Carbon Scrubber Doesn't Remove 100%?

Hey people, you guys have always been very helpful before and I'll test my luck once again with this little question/concern.

I have a professional filter that I bought the other day. My plants are just vegging (10 ladies) but since I'm exhausting into my apartment it still stinks. When I walk outside my window I can smell it. Also when I've been outside for a while and enter the building.

I'm curious, is this normal or is my filter a dud?

Thanks.

Carbon filters are kinda finicky well, the whole set up is, tell us details on how exactly you are using the carbon filter (light-fan-filter or filter-fan-light, or just filter-fan or fan-filter) follow the direction of air in listing the parts, let us know of any 90 degree corners etc also . What brand and size of filter are you using? what size fan? (cfm ratings on both very important)

how high is your temp an humidity i ask because once humidity reaches certain level the water droplets in the air soak the pores so the air just goes straight throught the filter,it is kinda hard because you know in veg you want to keep the RH up but at a certain point it proves useless,also why do you need to use a carbon filter why ladies in veg??? one more thing as your cab heats up it can cause your ladies to produce more smell i would take the filter off leave the fan in your cab tent an try to keep your temp around 75-80 deg tops that should help with the smell it might stink at first because of the heat but once temps cool down you should be ok,close all windows an doors till smell disapates an suck in that cool air, an deff dont use carbon filter in high humidity will make none existent,if you need to use it get the humidity down jus my take on situation no doubt one of the pro's will let you know the score i think i put you on the right track,do a google search or rollitup search on high temps an humidity with carbon filters N.T.D

i run two filters. i run one just in the room no exhaust. it just sucks air threw the filter then i run another on my exhaust.if it still needs more i run a wind tower with ionizer. also if you have the room i build a two chamber ply wood box. 8 feet high by 2 feet wide. on the bottom i run the in take a freind has small air conditioner mounted in the side of the box. on the top the exhaust he run the air threw 3 carbon duct filters and he as a ozone on a timer i comes on every 5 min. and off for 5. and then goes outside.

Also what size is your growing area? most likely fan or filter or both arent big enough for your area

Yeah forgot that, area size, and if you plan to use the same area to flower, cause if you are still vegging and it stinks, flowering is going to be impossible.
I believe we could get this to work with a single fan/filter combo, but more info is needed.

as incognegro said as well forgot about the basics your filter cfm rating matches that of your fan what i mean is are you pulling to much air through your filter most filters need approx 0.1 sec contact time i think, your not using summin like a 6" fan on a 4" filter or vice versa if fan an filter cfm ratings match you should not have probs unless what i said earlier post with high humidity an high temps, an you need minimun 1" space round the filter to ensure maximun surface area for air to be sucked through

TruenoAE86coupe said:

Yeah forgot that, area size, and if you plan to use the same area to flower, cause if you are still vegging and it stinks, flowering is going to be impossible.
I believe we could get this to work with a single fan/filter combo, but more info is needed.

Click to expand...

agree with this statement you are so gonna have probs in flower if its as bad as you say now
strain temps humidity area size lxwxh what size fan filter combo etc

The filter and fan are rated the same and bought according to size requirements. (4 min airexchange)

The fan is actually on only 40% speed since it's cold outside and doesn't need that much circulation to keep cool but still there is smell.

Setup is: Filter > 90° Turn > 2xcooltube 600 Watts > Long 90° Turn > 20 inch ducting > Living room.

The brand... Not sure of the brand, but I paid good money for it.

Humidity is 40% or lower.

Heat 70-80 degrees.

I actually tested leaving a cigarette near the filter and then smelling it on the exhaust and I could clearly smell the tobacco.

Please advice :/

Thanks.

In your description of the filter set up does not show the actual fan location, although kind of a mute point now i think.
Does your room have a negative pressure to it? Meaning that there is more forced air out than in? A good way to check is the door, is it hard to open or very easy? Also a lighter next to the cracks around and below the door can help tell the direction of air flow. If you have a positive pressure in the room you could be losing smell through everywhere but the filter. It is important to make sure you have a negative pressure in the room for the filter to work, otherwise you are defeating yourself. Thats all i can come up with tonight, let me know if that is the issue or not, i will keep thinking on it.

Try turning the fan down as low as you can, and still maintain negitive pressure inside the tent. I think the filter has a hard time keeping up if you run too much air through it. I run mine on low

you could try putting one of those ozone generators inside the duct after the fan. It might kill the smell that gets by the filter. they're pretty small and should fit inside a duct easily.