suspicious fan noise

FilthyFletch said:

Ok do not listen to any moron telling you to wrap anything around the fan. Not sure why anyone would tell you to do such a dumb thing. Your increasing your fire hazard chances and just destroying the fan as you over heat the bearings inside until they pop or seize. If you can hear the fan and its in a closet where all the meters are chances are the smell will get out too so basically you have chosen a very bad location make sure your light cords are correct insulated and not old or cheap as rf leaks and can be detected easily if not shielded right. Next you can build a simple baffle box for the fan or move the fan out of the closet using ducting to the room to move the noise away form the outter wall. Fans make little noise unless broken so hiding the sound is easy. best beat though is a baffle box basically a small plywood box lined with insulation that the fan goes inside of then ducting out each end for intake out take. costs about $15 bucks to do maybe $30 if you spring for the heat shielded kind to make sure extra fire safe.

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your fan is going to cool itself .......... your box would get just as hot as it would wrapped up in a sleeping bag.............and my fans all sound like airplanes what brand do u buy?

we should probably be trying to find a way to make the wind coming out the side of the house quiet

woody that is way off. The fan does not cool itsself as the motor will always create heat as it has no choice as friction is heat and the turning causes friction so your therory is physically impossible. The only fan i have that makes some noise is my old extra large vortex. It sits on top of a 5 foot filter thats about 24 inches round but it is 10 years old. Wrapping a sleeping bag or blanket around your fan holds all the heat right to the housing and metal is a heat conductor. Fans have intake breather areas which need to pull air into the body which is the fans only way to keep temps under control and if you wrap them up you've just defeated the fans design. In the baffle box which is a very long time common practice your not squeezing it in there your giving the fan plenty of room around it to get that air movement in and out the fan body which is completely different then wrapping it in a sleeping bag which is a basic no no.

Also if this is being vented right outside by the mechanic boxes then it needs to be moved asap as thats the worse possible place run your ducting to a new spoot and install a dry vent on the outside so it looks natural and not out of place

LWD said:

Hey RIU, Do you think I have to worry about the meter reader guy hearing a fan? I have a 6 inch fan that is quite loud and can be slightly heard on the outside, I have a closet and on the outside by the pump meters are the electrical meters. I do have a 4 inch fan though that is somewhat quieter. I think I may have to go with that. Stay safe. Have a good one.

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Why would the meter guy give a shit about hearing a fan? I think your being paranoid. Those guys are walking into peoples houses all day long and i'm sure they don't want to be there any longer than they have to. I really wouldn't think twice about it. Plus it's none of his business what goes on in your house.

if the meter man comes round turn the fan off for the 30 seconds he is there if your paranoid