Inline fan noise

[geteed]

Can anybody give me an idea of how loud an inline fan will be? Size would only need to be suitable for a small 1 or 2 plant grow cabinet. I am currently using 2 cooling fans for an A/V cabinet, not the quietest but can be covered up by running a standard box fan in the same area.
I am trying to keep noise levels to a minimum but would like to possibly add a carbon scrubber so I need to have a little more power in the fan.

Thanks

 

[Ekko]

I'm in the same boat with you man. All people seem to say is buy a 6 inch inline fan and then buy a ac fan speed controller to lower the voltage which makes the fan quieter and moves more air than a 4 inch.

I have been planing a grow for about 2 years now. The only problem is I need it to be absolutely stealth so no noise no light no smell. For me its hard to get a cheap quiet fan that is powerful enough to be used with a carbon filter.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using 420

 

[WillysMom]

Yep, I ran into the same issues. Pulled that intake fan off fast and returned it. Thought I would try to find a quieter way to move some air through the tent. The noise of the fan made me nuts in 30 second....not the Zen experience I'm looking for!

 

[Gaffle]

Check my sig. You can make a box and silence that fan. Mine is very quiet.

 

[Croatsan]

My 6' centrifugal fan is 45dB at 1m distance, through a carbon filter. When I close the tent, you can barely hear it. My ambient sound from the outside is 60dB. Measured with an Android app. Axial fans should be even quieter.

 

[Gaffle]

My 6' centrifugal fan is 45dB at 1m distance, through a carbon filter. When I close the tent, you can barely hear it. My ambient sound from the outside is 60dB. Measured with an Android app. Axial fans should be even quieter.

How is your centrifugal fan hooked up? I'm not familiar with them.

Edit : Sometime this weekend I'll get some app to measure the sound in my room. It won't be hella accurate, but I'm curious.

 

[Croatsan]

How is your centrifugal fan hooked up? I'm not familiar with them.

 

[Icemud]

Here are a few suggestions to quiet the fan down...

If you have it mounted inside your tent, you could find a fabric material or some kind of foam that is somewhat sound absorbing, and put this between the top of your tent and the cross bars at the top. It will help dampen the reflected sound and reduce the overall noise. You could even use old cardboard egg crates, thick towels, rockwool (very sound absorbent and used in many professional studios), really any material that will absorb sound.. you can test the material by putting it close to your ear and see if it reduces the sound.. you should notice a dampening of the sound reflections of the room and if you do, then the material will work to help reduce sound. I used studio foam in my grow tents on the ceilings and also on top of the tents to reduce the noise which works very well.

They make covers for the inline fans which can help quiet down the fan.


Speed controllers can not only quiet the fans by turning them down, but they actually can save a significant amount of electricity to save a few bucks every month by turning the speed down to only what is needed which also will quiet the noise.


You can mount your fan externally and enclose it in a box. I used to have my fan outside my tent which was pretty loud considering my grow tents are in the same room I sleep in. I found a nice deep and large rubbermaid container which fit the fan but had a good amount of space around the fan. I cut a hole on each side of the rubbermaid where the ducting can fit through. I then use old tshirts and rags an stuffed them around the fan once it was inside the rubbermaid container. Then put the lid on. This really reduced the noise.

They make "mufflers" for the ducting which is to quiet the noise that comes down the ducting from the fan... for the price which I think usually is about $150 bucks, I'm sure you could make one way cheaper by basically finding something whether its a box or a plastic container, run the duct through it, but cut a bunch of holes in the ducting, pretty much shred it leaving only some in tackt to guide the air.. stuff the area around the hose loosly with foam, old rags or tshirts or cotton and close the lid. Make sure to put a ton of holes in the outside container too so the air can flow out easily. pretty much the idea is to not have the sound direclty come through the duct but to allow sound absorbant material and holes to disrupt the sound flow...

Cover your grow box/tent/cabinet with a heavy blanket (making sure not to pose any fire hazards) This should help reduce the sound that is transmitted from the box to the room.