Any advice please on my design. smell leak

[Fruitilicious]

Hi all, just finished setting up my new grow room, will be posting a journel up soon, but having a few teething problems with smell leaks early on and just wanted ur expert advice on what could of possibly gone wrong! ive just been doing some calculations and ive possibly completely over sized my fan for what i need. Im vegging with 110w Pll homemade light. and flowering with 250w hps. i have a 5 inch prima kilna temperature controlled fan, so u can set the % running speed at normal operating temps then it kicks in 100% when it goes over a set speed. the fan is measured at 300m3 per hour at full speed. i have a 5inch carbon filter rated at 250m3 per hour. i think this could potentially be the problem as it was a budget one from ebay? maybe i should of bought a premium one... Any way, here is a pic of my set up, i have 3 separate chambers to my closet with two 5 inch ducting between them. when the fan is on the sides of the tent is sucked in so im pretty sure the pressure is fine. i only have plants in the veg chamber atm but sometimes i can smell them when i get home, in the hallway outside the room which is no good as its a shared house i have added up the sizes of the rooms total is 68 cubic feet. so the minimum CFM is 22.66 +10% for light and 20% for filter is about 30 CFM. so i had the fan set to 50% (150m3 ph) but have just increased it to 70% incase air was leaking (210m3) but the smell is stil coming out from somewhere. im a bit worried as i only have 4 pure ak seedlings about 2 weeks old and if it allready smells this much.......

any help appreciated thanks! sorry if that makes no sense! bit of a ramble!

 

[Fruitilicious]

i was considering buying another (rhino pro) carbon scurbber and fitting this in the room, then added this cheap one to other side of the fan, so its pulling thru the rhino, and pushing thru the cheaper one, or will this cause problems? im thinking as i have oversized so much this would cause any trouble and will double clean the air for peace of mind

 

[RB56]

Where is the fan in the picture? If it's at the wall you're probably pulling odors into the exhaust stream between the filter and fan.

 

[Fruitilicious]

sorry i forgot to draw the fan, the fan is on the end of the pipe sticking out the top of the floweringroom ( outside the grow room) i have been away for a week, and before i left, i made sure the velcro strips for door to the drying room were properly sealed and veg and flower doors pushed in tight, when i cam back there was no smell outside room and mimimal smell inside so i think it was possible that air was being pulled from gaps in the drying room and hense some air must of been escaping from the veg chamber. im going to re do the run of pipe from the carbon scrubber to the fan as it was a bit tight when i cut it so would be better seal with some slack and keep on eye on it hopefully it should keep the smell away better

 

[Granger2]

Fruitilicious,
I've learned the hard way so many times that now I buy all the quality I can afford. I think you're right about your problem being the ebay carbon filter-on 2 scores.

Probably not very good quality carbon, and who knows how it's packed. But the big thing I see is that you always want your filter to be rated at higher cfm or metric equivalent than the cfm/cmh of your fan. If you pull the air thru the carbon too fast, the carbon won't have a chance to fully scrub it. So some of the smell will come thru. If you think the AK smells now, you ain't seen nothin yet.

I'd either get a carbon filter that's rated higher than your fan, or speed control your fan down. That will all hinge on whether running it slower will cause heat, humidity, or other problems.

My opinion is that Phresh are the best filters out there now. Aluminum case filled with the best carbon available. Lighter. Good luck. -granger

 

[Fruitilicious]

thanks granger, i agree, i have slowed the speed down of the fan and it has stopped the smell, so i will definatly be buying another one, preferably a high quality refillable one if phresh is refillable? and i will make sure it is rated higher cfm than my fan as wen it kicks into 100% speed when it gets hotter it will not be scrubbing the air properly! I guess i should of known better, buy cheap, buy twice!

 

[Granger2]

I guess they're all refillable. The mfgrs don't make it easy to do it. I guess the Phresh are refillable, but you need to consider that they are Aluminum [Aluminium]. I don't know how that affects the refilling process. I've never refilled one because they last so long anyway, especially if you take them outside about every 6 months, put the fan on them so it blows back thru, and let it blow for 1/2 to 1 hour. I do it until the fine dust stops collecting on the outside. I wipe it every 5 minutes. After I've used one for 2-3 years, I figure I got my money's worth. It's hard to save much money if you refill with quality carbon. But to each his own. Good luck. -granger

 

[Fruitilicious]

thanks great idea! yer i guess if it lasts that long rather than one or two grows max u really get your moneys worth! is it reliable to order phresh filters on ebay? im not gona end up getting another dodgy one am i? its just my local shops dont stock them! only the rhino ones!

 

[Johnny Redthumb]

can filters ftw! and yea sometimes it takes fine tuning to get the right fan speed to work ideal. keep playing with it and you'll get it.

 

[Granger2]

I would guess that if it's a sho nuff Phresh brand filter it would be the same thing. They come with a riveted on metal plate that says "Phresh." Prefilter comes with 2 elastic bands which is a plus.

BTW, it's hard to pack the carbon properly when you refill your own. That affects the effectiveness. Good luck. -granger

 

[Fruitilicious]

went to my hydro store and picked up a rhino pro filter ( as the phat filters were out of stock) as the smell was getting really bad, installed it and there is now zero smell!! really chuffed, il never buy cheap on carbon filters again!

Hopefully it will last 2 years as it claims it does to. thanks for the advice, i did some research and basically phat, phresh, and rhino seem to be spin offs from the same orignal phat company any way so the technology is the same. And they should all work just as well. Mountain air seems to be the best quality as they claim to last 3 years, but u pay a premium for it!