01-25-2010, 04:48 AM
On a post in Non-classifieds Oink asked:
I would however be interested in the construction and heating method of the old furo. I have fond memories of using one at my ex-in-laws house on Maui but I don't quite recall its construction. I think it was a wood box on plate steel heated by a wood fire from the outside. O assume some stone or masonry created a fire box and chimney of some sort. I'm thinking I would like to construct such an arrangement as an outbuilding when the time comes. Would you mind providing a description.
Most of the old style ufuros I have seen are indoors and consist of a copper bottomed wooden tank - usually made of old growth redwood which is placed directly over a concrete fire box. On the top side of the copper was a wooden slatted floor to keep one's body from contact with the copper.
The rather small firebox loads and fires from outside the building. It does not take a big fire to heat an ufuro. The chimneys are usually made of 4" cast iron pipe with a clean out at the bottom. The cast iron is cast into the upper side of the firebox and extends above the roof on the outside of the building.
There is absolutely nothing legal about this in current codes. The risk of burning down the whole affair is high unless fired and maintained with care. Our older generations were quite skilled with small fires and probably had little trouble with this.
These ufuros were often part of a bath house - Japanese style - in which one would wash with a bucket and sponge outside the ufuro and use the tank for a relaxing soak.
I tried mine out once and it was nice except that the ufuro tank was so small for a western body that you had to be in a fetal position. So I am now working on a concrete hot tub which will be heated by a heat exchanger tied into the gas fired hot water heater...
I would however be interested in the construction and heating method of the old furo. I have fond memories of using one at my ex-in-laws house on Maui but I don't quite recall its construction. I think it was a wood box on plate steel heated by a wood fire from the outside. O assume some stone or masonry created a fire box and chimney of some sort. I'm thinking I would like to construct such an arrangement as an outbuilding when the time comes. Would you mind providing a description.
Most of the old style ufuros I have seen are indoors and consist of a copper bottomed wooden tank - usually made of old growth redwood which is placed directly over a concrete fire box. On the top side of the copper was a wooden slatted floor to keep one's body from contact with the copper.
The rather small firebox loads and fires from outside the building. It does not take a big fire to heat an ufuro. The chimneys are usually made of 4" cast iron pipe with a clean out at the bottom. The cast iron is cast into the upper side of the firebox and extends above the roof on the outside of the building.
There is absolutely nothing legal about this in current codes. The risk of burning down the whole affair is high unless fired and maintained with care. Our older generations were quite skilled with small fires and probably had little trouble with this.
These ufuros were often part of a bath house - Japanese style - in which one would wash with a bucket and sponge outside the ufuro and use the tank for a relaxing soak.
I tried mine out once and it was nice except that the ufuro tank was so small for a western body that you had to be in a fetal position. So I am now working on a concrete hot tub which will be heated by a heat exchanger tied into the gas fired hot water heater...
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