Almost Heaven Sauna Reviews 2026: Are They Good? Owners, Prices, the Salem and the Costco Models

Looking at an Almost Heaven sauna, maybe the Salem or one of the Costco barrels? This review covers what 142 owners say, where each model is built, what it costs today, what isn’t in the box, and what we’d put next to it.

Updated September 24, 2026 · 21 min read

Are Almost Heaven saunas good? The short answer

On this page: At a glance · Who owns it · Where it’s made · Owner reviews · Salem · Costco models · Other models · Cost · Warranty · Owning one · Alternatives · FAQ

Almost Heaven has real strengths. It says it has built saunas in West Virginia’s Greenbrier Valley since 1977 (Almost Heaven), its barrels and cubes ship with a Harvia heater, and Costco has carried its saunas since at least 2012, so you have more owners to hear from than with most brands. Harvia is one of the heater brands we sell.

Almost Heaven at a glance

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Who owns Almost Heaven?

Harvia, the Finnish heater maker, bought the business of Almost Heaven Saunas LLC in December 2018. Harvia’s release put the price at “approximately EUR 4 million,” noted about 40 employees, a sales office in Holland, Michigan and a factory in Renick, West Virginia, and added that “Almost Heaven Saunas has been Harvia’s client since 2013” (Harvia). Harvia consolidated the business from January 1, 2019, which is why Almost Heaven’s own site says it joined “the Harvia family in 2019” (About page).

Harvia then bought a larger plant in nearby Lewisburg and expected it to raise Almost Heaven’s production capacity “by approximately one third” (Harvia). Production moved there the week before Thanksgiving in 2021, according to Almost Heaven’s operations manager (WV Daily News). Harvia’s 2025 annual report says it sold the old Renick site and started expanding Lewisburg (Harvia 2025 annual report). Almost Heaven is one of Harvia’s regional brands, alongside ThermaSol and Kirami.

Where are Almost Heaven saunas made?

It depends on the model, and each product page says which. Almost Heaven’s product pages carry a “Country of Origin” line in their specifications. On September 24, 2026, those lines read:

• USA: the cedar barrels (Salem through Shenandoah), the Blackwater cubes, ten indoor rooms (Logan, Spectacle, Madison, Auburn, Serena, Rainelle, Grayson, Oasis, Bridgeport, Titan) and the Hinton and Laurel infrared rooms.
• Romania: the Harvia Collection (thermally modified pine barrels and spruce rooms), the Himalaya, and the Hillsboro, Sutton, Worthington, Patterson and Olympus indoor rooms, plus the Solide Compact cabin.
• Estonia: the Appalachia and Allegheny cabins.
• China: the Harmony and Elysian infrared rooms.

In 2022, Almost Heaven’s chief operations manager told a local paper that most of its lumber was western red cedar from the West Coast: “Most of the material we use is western red cedar, so it’s produced on the West Coast, ironically, and transported here to West Virginia” (WV Daily News).

Our take: read the country-of-origin line on the exact model and configuration you’re buying before you order. On its own it isn’t a quality grade; the wood thickness, the heater and the support behind the room tell you more.

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Almost Heaven reviews: what 142 owners say

Big review sites don’t say much about Almost Heaven. On September 24, 2026, BBB’s profile for “Almost Heaven Saunas, LLC” in Holland, Michigan, which still lists the business’s pre-2018 owner as its principal, showed a D rating (BBB). Costco’s own ratings are in the Costco section below.

The most detailed owner accounts are on Reddit’s r/Sauna. We collected the 1,617 r/Sauna comments in the {a(S[“arctic”], “Arctic Shift”)} archive that mention Almost Heaven (2018 to September 2026), read the 455 that looked like owner accounts, and counted each owner once, leaving out dealers and people who didn’t own one. That gave 142 owners with an overall verdict: 129 positive, 10 mixed, 3 negative. Barrel owners were 50 positive, 9 mixed and 1 negative; indoor-room owners were 57 positive, 1 mixed and 1 negative. The group is self-selected and early impressions count the same as ten-year ones, so read it as a tone. A few owners, in their own words:

I’ve had my Almost Heaven sauna purchased as a kit from Costco since 2014, used it almost everyday since.

A Costco kit owner, r/Sauna, January 2024

Within a few months, there was a problem with our heating elements, and AH promptly made it right at no cost to us.

A Costco owner, r/Sauna, November 2025

I did put a metal ridged roofing material on top after a couple of hard winters, should have done that right away.

A barrel owner, r/Sauna, November 2023

It’s not the best sauna. It is a good sauna.

A barrel owner, r/Sauna, April 2023

What comes up most, counted across 158 owner accounts (the 142 with a verdict plus 16 who only reported a problem):

Our take: owners mostly like their Almost Heaven, and most of the complaints come with small saunas and barrels in general rather than this brand. Each has a known fix, covered in owning one below. Our 7 reasons barrel saunas fail goes deeper on the format.

