Shelf life of a carbon filter

Just curious if carbon filters have a shelf life? I bought one a couple of years ago and had to shut down my op before I got to use it. I never took it out of the box until I started using it for my current grow. So I have been using it for 2 months and it just doesn't seem to be very effective at all.

Was it in a bag? That would have been best. What kind is it? If it's an oder sock then that's about how long they work.. lol

Yeah it was wrapped in the plastic packaging until I started using it, the box had never been opened. I bought it from HTG supply. Here is a link to what I bought http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-A-GrowBright-6in-Tall-Boy-Inline-Fan-&-Charcoal-Filter-Combo.asp I didn't really know what I was doing when I bought it so I'm thinking the fan is just way too powerful for my room. I have a box that is 3x3x6 which I'm not using at the moment cause my plant is too big for that space, right now it's in a 4x8x8 room and after looking at some calculations from another site i need like a 200 cfm fan and the one I have is 424. Does the filter just go bad over time, or does it have to be in use to be exhausted?

yea i bought mine on ebay from a trusted supplier..its pretty much identical same 6" diameters and all.

mine seems to keep working well..although i wash "the sock" after every grow with bleach.

here is mine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-x-18-CARBON-AIR-FILTER-PRO-COMBO-6-INCH-INLINE-FAN-EXHAUST-F022-/270927222139?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f1485557b

with all that said..i am wondering the same..how long do they last,and where to dispose of them.

A carbon filter could sit on a shelf for years, it doesn't degrade with time. How long they last once in use is tough to say. I have a Can 75 that I've been using for 3 years. I replace the pre-filter (sock) every 4-6 months. It does nothing for eliminating odour but prevents dust form plugging the carbon before its fully saturated (spent)

discretely would be the best way to get rid of one, take it to the dump yourself.

if the fan is "too much" for your room, just pick up a fan controller and turn it down alittle.

I ordered a fan controller switch, it will be here this week. Now does the size of the fan being larger than the space requires cause a problem if the cfm of the fan matches the filter? I can see that if the fan is too big for the filter it would cause a problem, but I see it as with matching CFM you have adequate resistance so to speak and the air flows through the filter at the proper speed. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me. If someone understands that cool, I could use the info, if not let me know and I will try to restate the question.

eDude said:

Was it in a bag? That would have been best. What kind is it? If it's an oder sock then that's about how long they work.. lol

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I've had my odorsok for about 4 months and it's still working great. I hear they improved it somehow, as this is version 2. I use mine to circulate in a sealed room, not to vent. I find the biggest factor in performance is humidity, as soks soak it up and hold onto it (any carbon does this). I simply blow dry mine for 10 minutes and it's back to working like new. During this 10 minutes, my room is unfiltered and the smell builds up. 2 minutes after turning on the reactivated filter, the smell is gone, so that's how I know it's still working. I pull mine out and dry it about every 2 weeks.

I would never trust an odorsok to clean air before being vented outside. This is because when they do fill up, it happens in a matter of hours. It would be easy for the sok to fill up and quit working (until reactivated with heat) while someone is at work, which could result in straight skunk smell being blown outside for a few hours. So they may be limited in application, but I find they do work, pretty well actually. Perfect for a closet, tent or small grow room.

Another mistake people make with the odorsok is washing it with hard water. The water must be very near 0ppm or else you are just contaminating the carbon further. Also, do not use any soap or detergent of any kind!!

smilinjack said:

I ordered a fan controller switch, it will be here this week. Now does the size of the fan being larger than the space requires cause a problem if the cfm of the fan matches the filter? I can see that if the fan is too big for the filter it would cause a problem, .

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No you'll be fine

Well I got my carbon filter today and installed it and within 2 hrs my house is smell free, so to me that means that activated carbon does have a shelf life. No way that the filter I was using got used up in two months of use, I only have one plant in my garden with humidity under 50 so it should at least last a year. So to all that need an answer to this question, I hope this helps you.

Not tryin to start an argument here but let me tell you this....

About a month ago, I replaced a bunch of carbon filters at chemical manufacturing facility....those new filters I installed sat in their stores for over five years.

Your filter may not have been spent but its quite possible it was plugged with dust

Or maybe it was just a hunk of junk from the start, it was in a box for close to 3 years and didn't work when I first set it up so I couldn't have been filled with dust, maybe just not a good filter to start with.

yeah, there are good filter and shitty filters, some are better than others