Going to install one of these very soon. Was concerned about the amount of noise these make. Even if it is only going to be used just to drop temps once in a while, would an industrial dimmer work to control the noise? I plan on mounting it on a weighted block of wood with 3" heavy duty air hose on end to make mini "shocks' to hopefully absorb some of the sound. Any advice would be great. Thanks.
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175 cfm Vortex 4" inline fan
- Thread starter Moterreal
- Start date
T
Teeg420
The vortex 4" inline fan is relatively quiet as is the 6". When you step up to the 8" and bigger there is definitely and increase in sound. I used one of those "dimmers" or routers and it didn't work for me, the buzz of the motor being dimmed made more noise than the acutal fan itself. People on this site recomend the variac for adjusting speed without the unwanted hum or buzz of the motor. Bungess or chain are great for reducing vibrations when your fan kicks on or off.
xOOx
Active member
with my limited use with that vortex..
the quietest i've ever gotten it:
hang it from a pair of bungie cords (reduces vibration a lot). make sure you use insulated ducting with it, the ducting that's covered in 1 inch of insulation and then wrapped in black plastic coating to prevent the fibers from going all over. make sure you have some ducting on both sides of the fan, i used at least 12 ft on each end of the fan w/insulated ducting, and made many S turns on both ends.
then wrap the entire fan hanging from the bungies in an old thick winter coat. you can wrap it couple times w/packing bubble wrap first, maybe one or two layers, and then zip up the winter coat over it. this will silence the noise coming out of the actual motor. may need some duct tape to hold the coat closed and tightly wrapped around it. this will make it as quiet as you can get it. the only sound should be of rushing air coming out of the exhaust end like when your central ac goes on and you listen to the wind blowing out the vent. you will still hear some low humming noise of the motor, but if its enclosed in say a closet, once you close the closet door its going to be pretty much undetectable unless you stick your ear up against the wall to hear the humming.
i tried to use one of those dimmer things too, and same result as above, strange whining noise when it was on full reduction power, and it didn't really slow it down that much, maybe 1/5th..and just created a strange buzzing from the motor. never tried the variac..
edit: vortex isn't super quiet to begin with, when i first got it, first thing i did was plug it in and turn it on, and it sounded like a wind storm hurricane lol, i was like wtf how am i gonna hide this?! but then after all the above it actually became more acceptable, but still would of preferred absolute silence..
edit2: another option would be to keep the actual fan say up in an attic..or far away in an area that you can't hear it. and just have long duct runs coming down thru the ceiling to it, its a strong fan it can pull air thru a scrubber from a long run probably carbon filter 30 ft+ even more..of ducting away it will still pull the air thru the line like a hurricane..it means business that fan ..
xoox
the quietest i've ever gotten it:
hang it from a pair of bungie cords (reduces vibration a lot). make sure you use insulated ducting with it, the ducting that's covered in 1 inch of insulation and then wrapped in black plastic coating to prevent the fibers from going all over. make sure you have some ducting on both sides of the fan, i used at least 12 ft on each end of the fan w/insulated ducting, and made many S turns on both ends.
then wrap the entire fan hanging from the bungies in an old thick winter coat. you can wrap it couple times w/packing bubble wrap first, maybe one or two layers, and then zip up the winter coat over it. this will silence the noise coming out of the actual motor. may need some duct tape to hold the coat closed and tightly wrapped around it. this will make it as quiet as you can get it. the only sound should be of rushing air coming out of the exhaust end like when your central ac goes on and you listen to the wind blowing out the vent. you will still hear some low humming noise of the motor, but if its enclosed in say a closet, once you close the closet door its going to be pretty much undetectable unless you stick your ear up against the wall to hear the humming.
i tried to use one of those dimmer things too, and same result as above, strange whining noise when it was on full reduction power, and it didn't really slow it down that much, maybe 1/5th..and just created a strange buzzing from the motor. never tried the variac..
