Fan is Way Too Loud!

KawiZZR

Active Member
This is what I plan on doing with my fan. It seems cheap and effective. Muffles the sound almost completely.

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f8/diy-sound-insulate-your-cannon-fan-19297/
I think insulating from the mounting points will help a bit, but it's only really going to effect noise from vibrations. Any noise from the motor itself or from the air movement will be minimally effected, if at all. WeeGogs has it right on this one, that's probably one of the best noise reduction DIYs I've seen.

ok here is updated photos, pictures are 1 top left to 8 bottom right, picture 3 is the inlet fan with the new accoustic ducting fitted, 4 is where it enters the grow space, 2 is the tape that seals the ducting to the box, 1 is my unfinished exhaust fan with carbon filter and you can see where i drilled the hole for pwer lead to enter on right and the arrow flow direction sticker i transfered from fan to box, 8 is the air exit of the growspace for the exhaust fan, 7 is the exhaust fan with a piece of accoustic matting before i fill it with old cotton t-shirts, 6 is where the inlet duct gets attached to my sealed window box, you can see the light shining in through the duct flange, the window is a top forward tilt and has a patterned white window net and 2 layers of fly screen stretched tight over it with drawing pins and the entire window box is painted matt white inside and so is the inside of the duct where it attaches to the box, the piece of wood sticking out just above the duct is holding the window from tilting forwards and opening and cannot be seen just now from outside through the netting screens, during the day i can vent from the external space between grow room and existing bedroom, if the weather is far too hot or cold, picture 5 shows the cable that leads to a 20 watt monofilament bulb in the bottom corner of the widow box and it looks like a small bedroom lamp from the outside at night when the ducting is attached to it and sucking in, and honestly you would think someone was lying in bed reading a book. and it all is as quiet as a mouse, my fans run from a temperature computer with the fans and a small 2000w blow heater attached and it will keep the room at desired temps no problem with 4 x 600w hps on 20 hours a day.
When building this you said you used acoustic matting, then the cotton strips. How much of an impact does the cotton have on the system? The thing I would be worried about with this would be the potential for things to heat up inside the box and become a fire hazard. Do you think using the solid rubber type acoustic sheets attached to the box and hanging the fan in the center using bungee cords work as well? And would adding a couple of small holes in the box top to allow heat to escape greatly decrease it's efficiency? Not sure if this would be a problem as it depends on the type of fan used, but how easy would your box be to disassemble in order to service the fan (oil bearings/motor, tighten any screws/bolts, etc)?
 

WeeGogs

Active Member
the fans are air cooled, in-line duct fans (ebay is your friend) the motor is inside on the rear impellar you can see it when you look in, the cold air has to pass directly past the steel motor housing, so the motor is always the same temp as the inlet air, heat up is impossible unless your inlet air gets hot, and because of the box and stuffing the room heat cannot affect it either. the box is screwed together and comes apart in a minute, the fan comes apart with two clips in a few seconds for cleaning inside too, the inlet fan has no acoustic matting only cotton stuffed in very tightly, and the fan is very very quiet, especially as it is over sized for the room and i turn it down to less than 1 third of power.
the in line fan is on the left in picture although that could be four inch, my fan has larger holes at either end almost the size of the fan but identical to this one.
 

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KawiZZR

Active Member
the fans are air cooled, in-line duct fans (ebay is your friend) the motor is inside on the rear impellar, the cold air has to pass directly past the steel motor housing, heat up is impossible unless your inlet air gets hot. the inlet fan has no acoustic matting only cotton stuffed in very tightly, and the fan is very very quiet, especially as it is over sized for the room and i turn it down to 1 third of power.
Okay, makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I've only used PC fans and an axial fan since the biggest space I've needed to exhaust was only around 35 cubic feet. Axial fan was a bit louder than I anticipated but hooking it up to a DIY carbon scrubber and using weather stripping where it attaches work well enough for me. Debating a fan controller still, but it is a single speed magnetic AC motor so I may need to get a VFD but I really don't want to spend that much and its current volume doesn't bother me too much.
 

