Sauna · Review
Sun Home Nova Traditional Sauna review: 3-Person and 6-Person
Last updated October 2026· Verified against the manufacturer's product pages, warranty page and launch release
Thermal Protocol score
3.8/ 5
The Nova is Sun Home's first traditional sauna: a stove, stones and water instead of infrared panels. It launched on July 1, 2026 in two sizes. The 3-person is $11,999 (list $12,499) and the 6-person is $15,799 (list $16,399), both up from their July launch prices of $10,599 and $14,599. Each is built around a HUUM Drop electric heater rated to 230°F with its own Wi-Fi app, a built-in ventilation fan, cedar walls, a hand-laid tile back wall from Estonia, black privacy glass and stacked benches. It is hardwired to a 240V circuit. Nobody independent has tested one, and Sun Home says so on its own review page. This review covers what the brand publishes, what it does not, and how the Nova stacks up against the Almost Heaven kit that costs about 40 percent as much.
Specifications
From Sun Home's product pages and launch release as of October 2026. Where a figure is not published we say so.
| Spec | Nova 3-person | Nova 6-person |
|---|---|---|
| Price (sale / list) | $11,999 / $12,499 | $15,799 / $16,399 |
| Launch price (July 2026) | from $10,599 | from $14,599 (then called 5-person) |
| Heater | HUUM Drop, 6 kW, Wi-Fi | HUUM Drop, 7.5 kW, Wi-Fi |
| Rated maximum | 230°F | 230°F |
| Circuit | 240V / 30A, hardwired | 240V / 40A, hardwired |
| Exterior (W × D × H) | 64.9 × 57.1 × 82.7 in | 78.7 × 68.9 × 82.7 in |
| Interior and bench | Not on the product page | Not on the product page |
| Assembled weight | 772 lb | 926 lb |
| Interior wood | Japanese cedar (product page) | Canadian cedar |
| Owner reviews on sunhomesaunas.com | 5, all five stars | 7, all five stars |
| Shared | Hand-laid carbonized hexagonal tile back wall · black privacy glass front · stacked benches · built-in electric ventilation fan · HUUM UKU Wi-Fi control, in-cabin button panel, RGB lighting remote · indoor only, finished room, not an alcove · warranty: lifetime (7 years) cabinetry, 1 year fan and light controls and LEDs, HUUM heater 3 years body and controls, elements not covered, parts only | |
The heater is the product
A traditional sauna is its heater, and Sun Home made the right call by not building one. The HUUM Drop is an Estonian electric stove sold on its own through US distributors for years, with a large exposed stone mass (the point of a stove you pour water on) and HUUM's UKU Wi-Fi controller, which lets you start the sauna from your phone so the room is ready when you are. Sun Home rates the Nova to 230°F; that is the top of the UKU controller's settable range rather than a temperature HUUM publishes for the Drop itself. The 3-person gets the 6 kW Drop, the 6-person the 7.5 kW.
Two consequences follow. First, the one part of the Nova with a track record is the part Sun Home did not make; the cabin around it has existed since July. Second, the heater's warranty is HUUM's, not Sun Home's: three years on the body and controls, and the heating elements are consumables, not covered at all. Sun Home's warranty page states both.
The built-in ventilation fan is the other spec that matters more than it sounds. Indoor sauna kits generally ask you to cut an intake near the heater and an exhaust high on the opposite wall and leave the airflow to you; the Spectacle's documentation does. The Nova ships with an electric fan that Sun Home says runs continuously, and the brand's claim is that no mainstream kit competitor includes active ventilation as standard. We have not checked every kit on the market, so treat that as Sun Home's claim; the one indoor kit we have reviewed does not have one.
What Sun Home publishes, and what it does not
Sun Home is unusually direct about this on its own Nova page: it calls that page a first-party review, says every performance figure is its own specification, and says no independent hands-on testing has been published. We have not tested one either, so here is the line between published fact and open question.
