Squirrel Cage vs In Line

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

StonedCold

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
143
Reaction score
10
I've been looking into buying something to help me deal with the heat issues I'm having.... I came across these two things.

Squirrel Cage Fan, which tends to be more expensive, and use more watts. Although they can take out much more air, I don't really need 265CFM.... My room is 2X3X8 ... So something much smaller would work fine like 100, and even that is too much.

The In Line fan I read about is much smaller, can take out around 100CFM, is quieter, and appears to be able to suitable for my needs.

Does anyone have any experience with in-line fans, or does everyone just open their doors/windows and have squirrel cages? Any info is appreciated.

The in line that caught my eyes was this one:
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/jsearch/product.jsp?pn=100073963
 
Being that you know nothing about either...how do you know one is quieter than the other?
 
Ok, enough joking around now......i own a 465 cfm fan for a 4X3X8 cabinet. I worried it would **** the plant out of the cabinet. Not the case...no frets my friend. It is very quiet... that thing looks big and you'd think it would be loud buts much quieter than my dryer is. just a very low hum and i have it mounted right on top of the outside of my cabinet. No vibrations or rattles.

I have about a 6'...4" wide duct run to my 400hps and another tube off the Y that just sucks from the top of the cabinet. I think the amount of air movement is perfect. I got it off ebay brand new in the box for 70 bucks. i think the seller had more. Dayton Blower 5c507 NEW in box 465 CFM [email protected]

Now that in line fan to me (which i have no experience and have not seen run) looks to be MORE noisy to me. how can those blades be balanced? If you plan on cooling the light you would need 2 most likely so i dont know if you save any dough??? It looks more like a rattletrap to me. i guess they would be easier to hide but that's about the only benefit i see.

someone that has seen the in-line Chepo Depot's please chime in
 
Getting temps where you want them can be difficult. What kind of light are you using? If it is an HPS or MH then you will probably have to run the fan you have hyperlinked 24/7, and the room will still prob be on the hot side. It's really case sensitive with exhaust fans and heat control. Try and find a couple of people on here with similiar dimensions as yours who have their temps under control, out of those: find an exhaust setup you can do/afford, and try it.
That said, many successful growers who DON'T just open the door have: a vented reflector w/ an exhaust fan, a seperate exhaust for the cab, and cool ambient temp. coming in. It requires a bit of thought. Hope this helps.
 
I have a 5" inline fan that vents my air out of my room. I can't remember how many cfm's, I think 160. I thought it would pull a little more air than it does. I have a 4" muffin fan that is 120 cfm's that puts out better than my inline.
 
My inline fan is quieter than my muffin fan. And they are both pretty quiete
 
dude making a vented reflector shroud on a 400W HPS is easy for sheesy. As a matter of fact the whole system is easy to set up and with a 465cfm you won't have those problems. Its winter now in CA but my heat never gets over 78 degrees. I have a doggy door that i have 4" fresh air intake hose hooked to so i'm pull'n clean cool air. Now summer when its a hundo plus outside may be a different story??? send me your addy and i'll send you pics if you need. i don't know how to resize them for the net.
 
Most furnaces use squirrel type fans... i know they are bigger... and look outta a place a bit... but they are usually cheaper then a vortex... and they put out a bit of cfms
 
Do not underestimate how much fan you need for what you think is a small space. My cab is about the same size as yours

I started with a small inline fan that was a bit larger than the one in your link. I think it was 100 cfm or maybe 110 cfm. It wasn't enough to even vent my reflector, much less my entire room. It was a good fan, but it was nowhere near as quiet as my Dayton squirrel cage fan, which is whisper quiet. I can't even tell it is on unless I climb on the stepladder and put my ear close.

I have things cool now, but I believe I will have to go to a 495 cfm Dayton squirrel cage fan when summer gets here. The basement has A/C, but ambient temps are still going to rise because the A/C can't make the basement anywhere close to as cool as it is now.

Of course, this also depends on what kind of light you are using. I use a 400 watt HPS. Plus, for the first 4 1/2 weeks of vegging, I had like 12 CFLs directly over and around the plants. Now that I have taken them out, temps have gone down. (I know they say CFLs don't put out much heat and that's true in a comparative way. But once you get a dozen in a cab of this size, and 4 of them are 42 watt, you'll get some heat.) If you are using *just* CFLs, you might try that inline fan to see how it does. But keep in mind that you aren't just venting hot air -- you are also trying to get an abundance of fresh air in because your plants need it.
 
Currently, I'm just using like 7 42 watt CFL's and yes the heat does get affected greatly. I have the 400HPS standing by for flowering, but it gave off TOO MUCH HEAT when I tried it. The solution seems to be the cage fan. I will hope that roughly 165 should be good enough.

Thanks for all the opinions and information. Keep it going.
 
Muffin fans are just like the computer fans. They are about an inch thick and are square.
 
I hope you meant 265 cfm, StonedCold, and not 165. There is not a significant difference in price -- they both will go for around $40-45 on e-Bay. And if you buy from someone with a good feedback rating, you should be OK. These Dayton fans run for years and years. The one for my house has been running nearly half of every day and it has been here for about 15 years. All I have to do is give it a couple drops of oil once each year.
 
Lights AND fans cause alot of fires...make the investment and get a vortex...the smallest is almost $200 but it is silent, positive displacement, lightproof and backed by 10 year warranty...if it is too big, put it on a timer or speed controller.
 
The grow space I have is 2X3X8. This is 48 cubic feet. That means I only need a blower that can take up 48CFM. I was looking at one that is 118CFM. Am I miss calculating, are the CFM's really understated, or just because it will clear the room twice per minute doesn't mean it will help with heat? My grow space isn't large at all, and I don't plan on scaling it up any time soon... like within 5 years.... So should this work? I found a cheap 118CFM for like $60. Nothing close I found online. Let me know if this is a good idea or find me a higher CFM at a price under $100.

LINKS, IDEAS, LINKS, HELP! Thanks.
 
You really do seem intent on getting a fan with a low CFM. Everyone's experience is different. I can tell you that I do OK with a 265 cfm fan but could not go ANY lower -- but that's just me. A 48 or a 118 or a 200 cfm wouldn't do the job. But, even though we have similar size cabs, maybe a low cfm fan will work for you. That is especially true if you have a LOT of passive intake that is unobstructed. (One of the reasons I have to have a 265 cfm fan is because all of my passive intakes are covered with carbon filters to eliminate light leaks. If you don't have to do that, you probably could get by with a low cfm fan.) So go ahead and get one and let us know how it does -- especially a few months down the road when it gets hot outside.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top