Comparing PC fans for exhaust

fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
Alright, I bought a PC fan from new egg to exhaust my small 7 cu ft grow space. I was disappointed in how the fan worked, and I thought that if we started a nice little review thread for different brands and sizes of pc fans it would be helpful to alot of people. Again this is for PC fans ONLY! I know there are alot of people using inline fans, blowers, whatever. This isnt about those, this is for small fans for small grows.

That said,

Here is my suggestion for structuring the reviews.

Make: Manufacturer
Model: Model Number
Purchased From: Website or store name
Price: Dollars or other currency (I'm partial to the dollar though!)
Size: metric please!
Bearing Type: usually sleeve or ball bearings, some use fluid bearings
Sound level: In db if you can, otherwise copare it to something common
Powered By: I'm pretty sure all PC fans are 12V, but we all have diffrent solutions for power, list if you are using a speed control as well
CFM: cubic feet of air a minute
RPM: rotations per minute, usually listed on packaging
Pros:
Cons:
Other Comments:
Overall Rating: let's say 1 to 10
Link: link to the website if you bought it online

Okay, hopefully in a few weeks we can have a good database for anyone using a micro cab who wants to know his or her options.

Thanks!
 
lazy88

lazy88

Active Member
ive been hearing alot of about people useing computer fans in the last couple weeks...and im having a hard time understanding why? I mean..they are so small,how much could one lil fan like that blow out!?
just makes me think too many youngins are trying to grow under their bed without their peeps finding out or something...
 
fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
Make: Silenx
Model: ixtrema
Purchased From: Newegg.com
Price: $13.99 plus shipping
Bearing Type: fluid dynamic
Sound level: says less than 14db, this fan is seriously silent!, I can barely hear it if I hold it next to my ear!
Powered By: Radio shack multi volt converter, 1000mA. noise rating is for 12 V
CFM: less than 32 is what it says, but I would say its more like 15 to 20
Pros: absolutely silent, also has a remote thermostat attachment, which is nice because it only runs when box gets about 80 degrees or so.
Cons: moves little to no air
Other Comments: Not adequate for my grow box, and for the area I'm using it for is only about 11"x7"x20", I'm using 100w of CFL, maybe for a PC grow this would work, but for me it only reduced temps around 3 degrees.
Overall Rating: 3, really silent, but not moving enough air for my needs
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226021
 

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fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
lazy88 said:
ive been hearing alot of about people useing computer fans in the last couple weeks...and im having a hard time understanding why? I mean..they are so small,how much could one lil fan like that blow out!?
just makes me think too many youngins are trying to grow under their bed without their peeps finding out or something...
Click to expand...
For CFL's computer fans are really convenient. Not everyone wants a big grow room, and PC fans are an easy to find and easy to set up exhaust solution that are pretty silent. Also this thread is for reviews, not your criticisms of PC fans, if you want to state your negativity please do it somewhere else.
 
fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
Alright, since my last fan didnt quite do what I needed it to do I ordered another one, a little bigger. When I get it I will update.

Make: Scythe
Model: SY1025SLN12M
Purchased From: Newegg.com
Price: $8.49 (Free Shipping!)
Bearing Type: Sleeve
Sound level: says 22db
Powered By: Radio shack multi volt converter, 1000mA.
CFM: says 43
Pros: cheap fan and no shipping
Cons:
Other Comments:
Overall Rating:
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835226021
 

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lazy88

lazy88

Active Member
sorry diddnt mean to bust on your thread..diddnt mean to make it come off that way..it sounded diff in my head.
oh and i grow with cfls too...but i have like 10 of them...in 3x4x4 inclosed bar.small grow as well homie.
 
fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
lazy88 said:
sorry diddnt mean to bust on your thread..diddnt mean to make it come off that way..it sounded diff in my head.
oh and i grow with cfls too...but i have like 10 of them...in 3x4x4 inclosed bar.small grow as well homie.
Click to expand...
It's cool man, I didnt mean to be a dick either. I was just protecting my newborn thread from being crashed right away! I'm sure i just took it wrong. But I'm glad to hear theres more support for the CFL cult! Good luck with your grow mate!

