Quiet Cool questions

[Dukeybootie]

Seriously considering the QC for my 2800sq ft SoCal home... From what I've read I am in the ideal area where it gets hot during the day 90-100F(at times) but 60-75F at night. In addition, I am considering purchasing a smaller version for one of my rooms that is notoriously hotter than others (builder, when under warranty, checked and claimed all was well- BS)

I have an "open floor plan" so my entry is all open to the second floor with 20ft high ceiling, with the small room size in my daughter's room. Cost-wise, what can one expect for a pro installation? I am more than capable of doing a DIY, however, I'm wondering if the wholesaler fans are better then the DIY ones that are available for purchase via websites?

OP here...I just scheduled an install for my similar size home. Getting the Trident Pro 7.0 with an out the door price in the $2k neighborhood. I do need two additional roof vents which will be extra cost as well. I did ask about the newer Stealth line which is more efficient and expensive, but was told there was a higher motor failure rate so decided to pass on that one.

Also, the WiFi controls and apps are apparently not ready for prime time yet, but could be retrofitted in the future.

Hope that helps!

 

[bkp_duke]

I


I dont know what they charge for installation, because when I was looking around for who would install mine, all the pricing was "includes installation". Since I was not interested in trying to DIY it at all, that worked for me. The only issue I can think of with a split system (I believe thats what they call the whole home fan installs with more than 1 fan) is having enough roof venting to be able to operate both at the same time.

As it was explained to me (and it makes sense), if you dont have enough roof venting in your roof venting system, what happens is the air has to go "somewhere". If there is more volume of air than can flow through the vents, it will start to flow down the inside of the walls, etc... because its air and obviously will continue to flow. This could push hot air downstairs, or into rooms that you dont want it.

So, if you are considering 2 fans, you definitely want to at least chat with an experienced installer company who can help you size the fans "appropriately" and let you know if they think you have enough venting.

I mentioned who I used a few times, but didnt post it. I used a company called "quietcoolguys" which can be found at:

https://wholehousefanexperts.com/

They happen to be based in the city where I live ( temecula) but it appears to me they have install crews all around southern cali. They basically install these things all day, every day. My install took like 1 hour from walking in, to walking out (lol) and they put down floor covering in the appropriate places etc.

I would recommend at least checking them out as you look around for who to get quotes from. All the pricing seemed to be similar. I do also think there is a slightly different version for DIY vs the pro install.

Also, just as information, there are other companies that make similar whole home fans. Quiet cool is the biggest brand name in these things I think, but there are others, who either move a bit more air, or are more DIY, etc etc.

Thanks for the link. These guys were by and far the cheapest price I was quoted ($1795 out the door for the Silent-X 7.0)

Installation proceeding next Wednesday. Will update on how things go once completed.

 

[Doom Man]

Do they make one that exhausts out of a gable wall in the attic? I've got a sealed, conditioned attic, so it doesn't help to exhaust living space air into the attic. I saw some of QC's units that exhaust through the roof, but they use a lot more power than the others -- no ECM motor -- and I'd rather not add a roof penetration.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

For those proceeding with installation and getting the RF remote, I suggest getting two. I keep one downstairs and one upstairs. It can be mounted on the wall as it is similar size to a typical wall switch, but I just keep it on the table next to me.

 

[njhtran]

For those proceeding with installation and getting the RF remote, I suggest getting two. I keep one downstairs and one upstairs. It can be mounted on the wall as it is similar size to a typical wall switch, but I just keep it on the table next to me.

I have the rf remote on mine and the instructions say only one can be paired to the unit. If you can indeed pair two please confirm so that I’ll get another for mine.

I only recently went with the rf because I invested about a grand to get the WiFi units for mine installed years ago and it never worked stably.

 

[jjrandorin]

I have the rf remote on mine and the instructions say only one can be paired to the unit. If you can indeed pair two please confirm so that I’ll get another for mine.

I only recently went with the rf because I invested about a grand to get the WiFi units for mine installed years ago and it never worked stably.

I have (2) of the RF wall looking remotes, one upstairs and one downstairs, and have zero issues with it turning on, or off, or changing speeds etc.

EDIT: two of these:

 

[bkp_duke]

I have (2) of the RF wall looking remotes, one upstairs and one downstairs, and have zero issues with it turning on, or off, or changing speeds etc.

EDIT: two of these:

View attachment 587332

You would think in 2020 they could build a more . . . attractive device. That thing literally looks like someone took a wall switch and put it in a plastic box.

 

[jjrandorin]

Do they make one that exhausts out of a gable wall in the attic? I've got a sealed, conditioned attic, so it doesn't help to exhaust living space air into the attic. I saw some of QC's units that exhaust through the roof, but they use a lot more power than the others -- no ECM motor -- and I'd rather not add a roof penetration.

