[GCS]

Good day folks. I need a little advice on SUPER QUIET Exhaust Fans that can basically be run 24/7 or are Thermostatically controlled.


I want to use one to vent hot air from my FP hush box and one to vent hot air from my 4'x3'x10' enclosed equipment room. These need to be super silent and preferrably be able to run 24/7 (or at least 15-20 hours a day). Thermostatically controlled would be even BETTER but I need them to be as cheap as possible and be easy to install in my room.


BTW there would be no problem running the vents to an outside wall to vent the air to the outdoors vs. dumping into another room or the attic area.


LMK if you guys have any suggestions.


Thanks


Greg

 

[mwzabel]

I used the Suncourt 6" dia. Inductor in-line duct fan from Home Depot, they are only about $20 and work great. I have mine about 12 ft. away venting in the next room (to the storage room in the basement). You can attach the fan to the end of 6" dia. insulated flex duct in the room you want to vent in.


I used a $20 Craftsman accessory fan switch to turn the duct fans off and on. You plug the projector into the main outlet on the switch and whenever it turns on and draws amps, the accessory outlet will switch on and turn on the fan, so your fan is running whenever your projector is running. When the projector is turned off and the cooling fans stop, the accessory switch turns off the duct fans.


Actually I have one fan blowing into my projector box and one sucking out so there is somewhat of a balance on the air flowing in and out to avoid any pressure differences. You can't hear anything at the projector box since the air is basically rolling in by the time it travels the 12 ft. but it seems to get plenty of cfm flow since it stays slightly above room temperature in the box even after the projector has been running for hours.

 

[GCS]

Thats about what I need.


Do you happen to have any skus for the fan and accessory fan switch??


This sounds pretty simple for me to do as I will be installing all kinds of stuff in the ceiling anyway so some ductwork for fans is no problem.


Greg

 

[CV63]

Is there any problem with running the fan on the same circuit as the PJ? For example, noise on the line. I am in the middle of my electrical work and was going to isolate the fan, but this method you suggest seems nice and simple.

 

[mwzabel]

I thought about noise on the line from my fans, so I did a simple test. My projector is plugged into the Craftsman switch, the switch is plugged into a Monster Power HTS-5000 (by means of an extension cord setup) and the monster power unit has a dedicated 20 amp circuit coming from the panel.


I turned on the projector without the fans plugged into the switch and plugged and unplugged the fans while watching the screen\\projector. To my naked eye, I could not see any difference at all, especially at fan startup when they are drawing the most load.


The SKU for the fan is on the Home Depot web site (under in-line duct fan). I will get you the Craftsman switch sku later tonight when I can dig out the receipt.

Craftsman Switch Link

Suncourt Inductor Fan Link

 

[bart_75243]

Here's another option you might want to look at:


I used another ventilator from Home Depot made by Nutone (SKU #: 259881). It's rated to move 80 cfm and is called "Ultra Quiet," which it is. Its noise level is only .8 sones, which is much less noise than any of the others. It's a bit pricey $111, but works well.


I installed mine in the ceiling directly above my hush box and can't hear it, although admittedly it has a Sony 1272 with which to compete. The exhaust is ducted into the attic.


To turn the fan on and off, I'm using a video-signal triggered switch box. It was made by Sonance and will do audio/video switching based on signal detection. While a bit of a functional waste, at the moment the only thing I'm using it for is to turn the ventilator on when it detects a video signal from the projector. Works great. These things originally sold for around $600 but Sound City was moving them for something unreal like $75 when I bought mine. I believe Smarthome.com has similar solutions that switch power when a video signal is detected.


Anyway, food for thought.


-Robert

 

[mwzabel]

The fan noise is mostly determined on where the fan is mounted. If you have to put the fan right in your theater room then you would probably opt for the expensive "quiet" fan. If you can mount the fan in another room, you won't hear the cheap Suncourt fan. I can't hear mine at all where they vent at the projector. when they are the only thing turned on.

 

[bart_75243]

That's a good point. Plus, you wouldn't have to worry about running power close to your video signal cable.

 

[GCS]

What about wiring the fan with a "plug" and plugging it in to the switched outlets of a Monster Power HTS2500. I have one and do not use all of the plugs on it. It has a 3 second(I think) delay trigger for amps and such. That would insure that the fan was shut on/off with the rest of the system.


Greg

 

[mwzabel]

The Monster Power idea should work if it is the same setup as the HTS5000 where you would either:


1. Manually turn on the Monster unit via the button on the front panel in standard mode (Involves walking.....argh!). This will turn on the outlets (and therefore the components plugged into these outlets) you have configured as "switched" with or without delay.


or


2. Have the Monster set up in remote mode with a 12V trigger turning it on......assuming you have a component with a 12V trigger which will also turn on your switched outlets. This would allow you to power up with a remote control instead of having to walk (gasp!) over to the equipment rack.


Personally, I have everthing set to unswitched so power is flowing to all my components and I never have to turn on the monster power unit. All I have to do is hit one button on my Pronto Pro and everything turns on. When my projector goes on, so do my fans.....projector off.....fans off. Simple and cheap.


The only problem might be is if you are using a fan in your equipment closet and you are just listening to music and the projector is not turned on. Then you would have to do something different.


Hope this helps,


Matt

 

[kem]

I would like to do something similar, but would like to add one more twist. Is is possible to have the exhaust fan switch on when the projector is turned on and then switched off a few minutes after the projector is turned off? Say a 5 or 10 minute delay for turning off the fan?


Thanks!

Kevin

 

[bart_75243]

The Sonance MRC100 switcher to which I referred in my earlier post will do exactly that (turns on a switched outlet after detecting a video signal and turns off about 5 minutes after signal is off).

http://www.soundcity.com/bin/product.php?product_id=121