Hello all, I've got a question for you. Anybody have any ideas for how to muffle the roar of a 6" Vortex fan? That sucker (no pun intended) is loud as hell! Thanks in advance for any replies. Peace - dooobs
Got any pics of the type of fan? Or a link or anything? I'm not sure what your talking about. Any other useful info would be very helpful.
Hang the fan from rubber bungee cords use insulated ducting & you can make a muffler or buy one hope this helps-Bud
Got any pics of how it's mounted? You can probably install a variable speed control on it and slow it down, or change the way it's mounted to help quiet it down.
Thanks for the replies people. I don't have any pictures of the fan or how it's installed right at the moment, but when I get home from work this evening I will take some shots and post them up. Here's a link to a pic of what the fan looks like... The thing weighs about 15 pounds lol http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/179-9620722-8129330?a=B001JKYTLG I will say that the way I have it installed, there's no vibration noise or anything, it's just the roar of air coming out the outlet side that's loud... Almost sounds like a jet engine I'm thinking I'll need a fan speed controller to slow it down a little bit. Thanks again for the replies folks!
Yup you need a speed control. Available at home depot or grainger or johnstone supply.. Just be sure the speed control is rated for the max amps the fan draws. Also make sure its low point is adjustable. When you get it installed you want to make sure that. Ur fan can start without lagging for too long and adjust the lowwpoint of the control to that speed or above. Otherwisee you could burn out the motor if the speed control gets bumped or vibrates out of adjustment. There's apossablility that at a reduced speed you may not be moving enuf air. The fix to this is installing an additional fan and running both at reduced speed, as long as the ducting can support the airflow it will work ok Good luck with it.
i have the exact same type of fan (mine is 424 cfm i think) and i put a variable speed on it, moreso for temp controls, but since its warmed up i've had to turn it up, and it's a bit louder. my biggest noise is actually my exhaust, where it comes out of the ducting from the fan. i route that somewhere else, so if you get variable speed, that will knock down the fan noise, and then route your exhaust somewhere else, you should significantly lower your noise. hope that helps! peace GTWT :XXhippylove:
I agree with bud I recently bought and installed a 6" Valueline I used bungee cords and insulated ducting with the door shut to the room that my fan is in I cant even hear it. But when im in the room it is rather loud as long as I cant hear it outside the room is all that matters to me.
I run a 1060cfm valueline on a rubber matt. Exhaust is all insulated ducting and you can hardley hear it :beerchug-2: Teamster6
Where are you exhausting to? I have a 400CFM fan and it was kinda loud until I insulated the duct and mounted the fan IN MY CEILING (intake side hangs down into the closet-exhaust faces up into the attic-sitting on the padded sheet rock) pulling the air out of my closet and through the attic then out of my roof vent. You can still hear a low pull but it's very low now.
what do you use for insulation? I have that cheap, 4" silver flex crap on there now. different material, or can i put something on that junk??? GTWT :XXhippylove:
That' s what I have running from my hood to my 6" fan intake (using a 4" to 6" adapter). Home Depot and Lowes sell an insulated sleeve that you can slide on to the existing duct. I already had my duct in place so I cut the insulated sleeve and then taped it back around the duct even tighter. I paid like $12 for it. They also sell 25ft of insulated flextube for around $30 I think. Price depends on the diameter though.
Down with the evil octopussy flex duct! Hard pipe that dizzle 30ga aluminum will work much better...use flex between the fittings but pull it taught, loose flex is restrictive times a bunch.
Yeah I agree. I have mine pulled very tight and pulled together at the end. Flex works great for raising and lowering my hood and with a 400CFM, I got more than enough draw pulling through.
Nothing works better than fiberglass insulation ducting for muffling the high speed airflow, its around 30-40 $$$ for I believe 25 ft of it.......at home dippy or lowes! And a speed controller will help greatly as well
Thanks for all the help GK'ers. I'm going to go with the insulated flex duct and see how it helps. Seems easier than building a muffler box. Thanks again.
Make sure you have it hung by bungee cords or have a rubber mat to help. If you have it bolted up to something solid with no rubber dampener on it you will hear it regardless through the framing. Like the majority have pointed out bungee cords and insulated ducting, solves 95% or all peoples noisy exhaust problems.
What, you don't like the sound of a jet airplane coming from your cabinet? I had a Vortex fan (still do, in a box), and I could not quiet it down. I got a variable speed controller, but to get it slowed down to a point where it's relatively quiet, it has to be practically not spinning. Insulated ducting did not make enough of a difference either. My solution was to replace it with a Panasonic Whisperline fan. MUCH quieter! BTW, anybody want a slightly used Vortex fan?
Those whisperlines are quiet. I really like the 8" one, would be nice though if it was more than 440 CFMs for an 8" though. Still not a bad fan though. Just curious though. Did you have insulated ducting on both sides of the fan? And second question how much ducting was ran off the back side of the fan. The longer the ducking is off the back the more sound dampening you achieve. I saw a guy once try to run a 6" centrifugal fan just open. He didn't have a scrubber plumbed to the front and didn't have any ducting coming off the backside either. :roffl: You did have a scrubber or something on the front of the fan right? I've always ran a scrubber to the fan hanging from bungee cords then a good 10-20' of ducting off the back of the fan also. Super quiet.
Oh me oh my I love my 8" vortex...I don't believe there is a way to move close to 1K CFM without being noisy. My vortex will probably outlive me. Really. And i have at least 50 years left on this earth...(i think) Tony- post up your vortex on ebay. Make a thread when you do. Just dont be too specific on GK about it. Post it and i'll bid on it...secretly of course! I fucking love my vortex. Not sure if i stated that. It absolutely sounds like a jet engine. I love it. Can fan is just as loud isnt it? I'm sure that's just how it is. did i mention they come with a ten year warranty? That is the manufacturer telling you..."Seriously this fan will never fucking break as long as you treat it right. Buy it."
