I’m new to the board, new to growing in general, but learn by doing. And boy did I start doing. But first thank you to many of you that I have taken ideas from, and please feel free to let me know what you think of what I did so far.
I’m planning growing one to two plants at a time. I’m working in almost 3x4 (12sqft.) closet in my office. I work from home but host coworkers at times, that aren’t really 420 friendly, but I do IT work so having loud fans running in my office isn’t anything new. So I’m trying to be stealth on this grow stuff, and this is all a trail run right? The first time I do anything like it. All the fun of the first time.
I started by caulking all the corners, and then painted latex semi-gloss white all the surfaces. I need to go back as you will see, I ended up removing a shelf (little more caulk and paint, easy, once I find that caulk gun…).
Then I went all me on this
Installed a outlet in a convenient location (and I also installed that temp/humid remote sensor)
I need to go back to store and get some great stuff to fill the gaps on the grow side, but I think its a good start.
Just about everything is ready for the seeds that should have left ILGM yesterday (or the day before, hard to remember when exactly I ordered now). Still waiting on a single 600watt led panel (I know I will likely go with a bigger panel if this goes well), and the 6 inch carbon filter which I hope brings the noise down a good bit. Right now it’s a good 90-95db running at full blast with no filter, and just that little restriction over the register.
@soniclos
Welcome to ILGM.
Your best bet will be to get a speed controller for your exhaust fan to slow it down, which will make it quieter. The filter will help some by putting a drag on it, but running the filter when its not needed until the girls start to get stinky will give the filter a shorter life.
Welcome your setup look great a few things pop into my mind first if this grow can cost you business or get you arrested its not worth it having uncool people anyway connected to this process is bad very very bad. Chances are good its going to smell even with exhaust fan everytime you open the door smell comes out after while it will permeate maybe not like a college dorm but noticeable . my other though is more safety related is your new outlet grounded in that space humidity can take its toll i’m just a peon from cyber space putting my 2 cents in throwing out some thoughts
Thanks for the suggestion, I do have a speed controller. At low I’m around 70db on the intake, and 65db on the out on a meter. The fan is a 6 inch from a different project (where it was too noisy), and I think it will end up just being too big and noisy for my new application. I hoping the filter will slow it down a little more and drop the wind noise by 5-10db which should be livable.
I tend to spend the day coding with headphones on anyway. It’s if the wife can hear it outside the office, it will be deemed too loud. Just like my old DL380s, got married, got offsite rack space.
Also do you know where your exhaust vent is going some lazy contractors just vent into floor/wall space ie bathroom ceiling fans causing mold and in your case smell. @soniclos im not trying to be a downer but i may see something you don’t .
@Rexx Thanks for the input on the smell. It isn’t the top concern of mine, it is very rare I have guests in my office. I can always book a room off site. Maybe I should have lead with I work out of my home. The real person I need to pass the smell test on is the wife. I’m good on legal status, just not trying to draw too much attention.
@Rexx Yes no talking, and if your gonna then make sure you clean the data from photos, and post after a couple VPN hops. So right now the filter will just dump in to the office. The office has a little extra cooling built in, and it is not on the rest of the home HVAC. I’m adding a sweep and weather stripping to the access to the office, this access will normally be closed. The closet door will also be closed, there is a 1/2 gap at the bottom that should allow for good air movement. It pulls paper at this point. It’s all a work in progress, I’m my own contractor so there isn’t anything hidden to me in what I did.
i dont worry about cyber people i worry about so called friends or part time mall cop/ups man bucking for his Barney fife bullet my daughters friend got narked out by the diaper delivery girl said she could smell when she would dropped off delivery ( how could she smell anything with that job) turned into big deal almost lost her home only thing saved her was it became legal here in Mass
Ya no one needs to be jammed up over a plant. For me it is my primary medicine these days too.
I worry about all of those angles too, but no plans on sharing so trying to limit the exposure. I saw in an other post about a wrap to apply to the walls, I’ll probably add that if the first run goes OK. Hopefully a fun experiment by the end.
Little more info on my office. On separate split HVAC system from rest of house, cause of the stupid computers running. The office is as separate as it gets from the rest of the home, but it’s still in the same envelope, just no ducting connecting back to the main house. So the only real “free” air movement is under my office door which I’ll try the easy ways to deal with that first. Maybe a few outlets might leak too, but I been filling those (with fire caulk) as I get access to them. Maybe I’ll add another filter from the office to outside to run if it gets really stinky? Might be able to get away with vaping in the office then too.
The office always has had and will have a keyed lock on it. It’s enough to stop any nosy folks. I’m thinking about adding a closer.
The wife doesn’t mind the smell of what I bring home from the dispensary, that has already been dried and cured. We will see how a live plant goes over (she is aware it could smell a great deal, and I’m sure if push came to shove, I’d be killing my grow, for now).
I’m new to this, does a single plant really get that smelly? I mean in general.
Welcome to ILGM, I love the stealth grows. They’re the most fun even if it is legal. Looks like you’re off to a great start. @soniclos
A single plant can get smelly, but this depends on the strain. A properly filtered grow room with negative pressure should be just fine.
Yes they smell especially when flowering/budding but to be honest i have never had to worry about smell own house nearest neighbor is like 1 mile and thats daughter so my house reeks like a hash den on friday but in a good way.
@soniclos, I can’t tell if your fan has some support, but I’d have something to support it other than duct tape.tape is good but over time it will fail and fan will fall
@ReMoLu, These fans are pretty heavy, that would be some feat to tape up. Not saying it can’t be done, but no I didn’t do that. I used some 3" lag bolts to secure to a stud. They really should make the bracket bigger so it’s easier to install and see in photos!
There is a reason there is so much duct tape. It’s acting as a 1/2" long duct too (that is the gap between outlet and the wall register). I know this is not exactly proper, but I think for the first run it will do fine. Plus if it fails I have stock to replace it on hand, just rather not use it for such a small gap.
Now for Some progress. Nothing like yesterday’s work, I needed a can of Great Stuff and my stuff on hand was a dud last night. New can today, and finish up. It’s expansion foam (if your not familiar with the brand name I used), this one is built to “not” squeeze your fill area too much. But I went ahead and stuffed the inside of the box with some cardboard and then did this.
And yes it goes all the way around, creating a better seal not air tight, but I’m not working with the plague either.
I’m thinking since I haven’t ordered the filter yet, I will order a whole 4 inch kit, then use the 4 inch filter with a 4"-to-6" fitting on this 6 inch fan. If it quiets down, I’m good till I find out how the whole smell/humidity/airQuality/CO2 situations work out. If too loud, then I will try the smaller, quieter, and moving less air fan.
This unit sounds good on paper, but I’m pretty sure the sound rating is for the lowest speed (<37db)
Can’t see it in the pictures but the I used some urethane washers between the fan and the mount. There really isn’t any mechanical noise. It’s pretty much the wind noise, which I could probably reduce nicely if I had just reused the capped 12x12 register. That way I would have had a couple of turns to slow things down a bit.
I tried somethin silly out. I put a performance car air filter over the intake (it’s what I had on hand that would fit quick), and it reduced the noise by 5-10db at low speed. I figure the more restrictive carbon filter should reduce the noise a good bit more.
You hit nail on head with wind noise. The other side to that is half the reason you’re getting quiet when filter is installed is due to restricting air flow. But you do get a muffling effect too. You just want to be sure you’re still moving enough air is all.
I’m good on legal status, just not trying to draw too much attention.