Cheers. :joint:
 
floridasucks

floridasucks

Well-Known Member
make- dont know- chinese writing. haha
model- dont know
purchased from- small computer store near me
price- $12.00 us
bearing type- magnetic
sound level- silent
power- radio shak 12v ac to dc converter- $20 but well worth the money.
CFM- dont know
one major thing you forgot- SIZE- 120mm
pros- works great in combination with another 120mm sucking air out of my 2x2x4 box with 6 42watt CFLs and a 70watt HPS
cons- broke after about 6 months of continuous use.

in my experience all brands are pretty much the same.. its the size of the fan and power that really matters. also the placement of the fans is critical.. generally the intake should be below the exahust.

heres what mine look like...

 
v12xjs

v12xjs

Well-Known Member
Hey Fuckat7t.
Personally I've tried 12v fans from Zalman, Noctua and many others. I've also tried 240v 80mm fans from Pabst and I wasn't happy with any of them, so I understand why you started the thread.
There's some great info on silent fans here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page1.html
and here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/section12.html

I'm sure I could be proved wrong but in my experience, silence comes at the price of airflow. If you need more CFM then you will get more noise. The mains powered fans from Pabst are the quietest available and cost a small fortune but at 32db they are almost deafening in a quiet room so I wouldn't advise them for anybody. Shame really as they can blow the balls off a charging elephant at 30 paces!
The biggest danger is that in trying to get the quietest fans and running them at 12v for max cooling, there is nowhere to go when the outside temps get higher.
My preference these days is to get well known and high output fans that aren't especially quiet and hook them up to a variable power supply.
All fans are quiet if run at 6 volts and in winter this will do fine. As temps start to get higher I turn up the voltage to 7.5 or 9 volts to get better cooling whilst still not running them at full tilt.
The Zalman and Thermaltake seem to last plenty long enough and blow as hard as any. That's what I run these days.
Just remember it's easier to quieten a powerful fan than it is to get more air out of a silent one.
 
fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
v12xjs said:
Hey Fuckat7t.
Personally I've tried 12v fans from Zalman, Noctua and many others. I've also tried 240v 80mm fans from Pabst and I wasn't happy with any of them, so I understand why you started the thread.
There's some great info on silent fans here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page1.html
and here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/section12.html

I'm sure I could be proved wrong but in my experience, silence comes at the price of airflow. If you need more CFM then you will get more noise. The mains powered fans from Pabst are the quietest available and cost a small fortune but at 32db they are almost deafening in a quiet room so I wouldn't advise them for anybody. Shame really as they can blow the balls off a charging elephant at 30 paces!
The biggest danger is that in trying to get the quietest fans and running them at 12v for max cooling, there is nowhere to go when the outside temps get higher.
My preference these days is to get well known and high output fans that aren't especially quiet and hook them up to a variable power supply.
All fans are quiet if run at 6 volts and in winter this will do fine. As temps start to get higher I turn up the voltage to 7.5 or 9 volts to get better cooling whilst still not running them at full tilt.
The Zalman and Thermaltake seem to last plenty long enough and blow as hard as any. That's what I run these days.
Just remember it's easier to quieten a powerful fan than it is to get more air out of a silent one.
Click to expand...

Very good advice, I appreciate the input. All very true points, and they can be key to keeping your buds healthy!

For my own situation I feel I may have spoken too soon. I went back today to have a look and I noticed that the temps in my box dropped from 84 to 77, which is just fine by me (I thought this might have been due to the ambient temp being diffrent, but checking my thermo on my window it claims that the inside temps have remained at 70 all day). I think the reason it took so long to cool things down was because I was running the box without a fan all night to see what it would climb to, (about 90) I'm sure the soil and the box itself held onto alot of that heat, and it just took a while to dissapate.

and thanks for the post florida! I appreciate your experience as well.

cheers. :joint:
 
yeldarb

yeldarb

Well-Known Member
Make: Scythe
Model: Ultra Kaze
Purchased From: NCIX.com
Price: $15.11 plus shipping
Bearing Type: Sleave
Sound level: 32.9 dBA
Powered By: 12 V Adapter
CFM: 87.6
Pros: Very silent. I switched from an 80 mm fan that sounded like a turbine to this one. You can barely hear it in a completely silent room. The CFM's are also very high and it keeps my rubbermaid grow nice and cool
Cons: None to date
Other Comments: When looking for a PC fan, silence is usally an issue to consider. The problem with going for silence is you lose out on CFM. I found that by going with a higher blade size, ie 120mm, the fan has to make less revolutions to push the same amount of air as an 80 mm fan: hence less noise.

