Our ceiling space would often get to 65 degrees Centigrade, so wanted a solar powered fan to install in my roof (cement roof tiles) to extract the excess heat. Unfortunately I chose the wrong brand; I had a distributor install 2 "SolaFans". I had asked the distributor if the fans were quiet, which he assured me they were. They are not. What we now have, when the sun is shining (fans activated) is an incessant drone, louder than a refrigerator. Walking from one end of the house to the other simply means the other unit's drone become the predominant noise. I find this unacceptable with today technology in fans, brushless motors, etc, but from the SolaFan website, I cannot contact the company to complain about their product, perhaps this is a known issue with this product!
Solar Roof Fans - Wrong Choice!
(17 posts) (6 voices)-
lucas12
MemberThat's horrible customer service and sounds like misleading advertising.
For roof ventilation have you checked out websites like the http://www.roofventilationblog.com.au/
This helped me quite a lot when looking for a solution and has been thrown around on the forum a bit.
In particular for your situation you may find this chart valuable: http://www.roofventilationblog.com.au/roof-ventilation-alternatives-chart/207/
While the SolaFan doesn't seem to be on the chart you'll get a jist of other products available and how they measure up. It also mentions noise level which you'd find very handy
Hope this helps
Posted Monday 5 May 2014 @ 2:00:13 am from IP # -
ncl_knight
MemberThat is very bad customer service. You should be able to contact consumer affairs etc and have them replaced (or get a refund).
I have 2x solar fans at my house. One is a Solar Whiz and it vents the roof space (also cement tiles) and we never hear this. It has a thermostat, so it runs when the roof space hits a certain temp.
The other is a SolarStar which is ducted to the bathroom. It runs as soon as the sun wakes up, and daoes a mighty job keeping the bathroom clear of steam from showers. If you listen really hard, and the sun is full on, so it is running at full spped, you can just hear it, but with the door closed, nothing.
I hope you can get yours rectified ASAP.Posted Monday 5 May 2014 @ 10:54:31 pm from IP # -
StephenT
MemberThanks, lucas12 & ncl_knight, for your replies. I believe my first mistake was believing the distributor when he said the SolaFans were quiet, it is interesting that the SolaFan don't mention the decibel level (which I was looking for). It is disappointing the SolaFan company does not specify contact details for their head office, otherwise I would be talking to them. Whilst I can go through Consumer Affairs, it will be a long process, especially as there is no "Customer Support" listed for the Company. I suspect what I'll be doing it putting up with the noise for a few months, the exasperation will hit and I'll get solar roof fans from another company, probably the one you have installed, as they specify their noise level (quiet). Again guys, thanks for your input.
Posted Tuesday 6 May 2014 @ 12:38:59 am from IP # -
lucas12
MemberNot a problem StephenT
That's quite ridiculous and absolutely shocking to be honest. That a company like that can operate with such low support. As ncl_knight said, you might want to just have a chat with the new company over the phone and you'll feel confident that should anything go wrong you have a point of call.
By the sounds of it ncl_knight's ventilator might be one to look at. All the best
Posted Wednesday 7 May 2014 @ 12:01:35 am from IP # -
girlpower
MemberHi Stephen T,
I think I may he of assistance to you.
We purchased the `solafan' via the recent Melbourne home show and one of my concerns was the fan noise.
The stall had one set up but it was blowing air out and couldn't hear or see the fan over the air noise (not sure how it was set up)I was told the noise isn't loud, more like a lower version of your normal bathroom exhaust fan noise.
My hubby installed once it arrived and the first thing I noticed once going was the annoying drone of the fan!
To me it sounds like a remote controlled air plane....can only imagine what two must sound like eek!I have a business card with the details of both the office and the mobile of the guy who was at the show.
We called his number within 4 days to ask for a call back, unfortunately this didn't happen and it's taken 3 odd weeks of calling the office and asking them to call him and get him to call us.
After 5 calls this still didn't happen, so I called the office again, spoke to the office manager who was really surprised I hadn't got a call back.....
I said we will now be removing the solafan and would like a full refund and instructions on where to send it back!She said she will email me and if I could email back my bank details, she will speak to the guy in question to confirm a refund and contact me back.
Two days later I hadn't heard anything so phoned her again...,she said I was on her list of emails to contact that day, the refund was approved and would be going into my bank acc overnight...once we had removed the solafan to email her and next time the guy was coming my way he would call in a and pick it up.Good news, refund did go I to my account overnight, hubby is removed the unit as I type.
The other negative I didn't like was that the thermostat is set at 20oC by default and can't be changed, because this is the temp in the roof cavity, this thing was coming on when only 17oC inside temp....bit silly in Autumn as we want to retain the heat inside??I think it's a great concept, but just not this unit.
