Red's style DIY carbon scrubber problems

[Stone Skunk]

OK I built myself a DIY carbon scrubber based on Red's seen on the first page of his thread here
http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=31605

mine is just like his except i have a stanley blowing through it and no duct on the top, at first it was just open then i covered it with an air vent filter. When I put the fan to mine I get a black cloud of carbon dust out the top and makes a mess.... any ideas on how to solve this?
Thanks

 

[Stone Skunk]

another layer of the carbon air conditioner filter and then a second layer of regular air conditioner filter seems to have solved the problem and it doesn't seem to restrict airflow too much. So my dirty air comes out of the back of my cab, up through some duct, into the bottom of the filter, through a first layer of carbon air filter, then through about 1" of carbon rocks then through a regular air filter, another carbon air filter, another regular air filter then out the top.
Seems to have worked well, thanks Red.

 

[HazeiusMaximus]

Before using activated carbon you are supposed to rinse it with water and allow it to dry, thus removing the fine carbon dust from the pellets.

HazeiusMaximus

 

[beej]

You say you have the stanley blowing THROUGH it. Not sure exactly how you have it set up, but you should always have the fan pulling air through the carbon filter. This creates a negative pressure inside the box, which is what you want if you really don't wanna smell your plants.
BTW, how well does Red's scrubber do? Kinda forgot about that design. I've got a pretty small cab that I need to scrub, but I don't wanna dump much money on a big fan and scrubber. Then again, I want something that works right.

 

[HazeiusMaximus]

You say you have the stanley blowing THROUGH it. Not sure exactly how you have it set up, but you should always have the fan pulling air through the carbon filter. This creates a negative pressure inside the box, which is what you want if you really don't wanna smell your plants.
BTW, how well does Red's scrubber do? Kinda forgot about that design. I've got a pretty small cab that I need to scrub, but I don't wanna dump much money on a big fan and scrubber. Then again, I want something that works right.

If you want it to work properly you'll definately want a good fan that can handle the constant backpressure caused by the carbon-filled scrubber. It may cost a lot of money intially, but a good fan usually has multiple year warranty and it works well, which is what you need to get away with your grow.

 

[beej]

Yeah, I'm probably gonna go with the Stanley blower. It seems like a good choice. I think it would work good with the kind of scrubber Red has. Just put the Stanley in place of the PC fan and seal it up. BTW, whats it sound like? Very loud? Thanks.

Oh yea. Found this one on Fleabay. Says its a marine exhaust fan. 130CFM. Think its any good?

 

[HazeiusMaximus]

Yeah, I'm probably gonna go with the Stanley blower. It seems like a good choice. I think it would work good with the kind of scrubber Red has. Just put the Stanley in place of the PC fan and seal it up. BTW, whats it sound like? Very loud? Thanks.

Oh yea. Found this one on Fleabay. Says its a marine exhaust fan. 130CFM. Think its any good?

Yes, it is quite loud. You won't be able to be in the same room without hearing it, that is for sure.

I have an elicent fan(which are known for their "quietness") for my scrubber, and it is still very loud, even when I installed a solid state speed controller to reduce the fan speed(and noise).

I hear the stanley blowers are even louder, so I imagine you will have a considerable amount of noise to deal with.

HazeiusMaximus

 

[beej]

Thanks Hazeius. This is the last thing I need to start up again so I'm just trying to get it rite. I appreciate the help. And sorry for hijacking your thread Skunk. lol.

 

[Guest]

I use a dayton 465 for my scrubber, pulling thru it. Stanley blowers are fine but too noisy for my grow here in an apartment.

And yeah you need to wash that carbon before using it. You also need to make sure there aren't any holes in your stocking material or whatever you're using for the fine mesh. That'll make problems for you too.