How Much Does It Cost to Run an Infrared Sauna?

Short answer: a lot less than most people expect. A typical home infrared sauna costs somewhere around 30 to 40 cents of electricity per session. That usually works out to about $5 a month for someone using it a few times a week. No single price fits everyone, but the math is simple once you know three numbers. They are: your sauna’s wattage, how long it runs, and what your utility company charges per kilowatt-hour.

If you’ve been holding off on a home sauna because you’re picturing a scary electric bill, this should put your mind at ease. Below, we’ll walk you through how the cost works, run some real examples, and explain what makes your bill go up or down.

Do Infrared Saunas Use a Lot of Electricity?

For a home user, no. They certainly don’t use much electricity per session. Most residential infrared saunas plug into a standard 120-volt household outlet rather than needing a hardwired 240-volt line. They can do that because they run at lower power than you might guess.

A one-person cabin usually draws about 1.3 to 1.7 kilowatts, a two-person cabin around 1.7 to 2.2 kW, and a larger three- to four-person model uses roughly 2.2 to 3.0 kW.

Something to keep in mind: your sauna’s electrical requirement (the circuit and voltage it needs) is not the same as its energy consumption (how much electricity it actually uses over time). Voltage and amps tell you what outlet to plug into. Watts and runtime tell you what it costs to run. This article focuses on the second one.

How the Numbers Work: Watts, Kilowatts, and kWh

Just do two quick conversions, and you’ll be able to figure this out for any sauna.

First, watts to kilowatts. There are 1,000 watts in a kilowatt, so a 2,000-watt sauna is a 2 kW sauna. Simple as that.

Second, kilowatts to kilowatt-hours. A kilowatt (kW) is a measurement of power. Specifically, it measures how hard the heaters pull at a given moment.

A kilowatt-hour (kWh), on the other hand, is energy. That’s the power used over time, and it’s what your utility bills you for. Run a 2 kW sauna for half an hour, and you’ve used 1 kWh.

A caveat to keep in mind before calculations: the wattage on the spec sheet is the maximum rated draw. Your heaters pull that full amount while warming up, but once the cabin hits your target temperature, the thermostat cycles them on and off to maintain it.

In practice, the real duty cycle during a session often drops to about 70–80%. That means your actual cost tends to run 20–30% below the straight math. We tell you that so you treat the calculations below as a conservative ceiling, so to speak, and not a guaranteed bill.

How to Calculate Your Infrared Sauna Electricity Cost

With these six steps, you only need your electric bill and your sauna’s spec sheet.

Find the wattage on the product specs, the owner’s manual, or the electrical label. For this example, say it’s 2,000 watts.

Convert to kilowatts: 2,000 ÷ 1,000 = 2 kW.

Add up total run time, including preheat. A 15-minute warm-up plus a 30-minute session is 45 minutes, or 0.75 hours.

Calculate the energy: 2 kW × 0.75 hours = 1.5 kWh.

Multiply by your rate. The U.S. average residential electricity rate is about 18 cents per kWh (roughly $0.18, per the EIA), though yours may be higher or lower. So 1.5 × $0.18 = about $0.27 per session.

Scale to a month. Use it 20 times, and that’s $0.27 × 20 = about $5.40 a month.

If you want it as one line to keep handy:

Monthly cost = (watts ÷ 1,000) × hours per session × sessions per month × your electricity rate.

Pull the actual rate off your own bill rather than trusting a national average — that’s the single biggest variable, and it changes the answer more than almost anything else.

Real Cost Examples

These are illustrative, using each sauna’s maximum rated power and the U.S. average of about $0.18/kWh. Real costs run lower because the thermostat cycles.

Your local rate can change this quite a bit. For a sauna using 2 kWh per session, here’s how the price moves:

At 15¢/kWh → $0.30 a session

At 18¢/kWh → about $0.36

At 30¢/kWh → $0.60

At 40¢/kWh → $0.80

As you can see, that’s a wide spread. Nevada and Nebraska sit near 13 cents, while California and Hawaii can run past 34 to 50 cents. Same sauna, but very different monthly cost. This is another reason to calculate it with your own numbers.

What Determines the Cost to Run an Infrared Sauna

Seven factors influence the cost the most. Here they are listed roughly in order of how much they matter:

Heater wattage. Higher rated wattage means more potential draw. A 3 kW system running for an hour can use about twice as much electricity as a 1.5 kW system over the same hour.