edit: vortex isn't super quiet to begin with, when i first got it, first thing i did was plug it in and turn it on, and it sounded like a wind storm hurricane lol, i was like wtf how am i gonna hide this?! but then after all the above it actually became more acceptable, but still would of preferred absolute silence..
edit2: another option would be to keep the actual fan say up in an attic..or far away in an area that you can't hear it. and just have long duct runs coming down thru the ceiling to it, its a strong fan it can pull air thru a scrubber from a long run probably carbon filter 30 ft+ even more..of ducting away it will still pull the air thru the line like a hurricane..it means business that fan ..
xoox
MAZEinaHAZE
Member
I certainly concur with the bungee cord.....i use an 8" vortex with the insulated duct work. Most all the noise is created by the metal framing supplied to hold the inline fan ( if mounted directly to wood or a wall..) I have mine suspended in midair, with 2 nice size bungee's wrapped around the metal frame. 2 eye hooks into the wood, hook bungee's and very little noise. NOT silent, but managable that my parents/family and friends come over....and have not a clue on whats going on. Because i am aware of my "operation"...i hear a slight noise, but nothing more then "normal background / white noise ".
The bubblewrap and winter coat idea seems to go above and beyond the call of duty, but whatever is needed to keep it STEALTH !. I'd be afraid of the electrical connection on the fan getting hot and not able to breath if covered as describe......
thats what i've got on the topic.....next...
The bubblewrap and winter coat idea seems to go above and beyond the call of duty, but whatever is needed to keep it STEALTH !. I'd be afraid of the electrical connection on the fan getting hot and not able to breath if covered as describe......
thats what i've got on the topic.....next...
My grow room is in a closet, plan was to run the fan inside the closet and having duct run through a wall into an old ammo box where I would have a filter. I originally bought the duct with the reflective insulation on it, but since my space is so limited I knew it would just get in the way more than anything. Thanks for the info, going to buy some bungees today to hang the fan.
xOOx
Active member
maze: yeah. i was afraid about that too..until i did research that the fan can actually be mounted inside a heating duct with a furnace firing full blast, which is damn hot. the fan cools itself when any cooler ambient air passes thru it, its designed to take some heat, so it shouldn't be a problem. even so after running it for weeks i would still stick my hand in under the coat and bubble wrap and feel that black box on it, and it was just warm.. no overheating. i tried everything to make it as quiet as possible and that's what worked, i guess you can work in layers. first try insulated ducting, bungies, if its not good enuff, wrap it up.
moter: that's another issue usually you want to pull thru the filter for best results, altho pushing air into filter works too, the actual carbon filter should be close to the stinky odors, and the fan should be sucking the air into the filter and out the exhaust end (cleaned) going the other way does work too, but you run the risk if say you spring a leak before the carbon filter, the stinky air will come out before it gets filtered..and i think it kills the prefilter thats on the outside of the filter quicker when blowing into it. you would be surprised how 25 ft of insulated ducting can be stuffed into the top shelf of the closet if you take your time, just keep overlapping it in 2-3 ft segments and S turning until u bunch it up and out of the way. some people just mount the vortex fan right ontop of the carbon filter, no ducting..i tried it..with one of those plumbing braces that they sell at home depot, a black foamy collar. it was loud, lol. if noise isn't of concern..it's that simple tho
edit: you know i realize some people in warmer states may not have a winter coat, lol. you can use maybe a thick blanket or a bed comforter. something that has stuffing between it. multiple wraps to absorb noise.
xoox
moter: that's another issue usually you want to pull thru the filter for best results, altho pushing air into filter works too, the actual carbon filter should be close to the stinky odors, and the fan should be sucking the air into the filter and out the exhaust end (cleaned) going the other way does work too, but you run the risk if say you spring a leak before the carbon filter, the stinky air will come out before it gets filtered..and i think it kills the prefilter thats on the outside of the filter quicker when blowing into it. you would be surprised how 25 ft of insulated ducting can be stuffed into the top shelf of the closet if you take your time, just keep overlapping it in 2-3 ft segments and S turning until u bunch it up and out of the way. some people just mount the vortex fan right ontop of the carbon filter, no ducting..i tried it..with one of those plumbing braces that they sell at home depot, a black foamy collar. it was loud, lol. if noise isn't of concern..it's that simple tho
edit: you know i realize some people in warmer states may not have a winter coat, lol. you can use maybe a thick blanket or a bed comforter. something that has stuffing between it. multiple wraps to absorb noise.
