littlebittaweed

I have this fan, and I've used it to effectively cooltube a 150w and a 400w (at separate times). With the 150, I took one of the two inlets and hooked up a collar and vent hosing to it, so it was sucking hot air from the bulb with one of the fan's inlets, and ambient room air through the other.

With the 400w, I decided to set it up to suck air from the grow room and just blow it through the cool tube.

Now, with my new setup, I want to build a box and put the fan inside of it, have a 4" hole in the sealed box, and have it suck air from the 400w bulb via cooltube. There would also be an exhaust hole cut into the box with the appropriate venting coming from it. It would essentially be a box housing the fan with a 4" inlet hole, and a 4" outlet hole. My biggest concern is frying the fan by not having it "breathe," if that's even necessary with these types of fans. Essentially, it is like making this an inline fan, but I know those are built differently. Am I looking at a fried fan if i do this? Or should it hold up?

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Silentsmoke

I've had the same exact idea myself. Seems like it would work as long as theres proper air flow, but don't quote me on that.


I intend on doing it, if I get around to it before you, I'll post up some info

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hydrolized

You won't fry the fan, but you will have way less static pressure capability to work with than with a "genuine" inline fan. Static pressure is the loss in flow you experience from lengths of ducting, bends, grills, reducers, pretty much anything that adds restriction. Real Inline fans are made to push air through long ducts and the flow drops off slower than a cage type fan, at least in smaller <16" sizes. Lets say you put a regular 465cfm SC blower on a setup that has 12' of flex duct, a 6'-4" reducer, and three elbows, it might put out 200cfm at the exhaust end (just a made up number), now if you used a 465cfm Inline fan on the same setup, the exhaust end cfm might be closer to 400, due to the fan being able to overcome the static pressure from the restrictions.

If you don't want to spend the $$$ on an inline, depending on the cooling needs of your system, I'd say go for it. What's the worst that could happen...your out the $$$ for a few boards and fittings and need to buy an inline anyways.

littlebittaweed

Silentsmoke: Thanks! Keep me posted.

hey hydrolized, thanks! Good info there. It really isn't a money issue with the fan--I am growing in a tent in my closet and occasionally have family over. Though I am medical, I still don't want to attract attention and have to go through the whole spiel about how it's a valuable medicine etc (to a 'straightlaced' conservative family). The inline I picked up from the hydro store was unbelievably loud, like hear-it-from-outside loud. I heard vortex's arent much better in terms of sound, either.

If I can find a nice, quiet inline that wouldn't be too obvious through a closet slider door, I'd definitely pick it up. I've heard a lot of good about the panasonic whisperline bathroom exhaust fans (2.0 sones or less), but am weary to commit to a $200+ fan when I know the 100$ inlines DO work.

The Lasko fan pictured above--I have no idea what it's CFM ratings are, but the hydro store fan really cranked out the air pressure when you put your hand near the outlet, and it was only 175 CFM. The same cannot be said for the Lasko, but it still keeps the temps in the low to mid 80's.

Can you suggest a very quiet inline fan?

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Underarock

there's a link to converting the larger Stanley blower by Chief Lakanukie done over 5 years ago
I did mine the exact same way from this thread

here's the Do It Yourself Link page

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hydrolized

Any of the name brand fans are quiet.

The most quiet I've heard are Fantech. All the Vortex I've heard were slightly unbalanced, making them hum a little regardless of mounting type (hard mount/rubber/bungee etc) but they also put out the most cfm's. Those are the only two I've had experience with. The fantech pulling through a carbon filter and flowing through 10 feet of flex duct is practically silent where the fan/filter is, and sounds a little quieter than a clothes dryer at the exhaust.

Depending on the size of your closet you can buy a speed controller for $15 and turn it down according to your temps/needs...at below 100% that setup isn't any louder than a refrigerator

littlebittaweed

Hey, Underarock, thanks! I've seen that done before and have always been interested. Question though; is it quiet? Can you run it with a fan speed controller? I'll check the link right now...

Thanks! I'll check out that brand. Have you ever seen this brand before?
Amazon.com: 4" TD Series Inline Fan, 109 CFM: Home & Garden

I saw someone running the 109 cfm one on the forums somewhere, but can't find it. The price is right, but there isn't mention of noise output. The stanley blower fan sounds like a pretty good idea.

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PipeWorks

Damn $100.00. Seems pretty high for only 109 CFM. They actually sell something very similar at Home Depot, only does about 80 CFM - but only $25.

They come in 4", 6", 8" - CFM steps up the bigger the fan.

Search Results for duct fan

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PipeWorks

Not trying to thread jack, you may be interested in this as I am.

This one does 200 CFM and only $56. Anyone used something like this?

ThruWall Transfer Fan - TW108 at The Home Depot

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littlebittaweed

Pipeworks: interesting!! I've never seen that one before--i think you may be on to something. I would be worried about the sones rating/dBA rating--sound is the #1 concern for me (next to functionality, of course!)

Here's what I did:


The box with the lid off


The box with the lid on!

*please forgive the craftsmanship--I had to build it in an apartment with a small handsaw and no workbench

Question: I am considering hooking my 400w cool tube up to the SUCKING side of this manifold/box. Do you think this will overheat the fan? Or are most squirrel cage fans (even the cheap ones) meant to operate in a variety of temperatures??

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