Ventilation Too Loud. Can't Sleep

Lol so my S&P fan is quiet and I can't hear it but the air moving through the 4" ducting is sooo loud! This is especially since the tent (2' x 2' x 5'; DR60) is small and so there are 2 180 degree turns. The ducting is the ribbed aluminum flexible kind...

Any ideas on how to control it? I bought a duct muffler and it helped a lot especially with the sound outside my room, but inside it just drives me insane. I listened from where most of the noise is coming from and it's mostly from the air entering through the filter and hitting the first turn. Would insulated ducting help? Or would the semi-rigid ducting be better? I pretty much had no sleep last night.

Insulating duct will help a lot.

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Location
plsfoldthx is the grow tent in your bedroom? Can you move it?

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Fan Vibration
Did you hang the fan with a bungee to reduce vibration?

The fan is hanging in the top left


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Duct
Install a larger diameter ducting, and reducers so the ducting fits your fan and tent flanges. The larger area will allow for slower linear air movement through the duct with the same volume of air passing. Less duct vibration, less noise. This will give you more air flow as well, less drag.



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Muffler
The first three are the most important, without them this step will have little impact. Staple a loose sheet of plastic around the ducting so there is 6" or a foot of air space between the ducting and the plastic. The air inside the plastic will act as sound insulation. A heavy blanket wrapped around the duct or hung between the duct and the plastic will help, absorb the vibrations in the air.



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Setup
Could you post a picture or diagram of your setup? We may be able to help you redesign your system to have less elbows - fewer areas to cause vibrations.

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There are pictorials on Ventilation in the Equipment chapter of Weed Science.

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A duct muffler should do the trick.

Hobbes, yes the tent is in my room in a walk in closet and I can't move it unfortunately because then it'd be visible to anyone who walks in. I have a duct muffler however, the sound of the air flowing through the ducts inside the tent is what is the loudest. It is a loud whirring sound where the air enters the fan and goes through the ducting. The fan is quiet and it's hanging by cords. Actually the LED light is louder than the fan lol. I will definitely have to try the insulated ducting next.

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Try the larger ducting with a reducer if you can, even two reducers to go from your 4" fan flange to an 8" duct if there is no 4" to 8" at the store you go to. Reducers usually go by 2" increments, only larger stores will carry a 4" increment. I have a 6" fan and 8" ducting, the change made my whole attic quieter and gave me more air flow, easier on the fan.

If the problem becomes focused on air passing through the tent opening then you'll have to adapt it for a larger duct.

What kind of fan? CFM?

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Hi Hobbes, the thing is the vent holes in the DR60 is 5"

The fan is a S&P TD-100x 135cfm at max... I just put it on low which is 95cfm until I can try the ducting and it's quieter yes. Would it be ok to close my closet door when I sleep? My concern is there is no fresh air coming to the tent at night if I do that.

Home Depot my friend. They have insulated ducting for around $30 for a 25ft roll, also, stretching your ducting could help. without so many up and down pits for the air to bounce off of it may flow alot better and quiter if your ducting is pulled tighter and lose as many curves in it as possible, curves will slow the air down and also make a nice humming sound at the right pressure, kinda like blowing across the top of a pop bottle to whistle.

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"Would it be ok to close my closet door when I sleep? My concern is there is no fresh air coming to the tent at night if I do that."

So long as it's neither too hot nor too humid the plants will be fine. If you can feed air up through the canopy the air will help the plants to grow better even with the lights off - light, water, nutrients, air.

I assume that you can't damage the door, you can take it off and staple an insulated blanket over the door and install a light proof vent at the top and bottom of the door. I'll do a diagram in sketchup and post it later, many people have the same problem. I'd design an insert with light proof inlet and outlet air vents and build it out of PVC pipe and joints with no glue - so people without building skills can plug one together.

Check my grow lab thread over the next few days if I don't post here, I might loose track of this thread. You'll be able to keep things quiet and keep the fan on.

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your best bet is insulated ducting or at least, figure out a way to streamline the air as best as possible. the less turns the less noise.

Hobbes said:

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"Would it be ok to close my closet door when I sleep? My concern is there is no fresh air coming to the tent at night if I do that."

So long as it's neither too hot nor too humid the plants will be fine. If you can feed air up through the canopy the air will help the plants to grow better even with the lights off - light, water, nutrients, air.

I assume that you can't damage the door, you can take it off and staple an insulated blanket over the door and install a light proof vent at the top and bottom of the door. I'll do a diagram in sketchup and post it later, many people have the same problem. I'd design an insert with light proof inlet and outlet air vents and build it out of PVC pipe and joints with no glue - so people without building skills can plug one together.

Check my grow lab thread over the next few days if I don't post here, I might loose track of this thread. You'll be able to keep things quiet and keep the fan on.

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Awesome. Thanks for your help and everyone else. +rep for everyone

"Would it be ok to close my closet door when I sleep? My concern is there is no fresh air coming to the tent at night if I do that."

i close off my cabinet with black plastic. and only 1 exhaust hole with no ventilating fan while the lights are off. if the lights are off at night when youre sleeping i dont see any reason why you couldnt shut your door. your closet door should have at least 1" clearance under it ( federal fire regulations ) so you will constantly be pushing air out and in with the door closed. unless your fan is super super strong and can actually negatively charge the pressure of your closet, in which case your door would whistle from underneath.