xoox
xOOx
Active member
ya carbon is pretty much the only thing that 100% removes any odor and it has no smell to me. i've messed around with it even in my pc mom case. one single 5 inch pc fan was exhausting the pc case, i put my nose by it, smelled like weedy skunkish smell coming out of it, i just covered by hand w/one of those tiny little tru-air filters, like 5x5 inch carbon inserts for their true-air fabreeze product. as soon as i put it over the exhaust fan and took a sniff, nothing, took it away, skunk, put it back, nothing, like a brand new car fresh smell coming thru it. they last a good month or two too, for $4, not bad. the stink gets trapped in the carbon and breaks down in there.
just for a bigger grow you know you need bigger carbon, and that = bigger fan = more sound for me..need quiet!! lol
the best that worked for me was ambient stinky air--> carbon filter--> 12 ft insulated ducting-->fan (air flow this way -> ) -> 12 ft insulated ducting..
now i just kept mine sitting in the same closet, not actually exhausting, just recirculating..because even the sound coming from the exhaust end of the ducting was making too much noise for me, wooshing sound. kinda odd to have a wooshing sound from the basement, lol. so i just left it inside and tried to control the humidity, since the higher the humidity the less effective the carbon is, gotta keep it low for optimal performance ..if the carbon gets moist it don't hold stink for shit.
i'm not sure if you wanted to also let the fan cool an open hps light with vent holes..how that would work, i guess you would have to blow into the filter in that case..having the light first, then fan, then into the filter. unless the bulb is completely enclosed and sealed in a cool tube..then you can go filter->cool tube->fan->out (since only clean smelling air is going to pass over the light) just gotta think it thru, don't want any stinky air escaping the filter.
of everything tho, the insulated ducting really helped a lot. the classic metal foily stuff let's the air rushing sound pass right thru it like paper.
xoox
just for a bigger grow you know you need bigger carbon, and that = bigger fan = more sound for me..need quiet!! lol
the best that worked for me was ambient stinky air--> carbon filter--> 12 ft insulated ducting-->fan (air flow this way -> ) -> 12 ft insulated ducting..
now i just kept mine sitting in the same closet, not actually exhausting, just recirculating..because even the sound coming from the exhaust end of the ducting was making too much noise for me, wooshing sound. kinda odd to have a wooshing sound from the basement, lol. so i just left it inside and tried to control the humidity, since the higher the humidity the less effective the carbon is, gotta keep it low for optimal performance ..if the carbon gets moist it don't hold stink for shit.
i'm not sure if you wanted to also let the fan cool an open hps light with vent holes..how that would work, i guess you would have to blow into the filter in that case..having the light first, then fan, then into the filter. unless the bulb is completely enclosed and sealed in a cool tube..then you can go filter->cool tube->fan->out (since only clean smelling air is going to pass over the light) just gotta think it thru, don't want any stinky air escaping the filter.
of everything tho, the insulated ducting really helped a lot. the classic metal foily stuff let's the air rushing sound pass right thru it like paper.
xoox
madpenguin
Member
Guys, make sure you don't put a regular dimmer in series with an inductive load. They are only designed to handle resistive loads like incandescent light bulbs and such. Good way to burn up your vortex fan. You'll get increased harmonics load/supply side of the rheostat and your fan won't like it. It'll heat up and eventually burn out. This is the main reason why the NEC says not to dim switched receptacles unless it's intended for a resistive lighting load. Ballast/transformers and motors are inductive loads.
