i have seen that air filters/scrubbers for reducing odor can be kinda pricey. i am cheap and dont want to spend $75-100 on a filter.
if all there is inside them is activated charcoal, i am thinking i can whip up my own odor control device for half the cost of buying one ready to use.
has anyone made their own air filter? and if so, how did you go about it and what was the total cost?
alternately, i have thought about just having the exhaust fan duct blowing directly out the window- and not using any odor control at all… i live in the country, nearest next door neighbor’s house is maybe 100 feet away. just how smelly are these plants supposed to get, and for how long?
i will be growing blueberry, northern lights, and amnesia haze, all autoflowering strains, and all 3 simultaneously.
EDIT: I FORGOT TO MENTION… my tent is 8ft X 8ft and 6.5feet tall. i will be using a 10" exhaust fan generating approx 860CFM… tent will have at least 3 plants at a time, maybe up to 5 or 6…
i also plan to be using charcoal filters for the air being sucked inside the tent, to keep down humidity levels and outside contaminants
Building a filter wouldn’t be difficult, but building one really well could be. Have you run calculations to figure out how thick the layer of media needs to be and how large of filter you would need? To small of filter and you’ll put excessive static load on your fan. Then you could potentially be short of minimum requirements for air exchange and cause your fan to prematurely fail. Not to mention any air leaks at all would cause the filter to not work. Imo it’s just an awfully large space to risk potentially not having filter right. And with the cost of activated carbon, you may not be saving much money.
i found activated carbon reasonably priced online. all the things you mentioned are things i have thought of which is why i asked if anyone had made one before. i assume its better for the filter to be too big rather than too small
my first go-to is simply no filter at all… but if these plants are gonna be really smelly, it may be better safe than sorry and have a filter. it would be best to not draw unnecessary attention
I’m about 5 weeks into WR, HK, and GDP and they definitely smell! 100 feet away is really close by my standards. I have smelled on it people at WallyWorld 30-40 feet away. Have inline on a/c exhaust and another on an exhaust fan that gets cycle occasionally for fresh air. Nothing but hot air comes out the vents. Would definitely buy or build something.
You will want a filter. If you feel like you can make one that will work, go for it. Can you take some pics along the way and post up a tutorial of sorts? If you’re successful, I’m sure others would be interested.
what i had in mind was… maybe a 2 foot section of PVC sewer pipe , with a cap full of holes, and several bags of activated charcoal inside… but i think i may just bite the bullet and buy a proper filter, so it fits on the fan properly… and engineer something for replacement filters
I’m not sure how big of filter you need, but ac infinity 6" is $65. People seem to be pretty happy with it. Otherwise I would maybe look for one that the flange is riveted. Probably wouldn’t be a big deal to drill out rivets and repack.
someone on this forum posted pix of how to make a filter simply by rolling up HEPA charcoal activated fabric (for AC system), and stuffing it into the exhaust duct- they said it works like a charm. right now, that seems to be the cheapest option, so i think i will try that first. but for now, my plants are still babies. i suppose it will be 2 or 3 months before they start getting loud…
the exhaust fan i ordered pulls approx. 860 CFM, and i have noticed the smaller filters are rated for much less than that… so i am guessing the smaller filters will not filter as well under the added air velocity produced by a fan as big as mine… and the filters rated for my fan start at $150 each… plus they are really big. id rather have the filter outside of the tent, so theres more room for plants inside