Vortex Question

So I ordered a vortex 6 inch inline fan to go in a grow box I am building this weekend and to my huge surprise when it came in today it was heavy and big. I thought, "well they must have to put a lot of wrapping around it to keep it safe during travel. I opened the box then I seen another huge box. Again I thought the same. I open the final box and to my amazement there sits the biggest fan I have ever seen. It was completely unexpected and for some reason I had this idea in my head of it being small not tiny more like managable but powerful. I guess I shouldn't judge size by pictures on the net. Does this sound like I bought the right thing? If it is right how in the world do you put this 15 pound giant in a grow box and how do you then hang it or connect it to the box wall and without making your whole box collapse under the mammoth.

Help...... Anybody........

yep there big its not a fan its a blower with a 6 inch inlet and outlet.you need a speed controller and some 6 inch flex ducting.to run to your box..wait are you using this for ventilation or a can filter?

how big is your grow box?

I am using this to vent two 400 watt lights that are air cooled super sun 2.

I am going to build it this weekend but it will be slightly over 5 feet wide and about 2 feet deep and 6 feet tall

it will only be a flower room. I have a veg room. And with the flower room the plants will be 4 weeks apart on one half and the other half. That way I harvest every month or so.

seemeat420 said:

So I ordered a vortex 6 inch inline fan to go in a grow box I am building this weekend and to my huge surprise when it came in today it was heavy and big. I thought, "well they must have to put a lot of wrapping around it to keep it safe during travel. I opened the box then I seen another huge box. Again I thought the same. I open the final box and to my amazement there sits the biggest fan I have ever seen. It was completely unexpected and for some reason I had this idea in my head of it being small not tiny more like managable but powerful. I guess I shouldn't judge size by pictures on the net. Does this sound like I bought the right thing? If it is right how in the world do you put this 15 pound giant in a grow box and how do you then hang it or connect it to the box wall and without making your whole box collapse under the mammoth.

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Hi, Great choice on the fan! I wouldn't connect it directly to the box at all. Yes it's a beefy thing and pumps hella volume of air, which you will learn to really love.
So to tame it a bit hook it into a 'Variable speed control' and put it somewhere you won't be able to hear it. Like an attic or crawl space or utility closet. IF you can.
Mines up in the attic above the closet, another friend of mine built a insulated sound deadening box and actually has it mounted in his bedroom as a piece of furniture he sets his TV on. Get inventive. A big fan like that can suck a lot of air from far away.
All you have to do is connect it to the room with flex ducting and it'll suck the box empty from where ever it is. Did you get a charcoal filter for it?
A good friend of mine uses old light weight computer cooling fans for intake venting small spaces and a cheap galvanized inline fan you've probably seen used in grows before to vent with. He's pretty clever but his vent system gets TOTALLY overwhelmed when he's got a lot growing. He wishes he had my fan (our fan) Especially when the powdery mildew is taking over.
Even if you think you totally bought the wrong size I would keep it because it gives you a lot of wiggle room as far as atmospheric control goes and you can expand your set up simply by splitting the ducting to another grow box or closet. Dial the speed down to quiet things and keep your box from imploding under the vacuum of 'full' suck (yes I'm kidding...)and you're set.
A pic says a thousand words....check this out...note familiar gray round thing in background...Hope this helped. Happy Gardening! GrowIT!

Hey thanks a lot king and johnny. I live in an apartment so I can't really run to an attic. Yeah I was going to keep it if it was right, but I just didn't realize how big this thing was. I was thinking it had to go inside the box but if it doesn't have to that means I won't have to build more than I wanted. Will it still cool 2 400 watt air cooled lights outside of the box. How should I do my ventilation for my box. I was planning on running duct from one side to the other and doing something else for air exchange in the grow. I was even planning on doing scrubber separate but if you think the fan can handle the cooling and the scrubbing I will definitely try that because that will save me money on other stuff. Im glad you said its possible to hook this one fan up to two different boxes because I was wondering that. I want to at some point build another box like the one I will build this weekend and do another setup and knowing that I can do that helps my planning later. + rep man much thanks.

i have a $26 , 6 inch duct booster fan cooling my 1000w hps and i'm doing good.i open the door and turn on the oscillating fan when the light comes on and my room is at 78 degrees.that thing you got moves 10 times more air than mine.

i hung mine from the top of my box with bungee cords. Keeps down on the vibrations

See..... I was really wanting to try using a duct booster fan but everyone on here always says you have to have a vortex. Well I am going to keep the vortex because I already bought it and I saved for it and I might even use it to cool two rooms, but I wish I would have tried the booster because I have been holding off on growing for this fan. Well great knowledge for next time. So does the bungee cord hold it without it swinging and do you have to tie it down really good because I would be scared of it slipping out.

well first off mine is a 4 inch vortex and I admire your 6, dont dooubt yourself, these fans are top of the line. do you mind me asking what you paid. youll have the option to get a larger light in the future without a fan upgrade. Thats always a plus. As far as the swinging I dont have any problems. it has a flange added on it and I wrapped two bungees around it to hang. Theres a bunch of ways to safely mount these with bungees especially if you have a drill on hand.

i got a duct end cap and a cut to fit carbon prefilter and made my light cooling fan eliminate odor at the same time..see pic

I paid 162 with shipping and handling. Without it was like 149. They had a valueline same fan for 99. I got it from plant lighting hydroponics. I went with the vortex because everyone is always talking about it. Do you think it will be loud if I mount it with the included brackets. If it is I may try and do what you did so to keep down noise. I like the ease of your setup johnny. I wish I would have tried that. If I build another veg box I will try that out for sure.

i just couldn't afford a good fan and filter so i did what i could and it works fine.

Well guys Im pissed now. My girlfriend who said she was cool, we live together, has now changed her mind and said she only signs off on a box half the size I originally wanted. That wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't for me spending money on stuff that if I sent back I still have to pay shipping and handling and that alone sets me back a bunch of money. She keeps talking about the police coming because of the electricity and the size and her nosey family and blah blah blah. I tried to fight for us but it just didn't work. She gave in but she was super pissed so I copped out and caved, pussy. I think she will see the light once the crops start coming because she loves pot probably more than I do. I smoke a lot but if you leave her alone in a room full of weed she won't eat drink or go to the bathroom untill she's turned green from the inside out with smoking. So I am keeping my stuff and hoping she might get cool again. So I will only use one light now. I will have to put the fan on top of the box to save space. But on the plus side with only venting one light I won't have to worry about the ducting making a huge turn and I won't have to worry about mounting because it will go on the top of the box and I will even put another box around it to deaden the sound. Tell me what you guys think....

you know an electric hot water heater uses as much power your going to be using..any one with an ac or electric heat don't have cops knocking on there door? if you change all the light bulbs in your house to cfl's and conserve power a little bit your bill won't even go up.

That's what I keep saying but she is super paranoid. I wish I would have known that she wasn't cool with a big box from the get go because it would have been nice to spend 26 dollars on ventilation. But anyways I am full speed ahead with a smaller box and I think once she sees there's no problem then we should be okay. I grew with cfls in my closet last november and when the harvest came in she was the happiest person in the world with me growing. But now since she forgot she's acting crazy again. This was the same thing she did last time when I grew with the cfls in the beginning.