Vortex.......wtf.....

[hlep]

so i just got in my 6" vortex today.....

i have a homebox xs and i was planning on hooking up a 6" vortex hooked up to a scrubber and cooltube.

i went with the 6" over the more common 4" (for my setup) because i read that the 6" and 4" were rated at the same dBa. so...i decided that a 6" reduced 1/2 with a speed controller would be quieter and work the same as a 4".

well i got my vortex yesterday and i plugged it in just to hear how loud it was and feel how much air it pushed.

for anybody who is thinking of getting one of these fans. with nothing hooked up to it, the fan is about as loud as those lawn blowers that you use OUTSIDE. the airflow is also similar although not quite as strong as a lawn blower. most of the sound seemed to be the airflow rather than the motor...although it was so damn loud it really could be either. the fan itself is also HUGE and surprisingly heavy

anyway....i haven't hooked up the vortex yet because i still don't have my speed controller and i'm still waiting on some parts for my DIY cooltube.

in its current state, this fan is unacceptable. i might as well slap a big red light out my door that says "unusual activity going on here".

my question.....

will the sound go down significantly when I put a speed controller on the fan? i plan to dial fan down to about 200-240ish cfm.

how about when i hook up the ducting, carbon scrubber, and cooltube?
i'm planning on going......(inside cab) Passive Intake ==> Carbon Scrubber ==> Cooltube ==> (outside cab) Vortex.

i know a fan is not going to be silent...but this is a little ridiculous. can you get the sound down to the point where its more of a hum/buzz/bland sound in the background? (like a hepa filter or even a regular fan)

if not...i'm going to have to get rid of this thing because it just won't work out.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Welcome to my nightmare! I feel your pain as does my wallet. You're correct when you say, "a fan is not going to be silent." This leaves three possibilities.

Can you pin the noise on something else? Not likely. It's not the level of noise but the sound of it. It's simply inappropriate for a residential setting. A lion roars in the zoo you may not even hear it. Let that lion roar in your bedroom and you'll hear it real quick.

Can you cover the noise with another? Yes, you can. Aquariums, servers, box fans ... Though that may leave you with unnacceptable noise levels overall.

Can you separate fan from "listeners"? This is the best option. Either lock people out of the room or put the fan elsewhere (like the attic) With proper silencing, if you can put a wall between fan and ears, you're golden.

With quadruple silencing, my Elicent can be heard from the back of my garage all the way to my neighbor's door across the street! BUT, only if the garage door is up. With garage doors down, the fan cannot be heard outside the garage or inside the house.

Try fan speed controls, insulated ducting, mufflers and fan isolation chamber. These combined with fan or ear relocation should solve the problem.



Please forgive horrid execution of isolation box. I was trying to bull my way through the flu in a state of noise induced panic. As sucky as the execution is, the theory is sound and the chamber worked wonders.

Here's a link to the DIY muffler. http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=65345&highlight=muffler

 

[hlep]

freezer boy-
i saw you post in another thread about S&P fans. did you ever make the switch? and if you did, was it an improvement?

 

[FreezerBoy]

No, but I'm keeping an eye on them. While addition of second intake and reverting to the axial solved my noise problems, the STENCH was another matter (Damn you IC! My grows were sad and puny before I came here, this is your fault!) Masking odors is NOT a solution and I don't know the axial could handle a scrubber ...

 

[FunkBomb]

I use a 4" Vortex on a speed control with ducting into a carbon filter. Yes there is some noise, but no it is not unacceptable. Plants need airflow and if you don't provide that for them they will not supply as you demand of them. Look into some of the Panasonic whisper fans if noise is your primary concern.

-Funk

 

[Wonderon]

So its that loud huh. I am looking to get one myself but def, didn't expect to see a noise report like this. I may have to go with something like freezerboy posted as I can't have it that noticeable either.

 

[Raistlin Majere]

hlep i loved your post, it took me right back to the day i got my fan
loud and heavy

i did the same tricks FB did - "insulated ducting, mufflers and fan isolation chamber"

 

[badmf]

Ha ha ha, you guys (girlz too, oh yeah!) think thats loud? You should hear the 12" Elicent, although very quiet compared to other fans, its the sheer volume of air moved that is making the sound. It's strong enough at full power to blow a phone book away! It sounds as if I have a PiperCub in my house! I have disbanded this one as it was in a previous large azz set-up no longer around. And as far as using speed controls, you could be defeating the reason you are using the fan to begin with so be careful to monitor temps etc. But its better to use a fan thats more than you need at half power than one just right at full power screamin away!
Now to solve your problem, be very careful of heat build up in boxes that are too small! You may quiet the sound of the fan only to hear the loud siren of a fire truck!
Ducting will quiet some sound if its insulated properly and kept to straighter shorter runs. Use foam or packing materials to deaden the reflective nature of unfinished walls and floors, esp in gararges, old clothes, blankets all help. You also may look at your "airs pathway" see if you can remove obstructions to "let" air flow smoother.
All the a/c units in my area make acceptable noise and help cover, if you will my a/c, lol. You want loud, try runnin' a gas water pump in the woods, you may as well shout "I'm over here waitin!" lol

 

[AlexanderS]

Like everyones said, theres gonna be that rumbling wooshing air sound, hooking it up to filters and ducts properly will help muffle it, they also sell or you can build mufflers like others in this thread have suggested. if its behind closed doors, you can usualy chalk it up to white noise and most people will never notice or think twice unless they know what your doing back there. Good luck tho!

