The best/cheapest online hydro shop? Need to make a purchase today.

[1love1earth]

Eh. I have a 6" Vortex and I don't think it's overly loud. Using insulated ducting helps keep the sound more about air movement and less about the fan itself. It does sound kinda like a jet engine, only the turbine part, but its also very "white noise" like. Nothing descript and sounds similar to my furnace fan. If you are doing a cab or live in an apartment with paper thin walls its probably too loud to put by a shared wall. Anything else and it won't matter.

it's not a shared wall, but it is in a living space, and so much as I can keep things quiet, I'd like to, not even so much for stealth as simple peace of mind.

I guess the question is that are there any "alternatives"?

Is there any advantage to getting a 8" or 10" instead of 6" and adapting down? (planning on getting a 6" cool tube) typically larger fans move more CFM with less noise, do you think I'd be better off getting a larger size fan, and just adapting it down?

 

[FreezerBoy]

Eh. I have a 6" Vortex and I don't think it's overly loud.

Mine's a 4" Elicent. 5-10 db quieter than the 6" Vortex. Triple silenced with muffler, speed control and fan isolation box, I can hear it from the back of the open garage, all the way to the street. At that distance, you need to know what to listen for, but, it's there.

I admit to hyperbole in the first post to make a point; If you want stealth, you want a different fan. As long as you can put a door or wall between it and visitors, it'll work great. If you let people in, you better have a good story.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

it's not a shared wall, but it is in a living space, and so much as I can keep things quiet, I'd like to, not even so much for stealth as simple peace of mind.

I guess the question is that are there any "alternatives"?

Is there any advantage to getting a 8" or 10" instead of 6" and adapting down? (planning on getting a 6" cool tube) typically larger fans move more CFM with less noise, do you think I'd be better off getting a larger size fan, and just adapting it down?

I run 3x600 HPS in Cool Tubes off a 6" Vortex. If I went any higher than that I would have needed a bigger fan. If you are talking about running a single 600 then a 6" is overkill UNLESS you plan on adding more lights later. I do like your thought about buying bigger. That will save you money later if you have any idea about going bigger later. If you intend to stick with only a single 600 then no need for that big of a fan.

 

[JohnnyToke]

broponics.com is a good outlet and offer some free shipping items as well. they ship stealth and fast.

ive also had good service with htgsupply.com

regards,
JT

 

[1love1earth]

well, I'm thinking about going with a 10" vortex and adapting it down for the cool tube, though the "inch" measurement on the cooltubes, is that the opening? IE I might as well go with a 8 inch cooltube to have more airflow? Either way, a 10" vortex means a whole lot more airflow with less noise, meaning I should be able to dial it down even more with a fan controller.

Also, really thinking the "ODORSOK" might be simple enough for me, plug and play, compact, reuseable, sounds good, plus there's a 10" version.

As far as lighting goes, the cooltube will house a 400 watt CMH, which likely isn't quite enough for the "flowering room" part of the closet. This room will measure 2.5' by 6.5' and about 5.5ft tall (I could make it longer if I wanted by another foot or two). Still I am uncertain as to what I can pull before the breaker will trip. While 2 400 watt CMH lights would probably do real real well, this may just be a bit much for the room, I'm not sure, doing the math, 1 400 watt CMH works out to 25 watts per sq ft, and 800 watts is about 50 per sq ft, so maybe I should consider a 2nd, but that can honestly wait until flowering, the seedlings are only 3 days old or so right now, some younger.

The room is going to be constructed with thin plywood, and the plywood will be painted white to help reflect light, I'd do mylar, but I've heard mylar is flammable.

The carpet in the closet is going to be lined with "poly b&w" before a plywood floor is laid down, just in case.

Exhaust hole will be cut on the top end of the "box", which will later be connected to the "veg room" (currently I'm vegging in what will be the flowering room).

The general plan is to leave one side of the cool tube open, placing a filter on it of some sort (just to catch dust and crap), and the other side will be ducted, the ducting will travel to the exhaust port, which will house the "odorsok". How does that sound? I realize most folks probably don't leave one side of the cooltube open, but I figured that if there's an intake hole anywhere towards the bottom of the box, air should simply travel in the intake, magically find it's way up towards the cooltube, through the open hole, through the ducting to the odorsok. Obviously the vortex would have to be placed somewhere in between the cool tube and the exhaust hole.

