Heat

Saunas

Finnleo and Jacuzzi saunas in infrared, traditional and hybrid heat, ready to sit in at the showroom before you decide.

Three ways to heat a cabin

Columbia Pool & Spa carries Finnleo and Jacuzzi saunas, and the line runs across infrared, traditional and hybrid. They are three different experiences, not three price tiers of the same box.

A traditional sauna heats the air and a bed of stones, and the heat rolls over you. Infrared warms you directly through panels in the walls while the cabin air stays gentler. A hybrid carries both systems so one cabin can do either session.

The comparison below sets the three side by side. If you already know which one you want, skip to the part about where it goes.

Measure the spot before you choose the cabin

A sauna is a small room with large requirements. Before you fall for a model, measure the footprint, the ceiling height and the door swing, then trace the path the cabin has to travel to get there, because a cabin that does not fit through the doorway is a very expensive coffee table.

Find the electrical panel and ask what supply the cabin you like requires. Each model has its own spec sheet, and an electrician should read that sheet before anyone cuts a hole in a wall. Then look at the floor. A heated cabin and a damp floor are a long-term argument, so decide whether the surface under it can take both.

Last, look at the room around it. A sauna wants air moving through the space it sits in, and a place to hang a towel, set down a drink and step out for a minute when you are done.

See the cabins in person at either showroom

A sauna is a decision you make with your body, not from a page. The showrooms in Columbia and Osage Beach are where you sit on the bench, feel how the door closes and ask which heat suits the way you will really use it.

Columbia Pool & Spa also sells Jacuzzi hot tubs and the Kodiak cold plunge, so one visit can cover the whole wellness corner of a yard, basement or garage. Sauna prices are quoted at the counter once you have picked a model.

Inside the Osage Beach showroom: armchairs on a rug in a seating area, display hot tubs and track lighting under an exposed ceiling

Family owned and operated in Columbia since 1992, with showrooms on Business Loop 70 West and at Osage Beach Parkway.

Stones, emitters or both

Traditional, infrared and hybrid, read across

The same three questions asked of each heat. Read down a column to hear one sauna described, or across to compare.

Traditional

How it heats: A heater warms a bed of stones and the air around them. The whole cabin gets hot, and water ladled onto the stones adds steam.
What it feels like: Hot air from the first breath, with the humidity in your hands. The classic Finnish way to sit.
Plan around: A heater that needs its own electrical supply, a floor that tolerates heat and splashed water, and a way for the room to breathe.

Infrared

How it heats: Emitter panels in the walls warm your body directly. The air in the cabin stays milder than it does around a stove of stones.
What it feels like: A glow on the skin instead of a wall of hot air, in a dry cabin with no steam to manage.
Plan around: Wall panels that need clear space to radiate, so the layout of the bench seats matters more than the footprint alone.

Hybrid

How it heats: Both systems in one cabin: a heater with stones for the traditional session and emitters for the infrared one.
What it feels like: Your choice that day. Warm and glowing on a quiet evening, hot and steamy when guests are over.
Plan around: Everything the other two ask for, added together: the electrical supply, the floor and the clear wall space.

Heat settings, session lengths and electrical needs differ by model. The counter at either Columbia or Osage Beach has the spec sheet for the cabin you pick.

Heat, then the other end of the scale

A sauna has a partner

Plenty of people finish a hot session in cold water. The Jacuzzi Kodiak heats and chills in one tub, so the same showroom visit can cover both ends, and a Jacuzzi hot tub rounds it out if the household wants a warm soak too.

See the Kodiak cold plunge Browse hot tubs