11 Tips to Keep Your Grow Room Silent

A fully decked-up grow room almost makes you feel like you are working in a lab. 

It’s a great feeling — like a mad scientist kinda thing.

However, with time, all that noise can get to you. 

The ducts, fans, and other equipment can get annoying real quick, especially if it’s close to your living room or bedroom. 

And in some regions where growing cannabis is “frowned upon”, the noise can invite unwanted attention (read: cops) to your secret den. 

So, how do you keep your grow room silent?

Fixing the noise issue is easy — a few steps and your grow room will be stealthy. 

Learn all about it in this article with the following tips.

1. Switch to LED Lights 

Conventional light setups, like HID, produce a lot of heat and require excess extraction to keep them cool. This can be a loud affair. Instead, LEDs produce little heat and require smaller fans, if any, to keep the temperatures in control. 

Plus, LED lights are the future of grow lights. They consume up to 70% less energy than conventional light fixtures and can last up to 11 years. They can help you save a lot of energy and space!

2. Jerry-rig the Fans on Your LED Lights

If you’re using LED lights with noisy fans already, you can improvise them further. It is tricky, but if you've worked with custom computers, it’s only a matter of tinkering with a few tools. 

Since LED lights don’t produce a lot of heat, they come with cooling fans that are akin to the ones used in computers. So, if you want to dampen the fans’ sound, you can replace them with ultra-quiet computer fans of similar specifications. 

Sure, this will be more difficult on some lights than others, but mostly, you’d have to take off the outer casing and replace the fans within. 

3. Seal All Openings

If you are using a grow tent, you know how many openings it has for all the various wires, ducts, hoses, and devices. These openings are great when you are setting up, but they can otherwise let out a lot of the noise from within the grow tent. 

You can seal them easily using duct tape or cable tying cloth. These materials will absorb the noise and contain the vibrations inside. It is recommended that you seal the openings from both outside and inside for optimal soundproofing.

An added benefit of sealing the openings of your grow tent is that it will keep your photoperiod plants safe from light leaks, which may push the plant back into re-vegging. 

4. Soundproof the Grow Room

How to soundproof the grow room? No, we are not asking you to renovate your grow room/tent and make permanent changes to it. 

Instead, you can try some nifty tricks to make the grow tent quieter. One of the first things you can do is use vinyl hangings — hang them around the grow room walls like curtains — they are simple, reversible, and absorb a lot of noise efficiently.

You can also install soundproof underlay on the floors. Don’t worry about installing them under the floor — installing them on the floor also works well enough.

And if you want to take it to the next level, you can use soundproof plasterboards. They are specifically designed to dampen noise, but they can make a pretty hole in your pocket. If you aren't worried much about the noise in your small grow tent, it's overkill to install them. 

Similar to a grow tent, you should use bungee cords to suspend equipment like ducts and fans to dampen the vibrations. 

And at all costs, avoid using styrofoam or egg cartons. They are highly flammable and not the best sound dampeners.

5. Install Silent Fans in the Grow Room

While you can use computer fans for your LED lights, the same can’t be done for other fans. Instead, you need to invest in silent fans that aren’t as loud as regular fans. Unlike regular fans, silent fans don’t produce grinding noises and vibrations, making them more stealthy. 

Sure, they will cost you some money, but they are worth it to bring down the noise levels in your grow room. Plus, silent fans provide a more efficient airflow than regular air in most cases. 

6. Use the Right Duct Fans

Speaking of fans, bigger duct fans does not always mean better duct fans. The more air they draw, the louder they will be. So, instead of finding the biggest duct fan that can fit in your grow room, invest in a fan that suits your garden size. 

For reference, the air within your grow room should exchange within ten minutes. So, calculate the CFM (cubic feet per minute) your grow room requires and get a fan that matches it. And use a slightly more powerful fan if you are using a charcoal filter on the same line. 

7. Place Air Stones and Water Pumps on Yoga Mats

If you have to place any equipment on the floor, like air stones or water pumps, use something like a yoga mat to dampen its vibration. These devices produce vibrations that can penetrate the floors, so placing a high-density foam between them and the floor can insulate them, dampening the vibrations. 

Your easiest bet is using yoga mats, but you can also use other soundproofing materials like duct wrap, rubber, or a thick carpet. Avoid using anything inflammable to prevent serious accidents. 

8. Use Extra Air Stones

If you are using an old or block air stone, it will put pressure on the pump, making it run harder and louder. Not only will this affect the pump’s life but also create a lot of annoying sounds. 

To keep the sound levels in check, replace your air stones frequently to maintain optimal efficiency. And if possible, add an extra air stone to your grow room to reduce the pump’s effort. 

9. Move Everything Inside the Grow Tent

While it may seem easier to keep equipment pieces, like the extractor fan, outside the grow tent, we recommend otherwise. Try to fit any loud equipment pieces inside the grow tent as the tent will insulate a lot of the sound they produce.

This especially applies to the extractor fan as it is large, bulky, and usually the loudest piece of equipment for many setups. 

Additionally, try hanging these loud devices with the help of bungee cords. Bungee cords are flexible and absorb vibrations, which further dampens the sound of the devices. 

10. Avoid Metal Ducting

Metallic ducting looks pretty cool in a grow room, but the resonance created by metal is quite loud. It is one of the loudest things in your grow room. So, avoid metallic ducting and choose insulated ducting made of fiberglass or a similar compound. 

Insulated ducting won’t rattle constantly, reducing the overall sound. 

And if you don’t want to spend on insulated ducting just yet, you can also wrap your regular ducting in insulation. Anything that dampens the constant vibrations of the metallic ducting works well — Rockwool, towels, yoga mats, plastic casing, etc.

11. Use a Muffler for Letting the Air Escape 

When air exits your grow room, it creates a “whooshing” sound that is easily distinguishable, thanks to the high speed of exhaust. This can give away your grow room to unfriendly eyes or simply annoy your neighbors. So, how do you keep your grow tent silent?

Well, use a muffler to slow down the air and reduce turbulence of the exiting air, which will lower the noise levels significantly. You can either purchase an exhaust muffler online or you can DIY it in a few hours. 

Here’s what you need to do: 

DIY Exhaust Muffler

1. 200-liter plastic trash bin 
2. Metal netting, like chicken wire
3. Insulating material of your choice
4. Duct tape
5. Silicone gun

Follow these steps to make your exhaust muffler:

1. Measure your ductings’ diameter and make a tube of the same diameter with metal netting. Ensure that it is longer than the bin.
2. Now, use a drill to cut holes on either end of the trash bin for the tube to fit through with around 10 cm sticking out on both ends.
3. And use duct tape and a silicone gun to secure the netting.
4. Pack the insulating material between the netting and the bin. Don’t forget to wear gloves, goggles, and a mask if you are using fiberglass. 
5. Then, fix the bin’s lid shut and seal any gaps using duct tape and a silicone gun.
6. Lastly, insert the exhaust ducting within the new muffler.

Summary: How to Keep Your Grow Room Silent?

Growing cannabis is a lot of fun. And regardless of its legalities in your region, growing it comes with a lot of responsibilities. One of them is that your grow room should be discreet and not disturb anyone around it. 

This is the primary reason why you should follow the techniques listed above to silence your grow room. Being a good neighbor never hurt anyone! Hope these tips on how to silence the grow room can help. 

That’s not all — a silent grow room also allows you to work in the grow room without being annoyed by loud sounds everywhere. A silent grow room is a comfortable grow room to work in. (And it won’t surely annoy your partner who is not fond of growing cannabis as much).