You'll also get voltage surges on the dimmer when the fan kicks on and off which will more than likely fry the dimmer sooner rather than later. They make special dimmers for inductive loads that control both the grounded (neutral) and ungrounded (hot) conductors and then feed thru a triac to regulate the current to your fan.
Sorry for getting techy. I'm an electrician and was never very good at explaining in laymans terms. I'm not overly familiar with Variacs but I'm pretty sure they use electronic components (as mentioned above) that are designed to handle inductive loads.
You can also put a resistive load in parallel with the inductive load to negate this effect. You should also put a fuse in series with the inductive load just incase the built in triac of the dimmer fails. But who the hell would want to go thru all that trouble when you can just buy an inductive dimmer?
Anyhoo.... Don't do it in short. It's not safe. For you or your equipment.
You'll also get voltage surges on the dimmer when the fan kicks on and off which will more than likely fry the dimmer sooner rather than later. They make special dimmers for inductive loads that control both the grounded (neutral) and ungrounded (hot) conductors and then feed thru a triac to regulate the current to your fan.
Sorry for getting techy. I'm an electrician and was never very good at explaining in laymans terms. I'm not overly familiar with Variacs but I'm pretty sure they use electronic components (as mentioned above) that are designed to handle inductive loads.
You can also put a resistive load in parallel with the inductive load to negate this effect. You should also put a fuse in series with the inductive load just incase the built in triac of the dimmer fails. But who the hell would want to go thru all that trouble when you can just buy an inductive dimmer?
Anyhoo.... Don't do it in short. It's not safe. For you or your equipment.
xOOx
Active member
ya, he is right^^ never use like a light dimmer switch, the one i used was like a light dimmer..a rheostat thing for heating fans ("dial-a-temp" i think they sell it at northlineexpress<dot>com u can google that) but it was also junk and i didn't feel comfortable with it from the moment i turned it on with the vortex, but i put it to good use in the pc cases, since it slows down the tiny 12v cake fans to pretty much absolute silence. sometimes when the cake fans blow at full force they actually get a lot of blow back resistance and makes them less efficient. if you slow them down the air passes out the exhaust and thru the tiny fabreeze filters much more effficiently. they are all chained and slowed to just remove the exhaust amount of air to maintain humidity at 45%..w/o it i'd get condensation dripping down the walls, lol.
i looked at the variac when i first read about it years ago, and it came in i think 5 am and 10 amp, 15 amp versions, etc. and was going to give the carbon another try next run, but i never got around to it since i had success with time released ozone ..
edit: also the reason for slowing down the cake fans is that the stink needs to contact the carbon for a specific amount of time before it is cleaned. the fabreeze filters are VERY thin, so if you blast air thru em, the stink is gonna fly right thru, if it comes out nice n slowww it has time to do its magic. not that anyone is interested, but if i say something i like to have a reason to say it. especially if someone picks up a good idea from what i said..
edit: search 'cake' ,replace with: 'muffin' -- wtf am i smokin';
xoox
i looked at the variac when i first read about it years ago, and it came in i think 5 am and 10 amp, 15 amp versions, etc. and was going to give the carbon another try next run, but i never got around to it since i had success with time released ozone ..
edit: also the reason for slowing down the cake fans is that the stink needs to contact the carbon for a specific amount of time before it is cleaned. the fabreeze filters are VERY thin, so if you blast air thru em, the stink is gonna fly right thru, if it comes out nice n slowww it has time to do its magic. not that anyone is interested, but if i say something i like to have a reason to say it. especially if someone picks up a good idea from what i said..
edit: search 'cake' ,replace with: 'muffin' -- wtf am i smokin';
xoox
That was the answer I was expecting about a dimmer, the bungee cords are going to be my way of suspending the fan to keep it quiet. My light isnt a cooltube or anything, just an open reflector, but I planned on attaching the duct near so it would be drawing the heat generated from the bulb out and bringing in more cool air from the bottom of the door. Where would a good source for a timer so when the room reached X degrees it would kick on for either X amount of seconds or until X amount of degrees is reached. Can't thank you guys enough for all of the feedback.
