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Yrittäjäntie 1, FI-27230 Lappi • tel. +358 0207 416 740 • fax +358 0207 416 743 • www.narvi.fi
3. HEATING
Be carefull, the sauna stove and its parts become
very hot during the heating. Use protective gloves
when heating and touching the sauna stove.
3.1 First heating
Once the sauna stove has been installed, do the
first heating which must be done with half capacity
and thereafter allow the sauna stove to cool, so that
the bricks and stones settle down. The first heating
also removes any possible humidity from the bricks,
which might increase the heating time of the sauna
stove. If the upper stones do not become evenly hot,
add small stones to the hot spots to get an even
draught in the whole upper surface of the stone
compartment.
3.2 Heating
Open the ash door. See that sufficient volume of
combustion air enters in the sauna either from the
valve or through the door.
To ensure correct travel path of smoke, open the
valve in front of the closing plan, open the closing
pan and close the valve in front of the closing pan as
shown on the above drawing. Check that the flue is
open.
The heating time depends significantly on the wood
quality. The fastest method to heat the sauna stove
to the temperature suitable for steam procedures is
to use finely cut birch wood that is dry. Fill the firebox
with wood 2/3 part of firebox height and light it from
above. During burning the fire box hatch should be
kept closed and the ash drawer opened. When more
than half of the wood has been burned, continue
refilling the firebox sufficiently often. Do not throw
wood against the back element of the firebox.
Heating can be stopped, when the lower parts of
the upmost stones start glowing red. For the last fill
of the firebox we recommend using small firewood,
which burn up quickly and do not leave coal glow-
ing long. To prevent soot problems, AITO sauna stove
should always be heated to the temperature, when
the lower halves of the upper stones glow red.
When there are almost no embers left, push ash on
the grate into the ash space.
The ash space should
be emptied.
The ash must be emptied in a non-com-
bustible container (for instance metal bucket). Now
close the ash drawer, firebox hatch and the closing
pan and the valve in front of the closing pan. After
this the glowing redness spreads to the upper sur-
faces of the stones and the stones become free from
soot. Let the sauna stove stay like this for a while
so that heat will spread evenly in the area and the
sauna stove is ready for the steam bath (“löyly”).
Before starting enjoying your sauna throw 3-5 times
the first “löyly”, which removes any ash dust on the
stones and the next “löylys” will already be cleaner.
The first “löyly” is thrown with the closing pan open
and the valve in front of the closing pan closed. In
this way any ash on the stones is directed in the
stack via the flue. After this the sauna is ventilated.
If there is no ventilation valve in the upper part of
the sauna, the sauna can, when necessary, be ven-
tilated by closing the steam hatch and by opening
the valve in front of the closing pan. In this case the
closing pan must be closed (see the drawing above).
This method can also be used for drying the sauna
after the bathing procedure.
