Do carbon filters work?

[DigitalBuddha]

Smell becomes a serious concern in a grow with close neighbors. Can proper venting, sealing, and filter selection reduce the smell to literally nothing, or will there always be some stank.

I have a basement in an attached house that could be perfect if I could absolutely eliminate any detectable smell. If I panda plastic off the whole space, duct tape all the seams, and run an A/C unit with the exhaust hooked up to one or more scrubbers (outside the grow) can I keep the smell contained?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Guest]

Yes.

 

[Guest]

yes, they work amazingly well. i couldnt grow without one.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

They work great as long as they are adequately sized for the fan that's pulling through them (when venting). If you run a sealed room, it's super easy to control the odor with a scrubber just having it recirculate air within the grow...but a sealed setup requires complete control of the environment (temps/RH) and air quality (CO2).

If you're using a single hose portable AC, then you'll need to worry about the exhaust from the AC being stinky...window units and dual hose portables don't have that problem since they don't exchange room air with outside air (making them more efficient at the same time).

 

[DigitalBuddha]

Awesome, thanks for the help.

I had never used scrubbers before because my setup was small and my house was in bumblefuck, times have changed. Needed some reassurance that I could get the considerable odor managed effectively.

Anybody have any particularly good brands? My local hydro shop has one that is close to $900 (forget the name) and has a fan attached to it, I've heard of can filters being much cheaper. Suggestions?

 

[litteringand...]

i could use some suggestions also. i was looking on hidhut and the carbon cannon 2 is 169.99 for the cannon but I have never used any of them.
peace

 

[Bozo]

Can filter(that is the brand ) are great and bulk carbon is cheap 55 lb bag was 70 $ delivered but if you have 900 dollars to spend I would buy a can filterand a 600 plus cfm fan to recirc the air in room thats bout 300-350$ and id spend the rest on a vaportek opti. 4000 and a few extra extra scent discs Thats bullet proof odor protection for bout 700$

 

[DigitalBuddha]

bullet proof odor protection for bout 700$

I like the sound of that! How does those vaportek things work? I've heard them refered to as glade plug-ins on steroids... good description?

 

[Chinook]

Yes that is a good discription and there cheap 150 for unit 50 $ for scent some people dont use carbon filtrers just the vaportec I like both myself no worries then

 

[SEEDYNONO]

they actually neutralize smell instead of covering it with other smells. although you can buy carts for them that add extra smell as well, most prefer the neutral air smell of the original carts.

they are designed for hospitals and such and can cover 20,000 sq. ft. this is why they work so well for small 1-2k sq. ft. grow areas because its overkill for the space and that makes it work very well.

all natural and safe for humans, plants, and pets unlike ozone machines.

a store called colker janitorial supply sells them at the best price. definetely pick one up.

 

[Guest]

not only do carbon filters work great, they are the single smartest investment you will ever make

 

[goldfronts]

they actually neutralize smell instead of covering it with other smells. although you can buy carts for them that add extra smell as well, most prefer the neutral air smell of the original carts.

they are designed for hospitals and such and can cover 20,000 sq. ft. this is why they work so well for small 1-2k sq. ft. grow areas because its overkill for the space and that makes it work very well.

all natural and safe for humans, plants, and pets unlike ozone machines.

a store called colker janitorial supply sells them at the best price. definetely pick one up.

do you know colkers web site? I looked, and I couldn't find the vaportek.

Thanks

 

[Fat Albert]

I realized just how effective carbon scrubbers were at my job. I'd spend 10 hours a day in a spraying booth (lacquer finishes), happy as a pig in shit. My respirator was a carbon-based one, meant for organic vapors (whether it be lacquer thinner or terpenes from a stinky plant). I'd forget where I was and crack the seal of my respirator where it meets my face, and a FLOOD of V.O. (volatile organic) vapor would fill my lungs. That's what sold me right there. There's little to no carbon in these respirators, yet I've been using the same one, day in and day out, for 3 months now with no noticeable decrease in filtration.

