My DIY carbon scrubber with onboard fan.

[SpacedCWBY]

Got this idea from RM-Aquagrower. Made it my own and here's what I came up with. 8" outer diameter, 6" inner. Gave me about 1" of carbon. Took about 5-1/4 lbs to fill it completely. Attached a 6" inline duct fan ($28 at home depot) to it and voila! No smell for under $70 and keeps the temps in the mid 70's.

Wired the mesh together to form a tube.


Capped the end of the inner tube and secured with screws and little aluminum tabs to hold the screw tight on the inside. Lined the inside bottom corner where the screen sat with gorilla glue to keep it from rattling loose.


The inner tube had a coupler that slid into the 8" side of the reducer to match up to the 6" side. Again, used screws and gorilla glue - GREAT combination.







Then you'll end up with this.



Then I took the 8" tube of mesh and put it into the reducer. I lined the inside of the mesh tube with a layer of duct tape and applied, once again, gorilla glue! No screws this time though. Cannot get to them at this point to put a backer in for the threads.




And here's the finished product! Just attached the bottom 8" end cap to the mesh tube with duct tape and a foam tape around the inside edge to keep it snug on the mesh.



Took my 250cfm cheapo inline fan from home depot and attached it to the end of the can filter. Works great! $40 for the materials and carbon, $28 for the fan. Why spend a few hundred bucks on a small space???

Thanks to RM for the inspiration.

Have fun and be safe all.

 

[The Dopest]

great job on the filter, i have one just like it and will be makin a 10" od version this week to replace it.(closet got bigger ) also you may want to lookout for another cheapo fan for that filter, the duct booster fans dont work well with a static load.

 

[admiralcornport]

what is holding the carbon in that thing? jUst the wire mesh?

 

[SkunkyDemon]

Looks almost like mine , except I covered the inner tube with cheap womans "black" pattyhose and I used hose clamps. But I covered both inner and outter tube with the pathyhoses works great!! I used the 4"-6" model LOL Tape where the inner tube meets the reducer. That will help to direct the air to the inner tube. GREAT thead !! I wish everyone would make one ,then maybe CAN would drop their prices

 

[admiralcornport]

Thanks! I am gonna make one next weekend.

 

[SkunkyDemon]

AC the bigger you make it it bigger the fan you can use. But I dont think you would want more than a 2 in thick of carbon. Another thing I would think of doing (to make the filter last alittle longer) is getting some polywrap the stuff they have at fabric stores ,wrap and stich then I used 2 hose clamps at eather end works GREAT. Easy to change carbon and pre filter. I have also made a very small one for a freind who was growing in a small HomeDepot cuboard 15x15x20 (I think)I used a 120mm 12v fan from Raido Shake and made a 2"x4"x 10". As soon as we turned it on WOW no smell!! So eveyone make your own filter sothose selling the damn things will lower their prices!!!!!!!

 

[SpacedCWBY]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions all.

AC - I was able to the the mesh to line up cockeye'd so that it almost 1/4's the holes. Keeps everything in there except tiny little pieces. But like Skunky said, a ladie's pantyhose work too - or any other fabric that will let your fan draw through. Home depot has lots of options!

Skunky - I had thought about your suggestion. When I was building it though, I forgot to put some caulk in there to seal it up. Seems pretty tight though. Thanks for the tip!

Dopest - Thanks for the props!. Good luck with your 10" model and bigger closet. This thing is mounted in a 36" sink base cabinet with an 18" extension on top. Knocks the smell right out. I couldn't believe how stinky they got while I was reworking the cab. Guess my ladies do stink a bit!





Have fun and be safe all.

Spaced...

 

[mdanzig]

I have to try this

 

[Neptune]

I made one, and am using it now. it doesn't work so well.

This origional design was posted by SunisShining on Overgrow.... with the hose clamps and black pantyhose.


My question is.... How do you keep your carbon INSIDE this contraption?
Your wire mesh is very large, the carbon will just pour right through the walls... no?

I used panty hose to try and keep the caron in, but that didn't work either... the panties just sagged and sagged with the weight of the carbon, and eventually ripped and spilled everywhere.

I am now using some window screening, with better results.. but this device does little to keep my smell issues down... it just doesn't work well, hard to fill, hard to keep carbon from clumping on one side, hard to keep it full... it spills everywhere.

bah

 

[Rare Groove]

hey Neptune. How thick is the carbon layer in your filter? Also, I used poly batting on the outside of both the inner and outer tubes on mine to keep the carbon where I wanted it- been working very well so far. I would have tried pantyhose, but didn't have any available...lol.

 

[Guest]

i too made a filter like this wit out the fan and i tested it with a incense and i could still smell it. the filter is about 1' long ive been told i need to make a bigger filter or maybe its the carbon im using i got it from the pet store

 

[Neptune]

The carbon layer is about 1" thick. What is Poly Batting?

I use pantyhose on the inside tube, works fine. the outside tube is where my problems arise... can't seem to keep a seal to stop carbon from spilling. Tried window screening, working better, but having troubble holding the screening firmly against the hardware cloth... I'm using tie wraps to hold it on tight, but it's not good enough.

 

[SpacedCWBY]

Hey neptune. If you'll take a close look at the top pic you'll see that i did a couple layers of the 1/4" hardware cloth. I was able to offset the cloth with two lays that end up forming much smaller holes. Voila - carbon stays in.

As for this thing not working - not sure what kind of luck you've had in the past, but this is working pretty well for me. Could be a lot of different factors. Humidity being one of them. The RH in my box is typically around 35%. Not sure, but hope you find something that does work out for you. Thanks for stoppin by.

 

[SpacedCWBY]

This is how it's mounted. The cab is 24" deep. So with the filter and then the inline fan, it fits in there tight. Put a couple of blocks of wood around the base of the can to hold up the other end. Ran a screw through the wood and into the fan's duct pipe to hold that end in place. Wedged right in there. Doesn't drop any carbon bits either. I used the pelleted fish tank stuff.