My marijuana garden is in a 10’ x 12’ room. I’ve got a Zestron ion fountain with a HEPA-style air filter that circulates the air a total of eight times every hour. The 480 cubic feet per minute (cfm) fan is connected to a thermostat (humidistat) and gets vented through roof vents.
My house sits snugly in between two homes on either side and pedestrians commonly walk across the street in large numbers. Will my air filter and ion fountain mitigate the extent of the skunk scent when the plants are budding?
Although aromas are created in the marijuana grow room, it’s possible for that smell to make its way to other locations. The system you have in place is constructed as a way to minimize grow room odor, but it doesn’t do much for exterior problems.
Ion generators are cheap, use little electrical power, and are quite functional. They put extra electrons in the air. These electrons combine with solid odor particles because the particles are generally missing an electron. So, the ions and electron-deficient particles come together, and the electrons go over to the particles. This neutralizes the odor particle by eliminating its scent.
Ion generators in a marijuana grow room work well to get rid of odors in the room, but not the odors that escape the room. The generators also tend to make the plants lose their distinctive aroma. What you need to do instead is use generators in locations that surround the marijuana grow room (outflow vents, doorway locations, etc.).
Ozone generators are also beneficial for this task. They produce Ozone (O3) in a room. Most gases (a la Oxygen) are two-atom molecules when we experience them. But, Ozone is a three-atom molecule and is unstable. A single oxygen molecule is constantly ready to release and combine with a different atom. Because many odor molecules don’t have the right amount of electrons, they take on that stray oxygen atom and get rid of their smell in the process. Ozone and ion generators can be put in vent tubing or in a plenum to be cleaned prior to going outside.
You can also place electrostatic filters in vents to purify the air with electrical charges. Both electrically-charged and passive precipitators work in this device. The air is stripped of its odor while traveling through the venting.
Carbon filters work in much the same way as electrostatic filters except that they use carbon’s special ability to filter odor molecules.
A HEPA filter should be kept in the grow space because it gets rid of bacterial and fungal spores along with certain airborne odors. You could certainly use a HEPA filter as the initial step in venting air. Otherwise, I suggest using a carbon filter, an electrostatic filter, and an ozone generator to be as safe (and, perhaps, redundant) as possible.
Robert