Buzzing from inline fan after installing speed controller

[Guest]

I havent heard of a ducting damper but I'll check it out. I really dont want to cut the airflow down but at 100% the airflow creates too much noise. I would like to run the fan at about 75-85%, which works for heat removal and noise level but the 2 speed controllers Ive tried, both make this fan buzz.

Believe me, I've tried many ways to silence this operation within my space and it all ready takes up way too much real estate! I dont have the luxury of a spare room for this, it is in my living space. Stealth is a necessity, so I must find a way to keep things cool, oderless and very silent... or its a no go.

 

[Guest]

The FR110 by Fantech is a BATHROOM exhaust fan. They are above the ceiling (attic) installations. They are quieter up there due to remote location and insulation. Better than most tract home fixtures but not in a class with the grow room variety. Tops being "ellicent", followed by Vortex and a distant 3rd would be EconoPlus (IMHO) these being Makes that I am familiar with. Some other opinions are out there and they will probably come forward.

How many readers have NEVER heard the Fart Fan when its on? There is a lot of Price markup on that FR110, with price not necessarily being a quality indicator.

Ty-Stik

 

[waydee]

So I built a 3/4" thick mdf box for my 4" inline, I have 7" hard ducting with 1.5" foam lining the inside but I still have too much air noise with the fan running at full blast. I really wanted to run the fan at 100% but its just too noisy and stealth is my #1 priority. Even if it is expensive for an electronic speed controller, if it works, I will buy it. Does anyone know for sure if those will run a fan like mine, Fantech FR110, without the buzzing? Anyone got a link or know what kind of store I could find one locally? The whole project depends on this!

I can't tell you for certain if an electronic controller is what you need but its certainly what every other inline duct fan i've seen requires - did your fan come with a data sheet or anything? my systemair gives all the data you need to pick out the right kind of speed controller.

 

[Guest]

The FR110 by Fantech is a BATHROOM exhaust fan. They are above the ceiling (attic) installations. They are quieter up there due to remote location and insulation. Better than most tract home fixtures but not in a class with the grow room variety. Tops being "ellicent", followed by Vortex and a distant 3rd would be EconoPlus (IMHO) these being Makes that I am familiar with. Some other opinions are out there and they will probably come forward.

How many readers have NEVER heard the Fart Fan when its on? There is a lot of Price markup on that FR110, with price not necessarily being a quality indicator.

Ty-Stik

I have a bathroom exhaust fan for a fresh air supply fan. Very quiet squirrel cage type blower but only rated at 90CFM. That's OK for my fresh air supply.

Most bathroom fans I'm familiar with don't have the CFMs to use for an exhaust fan thru a scrubber.

How come you don't care for the larger Daytons? They are MUCH quieter than any Vortex of the same CFM. As I said above, my 465 works like a champ with my scrubber and is quiet.

Just curious

MT

 

[Harry Gypsna]

ive finally found a source in the UK for those snail shaped blowers like the daytons you have across the pond.... these are made by torin.... I think ill get a 500 and a 250 for my exhaust and intake...maybe another 250 for the air cooled hood. I know that theres pretty much nothing can be done about the whoosing air noise though.....

 

[Guest]

ive finally found a source in the UK for those snail shaped blowers like the daytons you have across the pond.... these are made by torin.... I think ill get a 500 and a 250 for my exhaust and intake...maybe another 250 for the air cooled hood. I know that theres pretty much nothing can be done about the whoosing air noise though.....

I think you'll like those "snail shaped" squirrel cage blowers. You can muffle the output by making a muffler out of a small plastic trash can. There's a thread on that somewhere. If you do that, there isn't much noise at all. Over here they are a lot cheaper than Vortex type of roughly the same output.

The design of squirrel cage blowers makes them inherently more quiet. Centrifugal blowers(Vortex) have to wind up RPM's to be efficient. That's another reason I wonder about the utility of speed controllers on them...like putting hobbles on a racehorse....nevermind the other problems associated with speed controllers like those mentioned above. If you want less flow, put in a damper. I'm not much on dampers though. I'd rather pick a blower with little more "UMMMFFF" than I need and muffle the output if I need to cut down on noise.

MT

 

[Guest]

I have nothing against the Dayton fans. Unfortunately so many of their models have the motor mounted on the outside of the fan housing and do not get the benefit of air flow cooling as with the inline models.

Grainger.com stocks the Dayton, check the site for models and technical data.

 

[Guest]

I talked to a few people who know their shit today and they said it is not likely possible to use a speed controller on most fans and not get a buzzing, just like a dimmer on a light bulb, it makes those those buzz too.

I guess Im giving up more real estate to add another 3' silencer on the intake and hopefully that should take care of the rushing air noise without making the fan BUZZ

Ty-the fantech wasnt that much, I think like $130-140 which I thought was decent and I read a lot of good things about them on OG last year.

MTweedman-I really didnt know they made small, silent squirrel cage blowers and I dont need anything more than about 150cfm. As for the silencer, I have been using a homemade 3' silencer on the exhaust like this one

and will be adding another shortly to the intake. These reduce the sound maybe like 30-40% but there is still a lot of air movement noise to deal with. These small fans move a lot of air!

 

[keylime]

another trick not mentioned is to get the size of warm air pipe, such as 6" pipe, and also get 6" INSULATED flexible ducting. You pull out the wire piping in the flexible insulated duct, and use the insulation and the plastic that covers it and slide it OVER the warm air pipe. Whoalla! you have an instant sound muffling warm air pipe that has much better airflow than the original flexible ducting has.

kelylime

 

[Guest]

I just looked up Fan-Tech blowers. I don't see what the attraction is unless space and and mounting are issues. $137.00 for a 100CFM blower.

Heres two places you can buy Daytons 140CFM from. Even after buying 2 adapter plates for ducting it is still cheaper than a Fan Tech..and quieter. A 140 is a small blower too. My 465 doesn't make much noise. The 140 makes hardly any compared to it.

MT

http://www.specialty-lights.com/736005.html#details

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AEF140C&eq=&Tp=

 

[sunnydog]

Mine buzzes too. 5+ 8 Vortex,does'nt seem to be a problem, just annoying.