Session length. Total powered-on time is what counts, not just the minutes you’re sitting inside the sauna. Thirty minutes versus sixty can dramatically change the cost.

How often you use it. Frequency usually affects your monthly bill more than small differences in a single session. Three times a week versus daily usage is a real gap.

Your electricity rate. Utility, state, and time-of-use plans all factor in. Check your bill.

Cabin size. More volume and more occupants generally call for a higher heater capacity, though wattage, not physical dimensions alone, is what you plug into the formula.

Preheat time. Every minute the heaters run adds up. Starting room temperature, your target temperature, and how well the cabin holds heat all affect warm-up.

Construction and insulation. A well-built cabin that retains heat needs the heaters to run less to maintain temperature, which trims consumption over a session.

Infrared vs. Traditional Sauna: Energy Use

An infrared sauna warms your body directly with radiant heat and only needs the cabin to reach about 120–140°F. A traditional electric sauna has to heat the air over rocks to 160–195°F before you even start sweating, and that takes far more power (and thus, more money).

To show this through a hypothetical, at $0.18/kWh, a 2 kW infrared sauna running an hour uses 2 kWh, which is about $0.37.

A 6 kW traditional heater over the same hour uses 6 kWh, which is about $1.10, or roughly three times as much. Those figures aren’t ironclad guarantees, of course. Actual use depends on heater cycling, cabin size, temperature, and runtime.

How to Lower Your Running Cost

A few easy habits can help to keep your number down:

Run only the session length you actually want, and don’t leave the sauna powered on afterward.

Build the preheat into your routine instead of heating the cabin long before you get in.

Keep the door closed while it’s warming up.

Stick to the manufacturer’s recommended temperature. For example, for Health Mate, that’s generally around 120–140°F.

If your utility offers time-of-use pricing, run sessions during off-peak hours.

Calculate with your sauna’s actual wattage rather than a generic internet estimate.

Estimating the Cost for a Health Mate Sauna

Want your real number instead of a ballpark estimate? Pull the maximum power spec for the exact model you’re looking at, then run the formula.

As an example, the Enrich 3, a three-person cabin, draws 2,225 watts (about 2.2 kW) on a standard 120-volt, 20-amp dedicated circuit. At the U.S. average rate, a one-hour run of that sauna comes to roughly 2.2 kWh, or about 40 cents. In practice, it’s even less once the heaters start cycling.

Do that for whichever model fits your space, multiply by how often you plan to use it, and you’ll have a monthly figure you can trust.

You can browse the full Health Mate catalog for the specs, or you can call (714) 739-6600, and we’ll walk you through it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much electricity does an infrared sauna use per hour?

It depends on wattage. A 2 kW sauna running at full output for an hour uses up to about 2 kWh. Once it reaches temperature and the heaters start cycling, real-world use is usually a bit lower.

How much does it cost to run an infrared sauna for 30 minutes?

For a 2 kW sauna, 30 minutes is 1 kWh, which is roughly $0.18 at the U.S. average rate. Add a little more if you include preheat time.

Do infrared saunas use a lot of electricity?

Not for a home user. Residential infrared systems generally use less heater power than traditional electric sauna heaters and warm up faster. As a result, the per-session cost stays low.

How much will an infrared sauna add to my electric bill?

Multiply your cost per session by your monthly sessions. At about $0.30 a session and 20 sessions, that’s roughly $6 a month.

Does a larger infrared sauna cost more to run?

Usually, yes. It does if it uses a higher-wattage heater. Base your estimate on the sauna’s wattage, not just its physical size.

Is an infrared sauna cheaper to run than a traditional sauna?

Generally yes. Residential infrared saunas need far less heater power and less warm-up time. However, the exact savings depend on the equipment and how you use it.

Can I figure out wattage from volts and amps?

As an approximation, watts = volts × amps. Still, use the manufacturer’s published wattage when you have it, since real electrical loads can be more nuanced.

The cost to run an infrared sauna comes down to three numbers: wattage, total run time, and your electricity rate. Plug those into the formula, and you’ll almost always find it’s cheaper than you may have feared. In fact, for many, it’s often less per month than a couple of coffees.

Check the specs on the Health Mate model you’re considering and run your own estimate to see exactly what it’ll cost in your home.