STEAM SHOWER

Many people assume that a steam shower and a sauna room are pretty much the same, however they are completely different, both in how they work and in what they do.

A conventional Finnish sauna heats the air in a sauna room by using a stove topped with rocks. These rocks are heated and become very hot, following which air convection currents raise the temperature in the room and produce a very dry (low moisture content) environment.

Applying a splash of water to the sauna rocks can temporarily increase the humidity and generate what is known as a steam shock, however most sauna users stick with a very hot and dry sauna experience.

A steam shower

A steam shower (also referred to as a steam bath) is something akin to bathing in that, rather than spending time in a hot and dry enclosure, the user is immersed in hot, wet and humid water vapour.

This vapour is produced by a rapid humidifying steam generator that quickly fills a shower-like cubical and creates an atmosphere filled with water vapour.

Despite the showers cryptic name, the water vapour is not of course steam (which would scald the skin), but air that has had its humidity raised to the highest levels possible and is now saturated with water.

How a steam shower works

Most steam showers look like a regular shower cubicle and most will also function as one. The giveaway is the number of shower jets that line the cubicle and which combine to produce a very fine spray of hot water. This spray gives the impression of steam.

A typical steam shower will have anything from half a dozen to thirty separate jets and they are normally spaced vertically along much of the height of the cubicle. The luxury steam showers may have jets on two or more of the cubicle’s vertical walls.

Steam showers are usually specified for performance in watts, where a model with something in the region of 750 watts is at the higher end of the range.

Other steam shower functions

In addition to providing a standard steam shower and a regular shower, many steam showers and baths can provide a massaging experience using their multiple jet technology. They do this using their hydro jets and mixing water with air to create what is sometimes termed, a champagne effect, massage. (This name describes the sensation of having hundreds of thousands of tiny water bubbles explode on the body.)

Another steam shower option (at the top of the range) is that of a more stimulating hydro massage where 4, 5 or 6 larger and more powerful water jets bounce off the body and create a cushion of water against whichever part of the anatomy is facing them, usually the back.

At the luxury end of the scale, some steam rooms function as Jacuzzis and whirlpool baths and some steam rooms are designed for simultaneous use by two people.

Costs

Fifteen years ago steam showers were large and unaffordable, but today they are no larger than a typical shower cubicle and there prices start at little more than a regular shower.