How to Choose the Best Indoor Grow Fan? (2023 Updated)
As an indoor grower, one thing you should never forget is the ventilation of your grow room. Many indoor growers don’t realize the importance of proper ventilation to their crops, resulting in poor returns for their hard work.
Whether you’re using a grow tent, cabinet room, or any other form of grow room, maintaining a stable environment is the surest way to reap big rewards and avoid things like mold or mildew that can ruin your entire crop.
Benefits Of A Grow Tent Fan
When growing plants, you need optimal airflow to keep your yield as high as possible. Without the best fan with your plants, you might be left with weaker strains, dying plants, and a lot less product than you could have had.
Grow tent fans do more than just manage airflow, though. They can also help calibrate the temperature and humidity, and replenish the carbon dioxide levels.
Let’s have a look at why you need a grow tent fan.
Airflow And Oxygen Levels
Plants growing in nature will always have a breeze about them. The gentle (and sometimes harsh!) pressure against the plants helps them to grow a more robust stem and branches. This aids healthy growth over the entire plant.
Plants also need plenty of oxygen to ensure that they grow properly. A fan ensures that your plant always has access to clean and fresh air.
Carbon Dioxide
All plants need carbon dioxide to live and grow, and this is exactly the same for plants. As grow tents are a closed-off environment, the carbon dioxide levels within are quickly depleted and absorbed by the plants.
The plants will then turn this CO2 into oxygen and throw that back into the atmosphere.
Without a fan, the carbon dioxide will not be replenished and therefore the plant will die.
Due to this, your setup needs to have a two-way circulation so that cool air can get into the tent while the hot air can be removed.
ECO Farm 6 Inch Clip Oscillating Fan Fit for Grow Tent with 3-Speed Control
Features:
This ECO Farm wall fan is ideal for a small grow tent, which is why it is our top pick. When it comes to changing the air in and out of your grow operation, you don’t need something blowing with gusto. While this product isn’t made specifically for growing, if you just need something to keep things moving, this fan is wonderful for that. It is small, so it fits easily in your growing area, and if you are growing a large amount of product, you can buy several of these fans and they won’t get in the way or cost you a fortune. This model has a versatile mounting system, so you won’t have to fuss too much with where you put it in your tent. There is also a clamp, so you could just clamp it onto the container that your plants are in. Not only is this fan small and flexible, but it is also quiet, which is crucial for your peace of mind.
RAM — Oscillating Wall Fan 16"
Features:
Ideal as a wall fan for grow rooms, this 40-watt oscillating fan features 16-foot blades and three speed settings. For convenience, it has a pull cord and is not remote operated, so if the power goes out for any unforeseen reason, the fan will automatically restart instead of waiting for a remote start. Wall fans in the grow room are great for circulating the area to avoid any hot spot lighting.
AC Infinity Cloudray A6 Circulation EC Fan
Features:
The newly designed next-generation clip-on fan provides precise air circulation for all stages of plant growth. Utilize the cutting-edge EC motor with PWM control to access a wide range of fan speeds, from breeze to powerful airflow. Designed with an EC motor to provide precise air circulation for all stages of plant growth. Numerous 10 speeds, from gentle breeze for seedlings to strong airflow for flowering. The IP-44 rating is designed for use in growing environments and resists high humidity and heat.
How to choose the best indoor grow fan?
In this section, you will learn what to pay attention to when choosing the best indoor fan.
First, you should understand different Grow Tent Fan types and their purpose. So, I’ll walk you through it below
Oscillating fans. Will help you keep your tent air circulated and create a fresh breeze throughout your plants. It also makes branches sway a bit, and this strengthens them and is better suited to support heavy colas in the last weeks before harvest.
Inline fans. Ideal ventilation is created when fresh air can enter the grow room and warm stale air can escape. The best inline fans for grow rooms can either push air in or pull it out. Many growers only use one fan, but I like to use two — one for fresh air intake and one to exhaust hot stale air.
Outtake fan. This type of fan takes out the stagnant air from the grow tent. We can freely say that this fan acts as a vacuum.
Intake Fan. The intake fan has the opposite function. It draws fresh air from the outside and takes it into your grow room.
Booster fan. Usually inexpensive fans, but use a lot of electricity. They shouldn’t be used as a main fan of the ventilation system. They are traditionally add-ons and help facilitate air circulation.
Oscillating and inline fans are the most popular categories. These are the most versatile fan types for grow tents, and smaller indoor home grow rooms.
Whatever fan you choose, here are a few things to keep in mind
Always look for an adjustable fan with different speeds. This way, you can adjust it to your space and needs.
Also, minimum ventilation requirements need to be fulfilled. All acceptable fans should provide at least that much so that there’s no shortage of CO2 for your plants. How to calculate the minimum ventilation that we need in our grow room? To calculate the fan ratio for plant growth, we first take the measurements of the tent — length, width, and height — and multiply them to get the volume. We calculate feet to eventually get the fan ratio in cubic feet per minute, or CFM.
Knowing what type of fans you need in your grow tent is crucial. Understanding each function will make your plants growth easier.
Keep in mind that air shouldn’t directly blow on the plants. The direct blowing of the air can expose canopy plants to colossal stress, which can be lethal for your beloved plants.
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing the best fans for your greenhouse, it all comes down to the type of greenhouse and your cooling needs. Different greenhouses will have different cooling needs. This means that you will choose a greenhouse fan based on the type and size of your greenhouse.
The most important thing is to know what kind of greenhouse you have and what type or size of fans are ideal.
