Guide · 7 min read
Ozone sauna compared: wooden saunas, infrared saunas, steam rooms and hyperbaric chambers
Ozone steam saunas are usually bought after looking at something else first. This guide sets one next to wooden saunas, far infrared saunas, steam rooms, hyperbaric chambers and red light panels, including what our Red Light model adds, so you can choose the one that fits.
Most people arrive at ozone saunas after looking at something else first: an infrared sauna, a hyperbaric chamber, a red light panel, a steam room at the gym. This page sets an ozone steam sauna next to each.
What you are actually comparing
An ozone steam sauna is a hard-shell cabinet you sit in with your head outside. Steam heats the body, an ozone generator fed by an oxygen concentrator infuses medical ozone — made from a pure oxygen feed rather than room air — into the cabinet, and a 12 micron far infrared element runs alongside it on every model in the range. Our Standard is 1180 × 680 mm (1360 mm doors open) × 1200 mm, 80 kg, a 1500 W element, no plumbing, four castors.
One specification needs explaining before any comparison. We publish our ozone as 47 ppm at 2 l/min (500 mg/h). The 500 mg/h is the generator’s output; 2 l/min is the constant oxygen feed; and the 47 ppm is the resulting ozone concentration across the entire air volume inside the sauna — not the concentration in the delivery line, and not a room-air figure. It shifts slightly with the size and build of the person inside, because that changes the free volume. The digital display gives 10 levels, each stepping the generator’s output by 10%.
Ozone sauna versus a wooden sauna used with ozone
A traditional wooden sauna is a good dry-heat room and is not built for ozone, for two reasons: you would sit inside and inhale ozone throughout, which is exactly what the head-outside design prevents; and no medical oxygen source can be connected, so what you would be breathing is not medical ozone. If you already own one, use it for dry heat and keep the ozone in a sauna built for it.
Ozone sauna versus a far infrared sauna
A far infrared sauna delivers dry radiant heat. The research we rely on is collected on our far infrared studies page, which links on to the sources themselves.
An infrared sauna has no water, no oxygen concentrator and no ozone to ventilate. If dry heat is what you want, it is the straightforward choice. Our case for the steam sauna is that steam behaves differently from dry heat, and that in our design ozone meets the skin in steam rather than dry air. Transdermal ozone uptake has not been quantified. Every model in our range carries 12 micron far infrared as well.
Ozone sauna versus a traditional steam room
A steam room is plumbed, tiled, fixed and shared, and you breathe the steam. With your head outside the cabinet that difficulty does not arise, which is also what makes ozone possible at all. The cabinet needs no plumbing, regulates its own temperature and wheels to another room. A steam room holds several people and works as a social space; our sauna is single-occupancy, one client per session, which for a spa is part of planning throughput.
Ozone sauna versus a mild hyperbaric oxygen chamber
We set the two side by side — pressure, oxygen, session length and space — on a separate page: how a mild hyperbaric oxygen chamber differs from an ozone steam sauna. If a doctor has recommended hyperbaric oxygen for you, follow that advice; an ozone sauna is not a substitute.
Ozone saunas carry their own contraindications: pregnancy, heart conditions, a pacemaker, thrombosis, platelet disorders, active bleeding, menstruation, hyperthyroidism, alcoholism, and timed exclusions after a heart attack, stroke, major surgery or chemotherapy. Never inhale ozone.
Ozone sauna versus red light therapy alone
A red light panel delivers light at specific wavelengths. It is compact and sessions take minutes. Our red light studies page lists the research and carries the links on to the sources themselves, which is where to read them in full. A panel will not heat you, make you sweat or deliver ozone.
Our Red Light ozone sauna brings these together and is our flagship model: visible blue, green and red light from 460 nm, near infrared at 850 nm from a full-body-length LED array, and far infrared under the same 12 micron rating, plus ozone and steam. ’12 micron’ names a band, not the emitter’s peak wavelength. There is no ultraviolet output. On eyes, goggles are not part of our configuration because of the layout: your head is outside the sauna, away from any direct line of light, and the lights switch off the moment the doors open. Dimensions, wattage and current price live on the Red Light product page.
Why a hard-shell sauna rather than a fabric tent
Ozone is a strong oxidant, and it degrades tent fabric with extended use. A folding fabric frame also cannot carry integrated controls, an adjustable seat, a far infrared element or a properly sealed neck opening, and it holds heat unevenly. That is why we build hard-shell fibreglass saunas and do not supply a tent.
Three modalities in one — or seven
The Standard and Deluxe bring three modalities together: ozone, steam and far infrared. The Red Light brings seven: ozone, steam, far infrared, near infrared, and red, blue and green light. Those are counts of what is in the cabinet.
Our reason for building them together is a practical one. One 30 minute session a client will actually complete fits better than three or seven appointments on separate machines, and for an outlet a single unit means one footprint, one plug, one maintenance routine and one slot in the diary. Separate devices mean more space, more schedules and more capital.
So which is better?
There is no winner, only a fit. A medical condition points to your doctor first; a light-only routine at home to a red light panel; dry heat to far infrared or a wooden sauna. Steam, sweating, several modalities in one room and short 30 minute sessions point to an ozone steam sauna.