Don't you have their contact details on your purchase invoice at all either?
Happy to provide the info if you would like to send me a PM.
I think we had good grounds for a refund because we started to make contact within a few days of installation.Posted Sunday 18 May 2014 @ 3:46:46 am from IP # -
StephenT
MemberHi girlpower,
Thanks for your input. The droning is really getting on my nerves, and I am going to rectify the problem. My problem is I purchased the SolaFans through a distributor, a Daikin Air Con installer here in North West Sydney, and I really don't want to have to deal with him again. I would like the details of the manufacturer and will send you my email address via PM, as they may want the units returned - they certainly are no use to me and I wouldn't try to sell such a faulty product on eBay!! I'll update this site with my resolution to this incessant drone, but the first step is to remove the offending SolaFans.Posted Sunday 18 May 2014 @ 5:50:25 am from IP # -
girlpower
MemberHi StephenT,
Ive just sent you a PM with all the details.
Ours is now out - yay, no more annoying drone....I think two of em would have driven me to distraction....feel your frustration
I really hope you can get this resolved to your satisfaction...hope it's the same product cos I was told Mitre 10 was the stockist but we brought at the home show and saved a little more $$
Posted Sunday 18 May 2014 @ 7:04:34 am from IP # -
StephenT
MemberHi Adamc73,
You raise an interesting possibility. In my case, installation of the 2 units was performed by an accredited SolaFan distributor/installer and I can't imagine any frame vibration sounding as such a large drone - both SolaFans are affected equally.Posted Sunday 18 May 2014 @ 8:15:57 am from IP # -
girlpower
MemberAdamc73 said:
I have a feeling that the drone sound you can hear is from vibration on the roof frame. How confident are you that hubby installed it right?Pretty confident, plus the guy that answered the phone at solafan said his one can be heard quiet easily
Posted Sunday 18 May 2014 @ 9:01:19 am from IP # -
StephenT
MemberHi girlpower, it'll be later this week before I have time to work on this. I will speak to SolaFan to identify the cause of the incessant drone. I'm now thinking of removing the units and re-assembling with rubber mounts around the motor and base unit, especially as Adamc73 suggested it may be vibrations. I was considering simply replacing the SolaFans with another brand, but that means more that double the initial expense - it becomes a very expensive way to cool our roof-space!
Posted Saturday 24 May 2014 @ 3:09:31 am from IP # -
girlpower
MemberHi Stephen T,
probably a good idea to speak to SolaFan first, as mentioned in my previous post to Adamc73, the guy I initially spoke to said his could be heard
quiet easily also.
Apart from the drone, I personally didn't like the thermostat being set so low at 20oC as the default setting without being able to adjust it.
Ours always started up when the room temp was only 17 degrees (I realize it must have been 20oC in the roof cavity but I just didn't like this for winter and would have preferred the default setting to be between 26-29 degrees or better still an adjustable thermostat.I guess this could easily be changed to an adjustable one though right?
I hope you can get it all sorted with them and look forward to an update once you have
Posted Saturday 24 May 2014 @ 9:04:09 am from IP # -
StephenT
MemberHi girlpower {and all),
I have spoken to two people at SolaFan and the fan units do create noise. After checking the distributor had installed them correctly, I partially disassembled one of the units. It is the design of the fan motor that creates the droning noise, so no amount of tinkering will alleviate this. I have reassembled the unit and it's back in place. Whilst the droning is really annoying, I would rather have the hot air removed from the roof space. I had thought of throwing these units away and replacing with another brand, such as Solar Whiz, but we have a 230sqm single level house, so that makes 2 units (the number we have now), and the expense is not justified. So, I'll just have to live with the noise, I'm now saying to myself when the drone is loud - "at least I know the fans are working". Regards, Stephen.Posted Saturday 31 May 2014 @ 1:35:52 am from IP # -
girlpower
MemberHi StephenT,
I wondered if you may seek to have them refunded due to the drone but of course your decision....still waiting for ours to be picked up but we have the refund so we will put that towards something else (whisper quiet) for me lol.....big question is what to go with next.
We don't have anywhere under the roof line to fit vents either....so not sure how we can get cross ventilation here?Thanks for letting us know the outcome and your decision...all the best
Posted Saturday 31 May 2014 @ 7:03:10 am from IP # -
Tradie
MemberHi Stephen, I used to install air conditioners and one of the problems is return air noise. We used to run a length of duct to minimise the noise, I don't know if this is possible for you with your setup. Also slowing the motor down will reduce noise. It depends if it is air noise or motor noise, regards Dave.
Posted Sunday 1 Jun 2014 @ 2:00:10 am from IP #
