Solar tube lighting can be a very attractive key item in home design. However, there are a few disadvantages to these fixtures that might bother you in the long run. Read this article on “What are the drawbacks to solar tube lighting?” to make sure you know what you are facing!
What Are The Drawbacks To Solar Tube Lighting?
To examine its drawbacks, we must first discuss the benefits that solar tube lighting brings. There are reasons why nearly nine out of ten households and office buildings have put solar tube lighting into use. This method is friendly to the environment and offers an efficient power consumption solution.
Tubular lighting is also popular to shine the most troublesome and hidden parts of the home. It can light up every nook and cranny of your yard and living space. With that out of the way, let’s discuss why solar tube lighting is not as perfect as people make it out to be.
1. It Is Not Suitable For All Homes:
The type of roof your house has can seriously affect how efficient solar tubes are in practical uses. Luckily, most solar tubes on the current market work best on 15-60 degree slopes, which is also a feature of most roofs. If you have a rather unconventional roof that leaned steep or flat, putting a solar tube in its place might be a challenge.
To answer the question of “What are the drawbacks to solar tube lighting?” even more complicatedly, solar tubes will not stick on all types of roof material, which will call for the use of an adapter.
Aside from roof installation, letting solar tubes work with shaded areas prevents them from catching necessary sunlight. For lighting up the kitchen on the ground floor, a considerably longer tube will help by its ability to reach further areas.
Check here for more information about proactive with maintenance for your roof.
2. There Isn’t A Variety Of Design Styles:
There is not much creative liberty when it comes to solar tube placement. These tubes are way too little to have any real effect on the room’s overall design, aside from bringing in some sunlight. With solar tubes installed, you won’t have too much vision through your doors when looking outside.
You will also not have that many choices when you want to adjust the amount of sunlight entering your living space. Window films and diffusers can’t help you much in winter when sunlight becomes weaker. That is the second answer to “What are the drawbacks to solar tube lighting?”.
3. There Is One Source Of Energy For Solar Tube:
This feature is probably people’s go-to excuse for the “What are the drawbacks to solar tube lighting?” question. Solar tube lighting is not the complete alternative to electric lighting due to the energy source that it uses. This lightning source depends on the availability and quality of sunlight. In countries without constant sunlight or it’s just too weak, this measure seems useless.
Even weather can impact your light as rainy, cloudy, or foggy days prevent your tubes from absorbing their power source. Though using solar tube lighting, in this case, can still save half or a quarter of your bill, it’s not fun having to require two separate sets of lighting in the house when you are the one who fixes both.
4. Solar Tube Takes Up Lots Of Space:
Solar tubes occupy quite a lot of space in the house. For anyone with a small living space, this might not be a nice option. Although there is less space to shine and fewer solar tubes to place, you will have to carefully plan their placement.
Additionally, a small living space equals a small amount of light hitting your house, and the solar tubes would shine less brightly.
5. Lack Ventilation:
It is not easy having to plan out where ventilation goes and where the solar tubes fill in. There is a high chance that you will have to choose between either choice. Solar tubes are also aluminum creations, which transfer heat extremely well, leading to great discomfort when lacking ventilation.
6. Noise:
Some solar tube domes might include aluminum reflectors to receive more sunlight and become brighter. These aluminum sheets will rattle on windy days and cause quite a bit of noise and annoy those living with them.
This issue alone would deter people from answering “What are the drawbacks to solar tube lighting?” already.
Conclusion
That is all the answers we can give to “What are the drawbacks to solar tube lighting?”. Even though the fixtures are quite beneficial to your wallet, they can pack some annoyances. We hope that this article helps paint a full picture of your purchase so you can make a well-informed decision!