Does this affect the life of the roofing?

I read;


"Testing done by the Florida Solar Energy Center has shown that roof shingle temperatures do increase between 5 and 10°F when radiant barriers are installed under the roof deck. The color of asphalt shingles has more of an effect on shingle temperature than the presence of a radiant barrier. No shingle manufacturer limits their warranty when combined with a radiant barrier in the roof system."

Are the tubes and fan eligible for federal tax credit? Or just one or the other? We are thinking about putting in six-two bathrooms, one hallway, over Kitchen Island, in living room and parallel to living room in walkway space, as well as the fan. Any disadvantages to solar tubes, i.e. is it ever too much light?

Thanks for the info.

What about installing a vent fan in the ceiling of the garage and exhausting it into the attic? Has anyone done this? Did you also install vents in the garage door to promote circulation?

I think that's a big fire risk, go thru roof with duct

yes, I think so but double check, the tax credit is off your taxes not income, so it's dollar for dollar.

Don't get that many, buy one & see what you think.

disadvantage is a slight loss of heat/cool from ceiling penetration, lightning will be showing flashes at night

Jane, FWIW from The Solar Guys web site:

THE SOLAR GUYS | SOLAR STAR | TAX CREDIT

For confirmation, check with a tax person or the IRS.

Bill :)

Oh yes, I will check with a tax person, silly me, I am married to a CPA!!!!

Ha-ha!! Husbands...........they're sooooo easy to forget, right?

:jester:

Bill :)

Watch out for mis information
 

That was with the old system that was nailed to the roof, new systems are stapled to the rafters and Florida Roofing and Florida Energy audits showed no danger to any roofing material. When radiant barrier was properly installed by a certified insulation company. Abshire in TV is certified. I trusted my builder. What do you think of Radiant barrier? His answer I Love it it is my home and most green homes now built. Question why does the villages not allow it in a new construction. Answer- Can't make the huge mark up they used to do it. If radiant was bad you would not see it promoted on out Seco Energy Web Site.

Builder Recommended
 

Did my home work for months on radiant barrier. When to sites, talked with college green home programs that have experimented with it. Talked to Seco our Fla energy company. Talked to roofing contractors and suppliers. All was positive feedback excet from people that hate it on TOTV. And those you can never win over. I was a immediate drop in the attic. It still gets warm up there but 30 degrees cooler. The Solar Guys endorced the barrier and because of it I did not have to spend money on three large solar fans. One was sufficient. I installed it as a make me feel good vs gotta have it., Jimbo is correct with it you can forget a Solar Fan with radiant. For the money I feel great knowing it is working for free even on cloudy days.

Only bad part of TV is not letting the radiant insulation crews in your home while under construction. It would save us labor!!

As a licensed Florida Home Inspector, and one who has inspected more then a few homes in The Villages, I will tell you that everything I have read and studied state that Solar powered vents are a bad idea. I know there are companies out there that will tell you different, but one must ask if their info is designed more to make a sale, or is it based on current industry studies.

A typical Attic is designed to pull cooler air passively from the soffits up through either a ridge vent or non-powered roof vents placed close to the ridge. This natural convection works well as long as you have the proper amount of ventilation.

When you install a powered vent, it will take air from the least resistance. This usually is from the already installed ridge vent....thus "short circuiting" the natural convection from the soffits and leaving much of the attic with less air movement.

Worse, sometimes they can produce negative pressure from openings in the living space ceiling and draw CONDITIONED air from the interior of the house into the attic....costing you money. Now this would not happen if you had a completely sealed ceiling, but I have YET to see one. If your ceiling was totally sealed and well insulated, you would then not care about attic temps.

This negative pressure could also cause backdrafting from a water heater and put carbon monoxide into the house.

Studies have shown that powered ventilation may lower the temps up by the ridge by about 10 degrees, but the temps right above the insulation show a drop of less then 5 degrees.

David Butler, author of Optimal Building Systems states that putting the pressure imbalance issue aside, there is simply not a good payback. Let's say one spends around $400/year on A/C. (I know that is low for around here, but bear with me). Ceiling loads typically represent 10 to 25 percent of your cooling costs....which would then be between $25-$100 dollars. It's a well known fact that radiant gain from the roof makes up well over half of the ceiling load, (that is why many folks feel radiant barriers are a good idea in our climate). If you assume a 50% figure, and the difference between your interior temp (let's say 77 degrees) and your lower attic temp drops from let's say 120 degrees to 115 degrees, giving you a delta t of 38 degrees instead of 43 degrees, or about 12%, (given on a 100 degree outdoor temp), cooler days it would be even less. Even if you make the most optimistic assumptions, your savings would come out to be between about $3.00 to $12.00 a year.

When factoring in the short cycling of the air, potential of backdraft, the possibility of drawing in CONDITIONED air into the attic, making another opening in your roof that might leak someday, very low if any payback, my suggestion is to invest your money elsewhere.

This is not just my opinion. Many agencies, like the Florida Solar Energy Center, as well as the American Society of Home Inspectors, etc say basically the same thing.

I apologize for the long post. My only intent is to help by giving some industry info on the subject.

Respectfully, Frank

FRANK............where the heck have ya been, man?

Bill :)

Solar Tubes
 

I think many of us look at homes and for some reason they seem lighter and brighter? Maybe its out positive energy and enthusiasm to move to TV.

Our house once we were in it for a day or so the wife looked at me and said, Were living in a cave! It is to dark in here.

Were thinking up to 3 -4 Solar tubes.

No tax credit for them but a tax credit on the radiant barrier and solar fans.

In Attics! LOL

Agree

Not saying you're wrong just want to understand, there is more sq" of ventilation area in the soffits than the ridge vents, I think you agree.
Therefore, the least resistance in not the ridge but the soffit, does that make sense?

But those openings would have to have less resistance than then the ridge or soffit I would think.

That's a stretch, how about using the right size not oversized fan in the first place. Moreover, with that theory those same fumes would exhaust out thu the attic.

Can you please point me to those?

Frank, understand I think the radiant barriers are my first choice, my second choice is to seal all the duct work in the attic, than a fan if that doesn't cut it.

Great to have a professional contribute but some of us like to dig deep into silly things like this :highfive: