Canopy fan recommendations?

I would recomend the AC fans from grainger that look just like computer cooling fans.

They are powerful and quiet. THats what I had in my old lighting setup.

 

Icecap make some good fans, and they have a built in thermostat...

 

I second the Grainger... might shop around for a 120V cooling fan are easy to find can find just about any CFM and db combination you want w/or w/out thermostats.

 

I like the DC ones the best. With a ntc thermistor and a cheap transformer they'll speed up and slow down on there own. The ac ones are just on or off.
A few things to quiet the ones you have down are.
1, put some little rubber washers or O'rings around the mountung screws and just snug them up to the canopy.
2, point the fans all inward. having them point outwards can cause some salt creep on them and make the imbalanced.
3, make sure you clean them.

 

I second the ice cap fans. They are variable speed and very quiet. The only time I ever heard mine was in the summer with the Halides and VHOS running, the little thermostat speeds them up as the temp rises. You should also be able to get by with less of them as they can speed up and save money when they slow down.

Anyone reading this should follow Ben's advice on fans set up though. I know the physics make sense on a push pull fan system, but like he said salt creep destroys the fan that blows out and makes it very LOUD.

 

Travis that little thermostat thingy is a ntc thermistor. Thermistors are just a fancy resistor that increases or decreases voltage based on temp.  You can get all the parts for a fan that does the samething as icecaps for like $20 at radio shack. At least you could 5 years ago.   I have an icecap fan too and really like it. 

 

Hmmm $20 is a much nicer price tag... I might have to look into just wiring some together.