Grow Tent OutGassing / Offgassing WARNING!!

[luaith]

iv'e used homebox xl for about a year now with no propblems.
when i first set it up it did have a funky plastic smell to it.
so i washed down the walls and top,bottom.
and let the tent air out for about 4 weeks before i put plants in it..

 

[MynameStitch]

Ya, hence the terms "years" this issue did not arise until early early summer time. Anyone who bought theres before the time got stuff that was made a while back, because they had left over stock.... so you are lucky ones who bought one before this issue started. I know for a fact if you guys were not the lucky ones, you would be here pissed off with the amount of money and heart ache and lost hair, complaining about this for sure.

 

[Homegrow3r]

Hydrohut have problems, there are numerous threads on here, but what I think has happened is that purely through the tent association, and threads like this, there is a dubious association with offgassing and homebox, which I don't see as existing.
Homebox are being asked to answer for the sins of imitators, and that's a silly situation.

I'd be interested in seeing threads where people have associated homebox with offgassing, the problem might exist, but I think the link is purely associative and some crappy growers are blaming their problems on homebox, it's a tent right?

I might forward the thread to the guys at homebox, see what they might have to say for themselves.

Any chance of some links where homebox are to blame for similar problems, for sure like, it's easy to find the info on hydrohut.

 

[neuroherb]

Homegrow3r

This association you seem so worried about is tenious at best. Find anywhere in the post where it states Homebox have this issue. In fact it clearly states that Homebox deny they are affected and clearly shows all the text Homebox has provided to refute any accusation of being involved. Any comment I have made about not using ANY tent is clearly stated as opinion in a bold heading and as the first two words of the comment. In fact your persistent comments on the topic have associated Homebox with the issue more than I have.

In addition your assertion that it is all Hydrohut is the false statement and is misleading both to those affected and to those who may buy an affected tent. Hydrohut have taken as much effort as any other company to find out what the issue is and while although I think they may have been more contrite in accepting the problem they are addressing it. Both companies that have been given sections in the original post are the two which have made public statements about this issue and it is for that reason alone they have had their statements included.

Give Homebox a buzz you might find they are happy to get a balanced comparison clearly stating there opinion on it with the link to there information which they state proves they are not affected in so much as it might convince someone sitting on the fence to buy there product.

Your own comment of having one XL tent and always receiving great service etc.. does beg the question for one tent that has been perfect since arrival why have you needed any further service unless this is one of many you have bought. I have personally bought three 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m tents from two suppliers none of which are Homebox, Hydrohut, Secret Jardin or Sunhut, but all three are affected and other than the offgassing issue have had no reason for any further contact with the supplier.

My opinion on any further conversation with you on this is its pointless if you feel so agrieved by it take the matter up with a mod or admin to have the thread deleted.

 

[Homegrow3r]

Dude, the thread title, and two manufacturers mentioned, started the association, I just think it's unfair.
You've mentioned legal aggrievances etc. It's a dope site, get real.

I've said enough too, thanks.

 

[pezoholic]

ALL homeboxes are FINE
ALL Secret Jardins/Dark Rooms are FINE
Hydrohuts, Original Sunhut and other PVC tents ARE BAD

The light heats up the plastic releasing polyethylene gas that will yellow and kill most everything that lives

 

[Chunkybuddha]

I didn't even bother to take photos after they problem progressed a bit because it was totally obvious. So, that totally wrecked my growing season last year. This time around I got myself a Secret Jardin/DR150 and it ROCKS

that's what I was going to say! Secret Jardin didn't show any problems for me. Frame is nice to hang things off of, and lots of holes to fit 6" ducting perfectly. Highly recommended from me!

 

[Queso45]

No one seems to have mentioned the Hydrofarm Habitat....


There were many reported off-gassing problems reported with the habitat about a year ago, and there were also a lot of people stating that the problems were fixed....

I talked to the guy at my hydro store and he assured me that all of the defective habitats were recalled and that they were fine now... so I bought one.

Within two weeks I noticed my plants were being affected by the off-gassing in my hydrofarm habitat. I took my tent back to the hydro store for a store credit--- bought a roll of panda poly and some pvc pipes--- and had to build my own tent.

I want to let everyone know they should avoid the hydrofarm habitat because this company seems to be trying to get rid of their defective habitats and pretending everything is fine.

I had clones in the habitat, and clones in another box. The clones in the box were fine and the ones in the habitat would have died if I left them there any longer. Do not buy a Hydrofarm Habitat.

