Mysterious odour problem, help needed!

[dr.House808]

I have 10 pure powerplant in my 1x1x2m(~3x3x6ft) tent, late in flowering. 1000w vertical grow. And I have serious odour problem. Week ago I bought brand new carbon filter(Winflex HY-FILTER) and it does'nt do its job. When i point exhaust air in my face i smell sweet weed odour. Because of this all the apartement is filled with unwanted odour. And the landlord is visiting me at the end of the week.

I use inline fan (350cfm) with a 300cfm filter and when I first smelled the odour I bought a fan speed controller and turned it down to 1/4 (~100cfm) and the next day I still smelled the odour with no difference at all.

I have negative air pressure in the tent.

No leaks in duckting or in joints.

Humidity is at its normal range ~50%

Temperature is also at 20-29c.

Brand new filter.

Air is moveing like this: Tent>>>Filter>>>Fan>>>Mufler>>>

I have to mention that some of the plants heads are in direct contact with the filter - maybe this is the source of my problem?

Any and all thoughts are well appreciated.

 

[St. Phatty]

One option is to break down the set-up and to move the plants to a safe place temporarily, e.g. a van.

MAJOR pain in the ass, I admit, but it sounds like it's crunch-time.

 

[rob feature]

I got nothin' for ya on the stank itself, but it's easy enough to cover - especially if you know when the landlord's coming. Cook bacon in the oven before he comes over. Make coffee. Broccoli can be super stinky. You get the idea

 

[theother]

Didn't catch how it was installed but if you can mate the fan directly to the filter and then push through the ducting on the way out. IMHE this the fix to a lot of odor problems. Also pushing through lights instead of pulling (if it is an out to out light system)

 

[Granger2]

I've never heard of that brand of filter. Many of the off brand cheap filters don't work well. Judging by the price of the this brand, I'm not surprised about it's performance. First off you should always have a filter that is rated for more cfm than the fan. What's happening now is that the air is drawn thru so fast that it doesn't make contact with the carbon for long enough time to deodorize it. When you speed control your fan down, you're not getting enough air flow to do the job. I think you're right that your filter works poorly.

I would get some boxes, line them with really big garbage bags, put the plants in them, tie them off, take them out of the apt, or close them up in a closet. Cook bacon, coffee, etc.
Also you can get ONA in cans for the growroom. There are also other brands of deodorizer paste in cans. Good luck. -granger

 

[messn'n'gommin']

It's entirely possible to overpower the filter with a particular variety (as well as a measure of grower ability! ). Also, The smallest most unnoticeable of hairline cracks can let the sweetest of aroma's to escape. Maybe a larger capacity filter next time around?

After that, like Rob Feature said, I got nothin' for you either! Although, masking slight odors is a stop gap measure, it is a tool that can be used effectively in the right circumstances!

Good luck, brother!

 

[dr.House808]

One option is to break down the set-up and to move the plants to a safe place temporarily, e.g. a van.

MAJOR pain in the ass, I admit, but it sounds like it's crunch-time.

Unfortunally it's not and an option because all the ladies share the same root mass and are basically in one massive cointainer. So i can't move them without chopping them down.

Didn't catch how it was installed but if you can mate the fan directly to the filter and then push through the ducting on the way out. IMHE this the fix to a lot of odor problems. Also pushing through lights instead of pulling (if it is an out to out light system)

I dont use cooltube so no hot lights between filter and fan. As there is'nt enough space in the tent and there is noise coming from the fan I have built my own fan silencer (I've put it on top of the tent) - this is the reason I can't move the fan around.

I've never heard of that brand of filter. Many of the off brand cheap filters don't work well. Judging by the price of the this brand, I'm not surprised about it's performance. First off you should always have a filter that is rated for more cfm than the fan. What's happening now is that the air is drawn thru so fast that it doesn't make contact with the carbon for long enough time to deodorize it. When you speed control your fan down, you're not getting enough air flow to do the job. I think you're right that your filter works poorly.

I would get some boxes, line them with really big garbage bags, put the plants in them, tie them off, take them out of the apt, or close them up in a closet. Cook bacon, coffee, etc.
Also you can get ONA in cans for the growroom. There are also other brands of deodorizer paste in cans. Good luck. -granger

Is there a rule that specifies the amount of the airflow before the smell passes through filter? Because in the future i am planning to repalce hps lamps with leds as I don't need 350cfm airflow to cool the air down. So i thought that I will order quality filter like Rhino or Can lite and run fan with a power of 1/3 (115cfm) but now I'm confused how powerful filter do i need for it to work 100%, is it 150cfm, 500cfm? But still, maybe i should run the fan with a full power to clean the air effectively? What do you think?

In the meantime (a week and a half to chop) I have to figure out how to neutralize the smell. In my country the assortment at stores is very poor and I have to choose between some serious fish and bacon frying, ONA block or Can 115cfm filter that is hardly better than 300cfm regular filter I believe.

It's entirely possible to overpower the filter with a particular variety (as well as a measure of grower ability! ). Also, The smallest most unnoticeable of hairline cracks can let the sweetest of aroma's to escape. Maybe a larger capacity filter next time around?

After that, like Rob Feature said, I got nothin' for you either! Although, masking slight odors is a stop gap measure, it is a tool that can be used effectively in the right circumstances!

Good luck, brother!

Okey I'll recheck the ducting and the duct-filter connection which is fastened with stainless steel duct clamps. I think it's good idea to cover connection with aluminium or duct tape and duct with plastic sheet or something similar, but I am pretty sure the problem is lying somewhere else.

 

[dr.House808]

Sketch about air movement:

 

[Granger2]

Get a Phresh filter 6" x 16" 400cfm. The 6x24 will last longer and handle more smell. That gives you more capacity than the cfm of your fan. Phresh uses the best carbon and they're made of Aluminium so they're much lighter, better for hanging. Good luck. -granger

 

[dr.House808]

Get a Phresh filter 6" x 16" 400cfm. The 6x24 will last longer and handle more smell. That gives you more capacity than the cfm of your fan. Phresh uses the best carbon and they're made of Aluminium so they're much lighter, better for hanging. Good luck. -granger

Thanks a lot for the answer. I will order it soon. I still have two more questions. Do you think if it is ok if the plants are in direct contact with the filter? And also, is it possible to locate the filter outside of the tent (pushing air through filter)?

 

[Devilman]

There seems to be some debate about whether or not to you can carbon filters "backwards", some its no problem, others say no, but the main thing to remember is.. when you push the air through it, the surface area of the filter is much smaller (inside diameter vs outside diameter). It's also worth noting that most filters do not have the "pre-filter" sleeve inside them (for filtering of the larger particles), only on the outside, but it shouldn't be difficult to make one for the inside.

If you have the space, you could possibly build a filter box outside of the tent, air-tight and containing the scrubber itself, with the ductwork coming straight from the tent into the box, then through the filter and out the other end of the box. Just need to make sure the joints are all air-tight and it should work fine

 

[Granger2]

http://canfilters.com/faq.html

I've never owned a canfilter. They make good products, but I think Phresh is the best. Can has a good FAQ with good general info about carbon filters. You can make an internal filter out of the pre-filter that comes with whichever filter you buy. I would avoid that if possible. The aluminum cased Phresh is much lighter than most, so hanging is a good option if your set up allows. I would want and the mfgr wants at least an inch clearance around the filter. No touchie nuttin'. Good luck. -granger