The Brand Story
Saunum: An Engineer's Answer to the Hot Head, Cold Feet Sauna
Anyone who has spent time in a sauna knows the feeling. Your head is in fierce heat near the ceiling while your feet, a meter and a half below, sit in air that is barely warm. Andrus Vare inherited something few people own: his grandfather's smoke sauna, more than a century old. He was also a thermal engineer. Somewhere between the two, a question took hold. What if the air in a sauna could be made even from floor to ceiling, without losing the bite of real löyly steam? Saunum is his answer.
Chapter 1 · 2014
A company built around one problem
Saunum was registered in Estonia in December 2014. Rather than starting with a heater and adding features, Vare started with the air. Heat rises, and in an ordinary sauna it pools at the ceiling, leaving a steep temperature difference between the upper bench and the floor. Steam does the same thing, arriving at the bather's face in a hot rush and then hanging overhead.
The company's development work drew on research support from Tallinn University of Technology, and it focused on a device that could gently pull hot air and steam from the top of the room, mix it, and return it lower down, so that the whole room shares the same climate.
Chapter 2 · 2018
Patenting the even sauna
In 2018 Saunum was granted a patent for a device and method that adjust the indoor climate of a sauna, along with a method for generating salty air. The air-blending system became the backbone of every product the company makes, and the salt technology added a second idea: releasing salt ions into the sauna air through Himalayan salt spheres placed in the climate equalizer. Over time Saunum also registered seven industrial design patents.
The company's chief executive, Allan Selirand, describes the result simply.
"Saunum's air-blending system creates an even temperature throughout the sauna room."
Chapter 3 · 2020 to 2021
From Tallinn to the world
In December 2020 Saunum Group listed its shares on the First North market of Nasdaq Tallinn, a step that gave the young company capital to grow. Export sales began in earnest in 2021, and the company now reports selling in more than 30 countries. Its products are designed and manufactured in Estonia, a country whose sauna culture is as deep as its Finnish neighbor's.
Chapter 4 · 2022 to 2024
Five saunas in one room
With the climate equalizer in place, Saunum began to treat the sauna as something that could change character on demand. Its heaters are built to deliver five experiences from a single room: a classic Nordic sauna at 60 to 90 °C, a humid steam sauna at 45 to 60 °C, a mild relaxing sauna at 40 to 55 °C, an aroma sauna, and a salt-ion sauna. In 2022 the company introduced its Leil control units and the AutoLeil automatic water dousing system, and in 2023 it launched the Spa Session heater, with a two-level stone basket. The Spa Session won a Golden Wave award for innovative technology in 2024.
The company also builds monitoring into its systems, watching the conditions in the room so that bathers do not overheat or run short of fresh air. For people who have always found a traditional sauna too harsh, that gentler, steadier climate is often the point.
The Science
Why an even sauna feels different
In a conventional sauna the difference between ceiling and floor temperature can be dramatic, and a ladle of water on the stones sends a burst of steam straight up, scalding at head height and gone before it reaches the legs. Saunum's equalizer draws that layered air and steam back down and mixes it through the room. The aim is a softer, more even heat across the whole body, with steam spread through the space instead of trapped against the ceiling. That gentler climate is a large part of why Saunum pitches its saunas to people who do not usually tolerate a traditional sauna well.
The Lineup
What Saunum builds today
Saunum makes electric sauna heaters with built-in or separate climate equalizers, sauna controls and the accessories that make its salt and aroma modes work. HVAC365 carries the core of the range:
- Air series heaters: the Air 5, Air Perfect 7 and Air L 10 heaters, rated at 5, 7 and 10 kW, with the climate equalizer built into the heater and a closed stone basket in black.
- AirSolo climate equalizers: stand-alone temperature and steam equalizers, including a 70-inch unit and an in-wall version with adjustable height, for rooms that already have a heater.
- Heater packages: Saunum heaters paired with their controls.
- Controls: the programmable multi-function Wi-Fi sauna heater control.
- Aromatherapy and salt: aroma oil sets with a reservoir, Himalayan salt spheres and internal salt trays for the Air, Air L and AirSolo series.
- Safety accessories: protective safety rails and air deflectors for Air series heaters.
Choosing between the two families comes down to the room. A new sauna, or one getting a new heater anyway, can take an Air series heater with the equalizer already built in. A room with a heater that still has years of life left can add an AirSolo unit instead and keep the heater it has. In either case the heater size still follows the volume and construction of the room, and the electrical work belongs to a licensed electrician.
At a Glance
Saunum by the numbers
- Founded
- 2014, Estonia
- Founder
- Andrus Vare, thermal engineer
- Headquarters
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Listed
- Nasdaq Tallinn First North, since 2020
- Core patent
- Sauna climate adjusting device, granted 2018
- Markets
- More than 30 countries
- Made in
- Estonia
Questions
Frequently asked questions about Saunum
Where is Saunum from?
Saunum is an Estonian company based in Tallinn. It designs and manufactures its sauna heaters and climate equalizers in Estonia.
Who founded Saunum?
Saunum was founded in 2014 by Andrus Vare, a thermal engineer whose interest in sauna began with the century-old smoke sauna he inherited from his grandfather.
What is a Saunum climate equalizer?
It is Saunum's patented air-blending device. It draws hot air and steam from near the ceiling and mixes it back into the room, so the temperature is more even from floor to ceiling.
What is the difference between the Saunum Air and AirSolo series?
Air series heaters have the climate equalizer built into the heater. AirSolo units are separate equalizers that are installed alongside a sauna heater.
What are the Himalayan salt spheres used for?
They sit in a salt tray inside the Saunum equalizer and are part of the salt-ion sauna mode, which releases salt ions into the sauna air.
