Tubular skylight / sunlight tunnels - any experience?

celerity

I'm about to have a wood stove installed in my lounge, and am looking into the possibility of getting a "tubular skylight" fitted at the same time.

Does anyone have any experience of these in the UK?

The room I'd want it for is north facing, so would I be better having a straight run from the north roof, or having an angled run from the south?

My main worry would be heat loss - can you get "double glazed" ones where they meet the ceiling?

Finally, do you think my wood stove installer would be suitable for doing this work? He's an all-round handyman and obviously has lots of experience of threading flues through ceilings and roofs so I would have thought it was a similar job, or am I mistaken?

Cheers,

/\dam

grahamc2003

I once stayed in a holiday poperty with a light pipe - I thought it was excellent. No idea of the cost, but they are surprisingly bright, and even on very dull days really brightly light up a darkened area of a room. iirc, even smaller ones give the light equivalent to 3 or 400 watts of incandescent light builbs. (I assume you know the reason they appear so bright when outside light is mirrored into the inside of a house? If not, it's because our eyes accomodate and generally the pupils go very small outside in the high light levels, and dilate a lot when inside in much lower light levels).

celerity

Cheers, I'm not sure about cost yet either, although the parts themselves look relatively cheap.
If it is too much I won't do it, as the area doesn't really need the extra lighting, it's just to make our (open plan) house look a bit airier and to be a bit of fun to be honest.

/\dam

poly1

If you look HERE they say "Solatube diffusers not only distribute the light evenly around the room, they are double-glazed to ensure that they don’t heat the room up in summer or let heat out in the winter. They’re also UV shielded to help prevent fading of you carpet and furnishings."
So maybe that answers your question about heat loss? HTH

chiefgoobster

Off the top of my head , my light tube was about £300. It only
goes up about 1.5metres worth.
It was the choice between this or Velux windows into a pitched roof and I am happy with the choice I made.
The only niggle , if you could call it , is that you cannot (on mine) undo the plastic cover on the internal side to give it a clean once in a blue moon.It's not the end of the world and you could almost say it doesn't need cleaning, but you know what I mean.
On the external side of things , all you see is the dome and it's 'flashings' ...and it's not an eyesore or anything.

It allows a really good amount of light in - the internal side being about the size (ish) of a round dinner tray.

I would certainly buy one again.

Hope this may have been a bit of help 4 u .

Good luck

uzubairu

chiefgoobster wrote: »

Off the top of my head , my light tube was about £300. It only
goes up about 1.5metres worth.
It was the choice between this or Velux windows into a pitched roof and I am happy with the choice I made.
The only niggle , if you could call it , is that you cannot (on mine) undo the plastic cover on the internal side to give it a clean once in a blue moon.It's not the end of the world and you could almost say it doesn't need cleaning, but you know what I mean.
On the external side of things , all you see is the dome and it's 'flashings' ...and it's not an eyesore or anything.

It allows a really good amount of light in - the internal side being about the size (ish) of a round dinner tray.

I would certainly buy one again.

Hope this may have been a bit of help 4 u .

Good luck

I'm currently in the process of researching this product, for our dim hallway (to the master bedroom).
Do you have the standard Vusion or Optiview diffuser?

chiefgoobster

uzubairu wrote: »

I'm currently in the process of researching this product, for our dim hallway (to the master bedroom).
Do you have the standard Vusion or Optiview diffuser?

Hi
sorry for any delay , just seen your post.I looked on this bit of the website ;

http://www.solatube.com/residential/product-catalog/brighten-up-series/index.php

and I've got the Vision Diffuser. You don't see crystal clear daylight as the internal cover is like "a frosted effect " .
It's still damn good though !!

PM me if u want any more info and I'll do my bestest to help u out.
(as I'm not always looking at my past replies on here ! )

uzubairu

chiefgoobster wrote: »

Hi
sorry for any delay , just seen your post.I looked on this bit of the website ;

http://www.solatube.com/residential/product-catalog/brighten-up-series/index.php

and I've got the Vision Diffuser. You don't see crystal clear daylight as the internal cover is like "a frosted effect " .
It's still damn good though !!

PM me if u want any more info and I'll do my bestest to help u out.
(as I'm not always looking at my past replies on here ! )

Thanks.
Read your reply and went with the Vusion Diffuser.

The installer has just finished installing it in our hallway, and the difference is amazing.
Even though it is overcast today it has made a huge difference.

It took the 2 guys approximately 90 minutes from start to finish, and they've done an excellent job.

I don't think my OH would have coped well with installing it himself.
Installers cost £250 and parts were £500.

diable

I have the velux fixed light tube and it is fantastic I went for the 14" and there are some photos towards the end of my bathroom renovation thread.

To save you the trouble

diable

Forgot to add even at night the moonlight shines through.......