for
• 5:12
  it during the remodel. Stop by our winter spring
• 5:15
  showroom on Red Bug Lake Road with photos of
• 5:17
  your bathroom and your panel label. and will
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  price the steam shower with electrical and permits
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  included. Jessica, takeaways? Five things. One,
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  a steam shower is the easier add -on during a
• 5:30
  bathroom remodel. Two, Florida humidity won't
• 5:34
  make a sauna muggy, but keep it inside the air
• 5:36
  -conditioned house. Three, steam is cheaper to
• 5:40
  run on OUC, about 35 to 42 cents a session. Four,
• 5:45
  get a load calculation before you choose a heater
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  size. And five, build steam right with a vapor
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  barrier, a sloped ceiling, and a bathroom exhaust
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  fan outside the enclosure that vents outdoors.
• 5:58
  The humidity table, the full cost breakdown,
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  and eight questions to ask any installer are
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  in the article at usacabinetstore .com slash
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  steam shower versus sauna Orlando. Thanks for
• 6:10
  listening to the remodel report. Bye everyone.