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The Almost Heaven Salem 2-person barrel

The Salem is Almost Heaven’s smallest barrel and its most searched model. On September 24, 2026 its page listed (Almost Heaven):

The Salem page showed 4.74 stars from 19 reviews that Almost Heaven collects on its own site. Men’s Health’s July 2026 hands-on review reported about four hours of assembly and about 20 minutes to reach temperature (Men’s Health). Salem owners on r/Sauna were positive:

It took my father-in-law and I about 2 hours to put together.

A Salem owner, r/Sauna, November 2024

We’ve had it 4 years now. Easy to clean and no mold.

A Salem owner, r/Sauna, December 2024

Two things you should know before you buy one. The bench is 39-1/4 inches long, so the Salem is a sitting sauna, not one you lie down in. And the room is small for its heater: the listed inside height of 69-1/4 inches is the barrel’s inside diameter, and with 39-1/4 inches of depth it holds about 86 cubic feet of air, about 128 after the 1.5 adjustment Harvia’s other manuals give for log walls, which we apply to barrels. That sits in the range Harvia lists for its 4.5 kW KIP, so the standard 6 kW is on the strong side, which fits the quick heat-up Men’s Health reported.

Costco doesn’t sell a Salem. Its 2-person Almost Heaven barrels are the Duet ($3,599.99, 72″ x 47″ x 75″, 610 pounds, 4.8 stars from 174 ratings) and the Arcadia ($3,499.99, 78″ x 47″ x 81.5″, 762 pounds, 4.55 from 29), each with a 6 kW Harvia heater (Duet, Arcadia). Almost Heaven’s own rain jacket sizes group the shells: its 4-foot jacket is labeled “Salem/Duet.”

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Almost Heaven at Costco

Costco sells most Almost Heaven models under names almostheaven.com doesn’t use for them (the Sutton is the exception), and has carried the brand since at least 2012. These were the 13 listings we found live on costco.com on September 24, 2026, with Costco’s prices and star ratings (rating count in parentheses):

Costco listings accessed September 24, 2026. The Morgan 4-person barrel had 4.69 stars from 698 ratings in a March 2026 capture; its page now returns an error, as does the Sierra’s.

• Costco model names don’t map one-to-one to almostheaven.com names, so compare the size, heater and door rather than the name. Almost Heaven’s rain jacket sizes are a hint: “4′ Salem/Duet,” “6′ Pinnacle/Morgan/Audra” and “7′ Seneca/Emerson.”
• Costco’s Oasis is a 3-person outdoor cube; almostheaven.com’s Oasis is a 4-person indoor room.
• Of the barrels, only the Ripley’s Costco bullets mention a rain jacket in the box.
• The September 2026 CPSC recall of Sauna360 infrared saunas, some of them sold at Costco, covers Sauna360 brands such as Finnleo and Tylö. Almost Heaven isn’t one of them (CPSC recall 26-784, Health Canada notice; our Finnleo review has the details).

What arrives in the crate, whether the included kilowatts have margin in winter, and what a curbside freight delivery looks like are in our Costco sauna review.

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Other Almost Heaven models, line by line

Almost Heaven’s cedar barrels all use the same 1-3/8-inch ball-and-socket staves and a Harvia KIP as the standard heater; canopy models add a covered porch at the door. Prices were the lowest configuration shown on September 24, 2026, during a “September Sauna Sale.”

Almost Heaven says the 7 x 6-foot Essex “is the smallest barrel sauna compatible with a wood-burning heater” (Essex page). Its Harvia Collection barrels (Kuuma, Takoa, Magnus and Evander) are a different build: thermally modified Nordic pine made in Romania, with roofing shingles included, from $9,892.40 on sale.

Most indoor rooms list cedar or hem-fir, 1-3/8″ tongue-and-groove sections, and a 6 kW KIP (8 kW on the larger rooms). The Laurel and Hinton infrared rooms (USA) and the Harmony and Elysian (China) run on 120 volts.

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What an Almost Heaven sauna costs, all in

The sticker includes the heater, stones and a light on most models. Budget for these too, so your total isn’t a surprise:

For a wider look at what outdoor saunas cost, see how much outdoor saunas cost.

What the Almost Heaven warranty covers

Almost Heaven’s warranty page gives every sauna a “Limited Lifetime Warranty against manufacturing defects on all components,” replaced “at no charge to you.” It excludes “normal weathering and wear-and-tear, improper use or assembly, or weather events,” doesn’t transfer to a second owner, and “only applies to saunas residing in the Contiguous United States.” The Harvia heater gets “a 1-year warranty on the heating elements (coils) and a 5-year warranty on the other heating components,” and electrician costs for a claim aren’t covered (warranty page).