 

[neuroherb]

Thanks for adding that one Queso.

ChunkyBudha & Pezoholic

I'd agree on the Secret Jardin one of the three I bought was passed on and they also had a Secret Jardin small tent. That was heart breaking for them to see the ones they vegged lovely in the small tent to get killed of in the toxic plastic one. The Secret Jardin doesn't feel plastic at all and while its a thinner nylon it is actually more light proof in there opinion.

Just for clarity though its claimed it is the PVC Polyvinyl chloride and the plasticiser DEHP that is the problem. PE Polyethylene is claimed to be fine and that is what Homebox uses.

DEHP was banned for use in the EU and USA but only for childrens toys not for products manufactured in China and imported. That may prove to be one of the factors in why things changed over a period of time.

 

[Kooza]

If there isnt s sticky about these tents there needs to be...I wish I had known before purchasing my sunhut....All is well now though I got a full refund on it.

 

[neuroherb]

Hey Kooza

Is that confirmed what the problem was for you in the thread Ive got linked?

Hows the grow doing, hope there on full recovery because otherwise they looked nice.

Good news on the refund, credit to the retailer is it?

 

[Kooza]

It hasn't been confirmed that it was the issue..They have only been out of it for 4 days and were close to 20 days in on the flip so I doubt I will see a huge recovery...The next batch of clones are in the dirt and will not be in a tent so if they turn out lush and green then I will know it was the issue...As for the refund I got the store to credit me which I used on another 1k....I had to menace them to no end though to get that refund/credit....They swore that sun hut had ZERO issues with off gassing....If that was the case then why did they just switch all their white tents to silver lined? Heh....

 

[neuroherb]

Well done then for holding the line to get the credit. Very little information and a lack of accepting the problem has been a fair bit of the issue.

I'll keep up to date on your recovery grow if your going to update it, but would be good to see how your next run goes.

 

[Fako Namo]

I still think it's fair to not that even cd's watches and perfumes are imitated, so are many products. Be wary, and do research before you lay down cash for anything.
Also people make mistakes over and under feeding all the time, lock ups, deficiencies, intake, etc. can all be working against you, man one time my computer broke, or I least I thought it did..................

 

[Chunkybuddha]

The Secret Jardin doesn't feel plastic at all and while its a thinner nylon it is actually more light proof in there opinion.

Yeah it really is 100 per cent light proof as they claim. I figured around the zippers it would leak, but it is 100%.. Well until I tried opening the flap the wrong way and pulled a couple stitches out..

 

[drehahn]

Hello all,

I am Dirk, working with and for Homebox for many years now already.
you can prove that in sending a mail to "myname" at homebox.net.
Neuroherb: i tried to send you a PM, but I do not yet have the 50 posts needed to do so.
Homegrow3r brought me here.

thnx upfront for all customers who held up the flag for Hoembox products.

couple short remarks:

1. about the off-gassing problem: we are definitelly pissed, annoyed, etc, that now we have the "image" of maybe also producing low quality tents. it hurts. those EDITED copy-cats (sorry for swearing, but it really is so annoying) who copied our product one by one and did not give a flying EDITED bird about ethics, about consumers, about moral, now brought us that new problem. due to the assumption from many consumers: every tent must be bad. which is also the opinion of the thread starter. this means, many people think bad of the Homeboxes. They are afraid of purchasing one.

this is straight false.

please take your time to look up the test report, which is posted on our website. is is also mentioned in the first post of the thread.
this test repost is done by www.sgs.com.
they are a world wide reputated neutral test lab.
the report clearly says, that our material does not contain any measurable harmfull dyes, metals, nor phtalates. well, it contains 8mg/kg barium. BUT, the hardest limit (also stated in the report) is 1000mg/kg of Barium. so we are WAY BELOW the strongest restriction out there for household goods, or even children toys.
not sure what else we should do do show that we care. that we are doing all to prove that our products are safe. this test costs us more than 1000€.

do you know of any other tent producer that supplies you with such tests???
you will have to search long and still you will find none!

2. what is killing the plants: I have done even more research on that. just because i want to know. and most likely, it might be MVC. MonoVinylChloride. That stuff is the compound PVC is made of. When polymerization is not done properly, some MVC is left in the mateiral. THAT is highly toxic, and gasses out easily.
This harms plants and humans fast. also dangerous for people producing the tents, as well as people working in warehouses with these products.
The phtalates and metals and dyes contained in the materials might also have an effect. but the MVC would have strongest/fastest/most lethal effect. MVC CAN NOT be found in materials free of PVC (quite logical, right?)