Overall Rating: 5 - Excellent CFM coupled with a low dBA.

I would like to note that for fans showing a dBa of anything less than 20, you should really check up on their claims. When using a sound booth to test, the background noise is usally around 20 dBa. Therefore there is no way to even measure a dBa rating of 14 etc.



http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26743&vpn=DFS123812%2D2000&manufacture=Scythe

Check out this page for info on sound level testing:

http://www.nexustek.nl/NXS-nexus92mmrealsilentcasefan.htm
 
fuckat7t

fuckat7t

Active Member
Very good, I am excited people are actually posting their info! :-)

as yeldarb mentioned, if you have the space, up the size of the fan. Bigger blades means more air movement at lower RPM's which ultimately means less noise. Check the link from v12 for more info on the technicalities of the science of bigger blades, very interesting!

I love the info guys, we are getting some great stuff. Hopefully this can be the one stop shop for PC fan info! :-)

Cheers. :joint:
 
B

blakcat

Member
Hi guys im just new to the forums but have been reserching the pc grow box, space is limited and the pc idea really apeals. I have bought my seeds lowrider 2's http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/lowryder2-x-ak47-now-called-easy-rider-3081-p.asp. i have now to get a pc case thinking about a gaming tower to get a wee bit more space and they seem to have vents and fans built in, hope they will be enough. any tips you guys can give will be grand.

v12xjs i have pretty much read everything you have posted and my god it is alot, same with you floridasucks.

hope you dont think i have hijaked the thread fuck@7t.
 
floridasucks

floridasucks

Well-Known Member
blakcat said:
Hi guys im just new to the forums but have been reserching the pc grow box, space is limited and the pc idea really apeals. I have bought my seeds lowrider 2's http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/lowryder2-x-ak47-now-called-easy-rider-3081-p.asp. i have now to get a pc case thinking about a gaming tower to get a wee bit more space and they seem to have vents and fans built in, hope they will be enough. any tips you guys can give will be grand.

v12xjs i have pretty much read everything you have posted and my god it is alot, same with you floridasucks.

hope you dont think i have hijaked the thread fuck@7t.
Click to expand...

welcome to RIU. good luck.
 
Goodlovin

Goodlovin

Active Member
Very cool setup. Looks good. One question: Now how do you power these things again? You said you used a Radio Shark 12v converter.. how to you actually connect it though? Can you provide a photo or explanation?
 
ganjman

ganjman

New Member
Right, im pretty sure what i use ARE computer fans, but they're about 3 or 4 times as big, but still same design.

Make: Thermaltake
Model: TT 12025A-1B1S
Purchased From: No idea, i got about 5 of em for free from a mate.
Price: About £5
Size: 120x120x25
Bearing Type: Sleeve
Sound level: 34dB
Powered By: 12V DC [direct]
CFM: 78.0 CFM
RPM: 2000rpm + 10%
Pros: Great fan does everything you need
Cons: Runs a little loud but it's nothing more than a ballast sound [get digital ballasts!!!!!]
Other Comments: It's better than a computer fan, but it's still not as good as a real exhaust fan.
Overall Rating: 6 /10
 
socal70

socal70

Active Member
Make: Thermaltake
Model: A2029
Purchased From: www.newegg.com
Price: $11.99
Size: 120mm
Bearing Type: 2 Ball (I know, I know!)
Sound level: 25 - 45dBA (Variable Speed Fan)
Powered By: Some old AC - DC power plug i had layin around
CFM: 35 - 95CFM
RPM: 1300 - 3500 RPM
Pros: Can use any DC power pack you have layin' around because of variable speed.
Cons: A lil' on the noisy side when cranked all the way up.
Other Comments:
Overall Rating: let's say 7
Link: www.newegg.com

This thing can move a lot of air! My little space is 8 cubic feet. This means at full speed this little fan is completely exhausting the air inside 12 times per minute! I am just using passive intake at the moment, but the intake port feels like a little vacuum if you put your hand next to it!
 

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