Panasonic Whisper Fan Carbon Scrubber Tutorial: Quietest most efficient fan ever!

INTRO: (skip to next post for the tour)

Finding an extremely quiet yet powerful fan is not easy. This holds especially true for stealth operations and for bedroom growers who are insomniacs, like myself. After wasting $400+ on a 172 cfm Vortex Inline Fan, Can-9000 carbon filter, a specially designed attic housing two feet of home-made, 12" thick fiberglass insulated ducting, solid state speed controller, and countless hours of research, I finnaly gave up on growing.
There was no answer to my ventilation problems. This insomniac could barely sleep with a desk fan set on "high", let alone a grow box feet from my bed! Not only that, no one could know about my stealth operation. There had to be no sound, smell, glow, or high electricity use. Whats a stoner to do? A whole year later, Buffalo Grown introduced the Panasonic Whisper Fan. He convinced me to make my last and finnal investment in hopes of being a grower. It turned out to be a god send. When I first plugged the 80cfm, 0.4 sone fan into the socket, I thoguht it was broken. There was no noise. I put my hand over the exhaust and couldent believe the amount of air rushing through the 4" duct! It defies the laws of physics! Ten feet away and I could feel the breeze of air flowing past!

There are two types of noise when it comes to ventilaton.
First is air noise. That is the sound of air rushing through a vent.
Second is motor noise. Self explanitory.
Most fans are rated acording to motor noise.

Air noise is caused by two things: The speed of air being exhauseted and the restriction of air being exhausted (i.e. the diameter, shape, length and obstructions of the vent/intake.) Inline fans like the Vortex 172cfm move so much air through a 4" duct, that the hollow "Woosh" sound of blowing air becomes very noticeable. Not only that, inlines have very powerful motors. These motors are so strong, the Vortex 172cfm fan sounds like a mini jet engine! Not suitable for a bedroom grow what so ever!

PC fans tend to move a decent amount of air, yet have very weak and usually "whiney" motors. When the air flow is restricted, most PC fans tend to whine even louder while loosing a significant amount of CFM. In my opinion Motor Noise is *much more* irritating compared to Air Noise.

Finding that perfect ballance between Air Noise, Motor Noise and Power is not easy.
This is where the Panasonic Whisper Fan comes into play.
Using the 80cfm model, not only is the Air Noise barely noticeable, but there is no motor noise at all! Nor is there any vibration that needs to be absorbed! How can this be? Its panasonics secret! But our Holy Grail!
What about the power? Surely a fan this quiet is super weak! This is not so!
For some reason, when the air flow is restricted, the motor pushes harder!
I dont know why the fan does this! Within a two second delayed reaction, putting your hand over the exhaust reveals a sudden increase in air flow, as if the fan is programed to maintain a constant and consistant CFM!
Because of this, and the coincidental perfect mounting design of the fan, I had to experiment with a carbon scrubber. In the end, with two and a half pounds of activated carbon, 2" thick, the over all noise increase is less than 50%. That is fifty percent of virtual silence. The decrease in airflow is roughly 25% when exhausted straight, i.e. no ducting. There is no subsequent whining of the motor, although the scrubber does create a very slight "choppy" noise which is equal to a small HEPA filter on "low" setting. The HEPA filter I am comparing it to is this small one available at walmart:



I was so impressed with this fan, I bought three, and converted two into a carbon scrubber. The third one was removed from the casing and hooked up directly to a rectangular shaped exhaust, making the quietest, most efficient exhaust ever. When its hooked up like this, it is not lightproof, so its perfect for 24/0! Here is a off topic picture of direct exhaust, just to show what is possible with this fan.



view of the rectangular exhaust from the top



And here we go...!

TUTORIAL:


Only about a $100.00usd



Different models have different dimensions (i.e. 80cfm vs 120cfm)
Notice the black rim with moutning holes at the very top of the fan. Measure the dimensions of your model's rim.




Then buy a 1" x 3" from Home De Pot for about $3 or $4. This is the wooden frame that holds the carbon. Cut it to match the dimensions of the rim, and glue it together.



After it dries, we're gona drill some pilot holes.



Then fasten all four sides together with some screws.



Now we need four of each: 2" L-brackets, and 1" L-brackets.



And different screws because the ones that come with the L brackets are too long!



The L-brackets are used to hold the screen 1" above the Panasonic fan for Maximum surface area, but mostly to support the weight of carbon on the screen. The 2" L-bracket lines up with the very top.



Line up both L brackets so the screen rests evenly. Use the 2 incher to determine where the 1 incher will rest perfectly and evenly. We are going to use the 1" L-brackets for the corners, and the 2" L-brackets for the middle. Make sure you leave some space between the wall and 1" L-brackets in the corner, or you wont beable to screw them in!





When your finished it should look like this.



Heres another angle


Next comes the screen. City Mill sells this by the foot rather than in bundles, maybe cheaper. Get some wire cutters and cut the screen to match the inside of the frame. If the screen is a very tight fit, you may have to remove a few sqares to accomadate the L-brackets.



