Hi guys,

I just thought I would advise anyone who is thinking of buying an Evercool fan, not to do so!

They are noisy, they have an irritating high pitched noise, and they give up as soon as you give them any resistance in the air flow!

I have swapped mine for a "normal" AC fan out of an old OHP, and it shifts a ton more air and has a nice hum instead of the whine of the evercool.

They're not the worst ever, but they're not as quiet as they're rated on the packaging. I've also found that if your mount them with any pressure on the sides it'll burn the motors out easily.

I feel like an evangelist, but try out the Vantec Stealth fans. They're 12V, come in 60, 80, 92 and 120mm sizes and they're whisper quiet.

I'll still buy em, they cool adequately, look awesome, and allow for less light leaks.

I do not have the evercools but I do have a bit of advice for diy builders when it comes to installing fans. I would go with 2 fans rather than just one.

1. Dog days of summer can make your box 10 degrees warmer. I had my pj in the basement and it went from 86F degrees to 97F this month.

2. There was too much light escaping out the box and through the fan hole. I tried using a black fan filter to block the light but this restricted air flow, made my box still to hot. Hmmm..Escaping light or cool box? decisions, decisions.

So I am going to install two 78cfm fans in the back of the box and use two filters and a vent shield (not sure what they call it) which should block light from exiting and provide enough cooling in the summers. Has anyone had great success blocking all light and keeping the box cool with only one fan?

Thanks

100cfm
these fans seem to be the fans to use

32dB!! Noisy!

Just go down to your local small town computer shop and buy some computer fans for $5/ apeice. Every town has at least 1 or 2 shops that sell these at very discounted prices. Look'em up in your phonebook.

if light is escaping out of the fan holes, isn't that light that you do not need anyway?? if the light rays are even making it to the fan exhaust, its never going to make it to the first fresnel, so would it really cause the picture to be any dimmer?

32db is not noisy. It is one of the quitest 100cfm fans available. It moves an enormous amount of air at slow rpm, makes the evercool pcac fans sound like a freight train. I've got no other fans or noises running in the room, and I can never notice the fan's noise. After switching to this fan my box consistenly runs <85 deg. at the panel.

I agree about the quality of the evercool's, I went to blow the dust off mine with a mild shot of compressed air and the blades bent in all directions, totally ruined them.

You are correct. However, the issue with light escaping is that it reflects off the walls and onto the screen, so it decreases contrast. If your pj is positioned so that the light leaks behind it or onto a black surface then a little light leak won't hurt anything. My pj is ceiling mounted with the back end above the ceiling tiles. So I don't even concern myself with any light leakage through the fans.

I agree about the Evercools as well - although I'm running a pair of them in my PJ, I've got them both turned down to a reasonably quiet level. But I doubt I will use them again in my next project.