What kind of fans to put in a hood?

[agoutihead]

What are the cheapest fans to get to put in a hood?

Ideally I would like to wire them together so there is only 1 plug and they work simultaneously.

I need one for an out, and one for an in.

 

[scubajsm]

I used the coralife, I wouldn't say they were cheap.

 

[thejamesvolta]

Try a PC fan. That's what I plan on using.

PC Fans

 

[agoutihead]

How well do they actually hold up? But these are meant to be plugged into a motherboard, so what do you do, splice a plug on he end of it?

Those should be easy to splice together shouldn't they?

Just match up the colors and it sould power both fans at the same time right?

 

[thejamesvolta]

You would probably need some sort of trasnformer I believe, because the fan runs on 12v. Here is the only way I know how to do it. I'm sure there's a better.

PSU Paperclic Trick

 

[adnup]

I use 2 radio shack computer fans. I think they are just wired to a cord and plugged direct to the outlet...no transformer...

 

[D.Blaine]

I bought 4 PC fans (120 mm- total power draw is about 34 ma) then cut off all of the 4- pin molex connectors exposing bare wires. Next go to radio shack and get a small DC adapter the one I picked up was 500 ma for about 12 bucks, splice all fans together and splice with DC adapter.

total setup cost me about $25 I have over 600 watts of MH and T-5 and my tank never gets over 81 degrees in the summer here.( by the way I don't run a chiller.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

PC Fans

Hard Drive Fans on Ballasts.

Component Fans

PC Power Supply

 

[Rouselb]

wow...i use a couple of desktop fans..cheap, and work great, they are hooked to my AC JR. Temp stays nice at 81! htt

 

[Rouselb]

 

[AZDesertRat]

Two Vantec Stealth 120mm (4 inch) fans both blowing in with a $5 variable voltage power supply. Fans are like $12 each at Newegg and are totally silent especially when running at 9.0 or 10.5 volts in the winter. Make them both blow in or you are wasting one fan. You only get the CFM of a single fan with one in one out while you get two full fans volume if they both blow in. Blowing in also draws cooler dry air across the fan and blowing out draws hot damp air and shortens the fan life significantly. Been there done that.

 

[agoutihead]

Yeah I do want them to be sillent, so those stealth fans sound like a good idea.

You think both in huh? I would assume one fan blowing in and one fan sucking out would keep the temp inside more consistant. So where is all of that hot air going to go while it's inside?

Sure it will blow itself out eventually, but it doesn't seem like a high enough air exchange compared to an in/out setup?

 

[bigginapk]

I wonder the same as agoutihead because that is what I planned to do to my hood !! One in and one out !! That makes alot more sence to me !! because it will draw the hot air out and cool air in !!

 

[AZDesertRat]

You can stack 100 fans in a row but the last fan is only going to move what the one before it feeds to it. Its like pumping water up a hill and having to put booster pumps along the way to get it to the top, they will each only move what the one below it pumps up to it.
By having both blow in, in the case of Vantec Stealths thats 53 CFM each you get 106 CFM in. If you have equal size or larger holes in the top or high up in the back you don't get much resistance to air flow and you also take advantage or convection.
I have tried every combination imaginable over the last 15 years and it really makes a difference.

 

[agoutihead]

So your saying put the two fans in, and just drill/cut out exit holes?

 

[SaltyDr]

You could cut out exit holes (top or opposite side as fans), but there might be enough area along the back.

 

[AZDesertRat]

You want the exit holes to be as high as possible to take advantage of convection.

 

[einsteins]

I got mine at grainger
They carry AC models that you could easily wire together and they are soo much better made than pc fans.

eins

 

[AZDesertRat]

I have yet to find an AC fan as quiet as DC computer fans. Every one I tried without exception was noisey. Also you cannot easily vary the speed of AC fans like you can with a DC fan. Food for thought.
Wiring up DC fans is no more complicated than AC, 2 wires, a red and a black are all that is needed.

 

[agoutihead]

Well My tank is only a 40 breeder, and I don't want alot of evaporation, so maybe I should get 2 fans smaller than 120mm?

I will drill 4 - 1" holes at the top, that should be plenty of exits to give it good convection shouldn't it?