Hey guys it’s been about 2 weeks that I’ve had my setup running now. And I came home from work and noticed my tent wasn’t sucked in from the negative pressure. Checked my fan output and there was little to no air coming through. So I went to the filter and noticed the cloth pre filter was plugged up so I took it off threw it in the wash and check again still no air. So I removed the charcoal filter and checked the fan was putting out lots of air. So after less than 2 weeks the prefilter and filter itself is plugged right up. Is this normal? $50 every 2 weeks on charcoal filters is going to be kind of expensive. The Vivosun website says it last up to 2 years.
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Have you been running humidifier?
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I have the vivosun filters to and they clogged up with dust from the house this is where changing out the filter on your furnace is important. The other thing is high humidity in your tent kills them to. And as with everything you need to keep a spare filter . I Have never got one to last 2 years maybe 2 1/2 grows but that’s about it.
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What direction are you flowing the air through the filter? If the fan is first and you are blowing out through the filter you are not using the pre-filter. As @dbrn32 asked are you running humidifiction? If so then you could be wetting the carbon which would cause the pellets to break down and fill all of the spaces required for air to flow through the filter. I opened up my filter just to see what was inside. I found below. Crushed carbon that is formed into pellets. These pellets would break down with moisture.
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@dbrn32 @WickedAle yes I am running a humidifier. Without the humidifier and my fan on the lowest setting the humidity drops to about 20%-25% so I have a humidifier running to bring it up to about 47%.
@WickedAle I forgot to mention I have the filter inside the tent pulling the air from the tent out along 8ft of ducting then the fan mounted outside.
Keep the humidifier and the fan input on opposite sides and corners. AS FAR AWAY from each other as possible. If I could I’d set the filter outside of the room AFTER the fan and blow out through the filter to give the most filter area to blow out through. Your humidifier? Is it one you use to set next to a bed? The water droplets created may be to big to dissolve into the air before it gets sucked out through the fan.
Another though is to just drop humidification totally. This would mean you would have to water more frequently, but you are right that carbon filters are expensive. I do not use humidification and know my humidity is lower that optimal during veg, but I still get great yields. I’m in DWC hydro so I do provide plenty of water for the leaves to perspire. You want low humidity during the crucial stage of flowering.
That will do it, what are you running for water in humidifier? Tap water will kill a carbon filter quickly.
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Well I’d really like to keep the humidifier (only because I like what’s optimal). After this grow I have a old basement window I’m going to take out and board up to put my exhaust through there and draw fresh air in
I was asking if you filled with tap water? That’s usually harder on the filters than using distilled or ro water
@dbrn32 sorry yes I have been filling it with tap water. But the plan with the window is one I’ve had from the beginning but I don’t want to tackle that job in the middle of a Canadian winter. Once it’s vented outside I’m not worried about the smell as growing is legal here.
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5 gal bucket with water in it for veg tent and nothing in flower tent. Im over a mile high elevation with filtered air from out side" plants look a lot better with 25f air coming in from outside with 59f-85f night/day temps than with just inside air/c02"
@boardsbird unfortunately pulling air from outside is not an option for me during the winter season as we regularly see -30*C or colder. Summer time I will be pulling air from outside and exhausting as well. This grow I have to exhuast inside because I need to Reno a basement window for the vents.
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That will plug a filter for sure. Seems like you have a plan…