Sun Tunnels in the Kitchen

Does anybody here have one? http://www.veluxusa.com/consumer/products/sun_tunnel_skylights/

One of the things our window guru talked to us about is a sun tunnel and I'm hoping that it's worthwhile. With a sun tunnel, the amount of light in the room, even with a northern exposure, is supposed to be amazing. They're not that expensive at all and it might save me a bit of money in the long run.

The window guru gave us the phone number of somebody who installed a sun tunnel in his interior bathroom (no windows). I called the man and he said it's like having a light on in there all the time. He also said that, during a full moon, it's like having a really bright nightlight on in the bathroom.....not bad for a room with no windows. He invited us to go to his house to see for ourselves and said that he's very pleased.

I was worried that messing around on the roof might negate the roof warranty (we just had a new roof put on a couple years ago), but the company that installs them has been doing it for quite a while now. (If it turns out well, we may install another one in the bathroom as we have the same situation in there, northern exposure, small window, etc.) If I don't need a light on all the time, I may save a bit of money in the long run. But we'll see how it goes.

Does anybody here have a sun tunnel? Would you share your thoughts, please? Thanks!

No experience but those look neat. Maybe call your roofing company to double check on the warranty?

My parents had one installed to brighten up the end of a dark hallway and it worked really well.  They didn't have a problem with it leaking at all.  

Wow, looks pretty cool!

I think we're looking at two tunnels for the kitchen. One will be located at my prep area; the other will be in the other corner of the kitchen, which is a dark area as well. Those are in addition to the larger window at the sink area. We've looked at casement windows and am thinking that's the way to go. Since I don't want to give up too much cabinet area (and a larger window will mean giving up both a 24-inch cabinet and a 12-inch cabinet), the window won't be too big.....we're thinking about 43-1/2 x 36 inches. The current window is only 26 inches wide and has a replacement window, too, so it's really cutting down on light.

I really hate replacement windows. The frame of the window, plus the frame of the replacement window really, really decreases the amount of light coming through! We want to install new windows in the bedroom and we're not going with replacement windows. We'll have the old windows removed and new ones installed. The bedroom has a southern exposure and it's so sunny on nice days. I don't want to ruin that.

If the tunnels work out OK, Rick has already talked about putting one in the bathroom and maybe one in the in the hallway area, too.

We have two and adore them.  We had them put in at the same time we did a new roof several years ago.  One into our windowless bathroom (what a difference it has made) and one into a livingroom that while it has a nice picture window, was still dark.  I wish we'd had at least one more put in!

It has been well worth doing.

Keep in mind that in the winter if you are in an area where you get snow, the snow will pile on and completely block the light from entering, so you won't have the same lighting as you would in the other months when the glass was clear and open to the sky.
 

Those are pretty cool looking!

We have been doing some house hunting and we just saw a couple of homes with those located in the bathrooms! Very, very cool. Never saw those before. :bigthumb:

I think they're cool, too. It will be interesting to see if they make a change in kitchen light.

Yes, we do get snow in the winter. But overall, I think the sun tunnels will be worth the installation. If we have them facing south, they will get sun, no matter what time of year it is. So any snow would melt fairly quickly, unless we really get dumped on.

I have two and I love them. One is in a dark corner of the living room, right over my piano. It saves me having to buy a special piano lamp. The other is in a windowless bathroom. Every time I walk past the bathroom I reach in to try to turn the lightswitch off. :lol3: