How bright is a tubular skylight system?
Solatubes are VERY bright, delivering large amounts of daylight in to dark rooms and transforming them in to light, bright spaces. Most people are extremely surprised when they see just how bright and how much light a Solatube can deliver. A Solatube can therefore make a BIG difference in almost any room.
Quite simply, Solatube tubular skylights are the most effective and efficient way of delivering daylight in to a room, providing as much light as a window many times its size. A single, sun pipe can comfortably light up a typical room making it bright enough to read and write in, all day long so you would never need to switch a light on again during daylight hours.
A small room such as a typical bathroom (approx 3m x 3m or 10’ x 10’) can be lit with a single small diameter sun pipe or Solatube.
Whereas for larger rooms and spaces such as a kitchen, dining or living room or long hallways, a single, larger diameter Solatube is usually sufficient. And, as with windows, it is sometimes best to have more than one to help light up bigger spaces.
However, not all makes of tubular skylight system are the same or as bright. There can be quite big differences in the amount of light that different makes of Solatube can deliver. This primarily comes down to how reflective the tube is and the dome on the roof.
Even the shiny tubing that other tubular skylight systems use falls way behind the world’s most reflective material used in a Solatube light tunnel.
98% or 99.7% reflective – it makes a BIG difference
Most other systems use a less reflective material in their tubes. It may not sound like a big difference but just consider the physics for a moment:
- 98% reflective: Each time light bounces down the tube it loses 2% of its energy, or light. Over just 10 bounces that equates to a 20% loss of light.
- 99.7% reflective: Each time light bounces down the tube it loses just 0.3% of its energy, or light. Over 10 bounces that equates to a tiny 3% loss of light.
And don’t believe much of the mis-information that you can read on a number of sites concerning Solatube daylight systems. The people who have written them clearly have no first-hand knowledge or experience of various systems and often just don’t seem to understand some of the basic concepts around the physics of light. You can find out more about misleading information here https://www.solatubescotland.co.uk/blog/what-have-you-heard-about-solatube-163/
Throughout the whole of Scotland, Solatube Scotland is the recognised distributor and installer of Solatube tubular skylights, or light pipes.
If you are interested in bringing natural light into your home, why not contact us at info@solatubescotland.co.uk; 07778 283 427 to find out whether a Solatube sun pipe can help you. Typically, a fully installed system might cost anywhere between £900 – £1,200; that’s supplied, professionally installed and includes the VAT.
