First time setup!

[Organic Greens]

Hi uk420 community,

 

My first setup ever:

 

 

- Grow tent 2.2'x2.2'x5.2'
- Lights 125W
- Extraction AC Infinity T6 

- Carbon filter 150x600mm

- 2x6" fans

 

Have to move ac infinity fan and carbon filter outside of the tent due the space. Waiting for fit to cut carbon pre filters arrived. I think my setup is a noisy during nights as my neighbor already ask me about strange noises during the night...
Questions
- is it a good setup or something can be improved? 
- What can be done to reduce the noise?
My only option is to fit grow room in soundproofing wardrobe. If it is good idea then what the best sounfproof materials can be used considering T6 will run on mode 10 (not sure though that it will run so high in such a small tent) ...

THANK YOU!
 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Organic Greens
grammar mistakes

[Shumroom]

Some 'Phonic trap' ducting will help to reduce the noise of the air,

a small section of it between the fan and filter will help reduce the noise even further.

 

Any sound damping material wrapped around the ducting will help too(towels, sheets, big jumpers etc).

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

[Organic Greens]

21 minutes ago, Shumroom said:

Some 'Phonic trap' ducting will help to reduce the noise of the air,

a small section of it between the fan and filter will help reduce the noise even further.

 

Any sound damping material wrapped around the ducting will help too(towels, sheets, big jumpers etc).

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

Thanks @Shumroom . Found phonic trap ducting. Also watching videos How to Soundproof a wall ... Would be helpful if someone who did it already suggest good materials.  

What I found is that 6" ducting is hard to fit on 6" carbon filter. Does it make difference to buy 8" ducting? 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Organic Greens
qu

[Organic Greens]

11 minutes ago, Organic Greens said:

 

Thanks @Shumroom . Found phonic trap ducting. Also watching videos How to Soundproof a wall ... Would be helpful if someone who did it already suggest good materials.  

What I found is that 6" ducting is hard to fit on 6" carbon filter. Does it make difference in quality to fit 8" ducting? 

 

[Larry Badgeley]

37 minutes ago, Organic Greens said:

 

Thanks @Shumroom . Found phonic trap ducting. Also watching videos How to Soundproof a wall ... Would be helpful if someone who did it already suggest good materials.  

What I found is that 6" ducting is hard to fit on 6" carbon filter. Does it make difference to buy 8" ducting? 

 

We have soundproofed our walls from the neighbours. It works but only of done properly. Batten out the wall, fill the void with acoustic mineral material, soundproof plasterboard and skim. You will loose a good couple of inches in room size.

The easy soundproof boards which just attach to the wall are Ok but not as good as the above. Remember though a lot of noise is airborne and can travel through the cavity. To be 100% sound proof both you and the neighbours need to do the walls.

[Organic Greens]

4 minutes ago, Larry Badgeley said:

 

We have soundproofed our walls from the neighbours. It works but only of done properly. Batten out the wall, fill the void with acoustic mineral material, soundproof plasterboard and skim. You will loose a good couple of inches in room size.

The easy soundproof boards which just attach to the wall are Ok but not as good as the above. Remember though a lot of noise is airborne and can travel through the cavity. To be 100% sound proof both you and the neighbours need to do the walls.

Thank you @Larry Badgeley . I am not a builder myself :-( Agree that boards are just OK. Found local company with really good reviews. They do soundproofing. Will call tomorrow ask for a quote. I need actually just one wall 

[Joint hogger]

Get a fan controller to slow/quieten the fan down, use acoustic/phonic ducting & consider moving the tent away from the neighbours wall, they've already been asking questions so be careful.

[Major Lee Mashed]

2 minutes ago, Joint hogger said:

Get a fan controller to slow/quieten the fan down, use acoustic/phonic ducting & consider moving the tent away from the neighbours wall, they've already been asking questions so be careful.

 

This!

 

Acoustic ducting really REALLY makes a difference.   Also, avoid any controller that causes humming noise.   I highly recommend a variac to control the fans... using one of those with acoustic ducting will amaze you.  But you may want to think about a temperature based controller. 

 

I don't know if I'm allowed to post links, but Searching for "APS-500 0.5KW Variac Variable Transformer" on ebay.

