Booster fan or Inline fan?

Hey guys, was just wondering if I should go with a regular in line fan or just a simple duct booster.. The duct boosters are significantly cheaper all around and seem to put out a decent amount of CFMs for what I'm doing. Anyone else have input?

if running cfl or led your could get away with a booster but hid lighting will require an inline

Depends on size of grow area. I use a booster in a small cab and it works okay with LED but with all CFL it got too hot. In my 4x4 tent, i don't think it work. Of course it depends on the temp outside the grow area as well.

yeah I've got it set up in my basement, doesn't get past 80 degrees w/ a 1000w light and no fan so I don't think it's really necessary.. I've got central air conditioning too, so heat is never really an issue, just wanna find the cheapest way to suck in some new air for the plants.

If its just an air flow, than the booster is prolly what u want.

Thanks everyone, Appreciate the help!

grorite said:

if running cfl or led your could get away with a booster but hid lighting will require an inline

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I think Grorite says it best. You do not want to mess around with ventilation. I utilize a 600W cooltube with a MH and HPS bulbs and I have a 500 cfm stanley squirrelcage fan running through it. I can get the light within inches because the fan is doing its job. I started with an inline which didn't do squat. The inline fans from HD or Lowes are not what you need!!!! Building your own is rather inexpensive.

I made this box from spare plywood. In pic three you can see a square hole on the other side of the fan, this leads to the outside and draws in fresh air. I used four inch flexpipe ($15) and a four boots, (one going from the fan to the light, one at the light, one at the other side of the light and one at the wall) ($15). The most expensive part is the stanley fan, and this particular model is 500 cfm at level three. ($56). Oh, you'll need two large clamps to attach the flex pipe to light ($4) Total for project is $90.

Good luck!!!

I live where it's cool so a 6" booster fan works in my 4x4 with 1000 watt mh. But my bulb is vert. The umbrella hood did hold some heat but it's off for my next grow. I'm a cheapskate. If I had more cash I would definitely have a better fan.

Illegal nice diy I like and your avatar!!! Handlebar hairdoo. Nice.

Thank you Steelheader. Handlebar hairdoo, never heard of that, I like it!!!

Booster fans will not overcome high static if they are the propellor type. If you have a short duct run and just need to add air then it should work. But they will not do much for a long run or filter. Its amazing that 500cfm is needed to keep temps down. Most furnaces are like 800cfm. Whole house ventilators are like 130-150. I use a 180 cfm hepa filter with charcoal canister in it.

waterdawg said:

Booster fans will not overcome high static if they are the propellor type. If you have a short duct run and just need to add air then it should work. But they will not do much for a long run or filter. Its amazing that 500cfm is needed to keep temps down. Most furnaces are like 800cfm. Whole house ventilators are like 130-150. I use a 180 cfm hepa filter with charcoal canister in it.

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Sorry Dawg and other readers, I was wrong with my response earlier in this thread. The fan I use gives 310 cfm on high, 260 cfm on medium and 190 cfm on low. A good rule of thumb for central air systems is approximately 1 cfm per square foot. So a fifteen hundred square foot house will utilize a fan at 1500 cfm, or possibly a little more depending on the tonnage of your condenser and evaporator coils.

Anyway, we have all been short on bucks or some of us are just cheap bastards but no one should skimp on ventilation, especially when venting a high wattage light. The fire hazard isn't worth being cheap in this area. That is my only point.

xLtdEspVx said:

Hey guys, was just wondering if I should go with a regular in line fan or just a simple duct booster.. The duct boosters are significantly cheaper all around and seem to put out a decent amount of CFMs for what I'm doing. Anyone else have input?

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I run 1600 for flower and 600 for veg and booster fans work wonderful. If more power is needed than buy another and its still cheaper.

Actually blower capacity is base on tonnage alone. Tonnage is based on size of load. 350-400 cfm per ton. The 350 would provide more latent cooling (dehumidification) and 400 would provide more sensible cooling (greater temp drop). And yes Im sure you are using what you need just surprised is all. I guess a lot depends on ambient temps.

i've made the mistake in the past thinking a smaller fan was ok due to keeping temps in normal range. big mistake on my part was not taking air turnover into account...co2.

Hey guys, how long have you had the Stanley blower set up like that. I'm big into DIY. Is there any issues with it over heating in that box. And do I have it correct you are pushing air through the light out the other end and out of the room? You wouldn't utilize a scrubber with this set up bc it's only pushing air through the tube correct? Than you would need another inline to scrub the air?

Sorry to hijack but maybe my question can help the op. I'm trying to cool the temps and filter the air out at the same time, would I just no use a cool tube rather a hood that doesn't have glass. Than instead of blowin air over the bulb suck it out where it first passes through a scrubber than is blown outside. Maybe just have a booster fan rigged to blow fresh air into the hood? Seems like it may not lower the heat coming off the bulb as much but you'll be able to cool and scrub with only one inline or one stanly blower set up

Bongboy00 said:

Hey guys, how long have you had the Stanley blower set up like that. I'm big into DIY. Is there any issues with it over heating in that box. And do I have it correct you are pushing air through the light out the other end and out of the room? You wouldn't utilize a scrubber with this set up bc it's only pushing air through the tube correct? Than you would need another inline to scrub the air?

Sorry to hijack but maybe my question can help the op. I'm trying to cool the temps and filter the air out at the same time, would I just no use a cool tube rather a hood that doesn't have glass. Than instead of blowin air over the bulb suck it out where it first passes through a scrubber than is blown outside. Maybe just have a booster fan rigged to blow fresh air into the hood? Seems like it may not lower the heat coming off the bulb as much but you'll be able to cool and scrub with only one inline or one stanly blower set up

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Bongboy,

I have been using that fan since 2009 (pics were in 2010) and I can hear the bearings are getting ready to go. So five years isn't bad!!! You are correct, the air moves from the fan box (which is sucking in outside air through a hole in the room wall) pushing the air across the light and then completely out the other side to the outside.

Here is a few suggestions I have to make it better. First is to use insulated six inch flex pipe and not the uninsulated 4 inch. There is too much cold (in winter) and heat (in summer) that is transferring into the room. I have even had condensation dripping from the uninsulated line during the winter months. Also, I placed the fan and fan box inside the room for stealth. I really don't need to do this and will be transferring the box to the outside. With that configuration I can heave the box and just mount the flex line directly to the fan. I am planning on that same fan running two lights, I will be using a splitter transition to fork the air to the two different rooms.

Hope this helps....

Anyway, we have all been short on bucks or some of us are just cheap bastards but no one should skimp on ventilation, especially when venting a high wattage light. The fire hazard isn't worth being cheap in this area. That is my only point.

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Agree totally! Last thing I want is to come home to a pile of ashes and my brother the fire chief standing there.......that would be a bad thing lol. You really do need to increase the four inch, Is there much air noise? Also you could put a damper in the 6" pipe to dial in the air intake, I use one and adjust depending on season and outdoor temp. In the winter I actually use temp controls to cycle intake but always keep room in a slight negative for smell and CO2 (3 airchanges an hour). You must be in a mild climate, my incoming air last two weeks was -25c!!! lights out heating cost r wild!!

Boston!!! didnt see that till now lol. I'm a bit north of that lol! Op keep me posted about your fan choice! Id be interested to know what you choose and how its working.

So if you wanted to filter the air with a scrubber you would need to hook up a seperate inline or Stanley blower to suck air out of the room

Bongboy00 said:

So if you wanted to filter the air with a scrubber you would need to hook up a seperate inline or Stanley blower to suck air out of the room

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Sorry bong I have no experience with scrubbers.