Hey all, So i stumbled upon a 4" Vortex fan, things pretty loud. Luckily, I want to cool a 400 w hid in a 28-31 ft^3 cabinet, so I needed something pretty strong (and perhaps some ice...). So, what is the best way to tame this beast so I sleep comfortably 10 feet away? Here's what I've considered: 1.) Build an insulated box to house the fan. Seems standard and a good way to kill almost all vibration noise, and if i use wood i already have, the cost is foam. 2.) Have the ducting go from a 4" hose and open at the end to a 5" opening. $2, and if i put a grate on it, a la PVC grate, it doesn't even look weird. 3.) This is the part I wanted a little bit of advice one. a.)Should I go for a 4" duct muffler, like $60 online b.) Insulated ducting to dampen the noise c.) Will doing both lower noise considerably? 4.)Any crazy other thing I haven't even considered? Sleeping in a tolerable environment is obviously worth a little bit of extra time and $$$ to me, but I don't want to get both if doing one of them will be as good as both! I've done a fair amount of Googling, but I couldn't find an exact answer for my question. Looking for a bit of advice, anything helps!
[quote name='"dreamskape"']Hey all, So i stumbled upon a 4" Vortex fan, things pretty loud. Luckily, I want to cool a 400 w hid in a 25 ft^3 cabinet, so I needed something pretty strong (and perhaps some ice...). So, what is the best way to tame this beast so I sleep comfortably 10 feet away? Here's what I've considered: 1.) Build an insulated box to house the fan. Seems standard and a good way to kill almost all vibration noise, and if i use wood i already have, the cost is foam. 2.) Have the ducting go from a 4" hose and open at the end to a 5" opening. $2, and if i put a grate on it, a la PVC grate, it doesn't even look weird. 3.) This is the part I wanted a little bit of advice one. a.)Should I go for a 4" duct muffler, like $60 online b.) Insulated ducting to dampen the noise c.) Will doing both lower noise considerably? 4.)Any crazy other thing I haven't even considered? Sleeping in a tolerable environment is obviously worth a little bit of extra time and $$$ to me, but I don't want to get both if doing one of them will be as good as both! I've done a fair amount of Googling, but I couldn't find an exact answer for my question. Looking for a bit of advice, anything helps! [/quote] "a" is your best bet. You can use the duct silencers on both sides of the blower to make it really quiet. Suspend the blower...don't "mount" it to anything. ...that will help with the vibration noise also. SignSmoker
Thanks for the reply. If I made that vibration dampening box, would it be fine to mount that if I used a rubber-something to put in between? Or is it better just to suspend it w bungees? I just thought a box would be a bit safer(not falling wise). Hopefully to vibration dampen the box, I can put wheels on it (mobility) and then put a rug under to dampen it even more! I have a carbon scrubber for the other side, and I've heard that does a lot to make the other end quiet. I just got a 4" duct muffler off eBay, I think from HTG. And, if I lower the fan speed via a speedster, that should reduce fan noise as well. And, I think I will have it open into a 6" from a 4-6 duct enlarger so the air noise is minimized. If anyone has an opinion, will a 4" vortex keep a 30 ft^3 (1.8ftx3.1ftx5.5ft) area at a good temp (400w HID) even if its turned down? Since i didn't plan on having the fan, but now have it (and the price was right) I'm probably going to keep it so long as I can silence it via the controls mentioned earlier. But, I actually had ordered a HVAC fan (100x), supposed to be quiet (no need for muffler if turned down), so that will be an extra part. I could get a Cool Tube, and have the air run through that, but would it be overkill? Or, is there no such thing?
bungee cord that fucker! haha and/or some sleep meds But seriously, try bungee cording the fan. Also, its said that your light bulbs will last longer under a cooltube. So its not over kill at all, unless it causes your temps to drop way below the required
Encase it in a wooden box and fill it with insulating foam like you said there, was thinking of doing that myself after the guy at the grow store mentioned it.
planning on it! just got a jigsaw, going to see what i can do with that badboy tomorrow does it matter the type of foam you think? i was just thinking of getting some cheap pillows and gutting them (ikea?) and then making a box to hold the fan with that all over it, putting eye-hooks on the sides and then bungeeing it. Then, eye hook the roof, put a bungee on the front part of the duct muffler, bungee on the back, bungee the fan, then double bungee my carbon filter. i want it so quiet. I guess the real question is... how do you guys silence air pumps? luckily they aren't so loud and i was just going to put a towel around them. the bubbling noise is actually not so bad/nice makes me feel like i am by a babbling brook. let me know what you think, and i'll let you know what goes down when i test my stuff out! thanks!
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