Whole house fans are a popular choice to cool a house without using an air conditioning unit. These fans are installed in the ceiling of the house which means they are more or less in the living areas of the house. That means there isn’t much or no insulation at all between you and the fan so running a whole house fan, especially during the night, can be really noisy.
But how much noise is too much? Here is a noise chart comparing the decibel levels of most common sounds;
| Source of noise | Decibel |
|---|---|
| Whisper | 30 db |
| Library | 40 db |
| Quiet urban day time | 50 db |
| A normal conversation at 1 m | 60 db |
| Vacuum cleaner at 3 m | 70 db |
| Power lawn mover at 1 m | 80 db |
| Shouted conversation | 90 db |
I hope this chart above gives you some idea of how much decibels of noise you can tolerate in your home.
Now that you know what to look for, here are some of the quietest whole house fans;
- QA-Deluxe 5500(R2T)
- Centric Air 3.4(R50)
- AC Infinity CLOUDRAY T10
- QuietCool QC ES-1500
Table of Contents
1. QA-Deluxe 5500(R2T)
5500 is a quiet whole house fan model under the QA-Deluxe series of Centric Air. It produces a sound of 51 decibels at its full speed. I should say that is quite an achievement considering that the fan can produce around 4000 CFM! Moreover, the fan is located away from the ceiling (it is connected to the ceiling via a duct) so you won’t hear 51 decibels of sound from the living room.
Here is a quick over view of the specifications of this fan;
- Airflow – 3945 CFM
- Brand – Centric Air
- Speeds – 2
- Can cool an area of – 2400 sq. ft
- Warranty: 10 years for the motor, 3-years for the parts
- Remote control – Yes
- Thermostat and humidistat – Yes
This particular model comes with a 2 speed brushless motor that produces much less noise compared to a brushed motor. It is capable of cooling an area of 2400 sq.ft. The fan comes with a built in thermostat and humidistat and the settings of these can be controlled via a remote control. The remote control also has a timer switch as well as speed control.
The whole unit is built strong. The fan and its housing is made of Aluminum, the duct is sound insulated and the damper box is R5 insulated. The fan is suspended in the attic with the help of support brackets. This set up not only keeps the fan away from the living areas but also reduces any noise through vibrations. You can also optionally buy a vertical wall mount adapter for mounting the fan.
As mentioned above this fan makes only a noise of 51 decibels which is much lower than that of a normal conversation.
And if you are looking for a fan with a different CFM rating; there are plenty of models under the series QA-Deluxe which you can find here on this amazon page.
2. Centric Air 3.4 (R50)
Here is another whole house fan from CentricAir but this one belongs to a different series. Hmm but this series doesn’t have a particluar name, I don’t know why, they call it just Centric Air.
Whatever the series name be these models are more efficient, reliable, and quieter than the QA-Deluxe series whole-house fans.
Here is a quick overview of its specifications;
- Airflow – 3242 CFM
- Brand – Centric Air
- Speeds – 2
- Can cool an area of – 2270 sq. ft
- Warranty: 15 years for the motor, 3-years for the parts
- Remote control – Yes
- Thermostat and humidistat – Yes
This Centric Air whole house fan consumes 30% less energy compared to other industry standard fans. It comes with a sealed motor to reduce noise. This is a feature not seen in any other whole house fans of other brands. Moreover, the fan is made of a composite material specially designed to reduce noise. In addition, the fan blades have a special wing-tipped design that maximizes airflow as well as reduces noise.
The warranty of the fans in this series is also longer than that of other fans, they come with a 15-year long motor warranty.
It has a CFM rating of 3242, and it can cool an area up to 2270 sq.ft. It can be run at two speeds controlled by a remote control. The fan comes with an inbuilt humidistat and thermostat which are also regulated by the remote control.
The noise rating of this fan is 49.2 dB. It may not look much different from the 51 dB rating of the previous fan but this slight difference can make a significant distinction in the noise.
Here is a full list of the whole house fans in this series – https://amzn.to/3fRsqJ3
3. AC Infinity CLOUDRAY T10
Made by AC Infinity, Cloudray T10 is a small-sized whole house fan with a premium look. It produces an airflow of only 1201 CFM which makes it the smallest in this list.
Here is a quick overview of Cloudray T10;
- Airflow – 1201 CFM
- Brand – AC Infinity
- Speeds – Variable
- Can cool an area of – 600 sq. ft
- Warranty: 2-years for any defects
- Remote control – Yes
- Thermostat and humidistat – Yes
The cool thing about this whole house fan is the programmable remote control that comes with it. With it, you can run the fan on 10 different speed settings. It also has a corded sensor to detect the temperature and the humidity inside the house. The remote also has a timer function, a wide LED screen, and temperature and humidity settings.
The fan is a bit small sized however it is a good choice for smaller areas. The fan and its housing are powder coated. The damper unit comes with a double door that blocks the backflow of air from the attic into the living areas.
The motor of the fan is an Electronically Commuted motor (ECM) aka brushless motor that is quieter in operation. It produces only 48 dB of noise which is quieter compared to the above two Centric Air models but remember that their motors are much more powerful.
The warranty for this fan is rather disappointing, it is covered only for 2-years which is much lower than that of competing models.
4. QuietCool QC ES-3100
QuietCool is a big player when it comes to quiet whole house fans. All of their models are specially designed to work quietly. The ES-3100 is only one of the many quiet models under this company. This is by far the quietest fan on this list with noise as low as 36.1 dB.
Here is a quick overview of this whole house fan;
- Airflow – 3081 CFM
- Brand – QuietCool
- Speeds – 2
- Can cool an area of – 1541 sq. ft
- Warranty: 10-years
- Remote control – No
- Thermostat – Yes
This is a powerful fan that can produce an airflow of 3081 CFM at its highest speed. Yes, it has a 2-speed motor. And the CFM at its lowest speed is 2020. This whole house fan can cool a house with an area up to 1541 sq. ft. Just like all the other fans in this list, this is a ducted fan where the fan and its housing are freely hung on the rafters. This suspension reduces any vibrations and makes the fans ultra-quiet.
In addition, all QuietCool fans use ECM brushless motors which are really quiet. And so according to QuietCool’s data this fan makes a noise of 47.4 dB at its highest speed and 36.1 dB at its slowest speed, this is a really quiet fan!
When it comes to controls this fan is disappointing. It doesn’t come with any switches but you can buy them optional. However, no remote control options are available. The fan has an inbuilt thermostat but it doesn’t have a humidistat, and the thermostat need to be set manually.
The QuietCool fan is covered under a 10-year manufacturer warranty which is pretty good. This is one of the most popular whole house fans and also the quietest one in this list, so definitely consider this fan before you buy another.
And there are more QuietCool models which you can find here.
