Running a sauna stove is a great achievement. By creating it, you will receive a device that will warm for several years not only the body, but also the soul. In order not to cross out your efforts and not to burn the bath, you need to think about how to install the furnace. Compliance with several rules will make the steam room a safe place to relax. If you purchased the sauna stove in finished form, then you must read the installation instructions.
Foundation
In order to ensure the reliability of the entire structure and guarantee safety, the furnace should be installed on the foundation. It can be made of concrete, but fireclay bricks can also be used. The base must meet the requirements for strength and evenness, and in order to comply with fire safety, asbestos cardboard should be laid on the floor. Its thickness should be 12 mm. A 5 mm sheet of steel is laid on top. These layers are required to cover the floor space in front of the oven 50 cm from the door. On all sides, the protrusion of such a barrier should be 3 cm.
Furnace door and chimney
The installation of the furnace in the bath is necessarily accompanied by the installation of the furnace door. It may be located closer to the opposite wall, but the distance should be 1.5 m or more. From the side surfaces of the device and the back to the walls, the minimum distance is 50 cm.
If the device has a remote furnace panel, then the wall through which it passes is made of non-combustible materials. The node connecting the outlet and the pipe must be collapsible. If the chimney is in the zone of subzero temperatures, you must exclude the formation of condensation on it. For this, thermal insulation is installed.
About the gate and chimney material
When installing the furnace in the bath, it is imperative to provide a gate in the chimney, which will be responsible for the course of the combustion process. Non-combustible material must be laid between overlapping and cutting. The most durable and safe are chimneys made of quality ceramics. The second place is occupied by stainless steel pipes. Sandwiches cannot be used as the first element of the chimney, because the first pipe must be single-circuit. As for steel, the best brand is AISI 310 S, which has heat resistance qualities. This material is recommended for areas where the temperature is highest. Suitable are the brands AISI 316L, AISI 321.
Seams that must be performed by laser welding are important, spot welding is not allowed. When the furnace is installed in the bath, the chimney is passed through the roof. At this point, the cutting should be located. This element will guarantee waterproofing and fire safety at the intersection with the roofing material. A distance of 130 mm must be maintained from combustible elements to the outside of the sandwich. It can be increased.
Where the furnace tube goes outside, a 12 cm thickening is necessary in the brickwork. Above the roof, the pipe masonry should not be higher than 50 cm. The part of the chimney that is located between the ceiling and the roof must be plastered and covered with lime.
Furnace location
Installing a furnace in a bathhouse is also a choice of location. Even a cold installation should not be closer to combustible structures than 50 cm. If the room has walls made of combustible materials, they are protected with masonry or sheets of insulation. They are positioned so that they rise above the surface of the furnace. Firebox doors should face the door. The door of the heater will be directed to the corner of the bath.
Ceiling and grounding
Fires occur due to the fact that no attention was paid to protecting the ceiling. If this part is made of non-combustible materials, it is covered with a steel sheet with a layer of basalt cardboard or minerite. The area should exceed the size of the furnace by a third. If you have chosen a device that works from the network, then its installation should be carried out according to the standards that are prescribed by the fire inspection.
The situation will improve with grounding. That is why modern private houses have their own circuit, which is forgotten by the owners of the baths. Experienced stove makers recommend making a separate grounding circuit for the steam room for safety reasons, so as not to use the neutral wire that comes from the substation, as this is unsafe.
More about security
If it is difficult to ground, grounding is used, connecting the zero terminals and the ground wire of the electric furnace in the distribution panel. You can also use protective shutdown. If the electric heater was purchased ready-made, the installation can be entrusted to the seller’s company. Such services will cost 10% of the total cost of equipment.
Features of installing a stove in a wooden building
The installation of the furnace in the bathhouse on a wooden floor can be carried out without the construction of an additional base. But for safety and creating aesthetics, the floor is laid with brick or tile. In the presence of a wooden floor, the surface is covered with a non-combustible material. If the weight of the furnace does not exceed 700 kg, then the construction of an additional foundation can be omitted.
Even the heaviest metal installation weighs less. However, if you plan to brick it, then the foundation is required. Its dimensions should be greater than the dimensions of the furnace by 150 mm. The base goes deep, as does the general foundation of the building. If the furnace is located close to the supporting wall, then the foundation must have an incoherent design.
You should not create sites in which the two bases will be in contact. This is necessary so that during shrinkage the furnace does not affect the bath room. The height of such a foundation is made below the floor level by 200 mm.
Step-by-step instructions for installing the furnace in the bath include:
- Digging holes with the necessary dimensions, where the formwork is installed.
- A reinforcing mesh is mounted inside for reinforcement.
- The next step will be pouring concrete, which is prepared from cement and sand in a ratio of 1 to 3.
- After the cement-sand mixture has stood, double waterproofing is laid.
