löyly
we're going to build a kiuas for the sauna. a kiuas is a sauna heater. the current kiuas is not doing so hot. it's thirty-five years old and only one of the two electric heating elements still works. it takes about three hours to heat the sauna to a reasonably good temperature (160° Fahrenheit) and uses a lot of electricity in the process. the new kiuas will be a very efficient wood stove and should get much hotter much more quickly. the basic design will be similar to the Picasso stove on pages 39-41 of this pdf brochure from Aprovecho. we've already got chimney parts, some stovepipe, some fire bricks, and a few metal barrels free from various places. the possibility of burning down the house increases the stakes on this project quite a bit, so we're going to take our time to get it just right before firing it up the first time.