Fan suggestions

[pacman]

I am looking for a fan for dispersing haze, fog, etc.; something better than a mere box fan. Ideally, it would have DMX control for start, stop and speed. Quiet would be extra nice. Okay, I know it's a fan & they make noise, but some are louder than others. Any suggestions? What have you used & really liked?

[derekleffew]

"Industry standard" (if there is such a thing), is this: RE Fan III. Personally I don't think $2,745.00 buys you that much more than a $20 box fan, but some would disagree, and it does meet all your requirements.

Martin makes some nice ones as well: AF-1, AF-2.

Hint: Always put any fan behind the smoke source so as to not gum up the fan with fluid.

[FatherMurphy]

Any common fan could be DMX controlled for on and off with a relay pack, but speed control would be problematic, since, generally speaking, motors and dimmers do not get along together. Doug Fleenor's DMX Etch-A-Sketch comes to mind, with a tire on a stepper motor driving the knob of the toy. Something similar might be able to drive the rotary speed selector switch on a common box fan.

Padded boxes to absorb sound is an option in some cases. I've always assumed that most of the noise is due to the aerodynamics of the fan blade design more than anything else.

[pacman]

Thanks. Yes, I think the RE Fan III is way more than I want to spend. I've got my dealer checking pricing on the Martin/Jem fans.

I agree that blade design contributes to noise or lack thereof. I have a few cheap box fans that are really loud. They have very narrow blades at an angle slightly greater than 45 degrees. The motor itself is on the loud side, too.

[len]

For hazers, I just use those $20 round fans you can get anywhere. They're pretty quiet and we just turn them on and leave them.

If you want to get super fancy (my wife's word) you can go with a LeMaitre Versafan, but that's like $400 and not even dmx. I've seen one that is dmx but it's probably even more $$$.

[porkchop]

We use LeMaitre Versa fans with their Radiance hazers. They are pretty quiet, and have adjustment on the fan so you don't have to dim it always.. They aren't DMX, but they are made to be controlled by the DMX Radiance hazer, to my knowledge basically the control is a dimmer so you know you're not gonna have any problems with the motor if you plug the fan into a Edison dimmer pack, But I can't find a Versa fan for less than $600 online right now.. We used the Elation DP-DMX20L that seems to be going for $200-$300. I'm seeing similar dimmer packs for as low as $100 bucks. DMX control appears to be an option for the Versa Fans at $300 higher MSRP, I'd say the best thing to do is find a good quiet fan that you like in the box style or maybe some industrial supply thing and hook it into a dimmer pack. The specialty made fans appear to be quite pricy

[pacman]

Thanks, len and porkchop. I had forgotten about the LeMaitre, even though I use their Radiance hazer.