Another angle:




Get 8-12 sets of Washers/bolts/nuts. Make sure they fit in the L bracket holes! Fasten the screen to the L-brackets.



Flip the frame, mount it to the Panasonic with some screws & washers! There are holes in all for sides, no excuses! Make sure you use washers, or the pressure may warp the black rim when you tighten it down!




Now it should look like this, with a 2" carbon resevoir.



Get some Air Condition Filter sheets for $3-4 at Home De Pot. Just cut the filter to a perfect square and place over the screen. Make sure there is NO room or gaps where the carbon can fall into! This could destroy the fan!



Next just add the carbon. Notice the ductape that seals the fan to the frame. This is very important! You want all air to be sucked through the carbon, and only the carbon!



The quietest fan equipped with a massive DIY scrubber. Try to keep the Humidity under 50% if possible for all carbon scrubbers, pro and DIY. High RH will affect the scrubbers ability to remove odors. I havent noticed any smell however, even with 70% RH. Just a precaution. Any questions, comments, etc.. feel free. BigUps to Buffalo Grown from OG for introducing the fan, and saving my hobby.

Heres a picture of the fan in action, exhausting my new 150HPS cabinet



And a picture of my first grow ever using this fan:

Is 80 cfm enough? I donnt realy know so I am asking as that sounds like a good fan otherwise! I realize your grow is not 400w or c25 but what do you think?

Deft,
The Panasonic Whisper Fan series goes up to 380CFM (or more)

The 80cfm works for my 150.

Here is a link to your options:
http://www.rewci.com/panvenfan.html

Ahh cool sory if I mised that in your origional posts!

Bulénath no doubt we'll be seeing lots more of these Panasonics in the future. I'm with ya Bro....the inline that I just bought makes a ton of air noise and my next cab will definatly have a panasonic instead. I lost the bet with my roomate on that one. He said the panasonic would be quieter than the inline and if ya check the specs I thought it was a safe bet for me....I usually read the specs.... and they are both in the low to mid 30's db range but I went with the vortex thinkin it has more power to draw through a carbon scrubber. It has the power alright but the air flow is kinda crazy. I'm lurking you and a few others that are trying this out ... are you pulling through it or pushing through the carbon. Anyway we could get some more pics of the finished install? Also I was wonderin...it looks like you have the carbon just sitting in the tray without a cover ...that's why I'm guessing you are pushing through it. Your set-up looks like you could make a tray of carbon that could slip in and out easy for carbon changes.

Nice work on this Man!!!!

edit....and oh ya...do you blow the air right into the back of your new Flat Panel Display? .... they don't like moist air directly into the back of them .... Hate to see you lose your new toy Man!!!

BonsaiGrower,
Good to see you around buddy, glad you found the link. However it suprises me, and haunts me that not only did you overlook the information in the 150HPS club regurding my experience with vortex fans, but I failed to be there when you were making the same investment as me! Actually man, the Vortex *cannot compare* what-so-ever to the Panasonic. They are on totally, completely different levels. Also, the Vortex fan dBA is NOT in the "mid thirties range".... the 172cfm model is 48-49 dBA if I recall correctly!!!
The Panasonic 80cfm is 0.4 sones. That is less than 24 dBa I *think*, because it makes less noise than my Techie Toyz Mad Dogg 60cfm PC fan from Circuit City rated 24dBA.

Also man,
There is a picture of it in action at the very bottom of the third post!! Haha man your such a stoner, have another spliff my friend!
Anyways the Panasonic Scrubber "pulls" through the carbon, and thats why it has no AirCon Filter Sheet at the top, otherwise the carbon would be blown off the top! The exhaust is the 4" vent hole that you see!!

Yes the fan vents air out the back of the cabinet. I dont worry too much about humid air blowing around my new TV. My Air Condition keeps the ambient RH at 50%. This means that during "lights off" the RH in the box is 50% and during lights on its 20%.

Also, the tray of carbon is SUPER easy to change. You just slide the fan out and turn the thing over into a trashbag!
--It takes a grand total of 10 seconds to change the carbon!--
Remember the air pulls *through* the carbon! On that same note memeber Ordinary Joe mentioned that I should have another Air Condition Filter Sheet placed over the top of the carbon as a pre-filter to extend carbon life. I feel this is a good idea.

Bulénath,

Ha...ya I am kinda a stoner today....k..I see how you have your fan set-up now...makes sense...thanks...and oh ya...I should have noted that when I said the vortex was in the mid thirties...that's on a speed control.... I have a dba meter...(trick of my trade) but the air flow is high 40's .... they don't advertise that I'll tell ya....arrgh .... sure I can make a sound box for it but that'll take from my over all pantry look I'm going for...ha

oh and the moisture getting to the TV was before I realized where the air was comin out....it kinda looked like it was comin straight out the top.

am I still stoned? wait I can roll up another and make sure I am!!

