More on the Kip B1 sauna heater

You would think that replacing an old sauna heater with a new one would be a simple task, pop out the old and pop in the new. But, not these days, apparently, not even for a skilled professional like me. I’ve installed a few in my day and have been around saunas all my life. Considering I’m 67, that’s a long time. The Harvia Kip B1 has had more problems than I bargained for when I bought it in November 2016. There are plenty of U.L regulations involved with these heaters than there were in the past so that the novice and new users won’t do something stupid and end up killing themselves. But sometimes, things can just go overboard.

I like my saunas between 180 – 190F which even for most Finns like me is a pretty comfortable zone although there are those that like it much hotter. The Kip B1 just couldn’t get past the 170F without the heat sensor kicking the unit off. There is a high temperature limit control which shuts the unit down if it senses that it’s too hot in the room. But of course the limit control is set to a much lower temperature which may be suited for the novice. There is nothing mentioned about this in the installation guide, which seems to be lacking quite a bit of other important detail. An addendum has been added to the paperwork as a separate updated installation guide, which also leaves out important information i.e. heater calibration. Apparently the calibration controls the temperature of the sensor; when to shut the unit off, should there be a problem.

Another problem I was and still am having with is the timer mechanism. It’s inaccurate and shuts off at various times, but on average, right around the forty – five minute mark. Okay, I suppose that I can work around that but when the time lapses after the second hour (the hour on the timer, not real time), the high temperature sensor switch shuts the unit off tripping the reset button. I contacted the folks where I purchased the unit from (Almost Heaven Saunas) and rather than telling me straight out that the unit needs to be calibrated for my specific use, they had me move the sensor probe to various different spots on the side wall of the installed unit to see if that would make a difference. Nope! It kept doing the same thing, tripping the high limit control switch. The temperature sensor probe is mounted on the wall using a metal sensor housing which is nothing like the installation manual shows. Anyone with a half a brain knows that any metallic object in a sauna is going to get hot, hot enough where it can cause severe burns if touched. Just by putting one’s hand near a metallic object you can feel the heat radiating from the object. Common sense tells me that if the heat temp sensor is mounted into a closed metal housing, it’s going to get mighty hot inside the housing giving the sensor a wrong temp reading and consequently shutting down.

The warranty states that the user under any circumstances is not to change or deviate from the installation manual. If this has been done, the warranty becomes null and void. Therefore, I had to play their game until I was told otherwise in making changes. It wasn’t until a few months went by, frustrated as hell, ready to file a discrepancy complaint with my credit card company; they finally told me that I needed to re-calibrate the temp control unit inside the heater. This was to be done by a qualified licensed electrician which would have cost me plenty for them to come out. Because I had been a remodeling contractor, I was allowed to make the calibrations myself.

Re-calibrating was a fairly easy and straight forward process except for an arthritic old man lying on the floor working in cramped position trying to get to the control unit from underside of the mounted heater with about 7” to work with. Once I finally got to the unit, I followed instructions to the letter, making sure that it was done correctly and then putting everything back the same way that it was. I’m currently testing the heater as I write this and already had to go in and reset the limit control as it shut the unit off at 180F. However, the unit did come back on; where otherwise I would have had to wait until it cooled down totally. I thought, since I had the sauna fired up, I would go ahead and use it rather than wasting all of that heat and energy. After resetting the limit switch and waiting about five to ten minutes, it was nice and toasty at 197F and just turned the control knob off rather than seeing if it went to 200F. I wasn’t interested in getting it that hot but I was curious to see whether the limit switch would pop off again. As long as I got it above my comfort zone, worked for me and left it at that.

Obviously, the limit switch should not have gone off and there are still problems with the F***en thing and am not done with it yet, but I am headed in the right direction. It’s time to contact the wonderful folks at Almost Heaven Saunas again to see what more B.S. is involved as if I didn’t already know. Like I said, warranty crap, got to follow the game, makes them feel more important.  I just cannot believe the stupidity in the design of this heater nor can I believe that this is an actual Finnish manufactured product. If Harvia tried selling this piece of junk in Finland as it is, here in the US, they would be laughed out of business. As a matter of fact, after talking with a relative in Finland, I was told that Harvia has a bad reputation there as people think that their saunas are junk! They too can't even get a decent löyly from their units.

So I got a hold of the folks at Almost Heaven Saunas and once again I was directed over to their tech guy at their factory here in the US out east. He had me send him some more pics and then told me he’d contact me. Nope not to this day! I had a suspicious feeling that he would just blow me off and sure enough he did. Figures! I also had a feeling why the reset switch would pop at a certain temperature but wanted confirmation from these so called experts and an okay to make the necessary adjustment. Well…at this point I just figured the hell with it! I’m tired of screwing around and just take care of it anyway. Today, I used my sauna without any problems. My biggest complaint is that there is not enough of löylyä. That’s a Finnish term for the event that happens after throwing some water on to the rocks. It's a shot of hot air coming at you after throwing water on the rocks. This event only changes the way it feels in the sauna and not the actual temperature as one might think. To achieve the proper amount of löylyä you need to throw a bit more water on the rocks than what they tell you in the manual. Because the elements are so close to the top of the heater and following the instructions of placing the rocks 2 inches below the rock cover rather than placing the rocks 2 inches above the elements like all other manufacturers tell you, this does not give you enough space to entirely cover the tops of the elements as per instructions. Therefore, I’m stuck with throwing a few ounces versus cups of water on the rocks which has little or no effect in creating the löyly. That too will be taken care of very soon.

Jan 17,2017.

So the tech guy from Almost Heaven Saunas finally decides to give me a call. He wanted me to move the sensor around. I guess since they have no answers theirs is to move the sensor around. I told him that I've already done that from previous instructions. I also brought up the question regarding the placement of the sauna rocks and its problem with löyly. Interestingly, for an expert he had no answers.

March 16, 2017

I finally have my sauna working as it should for now, maybe and average around 190°F. The thing shuts off at 192°F. I suppose that I can live with that. I and other Finns I know with the same heater, feel that this unit is a piece of crap and so is the timer!

May 26, 2017

Since I've had the heater now for 6 months, has time changed my mind about the Kip B sauna heater?

Answer: No it's still a piece of junk with sporadic problems. One time it'll work perfectly and then the next time I'm right back to square one.

Would I recommend it to my friends?

Answer: Not in this lifetime!

What advice do I have for those wanting to buy the Harvia Kip B series heater?

Answer: Buy something else if you can afford it. If you are a beginner sauna user, it's fine for you and will get up to 140F in about an hour. If however you are a seasoned user like myself and absolutely must have this heater, I suggest going with the next size up for better performance. Although the major components are made by Harvia, I'm willing to bet that a lot of the U.L safety controls, timer/thermostat and switches aren't and rob power from the heating elements. I'm also willing to bet that these heaters are not, let me repeat that, are not assembled by Harvia in Finland! This size heater (6kw) is supposed to heat up the size of my sauna up to 180F within an hour or so, my old one did. This heater will not and will take a little over 1 1/2 hrs when working as it should. Other times 2+ hours if I'm lucky.

Before I purchased the Harvia Kip B sauna heater, I always looked forward to using my sauna. These days, I reluctantly turn it on wondering what's going to go wrong with the unit today. This is wrong and should never happen. The sauna experience should be an enjoyable one not one with constant intricacies!