Fan too loud

[leafminer]

I've been growing without a fan so far, not bad results, but obviously I need a fan to improve things. I happen to have a 6 inch fan, 120V, similar to the 12V fans you find in PC power supplies, but bigger of course; it draws 20 watts.
The fan seemed quite quiet when I tried it just holding the thing by one hand. But when I mounted it on the 1" thick wooden front of the grow room (cut a hole with the jigsaw) it sounds very loud. That, plus the ballasts humming away, sounds like a machine shop. I think the wood front is acting like a sounding board.

What to do ...? I'm gonna visit Home Depot and see what I can find. The only good thing is that it does move a lot of air.

 

[WeedHopper]

Hang the fan with Bungies(no more noise)

 

[That crazy vancouver guy]

:yeahthat:

 

[ArtVandolay]

I have 4 inch ducting but same principle. I use a through connector through the wood. Flex ducting from the through connector to the fan. Cover the fan and ducting with the insulation you can buy - glass wool inside of some aluminum type cover. That helps with the noise, too. I use an elbow for the through connector for light trapping.

This made sense to me, but I'm high already.

 

[mendo local]

I've been growing without a fan so far, not bad results, but obviously I need a fan to improve things. I happen to have a 6 inch fan, 120V, similar to the 12V fans you find in PC power supplies, but bigger of course; it draws 20 watts.
The fan seemed quite quiet when I tried it just holding the thing by one hand. But when I mounted it on the 1" thick wooden front of the grow room (cut a hole with the jigsaw) it sounds very loud. That, plus the ballasts humming away, sounds like a machine shop. I think the wood front is acting like a sounding board.

What to do ...? I'm gonna visit Home Depot and see what I can find. The only good thing is that it does move a lot of air.

Just cut up some rubber from a tire inner tube, and put it between the fan and the wood. Will quiet it down quickly.

Also put your ballast on some of the same rubber and it will absorb some of the vibration noise.

 

[Vegs]

Yup, buy a cheap inner tube from your local store and cut the strips you need to place in between the surfaces to dampen the noise. Or just old mouse pads now that most of those are obsolete these days.

 

[leafminer]

Bungies! Never thought of that. And inner tube rubber ... ingenious. I got the 6" ducting and a 90 degree outlet like Art suggested, it also has an anti-rodent cover. And I found a flange made of plastic and thick flexible rubber that will do the job of the inner tube rubber. Being Sunday I hope to get this working today. Thanks for the help!

 

[growright35]

I too had this experience with the same fan in my fridge setup. My noise was whistling from trying to pull the air through the intake hole. I had it mounted flush against the wall at the hole. Therefore it only had a 2" opening. I backed out the screws so there was a gap between the fan and the wall allowing more air behind the fan. Works great now, you may not need anything just a slight altering...Good Luck

 

[leafminer]

I'm still working on it. I found an item at the hardware store that's used for installing toilets. It is a circular plastic flange with a thick corrugated rubber section sticking out. I mounted the fan to the plastic flange - it was almost the right internal diameter - and I'm going to glue the corrugated tube part into the through-hole in the wood, with silicone sealant, so the fan will be rubber-mounted. I'm hoping that will do it.

 

[leafminer]

Yeah! Finished it. Lots of sealant. It cut down the vibration to the point where the dominant sound is now the whirr of the blades moving air. I'll add a 'false front' of wood to quieten it even more. Lots of air moving through the grow room now - the temps were pretty bad on a warm day, now though, it's cooled right down. Exhaust is at the far end at the top and I might put a carbon filter in there one of these days, but I don't think I need one now because my strain is low odour.