Good Centrifugal Fans?

[ChuckSlam]

Hey, I'm adding in the last component or two for my grow cab, and I was wondering if any of you could offer some advice on which brand centrifugal fan to go for. The reason why I've been looking to buy one of these pricey fans is because I've heard they're the quietest fans available and that is important to me because my grow cab will be right next to my bed.

I know of Fantech, Elicient and Vortex, but have any of you guys had any good or bad experiences with these or other companies making essentially the same products? I'm looking for a 4" with about 120 or so cfm, and Fantech's FX4 has looked about right to me up until now.

But if I were to go and drop $130 on the Fantech FX4, would it be difficult to get the thing hooked up to power? I know the Vortex fans sold in most hydroponics shops are sold ready to be plugged right into the wall, but I can't seem to find anywhere locally (where I can pay cash) or anywhere online selling them that isn't something like a hydroponics store (don't want to buy from a hydroponics store with a credit card).

Are they even worth the high pricetag? Is there much of a difference between one of these and a regular Dayton blower? Because if not, I could get one of those from Home Depot, pay less and in cash and have it faster than ordering online!

Can anyone offer me some insight on this?

Thank you!

 

[MTF-Sandman]

There is a huge difference between inlines and blowers like daytons. Inlines are more efficient (MUCH lower wattage), quieter since they're well balanced, and work much better against back pressure like scrubbers and bends in ducting. If stealth is the utmost concern, I'd go with the Vortex...you can usually snag them for around $100 off ebay for a 4". I run an elicent 8" and while the fan itself makes almost no noise, the amount of air it moves is what makes a huge whooshing noise...so plan your ducting correctly and with a 4" you oughta be golden.

 

[FunkBomb]

Ive got a 6" Vortex and love it. All you hear is the air movement. There is no better deal especially with the 10 year warranty


-Funk

 

[acidfire]

I have a 6" vortex with a speed controller(needed!) cooling my 400W HPS.

This thing moves so much air its crazy, I run it on about 1/4 speed.

 

[clowntown]

I currently have a 6" Vortex with a speed controller cooling my 250w. I have it on the lowest setting, it still moves helluva lot of air even through ~20' of non-smooth "dryer hose" with several sharp bends. Full speed is crazy, I'd probably not run full speed even on my 600w unless I needed to control humidity or something.

 

[Guest]

Elicent's are great and started with those but have since moved over to Vortex. After feedback from others I found out they were reliable, peeps liked em alot and compared to Elicent, cost and how much more air they move, they're a much better bargain. I picked up a new 6" Vortex on sale for like $149 at Maryland Hydro but you said no cc transations but it gives you an idea. I always recommend to over engineer your ventilation system since you can use a controller to slow things down but you have that extra oomph when needed.

There's an active thread in this section about the quiet Panasonic fans you may wanna check out since it'll be next to your bed. Inlines do make some noise but compared to a squirell cage they're quiet.

EDIT - Oh yeah...the rated life for an Elicent fan is like 100,000 hours. That equates to about 11 years of continuous operation .

 

[SpacedCWBY]

I built a scrubber and attached an inline duct booster fan (6", 250cfm, $28 at the depot). Works well and knocks out the smell in my space. Can't smell a thing and keeps the temps right at 75 most of the time.

Best of luck