How loud is your circulation fan?

[Gilligans Island]

Mine is 16" wall mount it oscillates and on low it is stupid loud. Does anyone make one that oscillates but hangs rather than mount to the wall. This would eliminate the transfer of sound vibrations through the wall. I prefer a wall mount as in my case it works best for placement. What are you using and is it quite? My only stealth weak point at this time is my circulation fan. A 12" would suffice thus less sound however I only want to buy one more fan and not three more looking for one that is whisper quite. Thank you in advance for your time.

 

[Rakin]

I use foam rubber at the mounting point on both sides of bolt/screws and against the wall. I’ve also noticed that sometimes a little faster speed will stop the droning fibration

 

[donkeyshow]

My neighbors can hear my exhaust fan for sure, but Oregon. It's always on nearly 24/7 365. There are lots of diy guides to quiet down your fan

 

[davethepothead]

My exhaust was and still is a little loud. I thought about how car mufflers work and built one out of plastic stuff to fit on the end. Reduced my noise greatly.

 

[DailyBlastin]

The three things that made the biggest difference in sound dampening for me were as follows:
#1- i built a box for my exhaust fan using 3/4" MDF board, i built it so the the fan sits snugly between the boards when sealed, this does mean having to connect ducting before sealing the box of course, before sealing it i also packed the box full of foam packing peanuts, once sealed i caulked the small openings where the duct and power cord go through.
#2- i insulated my ducting, if your ducting isnt insulated then alot of the noise you hear isnt even the fan itself but rather its the "whooshing" air traveling through the ductwork, duct insulation is cheap, dont buy the pre-insulated stuff though because the inner ducting on it is actually plastic and isnt suitable for exhausting hot air, especially if your using HID lighting, you can buy just the insulation sleeves for cheap and pull it over your existing metal ducting.
#3- THIS MADE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE!- if youre using a speed controller on your fan then your probably using one of the cheap 15-20$ rheostat-style controllers, you need to upgrade to a "variac transformer" the reason for this is the cheap style controllers work by switching your fan on and off very quickly, this means the motor is still working at full power but just being constantly turned on/off to reach the desired speed you have set, this causes excessive wear and tear on your motor- shortening the lifespan of your fan, and is the true culprit behind atleast 50% of your fan noise, a variac transformer actually allows you to adjust the voltage being sent to the plugged in device, in this case the exhaust fan, which is the proper way to control fan speed, i sleep in the same room my tents are in so trying to go to sleep with all the noise was a constant struggle for me, after upgrading to variac transformers vs rheostat-style controllers i fall asleep with no issues!

 

[Aolelon]

Don't mount it to the wall, It will vibrate the wall or studs. Try to free float it and it will be so much more quiet. I had a 4" one mounted to my studs in my basement and on full, it would rattle the whole house and you could hear it plain as day upstairs. Now I have it hanging below the studs by some bungee cords, and on full you can barely hear it at the top of the stairs to the basement.
So if you can attatch it with bungee cords, or some other method so its kind of floating in the air, it will reduce sound quite a bit. That or something to dampen the mount like another has said.

 

[TheOracle]

#3- a variac transformer actually allows you to adjust the voltage being sent to the plugged in device, in this case the exhaust fan, which is the proper way to control fan speed, i sleep in the same room my tents are in so trying to go to sleep with all the noise was a constant struggle for me, after upgrading to variac transformers vs rheostat-style controllers i fall asleep with no issues!

I second the motion on the variac, get a fan bigger (or more powerful) than you need and adjust it. I have mine at 60v. You can faintly hear it but you wouldn't necessarily question it.

 

[DailyBlastin]

I second the motion on the variac, get a fan bigger (or more powerful) than you need and adjust it. I have mine at 60v. You can faintly hear it but you wouldn't necessarily question it.

Thanks TheOracle. i just wanted to make a quick note about the "get a bigger fan than you need" this was the same advice i was given long ago when i started out and i followed it blindly but it wasn't the best advice i could've gotten.. Im a firm believer of 'always do the math' to figure out the appropriate fan size needed. Bigger isnt always better, even if you can turn it down, figure out your rooms CF, add 50% to account for filter&duct resrictions, get the fan with the closest CFM rating to that number, use variac controller to dial it in for slight negative pressure, and done.

 

[TheOracle]

Bigger isnt always better, even if you can turn it down, figure out your rooms CF, add 50% to account for filter&duct resrictions, get the fan with the closest CFM rating to that number, use variac controller to dial it in for slight negative pressure, and done.

Well put, Blastin, account for the additional variables.

For me personally, after accounting for them I added a little margin of safety to account for any unknown variables and it made me comfortable

But yeah if you need 300CFM, 500 is a waste.

