Patent ID: 7123824

Claim:
Steambath apparatus comprising: a tank for holding a sufficient quantity of water to provide steam for a steam bath; a valve for selectively permitting the ingress of water into the tank: an outlet permitting the egress of steam from the tank for provision to the steam bath; a relatively low wattage heater element thermally coupled to the water held in the tank, the relatively low wattage heater element comprising a metallic electrically resistive foil material formed on a matrix of heat-conducting, electrically insulating material: a temperature-responsive switch operatively coupled to the relatively low wattage heater element to maintain the temperature of the water at a higher level than the temperature exterior to the tank but below the boiling temperature of the water; a relatively high wattage heater element thermally coupled to the water held in the tank, said relatively low wattage heater element being in the range of approximately 0.5% to approximately 5.0% of the wattage of the relatively high wattage heater element; a second switch operatively connected to the relatively high wattage each heater element to heat the water held in the tank to its boiling point to produce steam for the steam bath upon demand by a user.