Sun tunnels?

[puntloos]

Has anyone got any experience with sun tunnels?

Context: I'm a bit worried about my kitchen being dark, and the closest sunlight is more-or-less at the edge of the kitchen.

 

Is there some way to 'duct' this kitchen sun light pretty much horizontally towards a more central exit in the middle of the kitchen? Or are there many downsides that should stop us considering it?

 

 

See attached example:

 

 

 

The last bit of direct sun hits the garden room ceiling as per picture, which in this example just hits the tap on the island. But while the 'wide window' is fairly classy looking as it is, I'd like to know if it is even an option to create an effective sun tunnel from the side (rather than having to punch through multiple floors!)

 

Would this work? E.g. https://www.velux.co.uk/products/sun-tunnels/pitched-roof 

Edited June 4, 2020 by puntloos

[oldkettle]

Following with interest. IIRC @JSHarris mentioned before that these are not well insulated and there is a risk of condensation. I was hoping somebody would make a double wall system with enough insulation to alleviate this issue. 

[Onoff]

@Construction Channel & @Russdl maybe?

[ProDave]

We had a solar tube  in our last house. That had  a dome on the roof and a shiny polished pipe to direct the light down to a difused ceiling fitting.

 

It worked very well though many visitors were confused because they could not find the switch to turn the "light" off.

 

I don't know of one that works horizontally.

[puntloos]

  On 04/06/2020 at 16:57, ProDave said:

It worked very well though many visitors were confused because they could not find the switch to turn the "light" off.

Expand  

 

Heh, interesting point, yeah given that it's close to my 'home cinema' I'll have to be careful

 

  Just now, ProDave said:

I don't know of one that works horizontally.

Expand  

 

Of course it doesn't have to be fully horizontal perhaps, but definitely pretty flat..

[Construction Channel]

In my experience suntunnels are great. Rigid are far better than the flexible ones and the bigger the better although the smaller ones are still better than nothing. 

 

 

My bathroom before:

 

 

My bathroom after:

 

This is the 14" rigid velux version with about a 30 deg kink in the pipe. 

 

The insulation issue isnt really to do with the tunnel itself as you can wrap that fairly well with insulation. The issue is the 2 ends where the internal bit is a fairly rubbish attempt at plastic double glazing

 

Hth

Ed

[puntloos]

  On 04/06/2020 at 17:07, Construction Channel said:

In my experience suntunnels are great. Rigid are far better than the flexible ones and the bigger the better although the smaller ones are still better than nothing. 

 

 

My bathroom before:

 

 

My bathroom after:

 

This is the 14" rigid velux version with about a 30 deg kink in the pipe. 

 

The insulation issue isnt really to do with the tunnel itself as you can wrap that fairly well with insulation. The issue is the 2 ends where the internal bit is a fairly rubbish attempt at plastic double glazing

 

Hth

Ed

Expand  

 

Hmm dunno, that 'before' picture has a certain charm...

 

But good to know that the kink can only do '30deg'. Surprising really, wouldn't a straight mirror not be able to bounce 90deg.. 

[Construction Channel]

You could bend it further. I think each "bending bit" would go up to 45deg (they're a variable angle thing that you twist to incease the angle). 

 

So with 4 bendy bits you could make the horizontal periscope that you want

 

https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/product/velux-6013710k14-adjustable-elbow-for-14-sun-tunnel

[mvincentd]

 

  On 04/06/2020 at 17:07, Construction Channel said:

The insulation issue isnt really to do with the tunnel itself as you can wrap that fairly well with insulation. The issue is the 2 ends where the internal bit is a fairly rubbish attempt at plastic double glazing

Expand  

I used these through my flat roof to hallway ; https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/product/lightway-crystal-300-hp-blue-performance-0-6

Double glazing is within the insulated section, not at the end.  Not getting any condensation and seem thermally perfectly adequate.

They're great for light to find my way in a corridor with no direct natural light, but in the proposed kitchen scenario where some areas are getting hard sun I wouldn't expect the tubes to balance matters and make the other areas feel 'sunny'...with some spilled ambient light in those areas anyway the sun tubes effect could almost be lost....i think.

[Construction Channel]

Its a bit late for me but i do like that insulated section. Great way to get over the issue. 

 

I also agree that in an already lit room they wont have as much of an impact as they did in my bathroom. That said, placed correctly it might still help

[Sue B]

We had them in our three en-suites in our last house.  We had the light built into them as well.  Worked really well.  Nice low light for night time visits to the bathroom without the need for a light on.  

[puntloos]

Thanks all, I think I might be okay with the kitchen as is, with the skylight as rendered, but I'll keep an eye out. And indeed those idems from @mvincentd seem pertty nice for bathrooms and such!

[Mike]

  On 04/06/2020 at 16:35, puntloos said:

while the 'wide window' is fairly classy looking as it is

Expand  

Make it wider still - the full length of the wall cupboards?

[puntloos]

  On 05/06/2020 at 15:29, Mike said:

Make it wider still - the full length of the wall cupboards?

Expand  

If I understand you correctly, right at the top of the picture, above the sink?

There is a house above the kitchen though - not sure if there is side-catching sun catchers? (ha, I guess they are called 'windows' but unless we do something clever I'm not sure they will actually reach into the house very well (not a sun-facing side)

[SteamyTea]

I did some work for Monodraught and was amazed how good sun pipes are.

I also think the is a lot of scope for innovation.

I have a dome and a diffuser kicking about still, would go well in my bathroom.