 

[DailyBlastin]

Lmao my first grow ever i had a 4x4x6.5 tent, my "Grow Guru" (the guy that got me into growing) as i call him, told me to get a 450cfm fan and filter, it worked great but i always thought it was a bit overkill, later on i downsized to a 4x2x5 tent, he told me itd be fine to use that same fan and filter, so i did and even on the lowest speed i could set those tent walls sucked more than a fat girl on prom night thats when i started doing my own homework instead of blindly following his advice, even though his advice was usually spot on, in that particular case it wasnt

 

[Gilligans Island]

I ended up with a $25.00 Honeywell Turbo Force 14" oscillating... on high it's sorta turbo...ish but on low it's 90% quieter outside than what I had which was a 16" Comfort Zone wall mount oscillating. The Comfort Zone is a nice enough fan for the money but not suitable if noise is an issue. Has a remote... WTF?

Agree completely with you DailyBlastin and TheOracle on the over sizing exhaust is not good bang for the buck. I spent 9 years designing ventilation systems for the dairy industry. But I did exactly what you recommend not doing only because of noise and the size of my carbon filters. My space has to be silent and odor free... period. I am using a 6" Terra Bloom Silent Series for my Veg. exhaust. That's for a 225 cubic foot room. : ) When pulling through my carbon filters I am under 10db and running at 20% of full rpm. Not sure what they are using for their controller but the range of rpm adjustment is impressive. Slow it down to a crawl and no hum. The fan is big enough to do half a house. I have it on a separate thermostat only goes to full RPM if thermostat setting on the unit is reached and that is only 20db. I have another unit in my bloom area but that's a 8" as the area is twice the size and the carbon filter is four times the size of my veg. This is to give the air enough time in the carbon to do some good. Could I have gotten by with smaller units? Absolutely, but the smaller you go the higher db your gonna produce, especially when pulling through filters. Stupid expensive but if you want silent exhaust Terra Bloom Silent Series is nice.

Still looking for a silent circulation fan as the Honeywell will do for now it is only viable on low.

 

[Gilligans Island]

Got myself a WooZoo oscillating fan for my seedlings and I love it. HD15U or something like that. All but dead silent on low, about a 6" or 7" scallop blade. Just ordered the next size up HD18u oscillating fan and will advise but reports are also close dead silent on low.

 

[hotrodharley]

Got myself a WooZoo oscillating fan for my seedlings and I love it. HD15U or something like that. All but dead silent on low, about a 6" or 7" scallop blade. Just ordered the next size up HD18u oscillating fan and will advise but reports are also close dead silent on low.

Where do you live? Odor control for legal grows is required by the laws in legal states. What smells like heaven to us smells "like someone ran over a goldurned skunk" as one resident complained to the Fairbanks council during a hearing for new grows.

It's so clear in the law and such an issue with the prohibition crowd and they're still around. Chelan County WA I believe is the one that totally outlawed cannabis operations by vote and odor was a driving issue. It will be a huge demand. Traditional HVAC companies are not up to the task

 

[hotrodharley]

I'm not referring to your grow but to a potential business for you consulting.

 

[Puff_Dragon]

I currently have my tents exhaust fan suspended in the corner of my tent (from a strut across the top of the tent). I used two nylon straps to hold the fan in place suspended below the strut (I wrapped the straps around each end of the fan and around the strut itself). That worked ok for me, I did also buy (from ebay) a sheet of 1 inch thick boat sound proof foam ..although I never used it, I would have simply wrapped it around the fan (with the aid of that trusty ally ..gaffer tape). Making a partially sound proofed (vibration dampened) fan burrito, if you will.

 

[Gilligans Island]

I'm not referring to your grow but to a potential business for you consulting.

I am just north of... the southern most tip of Gilligan's Island.

 

[Gilligans Island]

I currently have my tents exhaust fan suspended in the corner of my tent (from a strut across the top of the tent). I used two nylon straps to hold the fan in place suspended below the strut (I wrapped the straps around each end of the fan and around the strut itself). That worked ok for me, I did also buy (from ebay) a sheet of 1 inch thick boat sound proof foam ..although I never used it, I would have simply wrapped it around the fan (with the aid of that trusty ally ..gaffer tape). Making a partially sound proofed (vibration dampened) fan burrito, if you will.

I did hang my dehumidifier using a 3/4" plywood base 4 eye bolts and 8 rubber straps. The unit is small 30 pint but heavy as hell. I cut 4 pieces of 2" PVC tubing about 1" long and gorilla glued them to the plywood base to set the rollers in so the unit will not move. The straps in 3 weeks have only relaxed 3/8" so I think they are done stretching. I would say it cut my noise level by 50% + outside the grow. Eliminated all humming/vibrations that were transferring to the outside.

 

[Gilligans Island]

Received the WooZoo hd18u oscillating fan and it also is dead silent on low. Ordered two more.