Whole House Fan

[prankstar008]

Could you use a whole house fan to cool your comp....maybe attched to the side....the reason I like the idea is whole house fans are belt driven so they arent that loud...at least thats what the Lowes ad said....anybody have a whole house fan that wants to comment on this??

 

[a c i d.f l y]

Its a box fan.. they're effective, but it makes no difference being belt driven or not on noise.. most have three different speed setting as well.

-Frank

 

[Randyman...]

I use a "Squirrel Cage/Shaded Pole" 450Watt~275CFM fan to exhaust the extremely hot/humid air OUT of my room, thereby lowering humidity and ambient temps - which makes my PC run a bit cooler. I have numerous heat sources in my room, so this is a fairly big issue for me.

Most of the belt driven units will be like 1/2HP or greater - more than ANY pc could ever need (Like 500plus CFM). Not to mention - HUGE! A "Shaded Pole" blower has the motor directly attached to the blower. They are fairly quiet once slowed down a bit. You can find them from 6" units to full scale A/C blowers. I fould mine on eBay for $10 plus shipping! Lowered my room temps by 7-10* F! It exhausts "smoke" nicely, too

Later "cool"

 

[PCGUY112887]

hehe, I would see someone bolting this to the side of their case... talk about a side intake
All you would really need is that fan, and lots of space for air air to come shooting out. If you put a fan on the CPU it would probally be forced into going faster/slower from all the air being forced down at it from the box fan.

 

[Randy]

If you fancy adding a blower to the side of your case give this a read. Hoot did this some time ago and it is still a good alternative. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=13998&highlight=hoot+chute

 

[squeakygeek]

I use a "Squirrel Cage/Shaded Pole" 450Watt~275CFM fan to exhaust the extremely hot/humid air OUT of my room, thereby lowering humidity and ambient temps - which makes my PC run a bit cooler. I have numerous heat sources in my room, so this is a fairly big issue for me.

Most of the belt driven units will be like 1/2HP or greater - more than ANY pc could ever need (Like 500plus CFM). Not to mention - HUGE! A "Shaded Pole" blower has the motor directly attached to the blower. They are fairly quiet once slowed down a bit. You can find them from 6" units to full scale A/C blowers. I fould mine on eBay for $10 plus shipping! Lowered my room temps by 7-10* F! It exhausts "smoke" nicely, too

Later "cool"

What's the best/cheapest way of slowing down a blower? I just got a 1/4 HP squirrel cage blower. It's belt driven so I could buy a new pulley or two to change the ratio, but is there a better way? Also, It makes alot less noise when the airflow is restricted (most of the noise is air movement), but the blower itself does make noise itself also. I plan to use this to cool a huge radiator.

 

[Randyman...]

I wouldn't restrict the airflow to reduce noise.

With a 1/4HP blower, that is probably pulling like what - 10 Amps at 115VAC ? You will need a heavy-duty speed controller for industrial type use. I bet Granger would have something, or "Google it up" and see what you find. A speed controller could be made for most any fan, but the cost will begin to get up there as the amperage draws increase above 5-8 Amps or so...

Mine only pulls 3.5Amps (I think it is 1/25 HP), so a common 600 Watt/5 Amp fan control works for me.

The pulley and ratio-change would also work fantastic as the motor itself is not the "noise culprit". Slowing down the blower itself would do the trick.

Later

 

[squeakygeek]

I wouldn't restrict the airflow to reduce noise.

With a 1/4HP blower, that is probably pulling like what - 10 Amps at 115VAC ? You will need a heavy-duty speed controller for industrial type use. I bet Granger would have something, or "Google it up" and see what you find. A speed controller could be made for most any fan, but the cost will begin to get up there as the amperage draws increase above 5-8 Amps or so...

Mine only pulls 3.5Amps (I think it is 1/25 HP), so a common 600 Watt/5 Amp fan control works for me.

The pulley and ratio-change would also work fantastic as the motor itself is not the "noise culprit". Slowing down the blower itself would do the trick.

Later

Thanks for the info. I didn't actually mean I planned to add extra restriction to lower the noise, I meant that maybe the noise will be acceptable once I have the restriction of the radiator on it.

 

[prankstar008]

That blower thing sounds good....except my case is in small quarters and i dont need something like a blower sticking out......maybe with a ducting mod i could put the whole thing in my case...

 

[orion456]

Restricting air flow always increases noise because most of the noise comes from the turbulant air movement. A belt won't make the fan anyless noisy because it still has to move air to work for you.

 

[squeakygeek]

Restricting air flow always increases noise because most of the noise comes from the turbulant air movement. A belt won't make the fan anyless noisy because it still has to move air to work for you.

When I restrict the airflow, I hear much less noise. To tell me that I'm actually hearing more noise would be rediculous. Restricting the airflow slows the air down, and less air = less noise. A belt can help because you can change the pulley ratio to move less air to make less noise. Or would that actually make more noise?

 

[archilochus]

Put an amp meter on one of motor leads(white is common) and slowly slide something over the blowers outlet while watching the amp meter..You will get to a point were the amps are lowest and the airflow is greater..The fan seems to pull the motor along if the resistence is adjusted properly..This is called amping the blower in residential a/c work..

 

[CircuitBreaker8]

why doesnt everybody just get vapo.. lol

 

[zexmarquies01]

no no, THIS is what I would like to see!!!

Someone take a box fan, that is about the size of their Side panel. and make a HUGE Converter, to make it Fit the Heatsink!

Imagine, a box fan, being used Strictly for the HS Fan hehe. now, that would be a sight to see!

 

[squeakygeek]

no no, THIS is what I would like to see!!!

Someone take a box fan, that is about the size of their Side panel. and make a HUGE Converter, to make it Fit the Heatsink!

Imagine, a box fan, being used Strictly for the HS Fan hehe. now, that would be a sight to see!

Actually I don't think a box fan would work that well. They have nowhere near the static pressure that blowers have.

 

[zexmarquies01]

yeah, but it would still be great to just see!!!

here's a solution, get a MUCH faster fan! hehe.

 

[Sean Lindstrom]

Change the pulley diameters. But I hope someone else pays the electric bills if you're driving a 10 amp motor to do a 2 amp's work. Why not find a smaller motor? Appliances break down and get dumped in the lane every day, and, in my shameless scavenging experience, the motor always runs fine. Most washing machines have multi-speed motors, also clothes driers use smallish motors. Sewing machines often have sealed motors, in a variety of sizes of course.

 

[zexmarquies01]

yeah, in general, Motors seem to last forever! ( we all know they don't, but it feels like it )

usually, someone else has gone bad in a fan, or something, than the motor.

you can find more motors ANYWHERE, and motors are soooo easy to find in the trash and such.

 

[PCGUY112887]

no no, THIS is what I would like to see!!!

Someone take a box fan, that is about the size of their Side panel. and make a HUGE Converter, to make it Fit the Heatsink!

Imagine, a box fan, being used Strictly for the HS Fan hehe. now, that would be a sight to see!

I'll do it. Just give me some time for my memory to come in and actually play with my system and I will use my mom's old boxfan that moves a crapload of air. Now, would I need to remove the fan that's on top of my heatsink already, or just stick it on top? I am thinking I would have to remove it but I don't really wanna
I could always make one blowing in the side intake of my case....

 

[zexmarquies01]

i'd Remove the fan on your HS.

or the fan would just Restrict Airflow.

if you do this, post pictures PLEASE!!! and tell us your temps! this would be sweet to see for some odd reason!