Some kindly advise here my GC bruthas. Ok, so here it is. I'm trying to setup my flower room. Hooked up my 6" Eco Classic inline fan, duct silencer, and carbon filter. Before mounting the fan to the wall I put some insulation sticky tape on the bottom of the brackets to absorb some of the vibration from the fan. Anyways, I live on a condo, so on the other side of the wall's a neighbor. I'm sure you can see where this is heading. The fan is way too loud!! When it starts there's this obnoxious humming sound. It's even more apparent when the I'm using the speed controller on the low speed. When the thing is on high the humming is kind of masked by the wind vortex sound. Thing sounds like a little jet engine in there even with that muffler. I read somewhere on here that if I got a bigger fan and used one of these speed controllers it would help reduce the noise. Wrong!! Or even if it is, it's still way too loud. So, there's no way I'm going to be able to run this thing at night as planned. Is there anything that I can do? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, G P.S. Here's a link to my grow cab project. Any other comments or input is appriciated. http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-room-design-setup/807438-400whps-co2-garage-cabinet.html
By blocking out the top 1/4 portion of the intake with duct tape you change the airflow and stop howling noise they tend to make.
Thanks, I'm gonna try that. What part(side) of the fan do I tape? Pic? But there's also a really loud humming noise when this thing starts, I think it's the motor and it vibrates like hell too. Thanks, G
You can buy fan speed controls from like Home Depot and shit but I'm not sure if that'll fix your problem. The rattling is just when you turn it on?
The rattiling is more apperent when it's starting and I've got a speed controller The humming seems to be way louder when the thing is on the low setting. It might just be because it being masked by the whirl wind sound. It's a pretty small area so I don't really even need that big a fan and could have gone with a 4" instead. But, I remember reading somewhere on here that it would be quieter using a 6" with a speed controller rather than a 4" running full throttle. And the guy I bought the fan from had also told me the same thing now that I think about it. G
I did a grow setup for someone which had the same issue, the fan was to loud for their bedroom when trying to sleep... So I built a DIY Duct Muffler and it worked out great.. This is what I based it off of... Bill's Cyclone Dust Collection Research - Homemade Muffler
I would recommend two things: A quality fan controller like a CAP VCS-DNE that does not have the buzzing sound you hear from a cheaper controller. Second, a duct muffler. Combine the two and you will have a quiet setup, especially if you are running at less than full speed. Also, you can get dynamat like liner to cover the fan's vibration points, but at that point you are paying extra for diminishing return.
Cool link bro but I already have a duct muffler and a speed controller. And when it.s on the low setting the hummimg and vibrations are much more ovious due to there not being as much of the whirl wind sound...
Play some Mozart in the same cycle as your fan to mask the annoying sound. Your plants should like it too.
apparently nobody really read your post OP.... A Few options, but your going to need to be creative. 1) Try mounting in on the Floor , Im not sure if you have neighbors below you, but that could help, the carpet will muffle those vibrations , but you will have screw marks in your carpet... 2) Ive seen people build a sort of "frame" out of wood, and Hang the Fan from it with bungees, so its not truly mounted to anything, that solved the sounds and vibration problems that person had.. Just get creative, youll figure it out, Ive also seen a sort of leather bonnet thing that wrapped around the actuall fan housing to muffle....
Some great suggestion there Russy. Thanks bro. I was thinking about mounting the fan on the floor thing today too. But in I think in order to do that I'd have to build a new cab that would have to come all the way to the floor which I'd be willing to do but really only as a last resort. Turned it on again today and noticed that the whole cab was vibrating as well as the wall!! Hahaha....no way is that going to fly for 12 hours a day!! The frame is a good idea and I saw another guy put his fan in a Rubbermaid container and fill it with an aerosol foam. Not sure how well that works but I don't really have much room to work with which is another reason I'd be considering to make the cab bigger. The guy that installed my 220v outlet told me he could build me something that looked like those sheds out front of Home Depot for about $500. Money is getting tight as this project is starting to take a little more money than I had planned. I'd like to see some pics of the rubber bonnet thing. Sounds interesting. Anymore ideas out there? Thanks. G
I would check your speed controller out, I got one that went bad right away and I had the same issue. I replaced it and the humming was gone. Also you might want to try the fan without the speed control and see how it sounds, if the problem is still there it might be the fan. You can make an insulated box out of foam board that surrounds the fan to block some of the noise also, which is a cheap fix. Good Luck.
Ok. I have the same issue but kinda different. Neighbors, Ecoplus 4" fan, Loudness. My issue isn't the vibes it's the loud jet-like whirr of the airflow being too damn loud and obvious. Styrofoam is a good insulator for vibes tho.. definately worth looking into for your issue...
I have heard that the S&P TD series of fans are very quiet and have good build quality. You can either go with the 100 which is the 4" or the 6" 150. Do a google search, everybody that owns these fans are in love with them.
I was actually just looking at that exact fan on amazon. $68 from Atlantis Hydroponics with $10 shipping. I'm considering it. I'm about to try the duct-tape over the intake trick 1st before I spend more than $0.35.
I hope the tape trick works for you but seems kinda odd to have a restriction like that. Whatever works, I'm in the same boat. My landlord and neighbor live next door and under me. You may want to consider an alternative which I'm thinking of doing. Google soundproofing. I came up with soundproofing the whole closet with a product called Homosote. It comes in 1/4" and 1/2 inch thickness and can be picked up at Lowes or Home Depot for $13.25. It comes in sheets of 4x8. I think it's similar to cork. I believe you can even get it widdled down to size if you ask them to cut it to length. This is my next step along with the S&P. There is also another alternative which is to not run an exhaust but rather use an Ona Bucket for odor and hang a product called Gonzo(fine porous Volcanic crystals)
Yeah The Ona is good stuff, never seen the other in action though. I'm kinda stuck running some kinda exhaust though. The 400w HPS dosen't run as cool as I'd prefer without a little assistance... I'm looking at a C.A.P. Fan speed controller right now... seems a better option than the duct tape... and at $25 w/shipping I'm probably going to give it a try 1st...