Published: the heater sizes, the 230°F rating, exterior dimensions, weights, circuit requirements, the clearances (about a foot on the heater side for the air intake, two feet on the exhaust side, two feet overhead), the woods, the warranty terms, and the fact that delivery comes as two shipments, the cabin in one crate and the heater, controller and stones separately. Not on the product pages or in Sun Home's sizing guide: interior and bench dimensions. Not published at all: a Nova-specific warm-up time (the page offers only the generic "about an hour" for a traditional sauna), fan noise, and how the tile wall, electronics and cedar hold up after hundreds of steam sessions. Sun Home lists those same unknowns itself. The owner reviews on its product pages are five and seven in number, all five stars, hosted by the brand, and a few months old at most.
One detail to confirm before ordering: the 3-person product page says Japanese cedar and the 6-person says Canadian cedar, while the July launch release said Canadian cedar for both. Either is a proper sauna wood; just ask which you are getting. Sun Home also puts the running cost at $10 to $30 a month for three to five sessions a week, a manufacturer estimate that assumes the heater cycles once the room is hot.
Installation reality
The Nova is hardwired. There is no plug, and Sun Home says to have the circuit installed before the sauna arrives. The 3-person needs a dedicated 240V, 30-amp circuit; the 6-person needs 40 amps. In most US homes that is a licensed electrician running a new line from the panel, typically several hundred dollars and more if the panel is far from the room or short on capacity. This is normal for an electric traditional sauna; the Almost Heaven Spectacle's Harvia heater needs the same 30-amp circuit. It is a bigger job than Sun Home's infrared cabins, which plug into a 20-amp outlet.
The room has to be a finished indoor space, not a recessed alcove, with roughly a foot of clearance on the heater side for the fresh-air intake, two feet on the exhaust side and two feet above. Assembled, the cabins weigh 772 and 926 pounds, so the floor and the delivery path both matter; the cabin arrives as one freight crate. Expect two deliveries.
3-person or 6-person
The 3-person is 64.9 inches wide and 57.1 deep, with the 6 kW heater. Sun Home's own sizing guide rates it for two to three people on its stacked benches, and its own Nova review says it fits one or two regular bathers; plan on two. The 6-person is 78.7 by 68.9 inches with the 7.5 kW heater and a 40-amp circuit, 154 pounds heavier, and $3,800 more. The sizing guide adds a caveat worth repeating: on stacked benches most people prefer the hotter upper bench, so a six-person rating does not mean six people in equal heat.
With no interior or bench dimensions on the product pages, the size decision has to be made from the exterior footprint and the person count. Ask Sun Home for the bench lengths before choosing; for two people who want to lie down, that number decides it.
How it compares
The comparison that matters is the Almost Heaven Spectacle, the indoor traditional kit we reviewed: $4,658 with a Harvia 6 kW heater and stones included, cedar or hemfir walls, a limited lifetime warranty on the cabinetry, and the same 240V, 30-amp install. It is a kit you assemble, it has no fan, no app and no tile wall, and Almost Heaven has built saunas since 1977. The Nova 3-person is $7,341 more. That buys the HUUM heater with Wi-Fi, the ventilation fan, the finished black exterior and tile wall, a higher rating (230°F against the 150°F to 190°F range typical of a kit sauna), and free shipping in the lower 48. What it cannot buy yet is a track record. Our Almost Heaven Spectacle review is the other side of this decision.
Sun Home's own page points buyers who want years of owner history to Almost Heaven's Bridgeport, and buyers on a smaller budget to the SaunaLife X2 kit at $4,990 with the heater sold separately. We have not reviewed either; we note that the brand itself names them.
Against Sun Home's own infrared cabins, this is a different product rather than the next rung. The Equinox and Solstice plug into a 20-amp outlet, run at 140°F to 165°F with no steam, and cost $5,000 to $7,000 less. If you want löyly, none of them delivers it; if you want a gentler session on a simpler circuit, the Nova is the wrong tool. Our infrared vs traditional comparison covers that choice.
Who this is for
A buyer who has already decided on a traditional sauna indoors, wants it delivered as a finished piece rather than a kit, values the HUUM heater and the ventilation fan, and is comfortable paying a premium for a cabin that no one outside Sun Home has lived with yet. The app preheat is a real daily convenience for someone who saunas after work.
Who should skip it
- Anyone who wants owner history before spending five figures. Wait a year. Sun Home itself says it expects independent reviews to appear and will link them, including critical ones.