AlexS

 

[hlep]

so....just incase it still doesn't work out when i get my fan controller...i'm starting to look at other fan options.

one thing that did seem interesting was the S&P TD 125 inline fan. its 5" (so i can buy a 5"-->4" reducer) and rated at 197 cfm. somebody commented on another forum that their S&P TD 200 was more quiet than their 6" vortex. another nice thing about the S&P is that it is small enough that i can fit it INSIDE my cab (therefore further dampening the sound. currently the 6" vortex is so huge that if i did put it in my cab it would take up 1/4-1/3 of the space inside...

the thing about my cab is its pretty small 2' x 2' x 4'...about 16 cubic feet. a 193 cfm fan...even if the carbon filter reduces the airflow by half i would still be exchanging about 5x per minute. has anybody had any experience with the S&P fans and know how loud they are?

 

[2buds]

look up the panasonic whisper line of fans if you want quiet

 

[FrankRizzo]

I remember when I first fired mine up I thought a jet was taking off or something. A speed controller helped some but then you get this weird humming noise. Since you have a relatively small cab the controller might help you quite a bit. At 1/2-3/4 speed the thing isn't nearly as noisy as at 100%

 

[humble1]

A six inch anything is seriously overblowing your rinky-dink sized cab.
Even at half strength through a scrubber.
have you put the scrubber on yet?
you'll notice a dramatic reduction in noise accompanying the reduction in overall airflow.
I don't know how much of an issue smell is for you, but if it weren't I would've just got a couple of large axial computer fans and be done with it.
One for intake and one for exhaust through the cooltube.
.02

 

[Green Force]

i say fuck it!!!! lol i got 2x vortex 6" the noise is the air flow i have had many other fan types vortex is pure quiet insulated ducting and speed controller youll be fine that bitch will pull more air at half speed then u can imagine

Edit: fuck some ppl are really parinoyd smokin wayyy to much i live in a 2 beed rm apt with fuckin A/c box 2x 6" vortex all running full blast 24/7 but then again i got balls of steel and just dont give a fuck i also ran 32 Strawberry diesel plants blowing air into my walls with no scrubber landlord came by nebous around fuck it lol sorry for the ramble

 

[dirkdaddy]

try hooking up the scrubber on the exhaust end to muffle the "whooshing" sound? seems like that may help coupled with a speed controller.

 

[gnarly]

so you know, the airflow drops EXPONENTIALLY as voltage drops. I do not know the actual figures, but I have a controller on my 6" vortex and it will drop half the airflow in the first 1/8th of a turn of the knob.... FYI.

They are loud as hell. If you can mount them in the attic, or under the house, or wherever the air is going... that works... For my current situation i made a box out of a rubbermaid, cut holes on each side, then ripped up pillows and insulation to stuff all around it. Also, your ducting lines will have a 'whoosh' to them. If you get insulated ducting you will cut back on it. I now have a 10" insulated ducting on the outside of my 6" ducting to quiet it down. With the box and the extra insulation, you can barely hear it hum at all outside the room.

 

[Cannabean]

I ordered the s&p td-200x 478cfm fan today. Ill let you know how it works when it arrives.

 

[mikecar312]

if you just plug a fan in without any attachments, it will be loud. attach the fan to a hood and a filter and some ducting - you will notice a drastic noise reduction. you can still here the air movement slightly though. if i remove the filter from my setup, i definitely notice an increase in noise. the speed controller will help with the noise a lot. i have a panasonic whisper fan and that is definitely my most silent but doesn't pull nearly as much air as the vortex.

i feel growers hear fans louder than others because they know its there. one time my landlord had to come in and check the fire detector. he was standing in front of my grow room. i could here the air movement from my vortex 6" like it was loud music and feel the light vibration on the wall but he didn't notice anything. we stood in front of the grow room talking for a few minutes before he left. this was many months ago.

i realize noise description varies greatly from person to person - some people's 'soft hum' equals anothers 'turbine engine'. one thing i do know is a lot of things make noise in the house that we're use to and don't think twice about - refrigerator, boiler, heaters, a/c, etc. i noticed that many people will not notice a constant low humming sound over any average sound that goes on in the house.

 

[SiR-GrOwS-aLoT]

u ggotta use insulated ducting, and u gotta wrap that reducer with insulation cut off a some insulated duct. then suspend vortex from bungy cords..you have to to eliminate that humm..and if it still buggin you, i cut the insulation off some insulated 8" ducting and used it to wrap around the vortex fan itself... that takes care of the fan itself..

now if u get air flow noise comming from the exaust, a make shift muffler is easy..i myself, once cut open my pillow and stuck the exhaust hose half way into the stuffing and duct taped it in place..work like a charm!

 

[FreezerBoy]

i feel growers hear fans louder than others because they know its there.

There's one local friend that knows about my grow and was the only one allowed inside the garage during the inline fiasco. The 4" Elicent is 10-15 dB quieter than the 6" Vortex. With quadruple silencing on the Elicent, it took less than 10 seconds for him to scrunch his face and ask what the hell the noise was. I think your landlord is deaf.