I’m hoping someone here has seen this before or can point me to a real expert, because I’m stuck.
I purchased and had electrical install a HUMM sauna heater and it’s been a pretty brutal process so far. On first startup, it took ~3 hours just to reach ~130°F. I assumed electrical, so I pulled stones, rechecked everything, and brought in electricians who’ve installed multiple saunas.
They were pretty confused by the wiring design and why only one side of the heater was working initially. After multiple visits, they got all elements functioning properly (all glowing red, full power confirmed), but it cost me ~$1,000 in extra labor plus repeatedly removing and reinstalling ~500 lbs of stones.
Once everything was “fixed,” I expected normal performance. Prior to putting the stone it it headed pretty quickly to 160 within 20 minutes so I assumed we were in good shape. But with stones back in, the heater now consistently stalls out around 120 to 130°F after 2 hours.
We’ve verified:
All heating elements are receiving power
Elements glow red when uncovered
Electrical supply appears correct
Stones have been placed and re-placed multiple times
At this point I’m trying pretty confused as to what could be going wrong.
Has anyone seen a HUMM heater behave like this specifically? Is there a sauna specialist or engineer (not just general electrician) you’d recommend to diagnose this properly?
I’d really prefer not to rip this out and start over, but I also can’t keep guessing after this much time and cost.
Any advice, similar experiences, or referrals would be hugely appreciated.