Peace BG

Bonsai,
It seems like your about to make the same post-vortex investments as I once did, to silence the thing! Dude I made a sound box to silence the Vortex aswell! It was mentioned above as a "specially designed attic housing two feet of home-made, 12" thick fiberglass insulated ducting." In the end, the vortex fan still was WAY too loud!!
That was sooo much money and time wasted to make that insulated box/attic to quiet the Vortex! Not to mentioned I had the fan itself wraped in foam to help quiet it! None of this worked!

On the same note, reguarding the Solid State Controller for the Vortex. I bought one a month after purchacing the vortex, as my first reaction to this "mini jet engine". I found that the Solid State Controller, upon slowing down the fan in hopes of cutting back on the noise, actually created more noise! The SSContorller vibrated so damn loud it canceled out the noise reduction due to CFM reduction! After wasting that $40, I started the insulated attic, etc... Thats why I burned out for an entire year when my Vortex Fan became completely useless for a stealth operation....I tried EVERYTHING...

...The whole time im thinking I wasted $400 on the Vortex experiments so other growers wont make the same mistakes!!!

indeed....I ran into the same issue with my contoller. I found that after I suspended the fan rather than mounted on the rubber bushings it got better but I had to find the right speed...kinda like setting your eq on the stereo....it was feeding back till I had it just right....the vibration and noise of the fan went away but I was still left with a gushing wind sound...so now what I have is an oscillating fan in the room on low...makes no noise but it sounds like it cause my cabinet makes up for it. ah well ... at least I can't smell a thing and I can put the back of my hand on the glass of my hood...no problem at all...it's barely warm on 24/7 and the cab is only 4-5 degrees over ambient room temps

Havin way too much fun learning from my mistakes though...Peace my friend...respect

I'll have to stick with my dual Stanley blower's with insulated sound/light cab. Another way I keep my sound down is by pushing the air through the scrubber which also acts as a muffler. Also allways keep the intake and exhaust in seperate rooms if you can keeps things extra quiet. Nice little set up but I think their are many ways to approch this.

Nice set up badgr! Looks very clean and precise. Yes you are very right badgr, there are many ways to ventilate a cabinet. Everyone has to find what works for *thier own* situation. Thanks for sharing!

is it possible to push through a home made scrubber like that with a filter on the other side of the carbon too.

Can you reverse the panasonic fans direction?

big up. Nice set up, I think I am going to give it a try.

what are the dimensions of the fan?

good post, i am struggling with the mini jet engine now. i wonder how many cfm's of whisper fan it would take to cool a 430 hps in a 4x2x6 cab? and would the larger cfm whisper fans still be quiet enough for a bedroom grow? oh yeah thats a big plant 2 green thumbs up.

Goldfronts,

The fan's exhaust/intake is not reversable. In other words you can't make it pull air through the 4" duct.

I suppose you could push air through a scrubber using the 4". However this would be inefficient for one reason:

Negative pressure is always more efficent and more powerful than positive pressure.
This is a simple law of physics. Same concept goes for a "passive intake".

Now in cases where someone has an extremely powerful fan, (like an Inline, squirel cage fan, or blower) the fan is usually extremely loud, then I can see why someone would want to "push" the air through a scrubber: Becuase "pushing" air through a scrubber will tax it's CFM greater than "pulling", therefor the fan runs quieter *due to efficiency loss.*

Over all its always more efficent to use the laws of nature and just create a negative pressure which is constantly being replaced...Opposed to trying to remove the air by pushing it out. Remember: Passive Intake-
*the scrubber uses the same concpet*

The dimensions and specifications for each fan is linked on the last page aswell. Here is the same link:

http://www.rewci.com/panceilexfan.html


Green Goose,
Take a look at the link above. They have many models for each line of fans. The line I am using goes up to 380cfm. There are many who grow with a 400-430 watt HID, take a look at the size they are using, im sure the link will provide the panasonic equivilent. If a single fan is too loud, then why not use two quieter fans that add up to the same CFM? If I was growing with a 430HPS in my bedroom, I would probably buy 3-4 whisper fans at a very very low CFM, opposed to one large, noisy whisper fan. Either way, the amount you pay $ for CFM is almost the same when purchasing a single large Vortex with large can filter, or multiple whisperfans with cheap DIY scrubbers. Perhaps you spend a *tad* bit more, but hey, imagine a 430 watt stealth cabinet feet from your bed! No Hydro Store sells that kind of technology yet!

bulenath thanks for the response. i will keep tweeking things until i get it right.

Bulénath;
I don't know if I just misread your previous post but I'm going to have to say your description of passive is not quite right.
In my oppenion a passive cooling system works as follows,
you pull the air through the intakes and you don't usually have any intake fans just vents, b/c intake fans may actually screw up the cfms of the fan you are using to pull. Passive means air is sealed and can only come in through the intakes and you don't need to worry about smell leaking out b/c all of the air that could escape is not allowed to b/c it is getting sucked into all of the small holes and leaks. I don't know if you have seen the NGB setup from overgrow but he use's the exact setup i'm speaking of. I love this thread man. Keep it up.