- Buyers for whom $4,658 and a weekend of assembly is fine. The Spectacle delivers the same heat type on the same circuit for about 40 percent of the price.
- Renters and anyone without a path to a hardwired 240V circuit. There is no plug-in option here.
- Buyers who want to lie down and need to know the bench length first. It is not on the product page. Get it in writing.
Frequently asked questions
What electrical circuit does the Sun Home Nova need?
A dedicated, hardwired 240-volt circuit installed by a licensed electrician: 30 amps for the 3-person, 40 amps for the 6-person. There is no plug. Sun Home says to have the circuit in place before delivery. That is the same class of install as any electric traditional sauna, including the Almost Heaven Spectacle, and a bigger job than Sun Home's Equinox and Solstice, which plug into a 20-amp outlet.
How hot does the Sun Home Nova get?
Sun Home rates it to 230°F. That is the top of the settable range on the HUUM UKU controller that runs the Drop heater (6 kW in the 3-person, 7.5 kW in the 6-person), rather than a temperature HUUM publishes for the heater itself, and as of October 2026 nobody independent has measured a Nova; Sun Home's own review says so. The only warm-up figure Sun Home gives is generic: about an hour for a traditional sauna to come up to temperature.
Is the Nova a steam room?
No. It is a traditional Finnish-style sauna: a dry, hot room where you pour water over heated stones for bursts of steam (löyly). A steam room runs at about 110°F to 120°F at full humidity from a steam generator. The Nova runs far hotter and is dry between pours.
Are there independent reviews of the Sun Home Nova?
Not as of October 2026. The Nova launched on July 1, 2026. Sun Home's own page says no independent hands-on testing has been published and that every performance figure is its own specification. The owner reviews on its product pages are 5 and 7 in number, all five stars, and hosted by the brand. The one part with a track record is the HUUM Drop heater, which HUUM has sold on its own for years.
What does the Nova warranty cover?
Sun Home's limited lifetime warranty on the cabinetry, which its warranty page defines as seven years; one year on the fan and lighting controls and on the LEDs. The heater is covered by HUUM, not Sun Home: three years on the steel body and controls for residential use, and the heating elements are treated as consumables and not covered. Parts only; labor is never covered, and after 90 days you pay freight on parts.
Sun Home Nova 3-person or 6-person: which size?
The 3-person is 64.9 inches wide, 57.1 deep and 772 pounds, with a 6 kW heater on a 30-amp circuit. The 6-person is 78.7 by 68.9 inches, 926 pounds, with a 7.5 kW heater on a 40-amp circuit. Both are 82.7 inches tall with stacked benches. Sun Home's own sizing guide rates the 3-person for two to three people, while its own Nova review says it fits one or two regular bathers; the guide also notes that on stacked benches most people prefer the hotter upper bench, so six people do not get six equal seats. Interior and bench dimensions are not on the product pages or in Sun Home's sizing guide; ask for them.
Has the Sun Home Nova price changed?
Yes, upward. The July 1, 2026 launch release listed the 3-person from $10,599 and the larger model from $14,599. By October 30, 2026 the product pages showed $11,999 and $15,799, with struck-through list prices of $12,499 and $16,399. The larger model was also renamed from 5-person to 6-person at the same dimensions.
The bottom line
On paper the Nova is a well-specified indoor traditional sauna: the right heater, a ventilation fan the kits we know of leave to you, app control, and a finished look. What holds the score down is everything that is not on paper yet. No independent test, no owner history, interior dimensions missing from the product pages, a heater warranty that excludes the elements, prices that went up $1,200 to $1,400 in the first four months, and a kit from a brand that has built saunas since 1977 delivering the same kind of heat for about 40 percent of the money. If the finished look and the fan are what you are paying for, the Nova is the one finished indoor cabin we know of that offers them. It cannot yet offer certainty.
Thermal Protocol may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. This does not affect our rankings or picks.
Where to buy
Both sizes ship free in the lower 48 from Sun Home Saunas, heater and stones included: $11,999 for the 3-person and $15,799 for the 6-person as of October 2026, against list prices that move with sales. Check the number on the page.
For the category, see Best outdoor saunas for the traditional wood-fired and electric options that live outside, and infrared vs traditional if you have not settled the heat type yet.