Fans, carbon scrubber filter questions

[Sticksnstems]

I will be growing in a SECRET JARDIN DR90 (3x3x6) with a 400w hps with batwing reflector. I have a fantech 6inch 220cfm centrifugal fan and i hope to keep costs down by using this fan. The air will come from an evironmentally controlled living space and exhausted into that same room.

I will grow AK48 from Nirvana.

My questions are

What size filter will be best for this setup. Weight is an issue as i understand the secret jardin doesnt support a great deal.

What brand? I have never used a carbon filter/scrubber.

Any info, tips, tricks, knowledge, and insights greatly appreciated.

 

[JuanCarlos]

As far as brand goes I have heard great things about Mountain Aire and Phresh filters.

What size? Most filters will have a CFM rating. I would get one with a CFM rating slightly higher than that of your fan.

 

[Sticksnstems]

As far as brand goes I have heard great things about Mountain Aire and Phresh filters.

What size? Most filters will have a CFM rating. I would get one with a CFM rating slightly higher than that of your fan.

I will get a Phresh 6x16 ( 400cfm max ) or 6x24 ( 550cfm max ). Do you know the MINIMUM CFM for these filters? Thanks.

 

[JuanCarlos]

There is no minimum. Just a maximum. Below the max you can run any CFM you like.

 

[Atulip]

As others have said, go with a quality brand filter. Personally I have a phresh 6"x18" and the skunkiest of smells can't escape it.

For CFM, the higher cfm rating of the filter, the more effective it will be at scrubbing smell. You just can't have a fan with higher cfm than your filter.

 

[DRM Ranch]

Up size the filter by twice your fans capability, if you can not risk any smell being noticed. Otherwise matching your fan rating to the filter rating will do just fine in most cases.

Filter cfm ratings are mainly based on physical size and volume of carbon.

Smaller cfm filters matched with large cfm fans do not give the air passing through much contact time with the carbon; conversely when a large cfm filter is matched with a small cfm fan contact time is greatly increased.

Increasing contact time between air and carbon allows more effective odor elimination.

Increasing the volume of carbon in the filter increases its useful life.

Keeping a fresh spare filter and/or enough carbon on hand to rebuild your current filter is always a good idea. The lifespan of a filter is only so long, longer if it isn't exposed to a lot of airflow containing heavy scents, shorter if it has lots of scented air moving through.

A prefilter can help the carbon filter live a little longer, they are like bags or socks for the carbon filter, you periodically remove and wash them. Their main feature is that they filter out dust and other crap that carbon filters aren't really designed to do.

DRM Ranch

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

I use the same tent myself i'm pretty sure weight load is about 30kg you might be able to find this out by doing a little extra research... the info is out their !

Carbon filters are normally matched to fan size so a 6 inch fan will use a 6 inch filter etc but some thing to do with air flow of fan size to filter size.


I use to use a cheap budget filter much bigger & heavy to a more expensive rhino filter which was smaller & lighter... proof in the pic

Any way just like to point out that exhausting into the same room may recycle the air effecting temperature... you might want to think about that !

 

[DRM Ranch]

Exhausting into the living space does add heat, however your home HVAC is likely going to be able to handle the load a bit better than a portable unit in so far as cost goes. In this situation I would suggest controlling the fan by temperature (a line voltage thermostat).

The fan operating costs will likely go down a bit because of intermittent use vs always being on, and you will have a more controlled environment for the plants.