Why We Built an Infrared Sauna

For a long time, the answer was no.

People kept asking us when Plunge was going to make an infrared sauna, and the honest answer was that we weren’t sure we ever would. Not because infrared doesn’t make sense — it makes a ton of sense — but because almost nothing on the market met the bar we hold ourselves to. We weren’t going to slap our name on something we wouldn’t want in our own homes.

Then we figured out how to build the one we actually wanted. So here’s why we did it, and what we refused to compromise on to get there.

The case for infrared

Let’s start with the obvious part: there’s a real reason infrared exists, and it’s not hype.

Traditional saunas are incredible. We love them, we use them, we’ll never stop making them. But they’re not the right answer for every space. They run hot and heavy, they usually live outside, and getting one installed often means an electrical project before you can take your first session.

Infrared changes that math. It’s more accessible on price. It’s easier to put indoors. And it opens the door for a whole group of people — in homes and in businesses — who want a real sweat but can’t accommodate a 200°F cedar box in the backyard. We even built a version that runs on standard household power, so for a lot of people, installation stops being a barrier and starts being “plug it in.”

That’s the opportunity. The problem is that “accessible” usually becomes an excuse to cut corners. We weren’t interested in that. So before we built anything, we wrote down the boxes we had to check — and we didn’t move forward until we could hit all of them.

Box #1: It had to get hot

The biggest knock on infrared is that it runs gentle. Nice for some people. Not enough for someone who wants to actually sweat.

So our number one constraint was heat. We weren’t going to ship something lukewarm. We engineered this thing to reach up to 175°F — and at that temperature, the whole experience changes. You sweat fast. The session feels like it counts. It closes the gap between infrared and the traditional sauna a lot of us already live in.

I run my traditional sauna at home around 195–200°F. With this one at 175°F, I’m sweating just as fast. That’s the bar we were chasing, and we wouldn’t launch until we hit it.

Box #2: It had to look like a Plunge

Walk up to most infrared saunas and you see exactly where the heaters are — big black panels bolted around the cabin. It looks like hardware. It looks like an appliance.

We hid all of it.

We tucked the infrared panels behind clean vertical slats so the whole thing reads as architecture, not technology. You step inside and it feels calm and intentional, not technical. Same thinking went into the controls — instead of an awkward screen stuck on a wall, we inset the UI into a tile detail so it actually belongs there.

If you’re going to use something every single day, it can’t just work. It has to look like something you’re proud to have in your space. This one does. It looks unreal.

Box #3: It had to be clean — for real

Heat exposes bad materials. That’s just physics.

So we got obsessive about what actually goes into the cabin. We engineered for near-zero EMF, and we refused the cheap glues and resins that off-gas the second they warm up. If you’re sitting inside something hot, breathing deep, using it as part of your health routine, the materials have to match the purpose. That one wasn’t up for debate.

Box #4: It had to survive the real world

This is the part most brands skip, and it’s the part I care about most.

These saunas aren’t theoretical. We’ve had them running inside our Reboot studios — Mission in San Francisco and Rockridge in Oakland — for over a year, getting hammered with sessions every single day. And here’s the thing: when you’re building something, you want it to break early. You want to find the weak hinge, the back panel that loosens, the fastener that won’t hold. That’s how you make the next version stronger.

So we put it through that wringer on purpose. Roughly six rounds of revisions — better fasteners, more reliable hinges, smarter construction — each one shaped by a product getting used hard in a real commercial environment. That’s what we mean when we say commercial grade. Not a spec on a page. A sauna that’s been battle-tested every day in the places I personally sweat.

The point

We didn’t build an infrared sauna because the world needed another infrared sauna.

We built one because infrared genuinely solves real problems — lower energy use, easier indoor installation, a smaller footprint, a more accessible price, and a better fit for a lot of homes and businesses. But we only wanted to do it if we could make it feel like a Plunge.

Hot enough. Clean enough. Tough enough. Beautiful enough to want in your home, and built well enough to earn its place there.

A lower price point. Goes indoors. Sweats fast. Looks incredible in any space.

We love it, and we think you will too.