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I'd like to visualise/measure the flow of air in sauna to optimise the ventilation.

Is there a way to colour the air (non-toxic!!!) so I may watch the flow? Or is there any other accessible technology applicable in the home conditions?


EDIT: Finally I asked a DJ on a wedding for a small amount of the fog-machine liquid and I poured it directly to the sauna stove. It produced some smoke and then it (or maybe rather the gas produced by the heat) started burning, but not with long flames. Apparently the heat wires in the stove are too hot. The produced smoke visualised the air flow sufficiently. The only problem was that the smoke dissolved in the air so farther from the stove it wasn't so distinctive, but it was good enough. Thanks to @dknguyen for the tip how to do it without a fog machine.

Honza Zidek
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This NASA article discusses some of the common wind tunnel flow visualization methods.

A fog machine generally uses a heated mixture of polypropylene glycol and water. You can test different mixture concentrations in an electric kettle, and use a plastic tube to plumb the fog stream to the locations you are interested in visualizing the flow.

Tufts or pieces of thread generally work well in higher velocity flows, but you can employ similar techniques with other physical items like helium balloons from the floor, air filled balloons from the ceiling, etc.

enter image description here

ericnutsch
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You can buy an incense stick, which burns slowly and produces perfumed smoke. you then position the incense stick at different points in the sauna and make a video of the resulting smoke trails.

niels nielsen
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