How to prevent water leaking from the light pipe and mould on the ceiling?
The element which has finally made light pipes safe and efficient equipment for transporting sunlight without the unpleasant side effects of ordinary light pipes.
Lightway Blue Performance ensures that:
- water will not leak from the light pipe nor damage the interior or building construction
- you will not incur precious thermal losses in winter
- there will not be overheating of the room in summer months
- there are not wet ceilings and walls, and that unhealthy mould will not form
- light pipes meet standards for thermal permeability in passive and low-energy homes
Sunlight, safely and not only in passive homes
Normal light pipes are not suitable for use in passive houses because their coefficient of thermal permeability doesn’t meet the strict standards for passive homes. German architects, designers and builders are especially unable to work with light pipes for passive homes because heat-loss standards in this country are kept and always demanded. Thanks to two types of Blue Performance, Lightway has become a definite standard in Germany for delivering sunlight to passive houses. Lightway light pipes have thus become the only ones in the world meeting standards for heat loss in passive and low-energy homes.
The Truth about Light Pipes
Lightway has had its new element, Blue Performance, patented because it is unique and has no parallel in any other light pipe producer. The condensation of water and its leakage from light pipes is generally not talked about and questions from potential buyers are dealt with evasively. There’s a wide-spread advertising and sales myth that heat loss and condensation are solved by using a double diffuser, which most producers have available. The problem isn’t solved, double diffusers are not joined with the building’s thermal insulation and the thermal bridge isn’t broken. One American producer of light pipes has introduced a plastic partition inserted in the tube, about 30 cm above the diffuser, claiming that it stops the flow of air in the tube and thus prevents water condensation. According to physics, however, the flow of air can be interrupted in a joint which is smaller than 18 mm. Really it’s only a plug against water accumulated in the tube so that it doesn’t appear directly at the diffuser, and stays hidden from customers’ sight because they could be afraid of seeing water on the diffuser. Imagine the sound of a drum carried through the house at night when everyone’s sleeping. Condensed water drips in regular intervals on this inserted plastic partition inside the tube until a large enough column of water forms above the partition. Another marketing way to avoid the question of water condensation and heat loss in light pipes is the double dome. This is again only to calm the normal layman. Specialists know that a double plastic dome is not joined with the building’s thermal insulation and so does not break the thermal bridge caused by the highly conductive aluminum tube. The problem is only solved by the purchase, when the customer is given an argument so that they will sign the order, but in practice a double dome doesn’t prevent water condensation or heat loss.
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