Cheers!
Fat A

 

[Guest]

I've had a full garden going with once a cop at the door and in backyard and twice two different growers in my home who smelled nothing...thankgod for the 200 dollar scrubber

 

[Joe A. Grower]

Anybody have any particularly good brands? My local hydro shop has one that is close to $900 (forget the name) and has a fan attached to it, I've heard of can filters being much cheaper. Suggestions?

If you are using a sealed growroom, you should use a recirculating filter, which is dead easy to make with a 5 gal. bucket or a plywood box or any other container that suits your fancy. The container has an "in" hole and and "out" hole and a thick layer of bulk charcoal supported with window screen in the middle. The idea is that you attach a fan to the container which pushes or pulls air from the "in" port, through the charcoal layer, and then out of the "out" port. The air in the growroom then gets continually recirculated through the filter so that the smell doesn't build up.

You can use a sealed room without any oder control, but when you open the door, the reek will pollute the whole house inside of a couple of minutes.

IMO, spending $900 on a professional filter is insane. I built my 5 gal bucket filter for about $100. I absolutely guarantee that 9 of my homade bucket filters will out-perform any single $900 pro unit.

As far as aircon goes, I'd stay away from portable units. My experience is that they just don't work very well. I like to use cheap window AC units. The way you use them without a window is to build a wall the length of the growroom with a hole through it big enough to mount the window AC. On one side of the wall are your plants, and the other side of the wall is the "hot area." If you turn the AC to recirculate mode, the stinky air stays in the growroom and nothing comes out the back but heat. You then set up fans to vent the "hot area" to the outside. As long as you've sealed the wall between the "grow area" and the "hot area" well, no smells will escape.

Just remember that you need about 3,500 btu of cooling power for each 1,000 W light. Since it is hard to find window AC units much bigger than 18,500 btu at the local DIY store, you may need a couple of units. More AC is always better. The more you have, the less it runs and drops the humidty in the room.

I also like to stick ballasts and anything else that produces heat in the "hot area" so that they don't dump their thermal load into the growroom. You can also dump the ouput from air-cooled lights through the wall to the hot side.

Hope this helps.

JAG

 

[Guest]

Dewd.....Scrubbers are the only way to go IMHO....There`s a guy at ebay that has self-contained units(RPG-2) with a 200 cfm fan and power cord attached that you can hang from bungee cords for minimum vibration and noise that`s perfect for a sealed room....It recirculates the funky air as it scrubs and has a speed control also for dialing in ...It`s also made with a flange that you can mount through the wall for extraction from the room if so desired.........He`s cheap........, but the product is quality.........He also has replacement carbon for peanuts........(the top of the line pellets ,btw).
.....Vaportek might be the shit diggity, but for my bucks I`ll go with a scrubber that I only haveta replace the carbon every year instead of buying cartridges for a vaportek 4 times a year at 50 bucks a pop plus shipping.......The kicker is that these units are only $99 Plus $30 shipping and the fan`s attached !....Hell,....... 2 of em could really do a number on a bigger room..............PEACE.............DHF...........

 

[imnotcrazy]

Yeah my homemade filter is going strong after almost 6 months.

 

[HIDEyourBUD]

http://www.mdhydro.com/can100.html

800CFM fiter $190 + 800CFM Vortex fan $190 = $380 of the best money you can spend for your grow!

 

[Guest]

I have built my own scrubber, and it's working great...but I was wondering how often everyone runs theirs?

24/7 or something else? I found when mine is on 24/7 the fan motor was pretty warm to the touch.

Cheers,
SH

 

[tuttlebudd]

They ROCK...I have a home made one 1/2 sheet of partical board...that takes a 16"x20" filter opening...has been FLAWLESS for over 2 years...and the strain I grow is EXTREMELY strong smelling...a bud in your pants pocket and you can NOT drive a vehicle w/out the windows down(DOUBLE bagg'd)!! Total cost 1/2 sheet of board...3 16"x20" filters...metal screening over the bottom for support..hose fitting...MAYBE $40.00 for all...why pay $400 when you can make one for $40 that's probably MUCH better...granted NOT as small/compact...but why cut corners..
tutt