Problem with tubular skylight (heating, insulated, install, room)

[elnina]

I have 12 inch tubular skylight installed in my home office. It supposed to be energy efficient, but when I point the IR Thermometer I read 112F ( yeah, Texas heat )
I was not present when it was installed, so I cannot tell you if the job was done properly or not ( obviously not ). My house does not have attic space, and I can't check if it was properly insulated (?), or what else could be done wrong. However, I think that it should not beam the heat down my room.
What I can do to reduce the heat, except replacing the skylight? Would reflecting tint help? Other option?
I assume that putting a tint film on acrylic dome isn't an easy task...
What kind of film can help reduce the heat but not the light?

[K'ledgeBldr]

I've never heard a solar tube to be energy efficient in terms of "thermal" efficiency.
It's nothing more than a sheet metal tube- not a insulated tube. So, getting excessive heat from one of them doesn't surprise me at all.
They do make a "dimmer" for solar tubes; it's more like a shutter baffle designed more for controlling the light, not heat. But it requires electricity- installed by an electrician.

Maybe a Rube Goldberg concoction of solar screen stretched over the dome?

[elnina]

So, in other words, a tint will not work??? That's really upsetting, because this room needs additional light, and I would prefer a natural source. However the heat is killing me, the A/C and my wallet.

[chet everett]

You can get IR filtered glass and films that DRAMATICALLY reduce thermal gain from sunlight with only minor reduction in visible light.

I am sorta surprised that was not standard on any skylight installed by a competent pro in Texas or other such climates.

You can and should have the insulation checked too; there are "double wall" tubular skylights. Sometimes a good sheetmetal guy can "retrofit" a sorta double wall with insulation onto an existing skylight. I would also STRONGLY suggest having a qualified energy auditor assess the overall ventilation of your attic space and frankly your whole home. The costs from such an audit can often be offset in less than one season of heating / cooling in an extreme climate, whether that is the heat of the SW or the cold of northern climates. Frankly if whoever had spent money to install the tubular skylight would have instead spent a little money on such an audit I can just about guarantee they would have increased the insulation in the attic, added / upgraded things like radiant barriers and weather-sealing and you could have a nice high quality LED light source in your home office that all together would result in MORE comfort and LOWER energy costs....

[Coldjensens]

We have two of them in our upstairs hallway and we do not get any appreciable amount of heat from them. Maybe this is becasue the collector is not directly above the lens(?) in the cieling. Solatubes are bascially a flexible mirrored surface that bounces the light through curves and turns and brings it wherever you need it. Ours are long (9 feet) and somewhat curved, maybe the heat simply does not reflect with the light.

If that is true, one possble solution for you may be to get a longer tube installed. Run the tube around whatever space you have between the cieling and roof. This might reflect the light into your home without the heat. Not sure, just kind of a wag as to a possible solution.

[QIS]

I have seen people take shade cloth and wrap it around the top of the solatube dome and secure it with a bungee cord. It does diminish the light of course,but, I bet it helps with the heat! There are insulated tubes, and you can wrap the tube with insulation,but, that is only to help heat from escaping into your attic, similar to wrapping a standard skylight chase; it would not help to reduce the heat generated by the solatube.