Which carbon filter and speed controller for S&P TD-100?

[BeautifulColas]

The carbon filters they sell at the local hydro store are rated for 222 CFM or something like that, and they're made for the 200 CFM, powerful, loud centrifugal fans that they also sell. I believe that carbon filters have a minimum CFM rating for the fan as well as the maximum, correct? I think the much weaker TD-100 is too small for those filters.

Could you recommend a UL-certified (or something similar) speed controller that would work well with the TD-100, and then recommend a carbon filter for use at the reduced CFM? Would the dial-a-temp work? The speed controller they sell at the local store isn't electrically certified by UL or other certification body, and it's a cheap one made in China, so probably a fire risk.

Thanks!

 

[testymctester]

I'm not sure about the speed controller, but I have a Phat 4x12 on my TD-100. Works great with the fan wired on the low setting. It's ok to have a filter rated bigger than your fan. You just don't want a fan more powerful than your filter.

 

[federal-inmate]

 

[qupee]

In my experience, common fan speed controllers don't work well on the S&P MixVent fans. I also don't think carbon filters have a minimum cfm.

 

[BeautifulColas]

Thanks for the replies. testymctester: how loud is the sound of the gushing air, and do you use a muffler? The fan itself is quiet, but the air sound is unnatural and loud and hollow, and it instantly draws the ears, lol...how do you deal with it? It's not the kind of sound that could be drowned out with an aquarium I don't think. Also, I noticed that the TD-100 barely moved any air when it was connected to one of the 222 CFM filters from the store...weak like a PC fan. What CFM rating is the Phat filter you're using?

Cheers!

 

[qupee]

For the sound insulated duct helps, and you can wrap the fan in egg crate foam or another sound absorbing product. Make sure the fan's hanging and not rigidly attached. Muffler can help but they tend to be large. Beyond that you have to work on containing the noise with the room/enclosure.

Perhaps obviously, other fans work well to drown out the noise. Put an oscillating stand fan or a air filtering fan near where you need to cover the noise and just leave it on. Not unusual to have a fan running to circulate room air.

Yes, TD Mix-vent fans are weak but still quite noticeably loud. I didn't think a plastic-bodied centrifugal was much louder, certainly not dialed down a bit on a controller. I think the Sunleaves Wind tunnels were the plastic ones I had http://www.amazon.com/Sunleaves-Wind-Tunnel-In-line-Exhaust/dp/B002JLGL9M

 

[Jhhnn]

I have a td125 pulling through a Phat 4x20, pushing through the light into a light baffled exhaust to the outside. It moves enough air for the 1000w in cooler weather, but had to be supplemented during an unusual stretch of hot & muggy weather last August. The sounds of the city in our very urban neighborhood cover the sound entirely.

The centrifugal fans will perform better against high restriction than the mixvents, no doubt. What kind of flow do you get w/o the filter? It may have been designed for the centrifugal fans with a flatter airflow curve against restriction. Or they could just be pulling your leg about the airflow capabilities of the filter.

 

[BeautifulColas]

Thanks for the advice. Without the filter the airflow is decent, but as soon as I put the filter on, it's reduced to maybe 20% of full airflow, a weak flow much like a PC fan. And besides, it doesn't even filter the air; I tried burning incense in the box and it came out smelly. A properly installed and working carbon filter should be able to filter out the smell of incense smoke, correct?

So I thought that maybe I hadn't tightened it enough, so I tightened it as much as I could on the filter, and got the same result. When I untightened it and took off the clamp, I was surprised to see that the metal rim on the filter where the duct goes had warped badly from the tightening, so I guess it's aluminum or something - maybe a stainless steel one would weigh a freggin ton! Do most filters have a weak rim that can be easily bent out of shape with too much tightening, or just this one? I'm not even that strong lol! Is finger tight enough then? Anyway, with a warped circle shape, of course it didn't filter the air correctly, because the clamp didn't make contact all the way around.

So then I tried to use foil tape and made a really good seal, and also tightened the metal rings on the TD-100 as much as I could. The exhaust air still smelled strongly of incense, which was very disappointing. It's possible that the ducting had a little tear that I didn't notice, but I don't know how to test for that. That's the frustrating thing: it's hard to know what is wrong. Is it just a shitty filter? Or the duct? Or the connection to the fan? No idea.

