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A Useful Carbon Scrubber Mod.

I2KanGrow

Active member
Hi-All:
I wanted to share with y'all this one - a means of making your carbon scrubber portable, and a means of storing it when not in use.
This mod is based on the excellent DIY scrubber design by DurbanPoison, which can be found HERE! .

This project came-about because my new microgrow armoire, while very sexy, is a bit space-challenged. I wanted all blowers & ballasts exterior to the box to save space and lower temps. My grow is sleeping right now, but when it wakes-up, I'll post a pic of my rig right here.

OK, back to the subject @ hand.

I built my scrubber per DP's spec, with the exception of adding another (outer) 8" collar over the inlet portion:


This allows me the ability to place an 8" (2" larger then the scrubber diameter) fairly-airtight duct around my scrubber


Inside the bottom of the 8" duct, I mounted a small shaded-pole motor suspended by small bungee-cords, and venting thru the duct via a rubber pipe connector:


I also mounted a speed control designed for the shaded pole motor inside the duct, so that I can slow the blower down - it's VERY strong!!:



These controllers have a set-screw that allows you to adjust the minimium speed of the motor (so that you don't stall it out!) - that's what the hole, next to the control (3rd pic. above) is for - I can use a small screwdriver to easily adjust it, anytime.

So, Here's what the whole thing looks like assembled:



- I had some extra 8" vent pipe, so I bought 2 extra end caps, and made my storage cylinder, sitting to the right of the blower assembly. The top of the assembly is the blank end - shown in the 2nd. picture above. Since I've just started a new grow, there's no smell yet, so there's no sense in wearing-out my carbon, right? I taped the inlet to the scrubber, sealing the carbon insode the duct should make it last longer - a real added bonus for a cheapskate like me!

Here's hoping my mods end-up being of use to others - have a happy New Year, and grow safe!!
 

I2KanGrow

Active member
Yeah, free radical, smalltymer is right, it's just a means of being able to pull air thru my carbon scrubber (which I believe to be more effective then pushing into the scrubber), and having the whole mess outside of the cab. I suppose you could put everything into a cardboard box, if you needed to go stealth. As it stands here, I can put the scrubber behind my cabinet. Here, let me show you my cab....





My cab was inspired by THE NGB CAB, and Pipedreams REALLY GREAT SET-UP (ehhh, and the fact that I found the armoire on the side of the street!). All of my blowers, ballasts, aor pumps & timers are outside of the cab - not in a NGB-styled utility room (those utility rooms are easy-bake ovens!), as you can see, everythings very well hidden. (Yeah, I know that it's hard to tell what's visible w/ the blurred-out closed cab shot, but I promise that nothing intimidating is visible.

As you can see in the 2nd pic, I can raise my hood up quite high, because the scrubber isn't in the cab. As you can also see, this is my maiden voyage with this set-up. In the cab-opened-and-lit shot, the bonsai mom (Female Seeds, Northern Lights) is just hanging-out in there, while her new home is being built - and my clones are brewing in my bubbler, to the left, covered to knock-down some of the light. When the clones take root, I put mommy in her new home, pull the shelf out, and do the SWC thing - like the NGB cab (pics 3 & 4).

In Pic 5, the Bake-a-round cooltube, which just circulates air from outside the right side of the cab, thru the cooltube, then thru the left side of the cab (where again, the blower draws it out, I'm not pushing air), this was part of a NGB design mod that a bunch of us were noodling-with about a year ago, (FIND THAT THREAD HERE!!!). The vent behind the light is the one that circulates air thru the plants, out of the cab, and thru the scrubber - temps are about 4-degrees F above the room's ambient temperature - it's one cool cab!!

Oh, back to the scrubber - I'm a very small-time grower (just for myself - and I'm a lightweight toker for sure!) - I wanted a way to store my carbon filter, protecting it from both bumps and any outside air - that's why I made that 2nd. vent pipe storage thingy. Right now there's no odors, so I just use the scrubber shell without the scrubber to circulate air.

Make sense now, or did I just make things even more confusing??? :chin:
 
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