Carbon Filters--"Scrubbing" vs Exhausting

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bongrippinbob

Well-Known Member
I am about to upgrade my 600watt setup to either 1000 or 1200 watts and I am going to need a lot more odor control than my OdorSok can handle.

I was thinking about just "scrubbing" the air in my room instead of exhausting through the filter. I use a 465cfm blower for my exhaust, so this will not work well with the carbon filter because of resticted air flow the filter causes.

I was wondering if I am exhausting with the 465cfm blower, and I got a Can33 combo, which is a 200cfm filter, will this be enough to rid my room of the smell before it exhausts?

I will have the filter right by my exhaust, so it will be pulling this clean air out of the exhaust. But it will only be like 200cfms when the blower is running at 465cfm.

Does anyone have any experience "scrubbing" with a filter instead of exhausting through it? What CFM was your exhaust and what CFM was your fan/filter combo?

If I can make this work, it will save me like $300, that is the whole reason I am trying to do it like this.

THanks for the help.

Bob
 
djmendoza21

djmendoza21

Well-Known Member
If you scrub,,
its doesnt have to be but will be alot eaiser if the room is air tight.

So co2 is a must to replinish the stale air.
 
khujo

khujo

Well-Known Member
the CFM of the fan should not exceed the CFM of the filter. Its ok to have a bigger filter, but not a bigger fan. Im not sure what you mean by 'scrubbing instead of exhausting through it'...through what? the filter? exhausting 'through' the filter would be scrubbing your exahaust so it doesnt smell when it leaves the grow area.

either way, i wouldnt use a 465 CFM with a 200 CFM carbon scrubber. if thats what you are asking. It will burn out your fan and the filter
 
khujo

khujo

Well-Known Member
Ok Im an idiot. i just saw you said a 200CFM Combo. sorry. I would think a bit of smell would still escape but i have never tried it
 
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bongrippinbob

Well-Known Member
By scrubbing, I mean having the fan and filter inside the cab, and never blowing air out of the cab. It just continuously is pulling the air from inside the cab, through the filter, and back into the cab.

I do have Co2, but right now I only run it like 3 times a day, and the exhaust is only off for like 30min. I am planning on getting an a/c unit, but I want to get the second light in my cab first.

I am hoping that with the new fan I will be getting to cool my cab, that my exhaust wont be on 24hrs like it is now. I am going to be getting a 700 and something CFM fan to cool my two hoods. RIght now I just have a crappy duct booster fan that doesn't blow for shit.

I am thinking that this much CFM through the hoods should cool them down enough to where I can pretty much seal up the room. It isn't sealed right now, and when the exhaust is off, I can smell the buds in my house. But when the exhaust is on, I only smell it outside, and its only for the last week or two. But with twice as much light, I'm guessing my smell will be twice as bad.

THe guy at the hydro shop I used to go to said he prefers scrubbing over exhausting, I am just trying to figure out how much CFM I am going to need. Hopefully the a/c reflectors will stay cool enough with the new fan to only have the exhaust come on like 3 or 4 times a day. If I can do this, I am guessing I should be fine with only 200cfm through the filter.

If anyone else has any experience with this, I'd love to hear it.

Bob
 
desertrat

desertrat

Well-Known Member
hey bob,

why not oversize your fan and get a variable speed controller so you can dial down the cfm to your specific conditions? there have been several threads in the last two months trying to get good answers to your type of question to no avail. i finally went with the controller on my fan and can manage the speed to handle both the carbon filter and air cooled hood without creating a wind tunnel.
 
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bongrippinbob

Well-Known Member
I am kind of oversizing the fans I think. I want to run the 8" HO CanFan,I think thats the one anyway. Its like 700 and something CFM. I will be cooling 2 600watt lights with that. I am guessing that with about 350cfm per light, this should keep the lights fairly cool.

I have the 465cfm blower for exhaust, and I'm hoping that I can have it connected to a thermostat so I can get it to come on at a certain temp and turn off at another. I'm hoping with the new fan for the hoods, this will work.

Right now, with the cheap ass fan I have cooling my hood, and my exhaust going, my temps are like 3-7 degrees above ambient temps. I'm guessing that with the increased air flow through the hoods, that the temps should drop even more. Hopefully down to ambient. We will see how things work out.
 
HappySack

HappySack

Well-Known Member
pull your exhaust through the filter first, I run 2 460's through 1 filter, but it is sized right
 
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bongrippinbob

Well-Known Member
I am trying to keep my room sealed for Co2 and not let the smell permeate the cab and let the smell out. When I exhaust, I want that air to not be all stinky so I don't need a filter for the exhaust. That is why I am looking at recirculating instead of exhausting through the filter.
 
stoneymontana

stoneymontana

Well-Known Member
I just bought a carbon filter fan combo off of ebay and I am gonna try the same thing I will let you know how it works starting monday !!

bongrippinbob said:
I am trying to keep my room sealed for Co2 and not let the smell permeate the cab and let the smell out. When I exhaust, I want that air to not be all stinky so I don't need a filter for the exhaust. That is why I am looking at recirculating instead of exhausting through the filter.
Click to expand...
 
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bongrippinbob

Well-Known Member
Good deal.

Is it a name brand filter? If so, does it have the label on it that says what CFM it works at for exhaust and recirculating are?

I think that they can run at a higher cfm rating for the recirculating than they do for exhaust, so I think you can run a small and cheaper filter with a larger fan to recirculate it. But I am not positive.
 
Arrid

Arrid

Well-Known Member
Well a carbon scrubbers only as good as the amount of smell it stops.

It will work.

And if it doesn't it's too small ;)
 
speedhabit

speedhabit

Well-Known Member
a 465 valuline 6" centrifugal blower from businesslights.com exhausts my growroom air through my 3' 8" carbon filter just fine, its powerful enough at the exhaust intake that it still feels like a vac.

I dont know why you think it cant handle the filter and still exhaust the room fine, Your sure you mean a blower (blades are internal) and not a fan (spinning blades on the inside like a room fan)

Edit: Reading the rest of this thread, a huge reason carbon filters dont work is that you dont push enough air through, hard enough. I recently changed from a 500cfm suncourt 8" booster fan to the valuline 465 with 1000 times more torque, the difference was huge. People with real carbon filters need quality fans to get the most of it.
 
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bongrippinbob

Well-Known Member
Those booster fans are crap. They can't handle the static pressure. Those fans are rated for their boosted cfm not their free air cfm. This means that your "500cfm" fan will not be a restriction as long as 500cfm or less is coming through the duct. It doesn't actually blow 500cfm. It probably actually had a free air cfm of like 200 or so. They are used to "boost" the air flow through the duct when an inline fan or blower is being used as well.

I don't want to exhaust through the filter because I will be running Co2 and have a sealed room only exhausting a couple of times a day. When I do exhaust, I want my air inside to smell nice, and also don't want the smell to permiate the cab and stink up my house like it does when my exhaust is off.
 
stoneymontana

stoneymontana

Well-Known Member
I bought that carbon filter and it is not working great but I have turned off the ona bucket and I cannot smell the bud outside of the room anymore but inside it is still strong so just leaving the scrubber in the room and exhausting into the room is not all that productive !!
 
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