Light Pipes

We fitted a 250mm diameter Solatube 160 DS in a windowless bathroom last summer and it's been brilliant. The basic fresnel diffuser spreads the light evenly and there's certainly no feeling of being under a narrow spotlight. The light level is very good, even on dull cloudy days.

Condensation has never been a problem, there's sometimes a bit on the underside of the dome at the top but it drains away to the outside and has never run down to the bottom.

Fitting is fairly straightforward but the multiway universal joints at the top and bottom were tedious to get lined up right.

They're certainly not cheap, especially when you try to visualise the cost to produce one but we feel ours was well worth it in terms of the result. The highly polished coating inside the tube makes a huge contribution to their effectiveness, I can well beleive that cheaper ones with flexible corrugated ducting will be much inferior.

Mine has a sort of knobbly diffuser with loads of little prisms which distributes the light well. It is not a fresnel lens though. It is actually in the back corner of a room that does have windows, and contributes surprising well to keeping the room well lit.

Mine has a furry seal (ain't he cute) to outside at the top that allows condensation to run to the outside as you say.

Not cheap. The bit of extension tube I have left is in the garage and I just cannot bring myself to throw it away. I have a slight feeling the cost of the tube is rather inflated. I think the strong polycarbonate top and the large lead flashing are not marked up so much. If you look at the light output spec of the flexible ones, it is a lot less than the rigid ones, and only valid when the tube is fully stretched out.

Simon.

Anyone here tried making their own light pipe? It should be a fraction the cost.

NT