The 4" is a loud fan relative to the amount of air it moves. The 6" moves WAAAAYYY more air, and is not much louder, IMO. I wish I had just bought a 6" and controller from the start. I had the 4" in a bedroom closet blowing through an airsock (effectively a muffler), and it could be heard in the hallway with the bedroom door closed. I have carpet, and acoustic ceilings, and it was still pretty noticeable when you got to the door.
If I NEED another 4" application in the future, I'm going to look into the S&P fans. I love the vortexes, they are very well built, but the 4" is loud relative to the volume of air it moves.
If I NEED another 4" application in the future, I'm going to look into the S&P fans. I love the vortexes, they are very well built, but the 4" is loud relative to the volume of air it moves.
christen23
Member
I have a 4" vortex with a 2600 can, i have the can in my tent and the vortex mounted on the outside of the room and it was noticable, so i bought a speed control thingy from the grow shop the next day and trurned it halfway down and it was WAY quiter, still noticable if it is scilent and your listening for it, i am thinking about building a box around it with some soundproofing shit in it and try to make it undetectable.. but then you still got the "wind" noise that i doubt you will ever be able to muffle....
xOOx
Active member
if u add the insulated ducting it quiets it a lot. the wooshing sound u can only hear slightly at the filter..cause the fan motor noise travels thru the insulated ducting on/out both ends..and some suckin' sound too if your close to the carbon filter. at the opposite end of the ducting exhaust you can hear it too, but the woosh sound doesn't really come thru anywhere on the ducting in between..if its insulated. you can bury the exhaust part somewhere out of earshot...iv'e tried things like bury the exhaust into a cardboard box, and fill it with packing peanuts peanuts, so the air percolates up thru it. but u gotta put a good layer of peanuts otherwise the exhaust will blow the peanuts up out of the box all over the place ..learned my lesson.. lol
it really depends on your situation, if the area is far out of the way where nobody ever travels, then it won't really matter if you just leave it on the floor.. you won't hear that if your in an attic w/it on bungees for sure, once you close the attic trap.. but in a closet in a basement or bedroom its like leaving the bathroom fan on if you don't do anything at all to try and quiet it down. it is real obvious.. so ducting, muffling, sound proof box will def work.. and maybe a variac speed controller..all would do the trick.
xoox
it really depends on your situation, if the area is far out of the way where nobody ever travels, then it won't really matter if you just leave it on the floor.. you won't hear that if your in an attic w/it on bungees for sure, once you close the attic trap.. but in a closet in a basement or bedroom its like leaving the bathroom fan on if you don't do anything at all to try and quiet it down. it is real obvious.. so ducting, muffling, sound proof box will def work.. and maybe a variac speed controller..all would do the trick.
xoox
christen23
Member
lol i have pictures of packing peanuts flying all over the place in my grow room lol.. a variable controler help me more than i ever thought it would, i am gonna making a box around the fan and insulating it to quiet it... ill let you know how it goes
POE
POE
*****UPDATE*****
Well found out where 99.999% of my noise was coming from. SOMEHOW a fucking rock was jammed between 2 fins and the center of the hub. Thank god I didnt run this fan more than 3 mins, if it came loose I would of trashed the entire blower. took it out, attached all my duct to where it had to go. And wha-la, silence. It's wonderful, with my grow room door closed, music playing drowns out any air moving sound it makes, its even quieter than the 2 ghetto rigged box fans I'm using for cooling now.
Well found out where 99.999% of my noise was coming from. SOMEHOW a fucking rock was jammed between 2 fins and the center of the hub. Thank god I didnt run this fan more than 3 mins, if it came loose I would of trashed the entire blower. took it out, attached all my duct to where it had to go. And wha-la, silence. It's wonderful, with my grow room door closed, music playing drowns out any air moving sound it makes, its even quieter than the 2 ghetto rigged box fans I'm using for cooling now.
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