- The next layer will be a refractory brick in two rows.
Installing the oven in a wooden bath requires special conditions. As in the case described above, with a total mass of the structure less than 700 kg and the presence of logs, as well as boards of sufficient thickness, there is no need to build a foundation. You must lay the heat-resistant base on the surface of the wood. It can be a metal sheet laid on basalt cardboard or asbestos. Instead of metal, you can use refractory bricks, ceramic tiles or stone.
The floor structure will not warm up as much as the nearby walls, but protection is still needed. A metal sheet must lie in front of the firebox to ensure fire safety in case of loss of coal from the firebox.
Installation of a device with an external firebox: about pouring the foundation
Correct installation of the furnace in the bath in the presence of a device with an external firebox is accompanied by the determination of the dimensions of the foundation. A screed should act as a floor base, on the surface of which heat-resistant ceramic tiles or porcelain tiles are laid. The standard height of the screed on which the furnace is installed is 20 cm. This figure is most optimal if you are planning a construction device with a brick jacket and a massive chimney.
Sometimes furnaces with a remote firebox are installed on a brick pillow. It is important to carry out calculations, because the height of the foundation will be added to the size of the substrate, so the height of the ceilings will become lower. The installation instructions for the bathhouse furnace in the first stage involves digging a foundation pit into which the formwork is installed. Concrete is prepared according to the above scheme.
A double layer of waterproofing, for example, roofing material, is laid at the bottom. Bricks are laid on top of the concrete screed after it has dried. If necessary, embed the structure into the wall, it is important to observe fire safety. If the walls are made of wood, then they are faced with insulating materials. When installing the furnace in a bath with a remote firebox, it is important to determine the parameters of the opening. They should be equal to the distance between the fuel base and the firebox. If the furnace was made by yourself, it is better to use approximate standards - 25 cm. This is true if fireproof materials are used. Otherwise, this parameter should be increased to 40 cm.
It is necessary to equip brickwork in the upper part and on the sides of the wooden wall. During installation, it is not recommended to bring the brick close to the remote firebox assembly. An air gap must be created. Its size is calculated taking into account the data that you can take from the accompanying instructions for the factory furnace. This parameter should not be less than 2.5 cm. When installing the furnace in a bath with a remote firebox, this gap is subsequently closed by insulating material, which can be stone or basalt wool.
Chimney work
This step is final and may be carried out in one of several ways. If you have chosen a wood-burning stove with an external firebox, the chimney is installed using ceramics, metal or brick. A brick pipe is a kind of continuation of a protective brick shirt.
The pipe is laid out and performed as an air duct. The chimney is a rather heavy construction, the load of which is imposed on the building. The main pressure will fall on the foundation, the installation of which should be made of concrete. The following is an example of a chimney assembly.
Recommendations before installation. Water tank mounting
The installation of a stove-heater in the bath may include the location of the firebox in the steam room. In this case, the wall behind the heating device should be protected by brickwork in half a brick. A stainless steel sheet can be used.
The stove should be 10 cm or more away from the wall. Before starting installation, the device must be heated, which is true for solid fuel units. This is required to harden the paint on the body and eliminate odors from chemical fumes that appear when heated.
When installing the oven in the bath with your own hands, you will have to start installing the water tank. It is hung on the wall of the furnace or connected with a flexible hose to the heat exchanger. You can use a threaded connection.
Which chimney to choose
If you use a pipe from a sandwich chimney, then you can get a bonus - ease of installation. This material allows you to save heat due to the external and internal walls with mineral wool insulation. The chimney provides good traction, and condensate and soot do not accumulate on its internal surfaces.
For the manufacture of sandwich chimneys, acid-resistant stainless steel with a long service life is used. Therefore, for a bath furnace, this design is the most suitable option.
Should I choose a solid metal chimney or made of brick
Today, chimneys are made of different materials, it can be a sandwich pipe, a brick structure or a solid metal chimney. The latter option is not the best, because when venting gases from combustion products, such a device does not comply with safety regulations. This is because the temperature of the exhaust gases is high.
The brick construction, although it complies with fire safety standards, requires the installation of a reliable and solid foundation. Not every sauna stove will be able to withstand such a chimney.
Conclusion
The installation of a metal furnace in a bathhouse, like any other, must be accompanied by compliance with fire safety rules. For example, hot objects in the steam room have a big minus - a vast surface, heating up to 500 ° C. If a person accidentally slips or suddenly feels bad, he may fall on such a furnace and get a serious burn. Therefore, experts recommend equipping a brick screen in front of the stove.
In any case, the floor in the bath should not be slippery. Before putting the appliance into operation, you must show the design to a familiar stove, who will appreciate its safety with an experienced eye. For example, all joints of the chimney should be as tight as possible, and the inner surface of the chimney must be smooth so that soot does not accumulate on the material.