Should I just duct the cool tube all the way to the intake, or can I just have a hole for the intake? my attitude was that this took up precious space, but if I need to do it that way to truly be effective, I will (I guess it's also more light tight ducted to the intake). Though in theory, if the cooltube is ducted to the intake and exhaust, the carbon scrubbing odorsok really isn't scrubbing anything but air from outside the room...

maybe a "Y" at the intake, one going to the intake hole, and another simply opening into the grow room? OR I could just setup a seperate loop for carbon scrubbing with it's own ducting and fan, but this takes up more space, and more money, and is more complicated.

What should I do?

I can draw a schematic if anyone really wants...

 

[SomeGuy]

Odor Sok first, duct to cool tube, cool tube, duct to outside cabinet, then the actual fan pulling air out.

Its more efficient to pull air than to push it.

 

[1love1earth]

Odor Sok first, duct to cool tube, cool tube, duct to outside cabinet, then the actual fan pulling air out.

Its more efficient to pull air than to push it.

Mmmm that sounds good. Now with your method, I take it the odorsok is just sitting somewhere, so that dirty air is sucked in through it, through the cool tube, and out through the exhaust by the fan. My intake would just be a completely unducted hole, correct? (otherwise if my intake was ducted to the odorsok, the odorsok would just be scrubbing outside air...)

I should be in good shape, I'm likely going to add another 400 watt CMH and cooltube for flowering, but currently it is more than I can afford.

The veg room will likely be run with the 65 watt high lumen CFLs (3-4 of them).

While I could use 2700k CFLs for spot treatment in the flowering room, I'm not sure how badly it will be needed, and might just add too much to the clutter, not sure.

 

[Guest]

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TySik

 

[SomeGuy]

Mmmm that sounds good. Now with your method, I take it the odorsok is just sitting somewhere, so that dirty air is sucked in through it, through the cool tube, and out through the exhaust by the fan. My intake would just be a completely unducted hole, correct? (otherwise if my intake was ducted to the odorsok, the odorsok would just be scrubbing outside air...)

Hang it up in back near the top of the cab where all the heat is. And yes the intake is passive meaning its just a hole. On mine I attached about 6 ft of duct in a U shape on the outside to act as a light trap, that way I still get fresh air but no light.

 

[Guest]

Hang it up in back near the top of the cab where all the heat is. And yes the intake is passive meaning its just a hole. On mine I attached about 6 ft of duct in a U shape on the outside to act as a light trap, that way I still get fresh air but no light.

6 feet of duct?

 

[swampdank]

VERY loud. Not "ear bleeding" loud but, "what the @#$%* is that sound that has no excuse for being in this room," loud. It will destroy any sense of stealth. They can be muffled sufficiently to keep the noise inside a room but, anyone in that room will know unless you have several large aquariums and a few racks of computer servers and blaring rock and roll to mask them. Did I mention they are LOUD?

the thing that is loud with the vortex is the air movement. you can expect that from any fan that moves that much air. if noise is a concern like that, i would suggest using a much larger vortex fan and a speed controller. the larger fan will move more air with less pressure(which is the culprit for the noise). consider using a larger diameter ducting with a larger fan at lower speeds. otherwise, its pointless. for the record, i have never actually heard my vortex fan, just the air blowing through the ducting. this is to be expected with higher air pressures.

 

[~fvk~]

Do yourself a favor and forget about the Odorsok and get yourself a true reusable/refillable carbon filter. Word is they suck and odor is an issue you don't want to deal with. I'm surprised nobody else said anything about it... It might be a little extra to get a 10" can style carbon filter instead but in the end it'll end up saving you money when you decide the Odorsok isn't cutting it. If you wanted to to balance out the cost a bit you could even go down to a 8" fan on a speed controller with a 6" (large) - 8" carbon filter.

Plantlightinghydroponics seems to have the best deals on inline fans.