3. i have to raise another issue: even if other tents DO NOT kill plants, they might harm the organisms being around it over long term. metals like lead, cadmium, etc, phtalates (softeners) might all migrate over long term. they then accumulate in plants (consumables??), and with that, in humans. so even though your box might not kill plants instantly, it might still poison you over the years. ever heard of lead poisoning, e.g.? worth investigating...

i can promise and PROVE through the test perfomed and regularly performed in future, that our products wont harm you or any organisms, short term or long term!

4. What regulations and limits are we refering to:
read our test report, and you also get the details of what SGS is referring to, when giving limits. or what they based their test criterias on.
it is very scientific, but well, thats what is is: science. correlated to regulations from US and EU laws.
for example: pg 4 of the report: the refer the german food laws: LFGB § 64 BVL B 82.02.2 and .4
EU DIRECTIVE 2005/84/EC (Toys safety)
page 5 metals: it refers to EN 71 PART 3 (migration of elements (metals) : toys safety): the limits are given there as well as our materials test results.

google these regulations, if you are not aware of them.

what else can you ask us to do? we give the test. we give the limits/directions/regulations. and we compare them to the results from our material.

Every new product we will bring onto the market in future will be approved as well. we want to be able to look every of our customers into the eye, now and 10 years from now, and not feel guilty at all. we could not sell products where we have the slightest doubt of them being problematic.
and, apart from others, we actively research BEFORE bringing a product onto the market. which is clearly NOT the case by many, if not all, other companies that sell grow tents.
the fact that only we publish info, that only we publish test reports, should be confirming that.

not sure how often i have time to post in this forum. we have a load full of work to do, we are a very small company, and we have some new, patented products in teh pipeline, exciting news for next spring, plus all the daily workload. but PM me if you have questions, or send me an email, I will do my best to answer all your further questions.

grow safe - and be aware: we´ve got you covered.
dirk

 

[drehahn]

just to make that complete, here is the link to our test report:
http://homebox.net/dhtml/downloads/Testreport_Material_Homebox.pdf

 

[drehahn]

Someone sent me a PM, but i cant access the PM board, due to not having posted 50 posts. so, if this person reads that, please resend by mail.

 

[drehahn]

tried to send a mail to [email protected], did not work.... wanted to ask them to let me see my PM´s... wellwell.
so folks, remember i can not read any PM´s here. please send emails, or post in here.

 

[Sundance]

By now some at least reading this post will have at least heard of the Offgassing effect within grow tents being reported throughout the internet. This is a confirmed effect admitted to by at least one manufacturer of these tents, however it is obvious with the amount of problems occurring from various suppliers that more of these tents are affected than is being admitted to by manufacturers.

At the moment only one grow tent manufacturer as openly stated that they have a problem that being Hydrohut.

Homebox claims its products are not affected by the Offgassing because they use a different plastic product to make their tents namely Polyethylene (PE) and claim that it is PVC based tents that are affected.

There full explanation along with a link to their test report can be viewed at http://www.homebox.net/dhtml/nopvc.php

This claim that PE is better than PVC seems somewhat supported by information on the Greenpeace site for alternatives to PVC.
http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/pvcdatabase/bad.html

A few things to add

- At the moment the only one grow tent manufacturer that has openly stated that they have a problem is Hydro Hut

Hydro Hut has been making their tents for years, and never had a problem with their product until 8-9 months ago when this issue first turned up. Important to note, that the cause of this problem is not due to any changes Hydro Hut made - it was and is the fault of the overseas material maker

- In researching and talking this problem up, I found that - Hydro Hut does not, and has never used PVC ... only PU

- Those that are having problems with Sunhut and Habitat, and odd name brands should contact the manufacturer directly, and tell them your story

Here is a link http://seechance.en.alibaba.com/ .. Owners name is Colin .. Going to the distributor wont help as much

Hydro Hut has re-designed their tents - are using better and more reflective silver lined material ... and incorporated design changes that will make their tents better than before, and better than what is currently available from others in the market

Hydro Hut's new line of tents will be available " very soon " ... keep checking the website

Its been a tough time - but thankfully, this issue is being sorted .. and better products for the community are just ahead