Once the cottage season has been wrapped up and the bittersweet goodbyes to summer have been said, pause for a moment before driving out of the yard and take care of a quick autumn maintenance check for the wood‑fired sauna.

Here are some steps you can take to ensure your wood-burning heater stays safe and sound over the long winter.

Do your autumn maintenance carefully

At the end of the cottage season in autumn, it's a good idea to service the heart of the cottage sauna, the wood-burning sauna heater carefully. This way, you can avoid any major surprises when you start the cottage season in the spring.

• Check the condition of the heater and the flue for any possible cracks or other faults that may have appeared during the summer. If this was the final summer for your wood‑burning sauna heater, now is a much more pleasant time to start looking for a new, perfect heater at your leisure. Imagine the situation in spring, when you drive into the cottage yard with relaxing sauna steam already on your mind, only to discover that your heater has broken down!

If, during the inspection of a wood‑burning sauna heater, you notice cracks or signs of burn‑through, the heater should be replaced with a new one. Mondex’s range of wood‑burning sauna heaters includes two domestically manufactured models bearing the Key Flag symbol, Klapi and Motti. Here you can learn more about Mondex’s Finnish‑made wood-burning heaters!

• Drain the water always before preparing the sauna for winter rest. Drain all water from the wood‑burning sauna systems, such as the heater’s water tank and the masonry boiler. Water can freeze during the winter and damage equipment and piping.
• Jos mahdollista, Remove the stones from the heater as well as other removable parts. By removing the stones in the autumn, you can make it easier to put the sauna into operation in the spring. It is a good idea to replace the stones about once a year, so the annual opening of the cottage season is a good time to replace them. Here are some tips for replacing the stones!
• Empty the ash box to enable efficient and clean combustion.
• Check for soot and ash accumulation in the flues of the heater. Soot and ash that accumulate in the heater’s smoke channels must be removed periodically through the cleaning hatches located in the heater’s side channels.

Read also: how to choose best wood heater for your sauna and The cottage season begins - consider these before you heat up the sauna

Take care of the cleanliness, ventilation and safety of your woodburning sauna

• The wood sauna should be washed carefully before the end of the cottage season. Wash walls, floors and ceilings thoroughly. Also check the ventilation valves and clean them if necessary. Remember to dry the sauna thoroughly so that any moisture left in it does not cause damage during the winter.
• Take care of the ventilation in your sauna by leaving the sauna ventilation valves open, allowing moisture to escape from the sauna. This will help prevent mould and damp problems.
• Check windows and doors. Make sure that the windows and doors of the sauna are properly closed and tight.
• Switch off the electrical appliances. If there are electrical appliances in the sauna, switch them off and unplug them from the wall if necessary.
• Check the roof of the sauna and make sure there are no leaks or damage. Water can damage the roof and cause nasty moisture problems, especially if meltwater is allowed to run off into structures throughout the spring when roof damage was not noticed in the autumn.
• Take care of firewood. If you leave firewood in the sauna, make sure it is stored in a dry place. In a wood-burning sauna, the best logs are dry ones from at least the previous year. So in the autumn, make sure that the following summer's logs are properly chopped and protected so that they can dry out during the winter.

Remember that the measures best suited to your particular woodburning sauna will depend on local conditions and the characteristics of your sauna.