Peace.

 

[1love1earth]

so the odorsok really is crap?

I was wondering about this item, I really cannot afford to have a crap odor control device. I'm tempted to just build my own, but there's also the "vaportek" which surprisingly people have had great things to say about...

 

[SomeGuy]

6 feet of duct?

Inside the space I have just enough duct for the light to drop almost to the bottom of the cab.
Outside the cab for intake is the 6' of duct in a U shape light trap.

 

[PurplePotion]

No go on the odorsok-- only heard bad things. I'll be setting up my tent this week with 1 600W HPS and 1 400W CMH in air-cooled hoods. I bought a 8" Vortex for that reason exactly. I know I could have gotten away with a 6" maybe even decent size Dayton, but I bought the 8" so I can turn it down to remove noise, but still cool efficiently. I'll let you know how it works soon.

Also.. rather than using a cooltube, you may want to consider an air-cooled hood. You can find a SuperSun2 for 115-130 shipped. Cooltubes just don't reflect light very well.. an air-cooled hood will be much better.

Cool tubes are better suited for areas where heat and ventilation are 100% of the concern.

 

[1love1earth]

Really, are cooltubes that bad at reflecting?

I figured they'd be good enough, I really liked how compact they were, and I figure I can keep them super close to the plants, which I really like too.

Anyways, likely going to go with a 10" vortex and adapt it down.

How are the dutch breeze carbon filters like the one seen here: http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AOCDBDFS06&eq=&Tp=

I know I could just build one, but pre-made is how I'll go this time.

The one seen above has a 10" flange, which will fit my fan, meaning I just have to adapt down to 6" for the cooltubes.

Also I can get "wings" for the cooltubes if I want, should I go that route?

 

[PurplePotion]

That carbon filter is nice, but it's huge.. not sure if you were looking for something that big.

I'd go with an air-cooled hood over a cool-tube with a 'wing' for sure. There's a thread on here somewhere by pico that has results of a whole bunch of different reflectors. The Sun Systems Super Sun 2 came out on top if I remember correctly. Search for threads created by pico if you want to have a gander. Not sure if they did cool-tubes or not, but I think so.

 

[FreezerBoy]

the thing that is loud with the vortex is the air movement. you can expect that from any fan that moves that much air. if noise is a concern like that, i would suggest using a much larger vortex fan and a speed controller. the larger fan will move more air with less pressure(which is the culprit for the noise). consider using a larger diameter ducting with a larger fan at lower speeds. otherwise, its pointless. for the record, i have never actually heard my vortex fan, just the air blowing through the ducting. this is to be expected with higher air pressures.

Whoosing air is all I've got. My old axial made a whoosh too, exactly like the one you'd expect from an old freezer. The inline sounds like what it is, a huge honking exhaust fan for which there's no explanation other than what it is.

As to a larger fan, I don't see how a 10-15 dB increase (300%-500% louder) is going to help.

 

[PurplePotion]

Whoosing air is all I've got. My old axial made a whoosh too, exactly like the one you'd expect from an old freezer. The inline sounds like what it is, a huge honking exhaust fan for which there's no explanation other than what it is.

As to a larger fan, I don't see how a 10-15 dB increase (300%-500% louder) is going to help.

Larger fan moves more air.

6" Vortex = 449CFM
10" Vortex = 790CFM

Air flow is basically created by the rate (rpm) of the turbine and the diameter of the turbine.

Noise is a vector of RPM, diameter (or volume), and pressure.

A 10" Fan turned down to move 449CFM will run at a significantly lower RPM to move that amount of air. Lower RPM, larger diameter = less pressure = less noise.

You can use PC fans as an example. A 60mm fan moving 50cfm will sound like a damn jet engine, yet a 120mm fan moving 50cfm will hardly be audible-- lower RPM's, lower pressure .. less noise. :smile:

 

[FreezerBoy]

But, will a 60mm fan doing 20 cfm be louder than a 120mm moving 50 cfm? I have a speed control set to the lowest possible setting. A 10 inch on the lowest setting is going to move 5 times the air I'm moving now. Isn't moving air where the woosh comes from?