Two details worth knowing. Almost Heaven’s FAQ describes room parts as replaced “at the Shipping cost” and adds exclusions for “rot, discoloration, minor splintering in lumber” (FAQ). And the Harvia manual that ships with the KIP has its own guarantee, which asks you to register within 15 days of purchase (KIP manual). Register your heater and keep your receipt.

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Owning an Almost Heaven barrel: roof, bands, heat and benches

Plan for a roof

Almost Heaven’s manual says water may seep in “particularly on the top and sides,” that seepage “will NOT harm the sauna,” and suggests a shelter with a roof or its rain jacket if you want the barrel fully waterproof (barrel manual). Its blog lists five cover options, from its rain jacket to corrugated metal and shingles (Almost Heaven). The rain jackets don’t work with wood-burning saunas that have chimneys.

Our take: if your barrel sits in a wet or snowy place, give it a roof, brought down to the widest point with a drip edge. A fitted cover is a fine start; shingles or metal last longer.

Tighten the bands in the first months

The FAQ says you “may need to tighten the bands or add additional filler staves after a period of time, usually within the first few months,” as the cedar shrinks or swells (FAQ). The manual suggests checking band tension “every few months, especially in the first months,” and extra filler staves come in the box for gaps.

Heat-up, sizing and the sensor

Almost Heaven says its saunas typically reach 165°F in 30 to 40 minutes and 185°F in under an hour, and that heat-up takes longer in cold weather (FAQ). If your winters are cold, size the heater to your room’s volume rather than the seat count; 13 of the owners above upsized theirs, and our barrel heater guide walks you through the math.

On the sensor, the documents differ, even Harvia’s own. An Almost Heaven blog post suggests placing the sensor “14”-18″ down from the ceiling and 14″-18″ away from the heater” (Almost Heaven); Harvia’s KIP manual draws it 12 inches below the ceiling and 12 inches to the side (KIP manual), and Harvia’s newer KIP sensor sheet (December 2024) shows it 6-3/4 inches below the ceiling (sensor sheet). Harvia’s control manuals warn that a sensor cooled by an air vent reads low, “As a result, the heater might overheat.” Use the instructions that came with your heater, and keep the sensor away from vents.

Cold feet and low benches

Heat layers in any sauna, and in a small barrel your feet sit in the coolest air while your head is in the hottest. Owners’ fixes: put your feet up on the bench, raise one bench, or, as one owner did, add a small fan low in the room. Harvia’s KIP manual says a fan doesn’t belong in a sauna, so keep anything electrical out of the heater’s clearances and check with the heater maker first. The lasting fix is a barrel big enough for two bench levels, which takes about 7 feet of diameter; our DIY barrel sauna guide and free plans show the geometry.

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Almost Heaven alternatives we sell

These are the saunas we’d put next to an Almost Heaven. We sell them, so weigh our picks with that in mind. Our barrel kits don’t include a heater, so add one when you compare prices; current prices are on each product page.

• SaunaLife EE8G: a larger barrel with an upper bench and a foot bench, the layout that fixes cold feet, with a shingle roof kit and floor kit included.
• SaunaLife Ergo: 1.65-inch thermally modified spruce staves and a shingle roof kit, in several lengths.
• Thermory 60 Series: thermally modified spruce with a PVC rain jacket in the box and an optional two-level bench.
• SaunaLife CL5G: our all-around pick if you aren’t set on a barrel; a four-person cube with a panoramic window.

Our take: the differences worth paying for are the wood and the roof. Thermally modified spruce is treated with heat and steam for stability, and a roof kit in the box means one less thing to add. If you want to talk it through, a Book a Ben call is free.

Questions to ask before you buy an Almost Heaven

• What is the country of origin for this exact model and configuration?
• Which heater and how many kW, and is it sized for this room in my winter?
• What circuit do I need, and who is wiring it?
• What’s included: roof or rain jacket, floor kit, backrests, bucket and ladle?
• How long are the benches? Can I lie down?
• If I buy at Costco, which warranty applies and who do I call?
• How is it delivered, and will I have help unloading a 500 to 1,200-pound delivery?

Almost Heaven sauna FAQ

Are Almost Heaven saunas good?

Most owners think so. Of 142 r/Sauna owners who gave a verdict from 2018 to 2026, 129 were positive, 10 mixed and 3 negative. The common complaints (rain getting in without a roof, cold feet on low benches) mostly come with the barrel format, generous seat counts come up with barrels and indoor rooms alike, and each has a fix.

Where are Almost Heaven saunas made?

It depends on the model. The cedar barrels, cubes and ten indoor rooms list the USA and are built in Lewisburg, West Virginia. The Harvia Collection and several indoor rooms list Romania, two cabins list Estonia, and the Harmony and Elysian infrared rooms list China. Check the country-of-origin line on the product page.