They do make gable fans, but I have no idea how effective those are, relative to other gable type fans.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

You would think in 2020 they could build a more . . . attractive device. That thing literally looks like someone took a wall switch and put it in a plastic box.

it is meant to mount on a wall and look like a 1 gang box. Definitely not designed for a table top aesthetic.

 

[bkp_duke]

Installation completed just a few minutes ago. Overall took 2 guys about 90 minutes to get it installed.

Perhaps I'm just a quiet freak, but the "Silent" fan is louder than I expected. I was expecting to not hear it at all on the low setting, but it is audible.

 

[jjrandorin]

Installation completed just a few minutes ago. Overall took 2 guys about 90 minutes to get it installed.

Perhaps I'm just a quiet freak, but the "Silent" fan is louder than I expected. I was expecting to not hear it at all on the low setting, but it is audible.

its not silent, but how much you hear it depends on the attic, etc. Try it for a week or two, and if you still are unhappy with it, call them back and see if they can re hang it to make it quieter. In my case, they installed it, and it was louder than I thought it would be, and after a couple weeks called them back (quietcoolguys). They said "sure lets get you scheduled for the crew to come back and take a look". a few days later, they came back and moved it to hanging between a slightly different pair of joists. Made a difference, and it was quieter.

The first crew didnt hang in there because it was over a bedroom, but the bedroom is a spare bedroom so I didnt care if it was a bit louder there, as it was quieter in my master and less echoing downstairs.

It ends up sounding like white noise at night, and I got used to it after only a couple nights, and I am a light sleeper.

 

[wwu123]

Installation completed just a few minutes ago. Overall took 2 guys about 90 minutes to get it installed.

Perhaps I'm just a quiet freak, but the "Silent" fan is louder than I expected. I was expecting to not hear it at all on the low setting, but it is audible.

Is the noise on low more from the motor harmonics, or from the air whooshing through the grille and flex duct? Ar the end of the day, pulling a few thousand CFM through a 16-18" duct is going to have some noise, though to me it's more of a not unpleasant low white noise...

 

[bkp_duke]

Is the noise on low more from the motor harmonics, or from the air whooshing through the grille and flex duct? Ar the end of the day, pulling a few thousand CFM through a 16-18" duct is going to have some noise, though to me it's more of a not unpleasant low white noise...

It sounds more motor noise, not a "woosh".

I'm going to have to do some more testing and get more data to make a conclusion and decide if the sound is going to be tolerable long-term.

 

[jjrandorin]

Is the noise on low more from the motor harmonics, or from the air whooshing through the grille and flex duct? Ar the end of the day, pulling a few thousand CFM through a 16-18" duct is going to have some noise, though to me it's more of a not unpleasant low white noise...

Its a low motor growl, at least in my case. I found the utility and operation of the fan made such a difference in the interior comfort of my home without using my AC, I wanted to give myself a chance to acclimate to it. I mentioned a couple posts ago that it still seemed a bit loud to me but then I had them re adjust / re hang it, and it was better.

Not "silent" by any means, but it turned into a white noise type thing that I got used to pretty quickly after they adjusted it.

 

[kardiff_kris]

So just had my install done, 5.5X Stealth by QuietCool Guys. They were excellent. Great communication, wore masks, cleaned up very well any drywall mess. Install took a grand total of 30 minutes, and 5 of that was me paying the bill. I'll post some updates later. I put a EcoBee temperature sensor in the attic 3 or so weeks ago to get a baseline of attic temperatures so curious to see how this will effect it.

 

[kardiff_kris]

So first night/evening using the quietcool went pretty well. I think my part of San Diego is still a bit too humid to be ideal to be running the fan solo. We left for dinner when it was still a bit too hot out, once we came back home we opened a few windows down stairs and turned it on high, coupled with the nice breeze we did notice a very rapid 5 degree temperature drop (outside 74, inside 79)

and stayed about 5 degrees warmer than outside for the rest of the evening. Overnight dropped it down to low and ran it for 4 hours with the bedroom windows open.

One thing I noticed that was interesting, the Attic while it cooled down very fast in the evening when we turned it on actually stayed warmer running the quietcool fan than without. Running the fan overnight actually kept the attic warmer than on previous nights.

Back to the humidity concern

House went from around 45% humidity up to about 61-65% humidity. That is a bit too much, and not the fault of the fan but just the San Diego climate. It wasn't too bad in the evening, but i'm actually running the AC again this morning to dry out the air so its not warm & humid in the house during the heat of the day.

Overall, I can see its utility and plan to keep using it too supplement/augment our AC but I do feel a little constrained by the humidity concern.