Detroit J420

Well-Known Member
I use a 2 panasonic wisperline fan 440 cfm and a 340 cfm with a duct muffler, its quiet not to bad i live in a condo people come over no one hears or smells shit. But you gotta use a phresh filter with a panasonic whisperline fan cuz the resistence isnt good on them and you cant use a speed controller on them they will hummm follow those directions and you can get rid of the jet plan in your grow
 

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WeeGogs

Active Member
ok here is updated photos, pictures are 1 top left to 8 bottom right, picture 3 is the inlet fan with the new accoustic ducting fitted, 4 is where it enters the grow space, 2 is the tape that seals the ducting to the box, 1 is my unfinished exhaust fan with carbon filter and you can see where i drilled the hole for pwer lead to enter on right and the arrow flow direction sticker i transfered from fan to box, 8 is the air exit of the growspace for the exhaust fan, 7 is the exhaust fan with a piece of accoustic matting before i fill it with old cotton t-shirts, 6 is where the inlet duct gets attached to my sealed window box, you can see the light shining in through the duct flange, the window is a top forward tilt and has a patterned white window net and 2 layers of fly screen stretched tight over it with drawing pins and the entire window box is painted matt white inside and so is the inside of the duct where it attaches to the box, the piece of wood sticking out just above the duct is holding the window from tilting forwards and opening and cannot be seen just now from outside through the netting screens, during the day i can vent from the external space between grow room and existing bedroom, if the weather is far too hot or cold, picture 5 shows the cable that leads to a 20 watt monofilament bulb in the bottom corner of the widow box and it looks like a small bedroom lamp from the outside at night when the ducting is attached to it and sucking in, and honestly you would think someone was lying in bed reading a book. and it all is as quiet as a mouse, my fans run from a temperature computer with the fans and a small 2000w blow heater attached and it will keep the room at desired temps no problem with 4 x 600w hps on 20 hours a day.
i forgot to add that the fans i use have a low and high power connection the low is 750 cubic metres an hour and the high is 1015 cmh i put my inlet on low and since i need 250cmh that is one third speed, i have put my outlet on high sucking through the carbon filter and i will adjust that accordingly until slight negative pressure is attained.
 

pattykakes

Active Member
the dynamat does work in combination with a muffler on the intake, reduced dramatically. I only have the fan wrapped in the dynamat and its down a quite a bit. I sleep in the same room as my tent!
 

HSA

Well-Known Member
Suspendedinair: Can you return it? It sounds like you have a legitimate complaint. This is why I don't like to buy off the internet because you're buying apples from an empty barrel and you really don't know what you bought until it's delivered. If they will let you return it you might look into a 'Can Fan.' I bought one yesterday for $180. Ouch! But it's whisper quiet and this is a major feature for me. They fired them both up and the green one was exactly how you described; as noisy as a airplane, and I know what that sounds like because I own one. If you have a local hydro store you might try dealing with them directly. Everybody thinks they're going to save money but by the time you add shipping and handling charges you could often walk out of the store with it at nearly the same price and you didn't have to wait days to weeks for it. Fortunately I have Discount Hydroponics nearby in Riverside, California and they're very helpful, especially to us newbies. They sell on line out of a catalog too but it's so much better having it in your hands, plugging it in and knowing if it's going to work in your situation before you buy it.
 

HSA

Well-Known Member
My plan is to have a carbon filter then duct running to my hood then more duct then my fan and thats where the problem is way too loud at the end of it. Not for sure but think I need all 400 cfm to keep everything cool and i heard that bending the duct will result in lose of cfms. Again I'm not 100% if thats correct.
Suspendedinair: Any bends in you air line will slow down the flow and the convoluted flex hoses we use will compound that but if you get a heavy duty enough unit you should be okay unless you're talking about an itty-bitty fan in a huge tent. You also have to consider that if you're using high heat producing lighting now you're not talking just about ventilation anymore but necessary cooling as well.
 
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