Who manufactures steam generators for commercial steam rooms?
Commercial steam generators are built by a small group of European equipment manufacturers — Condair in Switzerland and EOS in Germany are the two Sauna Dekor specifies most often, alongside comparable brands. Sauna Dekor is not the generator manufacturer: we are the steam room and hammam manufacturer and the installing contractor. We size the generator against the room, procure it, install it in the plant room, run the steam and condensate lines, wire the control, commission the system and carry the warranty on the installed package. The generator itself is warranted by its manufacturer.
What size steam generator do I need for my steam room?
Start from steam output in kilograms per hour, not from kilowatts. Multiply the internal volume of the room in cubic metres by a factor that depends on the wall finish: roughly 0.5 to 0.6 kg/h per cubic metre for an acrylic or prefabricated cabin, 0.75 to 1.0 for an insulated tiled or mosaic room, and 1.0 to 1.4 for a marble or natural stone hammam with cold, heavy surfaces. Then add for a glass door, a glazed facade or an external wall. The most common specification error is sizing on volume alone: a 12 cubic metre marble hammam needs roughly twice the steam of a 12 cubic metre acrylic cabin.
How many kW is a commercial steam generator?
Kilowatts follow from the kilograms per hour, and the figures are set by the manufacturer, not by the contractor. On the Condair Sigma range, for example, the published nominal power is 6.0 kW at 8 kg/h, 11.3 kW at 15 kg/h, 17.3 kW at 23 kg/h and 24.0 kW at 32 kg/h, with larger 45 and 65 kg/h models above that. Those are electrical loads the MEP engineer has to allocate at design stage, on a dedicated circuit, not discover during commissioning.
Does a steam generator run on tap water or softened water?
It depends on the type, and getting this wrong is the most expensive mistake on the whole package. An electrode-cylinder generator such as the Condair Sigma is designed to run on ordinary mains water, because it uses the conductivity of the water itself to boil it. Feed the same unit fully softened, demineralised or reverse-osmosis water and it will not reach current and will not make steam. A resistance-element generator works the other way round and is the type to use where treated water is unavoidable. The feedwater decision has to be made before the generator is ordered.
Where should the steam generator be installed?
In a dry, ventilated, drained plant room or service void with working space around the unit — never inside the steam room and never in a sealed cupboard behind finished tiling. The unit needs a floor gully or tundish for its flush water, an isolating valve on the feed, an accessible electrical isolator, and enough clearance to withdraw the steam cylinder. A service hatch sized around the largest component is agreed with the architect at design stage, because it cannot be created afterwards without breaking finished work.
How far can the steam generator be from the steam room?
As close as the layout allows. Every extra metre of steam line means more condensate, more heat loss and a slower room. The line is run in the shortest practical route, insulated over its full length, with a continuous fall so condensate drains back rather than collecting in a low point, and with wide-radius bends rather than sharp elbows. The manufacturer’s installation instructions set the maximum length for each model and we design to those, not to a rule of thumb.
How often does a commercial steam generator need servicing?
On hotel and club duty the practical answer is a scheduled visit at least twice a year, plus whatever automatic flushing the unit performs between visits. The consumable items are the steam cylinder or heating elements, the fill and drain valves, the level sensor and the seals. In hard-water Gulf supply, scale is the failure mechanism that decides the service interval, so the maintenance plan is written against the measured feedwater on the project, not against a generic schedule.
Can the steam generator be controlled from the hotel BMS?
Yes, on the models specified for that. The Condair Omega range, for example, publishes Modbus and KNX interfaces, a web interface and an integrated spa control that also drives room lighting, fragrance dosing, the fan, bench heating and audio from the same panel. Where a simpler in-room thermostat is used, its ingress protection has to be checked: a panel rated IP20 belongs outside the wet room, with only its temperature probe inside.
Do you supply the steam generator on its own, or only as part of a room?
Both. Most of our work is the complete room — a mosaic or marble steam room or hammam built by us with the generator, controls, steam head, drainage and ventilation included in one contract and one warranty. We also quote generator-only packages for consultants and main contractors who have the room already and need the equipment sized, supplied and commissioned correctly.
What certification does the equipment carry?
Sauna Dekor’s own certification is TS EN ISO 9001:2015 quality management, covering sauna and spa product manufacturing and after-sales service. The generators themselves carry their manufacturers’ certification: the Condair Sigma range publishes CE, VDE and GOST marking and the Condair Omega range publishes CE, VDE and DVGW, the German drinking-water approval. We supply the manufacturer’s declaration and test documentation with the unit as part of the material submittal, and we do not present a supplier’s certificate as our own.
