Vapo supplies pellets for the Uusi Sauna public sauna in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The fire-heated stove creates an authentic Finnish sauna experience compared to electric stoves. The pellets used to heat the stove are cost effective and burn cleanly, minimising the amount of small particles and smoke fumes in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Ensuring an authentic experience
In 2010, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra organised an international block design competition in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The winning plan – created by a group of Italian, German and English urban and community planners and architects – included a public sauna. They contacted entrepreneur Kimmo Helistö to oversee the design.
For Helistö, it was important that the sauna be heated by a traditional stove and not electricity. “I had to explain to the Italian community planners that the difference between an electric sauna and a sauna with a heated single-burner stove is like the difference between a pizza cooked in an electric oven and a handmade pizza made in a traditional oven.”
An automated and clean-burning solution
The pellets supplied by Vapo are stored in a pellet silo next to the exterior door. Compressed air moves the pellets to the stoves, where a screw pushes the pellets into the furnace. This means the process of heating the stoves is largely automated. The pellets burn cleanly and result in minimal emissions.
The challenge
Provide a traditional Finnish sauna experience in the heart of Helsinki.
The solution
Using pellet-heated sauna stoves.
The results
The process is largely automated and results in minimal emissions.