7 Ways To Quieten Your AC Infinity Cloudline Fans
Is your AC Infinity Cloudline fan setup too loud? Here are 7 quick fixes to help dampen your room sound; chances are it's a quick fix you've missed, like sharp bends in your ducting or the vibrations being dampened by the wall, sending the vibrations all the way through the building.
What's actually making the noise?
Before trying to make any fixes, it's important to diagnose the root cause of the noise. If you're hearing a steady drone coming from the fan, it's probably just hum from the motor whirring. If it's a windy whoosh or whistle sound, it's likely to be air moving around in the ducting, and if you can hear a rattle/buzz, then the vibrations are likely being absorbed by walls and tent poles and being amplified by hard surfaces. If that hasn't helped, turn the fan off, then turn it back on at the lowest speed and slowly raise it. Listen carefully for where the sound is coming from and what kind of noise it is, while keeping a hand on the surface the fan is connected to to feel for excess vibrations that could be amplifying the sound. Once you've diagnosed the root cause of the noise, continue on the section below.
7 Methods to quieten the fan
Lower your fan speed
Often people misunderstand the point of fans; they are used best for maintaining a constant air circulation and managing humidity instead of throwing the maximum airflow at your plants. Often, the simplest fix is just turning down your fan speed (provided the room/tent still gets ample airflow) to a more manageable noise level.
Hang the fan instead of mounting it
Another common cause of excess fan noise is vibrations being dampened by the walls instead of the air, which can make it very loud especially if connected to something like tent poles. A good way to circumvent this is hanging it by strings, meaning the vibrations are dampened by the air and become much quieter, insead of resonating through the building.
Inefficient ducting
If you're hearing whooshing and whistling of air in your ducting, it's likely that you have 90 degree bends, meaning the air slams into the ducting walls making sound and making your fan work harder (in turn making the fan louder too), your ducting is overextended or you have a lot of tight, crushed sections, that could make large amounts wind-related noise and make your fan louder in turn. To reduce this, opt for a short length of ducting and smooth, gentle curves instead of sharp bends.
Use a silencer
If none of the free methods above worked, it might be time to try a silencer. It's a padded, insulation section of duct that quietens and dampens air vibrations that pass through, best places after the fan on the exhaust side, but you can also place an extra one before the fan for added quietening. If you choose to opt for this method, make sure to get the correct size silencer for your fan size (e.g. 4" silencer for a 4" fan) to avoid new whistling at the joints. You can find our list of budget friendly silencers here:
https://greenspirit-hydroponics.com/products/g-a-s-silencer?_pos=1&_sid=da51c10c7&_ss=r
or call us to ask about our silenced fans.
Check the filter connection
Often times, whistling can be caused by a faulty connection allowing air to escape through a small hole in the duct. A clogged or old filter can cause the fan to strain and work harder, meaning it ends up being louder than it has to. The best diagnosis steps you should take first are: making sure the filter flange size matches up with the fan, tightening the clamps and sealing any gaps with foil tape, making sure the filter is well supported and not hanging off the fan, and replacing your filter once it gets past the manufacter's guidance end of use date.
Use larger, higher quality ducting
High quality ducting uses padding and insulation to dampen to sound of air passing through and can help muffle passive noise. It can also prevent condensation from building up, which in turn prolongs the life of your ducting. Larger ducting is also quieter, as it moves the same volume of air but slower, and slower is quieter. Link to our range of budget friendly, high quality padded ducting:
https://greenspirit-hydroponics.com/products/whispair-ss-ducting?_pos=1&_sid=5983b9ed0&_ss=r
Move the fan further away
If nothing else seems to work, a good way to combat excess noise could be routing the fan into an empty cupboard or room, maybe in the cellar or attic. Make sure to use high quality ducting, and don't put your fan anywhere sealed in.
If none of these methods seem to help, feel free to call us at 0114 275 3353 to speak to an expert, or pop in to one of our stores for a chat.
