6 in Vortex Fan Noise! Need Help!

[PDX420Grower]

I have a 6 in. vortex fan. Some say its quiet but it sounds like a jet engine to me. I live in an apt and the manager is directly on the other side of the wall of my grow rm. (means I gotta be extremely quiet) I've been trying to use a smaller quieter exhaust fan but its not doing the job. My temp is too high and the smell (in veg) is noticeable in my apt. I need to flip to 12/12 but gotta solve my probs 1st. I'm not worried about the sound of wind exhausting, (thru the ceiling) I'm more worried about the sound of the motor and vibrations. I'm buying a dimmer switch tomorrow and wrapping the fan in dynamat. I'm also using insulated ducting. I seen somewhere on here that somebody enclosed their fan in a box. Any details on that? I'm trying to combine a few different ideas to make it quiet as possible. Besides an exhaust muffler, any other ideas? :sweating -PDX

 

[mrbong73]

You could try hanging the fan or mounting it with a rubber gasket for vibration dampening.

 

[Mr.GoodCat]

The fan doesn't need to be in that room with long enough ducting ....

 

[MTM]

Im running an eco plus fan and it vibrates like hell,I had to hang it with bunji cords and it cant be heard for my ac now,Im going to say it helped about 50% or better.Theres a thread here on surrounding your fan with a plywood box.If hanging did not fix mine the box was next

 

[PDX420Grower]

Hanging it is gonna be a b!tch due to sh!tty apt ceilings. Hooks almost always rip out the ceiling. I'm hanging my light from a piece of wood that I screwed t the ceiling but I'm not trusting the fan to hold. (Don't want it falling in the middle of the night) I never thought of putting the fan in another room. Will do if all else doesn't quiet it enough. Anyone have a link to the plywood box that the fan goes in? I down with DIY. Just need to fix this prob ASAP. Thanks for the replies. -PDX

 

[smalltime99]

You can always add a Duct Muffler. Do you have a Filter? Sounds like you need to get a 6" duct muffler and 6"x24" filter. You could even go with a 8"duct muffler just to make sure it is quiet.

 

[Mr.GoodCat]

If it was me this is what I would do ... build a box about 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft out of MDF (its what they use to build speaker boxes.) Line the inside of that with carpet. (they carpet the walls a lot of time to sound proof rooms) Cut a 6" hole in each side. Mount the fan to rubber gaskets on the bottom of the box. Put the box in a seperate room and run the ducting to the box. Screw down the top after everything is set. You should have zero noise but not sure about heat build up. I would think it would be fine if you are using insulated ducting.

 

[cannarado]

Use a stud finder to find a stud and put hooks into that. Then hang it from a bungee

 

[PDX420Grower]

You can always add a Duct Muffler. Do you have a Filter? Sounds like you need to get a 6" duct muffler and 6"x24" filter. You could even go with a 8"duct muffler just to make sure it is quiet.

I do have a filter. Its 6''x im guessing 24''. About the muffler, I don't think I need it atm. The ducting is insulated and it exhausts into to the apts attic. Its really not that loud. (or I cant hear it due to the fan)

I plan on building a box out of mdf, like Mr.GoodCat suggested, only a lil bigger and instead of carpet I'm thinking of using egg crate foam. I'm also putting rubber or some kind of foam/neoprene to the bottom of the box to prevent the box from vibrating. Hopefully all this and dynamatting the fan, and adding a dimmer switch, should have it quiet enough for me to stop worrying about it. Thanks again to all who've replied. Appreciate it. -PDX

 

[smalltime99]

No problem PDX. I use the mufflers because I run my system at night and it is SUPER quite in the area so I try and minus any extra noise my room brings. I think the box should work pretty well. I would only be concerned about heat building up around the fan.

 

[bloads]

Wrap it in a sleeping bag

 

[TrichromeFan]

OK,
you got alot of great ideas so far. Now combine them. Build a good size MDF Box. Dynamat the fan. Wrap the fan in something like a heavy blanket, sleeping bag, roll of fiberglass insulation, etc. I have run fans like that for well over a year continuously. Use the insulated ducting. Make the fan muffler . Then suspend the whole contraption or place it on something to insulate it from the floor.

There, you're done. One quiet mother fucka.

-TF :evilgrin0013:

 

[hiboy]

Get a speed control and you can adjust it down to where you need to be. Works great for me
h

 

[PDX420Grower]

Heres the idea. Tomorrow I'm going to wrap the fan in dynamat, make a 2x2 box, line the inside with foam, attach the fan, and hook up the ducting. I'm Putting a lil trap door on the side of the box in case I have to vent out some heat. Hopefully it wont need it. Also picking up a dimmer switch. If I can get the noise down to the level of the oscillating fan, I think I'll be cool. Thanks -PDX