Are Almost Heaven saunas made in China?

Two of them: the Harmony and Elysian infrared rooms list China as the country of origin. The cedar barrels list the USA.

Who owns Almost Heaven Saunas?

Harvia Plc of Finland, which bought the business in December 2018. Almost Heaven describes itself as part of the Harvia family since 2019.

How much does an Almost Heaven sauna cost?

On September 24, 2026, cedar barrels on almostheaven.com ran from $4,036.50 (Salem, on sale) to $10,650 (Shenandoah) for the base configuration, and the Harvia Collection barrels from $9,892.40 to $12,357.10 on sale, heater included. At Costco, Almost Heaven barrels ran from $3,499.99 to $6,399.99. Add a roof, an electrician and a base.

Does Costco sell Almost Heaven saunas?

Yes, mostly under names of its own, such as the Duet, Arcadia, Ripley, Vista, Emerson, Valkea and Escape. Costco has carried Almost Heaven saunas since at least 2012.

What heater comes with an Almost Heaven sauna?

A Harvia KIP on most models: 6 kW on the Salem, Vienna, Watoga, Pinnacle, Audra and Charleston barrels, and 8 kW on the Essex and the rest of the cedar barrels. Upgrades include Harvia’s Spirit, Virta and Cilindro, and wood heat on the larger barrels.

How hot does an Almost Heaven sauna get, and how fast?

Almost Heaven says its saunas typically heat to 165°F in 30 to 40 minutes and to 185°F in under an hour. Harvia’s US controls set up to 194°F. Heat-up takes longer in cold weather.

How do you turn on an Almost Heaven sauna?

On a KIP with dials, set the heat knob between minimum and maximum, then turn the timer past the first 1 and back to the large 1 until it clicks for a full hour. The small numbers 1 to 8 are a delayed start. Harvia’s manual says to allow at least 30 minutes to heat. Smart models use the Fenix panel or the app.

Why is my Almost Heaven sauna not getting hot?

Harvia’s manual starts with the breaker, then checks that the thermostat and timer are both on, that the timer winds down, and that the high-limit reset button (under wall-mounted heaters) hasn’t tripped. Then look for heat loss around the door, a sensor placed differently from the manual or near a vent, and a heater that is small for the room in cold weather. Harvia technical support is 877-842-7842.

How long do Almost Heaven saunas last?

Almost Heaven says it depends on the environment and maintenance. Eleven owners in our count reported about five years or more, including one Costco barrel at 14 years.

Does an Almost Heaven barrel need a roof?

Almost Heaven’s barrel manual says seepage “will NOT harm the sauna,” and it sells a rain jacket as an option. We recommend a roof on any barrel in a wet or snowy place; 20 of the owners we counted added or planned a cover.

How we researched this, and what we couldn’t verify

On September 24, 2026, we read almostheaven.com’s product pages, manuals, FAQ and warranty; Harvia’s releases and 2025 annual report; Costco’s listings; the CPSC and Health Canada recall databases; the BBB; a Men’s Health review; and the r/Sauna comments mentioning Almost Heaven since 2018, from the Arctic Shift archive. We didn’t test an Almost Heaven. We couldn’t confirm:

• Which Costco models share a shell with which almostheaven.com models, beyond Almost Heaven’s rain jacket size labels.
• Which heater warranty text governs when the website and the Harvia manual differ.
• The details behind the BBB rating.
• Every owner post outside r/Sauna, so our count covers one community.

Sources

• Almost Heaven Saunas: About, FAQ, warranty, barrel manual (2024), When Should I Cover My Sauna?, How to Increase Your Sauna Temperature, barrel collection and product pages, accessed September 24, 2026.
• Harvia Plc: acquisition release (December 21, 2018), completion release (December 31, 2018), Lewisburg facility release (February 11, 2021), Annual Report 2025; KIP heater manual and KIP sensor instructions (December 2024); Xenio control manual.
• West Virginia Daily News, “Almost Heaven Saunas manager tells its success story,” March 23, 2022.
• Costco.com Almost Heaven listings, accessed September 24, 2026; U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Recall 26-784; Health Canada, Sauna360 recall notice.
• Men’s Health, Almost Heaven Salem review, July 31, 2026; BBB, accessed September 24, 2026.
• Owner comments on Reddit’s r/Sauna, 2018 to 2026, collected through the Arctic Shift archive and linked where quoted.

Almost Heaven, Harvia and the Almost Heaven and Costco model names on this page are trademarks of their owners. We use them only to identify the products this page is about. Sauna Marketplace isn’t affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Almost Heaven Saunas, Harvia or Costco. Almost Heaven or Harvia: to send a correction, use our contact page.