I was thinking that it may be a good idea and/or necessary to apply caulking or something to the TD-100 where the fan body meets the mount, so that I could be sure that there are no small gaps , but is that necessary? I'm thinking no.

Thanks fellas!

 

[testymctester]

Sorry for the late reply. I think the filter I have is rated for 200 cfm. The filter slows/quiets the fan just enough for my little box. I have never had a completely quiet cab/tent setup, but the TD-100 is the quietest fan I have ever had. I also have a cheap no name 4" centrifugal that is loud as shit and a Vortex 4" that is in between the generic fan and the S&P as far as sound and output.

I have had quite a few people now standing next to my aquarium and nobody has noticed yet. You can't see or hear anything because the vibration from the pumps and the moving water disguises the escaping air sound from the fan.

I'm not sure how big your space is, but mine is in a little cab and the 100 works perfect with an LED light. The cab doesn't get hot and it doesn't make much noise when closed. I thought the TD-100 had enough power for a larger filter. Maybe a 4x8 or a 4x12 is the only size that will fit well.

Aluminum is the standard for filters these days. They used to be made out of steel and were heavy as shit. I forget which brand came out with the lightweight series, but most of the filters I see now are aluminum or some other lightweight alloy.

One more thing. Are you pushing or pulling air? It's a lot easier to have a smell proof exhaust if you connect the fan directly to the filter and push the clean air out of your space. That way if you have rips in your ducting, dirty air is not being sucked in between the fan and the filter. Hopefully that makes sense. I had trouble with this for a while especially when venting through lights until I realized pushing air was the way to go.

I'm subbed now. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!

 

[BeautifulColas]

Hey testymctester, thanks for replying. Could you please expand on the pulling vs pushing, and what you found to work and not work? I can't really visualize the difference. If the fan is inside the cab, wouldn't you always be pushing air out? Is that what you mean, whether the fan is inside or outside the cab? Or you mean whether you suck from the filter or blow into it?

 

[testymctester]

No worries. Maybe the better way to explain it is by the pressure in the duct. Positive pressure (pushing air out) makes sure that any leaks in the duct would just leak back into the cab. If you had leaks with negative pressure in the duct (pulling air through), the leaks would allow smelly air into the duct without going through the filter.

Positive duct pressure = filter > fan > duct (pushing air through duct)
Negative duct pressure = filter > duct > fan (pulling air through duct)

Hopefully that clears it up. I always had smell leaks until I started pushing air through the ducting, hoods, etc.

 

[desert fox]

my speed controllers sit in a box now. duct mufflers work much more effective to quiet down a fan

 

[Jhhnn]

Sorry for the late reply. I think the filter I have is rated for 200 cfm. The filter slows/quiets the fan just enough for my little box. I have never had a completely quiet cab/tent setup, but the TD-100 is the quietest fan I have ever had. I also have a cheap no name 4" centrifugal that is loud as shit and a Vortex 4" that is in between the generic fan and the S&P as far as sound and output.

I have had quite a few people now standing next to my aquarium and nobody has noticed yet. You can't see or hear anything because the vibration from the pumps and the moving water disguises the escaping air sound from the fan.

I'm not sure how big your space is, but mine is in a little cab and the 100 works perfect with an LED light. The cab doesn't get hot and it doesn't make much noise when closed. I thought the TD-100 had enough power for a larger filter. Maybe a 4x8 or a 4x12 is the only size that will fit well.

Aluminum is the standard for filters these days. They used to be made out of steel and were heavy as shit. I forget which brand came out with the lightweight series, but most of the filters I see now are aluminum or some other lightweight alloy.

One more thing. Are you pushing or pulling air? It's a lot easier to have a smell proof exhaust if you connect the fan directly to the filter and push the clean air out of your space. That way if you have rips in your ducting, dirty air is not being sucked in between the fan and the filter. Hopefully that makes sense. I had trouble with this for a while especially when venting through lights until I realized pushing air was the way to go.

I'm subbed now. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!

I'm with you about the positive duct pressure being the best for odor control.

First the filter, then the fan, then whatever else there is. Only one negative duct pressure joint between fan & filter. It doesn't get better than that. Any other seal imperfections just leak filtered air back into the enclosure.

After that, if the filter fails to deliver the desired results even with a fairly wimpy fan, the grower needs to get a better filter. Several good brands are available, apparently. I can only speak of Phats. Different growers have their own experiences & preferences.