[Organic Greens]

1 hour ago, Joint hogger said:

Get a fan controller to slow/quieten the fan down

Thanks for answering @Joint hogger . Do you mean controller for my 6" fans? (sorry to sound a dull just learning) ...  

[Organic Greens]

1 hour ago, Major Lee Mashed said:

 

This!

 

Acoustic ducting really REALLY makes a difference.   Also, avoid any controller that causes humming noise.   I highly recommend a variac to control the fans... using one of those with acoustic ducting will amaze you.  But you may want to think about a temperature based controller. 

 

I don't know if I'm allowed to post links, but Searching for "APS-500 0.5KW Variac Variable Transformer" on ebay.

Thanks @Major Lee Mashed .  Already found? How many fans can I control by variac ??? I got 2 6" 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Organic Greens
dfs

[Major Lee Mashed]

56 minutes ago, Organic Greens said:

Thanks @Major Lee Mashed .  Already found? How many fans can I control by variac ??? I got 2 6" 

 

hmm... good question.  Short Answer is I'm not sure.

 

The ones I mentioned only have a single power outlet so you'd have to use an extension or adapter for an extra socket.   

 

The only thing I'd be concerned with the the total load of your 2 fans.  So find out the wattage / amps of both fans combined and ensure its below the rating of the variac you buy. 

 

Here's the thing tho, you've got 2 fans that are the same size... so if you put them on the same variac, they will always be running at the same speed as each other.  So you will have difficulty maintaining negative air pressure in your tent.  That can lead to smells leaking from it.  You want to avoid that!  The fact that you have a carbon filter on the extract means that the extract fan has to do more work to pust the air through it... so if you can't turn the intake down lower than the exhaust fan, your tent will start to balloon a bit, ie, no negative pressure.

 

I get around this by having an 8" extract, and a 5/6" intake.

 

If all this sounds like a headache, then perhaps a more modern fan controller or temperature based controller is for you.  AFAIK, they are quite a bit less efficient than a variac, but are quite easy to maintain that negative air pressure because they allow you to set a max speed for the intake.  Just make sure you get one that doesn't cause any humming when at its lowest fan speed (if the description doesn't specifically say it runs the fans silently, I wouldn't buy it, end of!)

Hope that helps, but please do keep asking around for peoples opinions.   I'm sure there are ppl on this site that can advise better than I can.  It's been a while since I've been involved in the grow scene (10+ years).  A lot has changed.  I could be giving you advice that's 10 years out of date!  I'm joking (not joking) its still good advice!

 

PS.  Just an observation and I don't think its even important, but that sock you've got on your carbon filter... I think its supposed to be on the inside rather than the outside if you're pushing air out rather than sucking it in.  But honestly, it probably doesn't matter.

[Lostlew]

The fan speed controller would be for your Extraction AC Infinity,,, and not the two six inch , reads like your getting confused between the two 

[Joint hogger]

3 hours ago, Major Lee Mashed said:

Searching for "APS-500 0.5KW Variac Variable Transformer" on ebay.

 

be careful if this is what your using, it can only supply a constant 115w max, so you need to make sure the fan your using is lower than the 115w.

 

2 hours ago, Organic Greens said:

Thanks @Major Lee Mashed .  Already found? How many fans can I control by variac ??? I got 2 6" 

 

Ideally you want the fans on separate controllers to create negative pressure, depending on how long your ducting is, you need to set your intake fans power at least a 1/3rd of the power

on the out take fan other wise you'll run the risk of creating positive pressure & the smell will leak out due to the air pressure, for example, I use a 5" intake & a 6" out take fan, my intake uses 1.5m ducting,

my out take acoustic ducting is 5m, when I was setting the air pressures up, I had my intake fan on a 0.7A diy variac controller, my out take fan is on a 2A diy variac controller & ran them at 40% in power

& 60% out power (this is autumn/winter time, in the summer you need to increase power to handle the extra heat.

if you check out my signatures, theres links to some of my previous diy variac builds.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2020 by Joint hogger

[Marky1000]

@Joint hogger I thought a Variac don't work on a  AC Infinity T6 

[Joint hogger]

Sorry my mistake, didnt realise it was a EC fan, if theres no built in controller then you'd need something more complicated than a basic variac controller + more expensive.