Grow ops being busted for smells?

RandyL

New Member
I was playing around on the PC tonight, so I typed "marijuana growing operation" into google. I spent a good half hour reading stories of grow ops that were busted.

And I noticed something. The majority of the busts mentioned that the cops started looking more because they smelled pot plants, or the tip to come to the house mentioned that someone else smelled something too.

Most of the grow ops in the stories had hundreds of plants, and the photos showed a lot of organization. Hydroponic setups, custom wired power panels, even one with at least 3 big power transformers in the room!

So I've got to wonder, how are all these people not taking care of the smell and getting busted for it, at least in part?

I've got a few plants going right now in the Journals in Progress section, and K, my associate in this venture, fabricated a carbon filter a few days ago.

He got some screen, a carbon filter sheet, and an 6" round duct end cap. He duct taped it all together, and we duct taped the assembly onto a cheap 9 inch $10 electric fan that we bought for the grow room but turned out to be too weak to do much.

To my surprise, the filter captured about 90% of the smell in the room. We have the fan at the bottom on the floor, pointed up, and the top of the filter is about 3 feet off the ground. It just takes air from the room, through the filter, and dumps it back in the room. I didn't think it would do much but it does.
 
Here's a photo of our fan / filter assembly. High quality duct tape engineering! :)

room_filter_fan.JPG
 
That's a great setup!! I like it :goodjob:

I always wondered about large grow ops, smell and being busted, too. I haven't seen small grow ops being busted but I'm sure they happen. When I say small, I'm talking about a few plants. Although, I've never seen a bust that had less than 30 plants. Or maybe its just not in the news because it's very small compared to the big ones.
 
I watched police drag 3 plants out of the house next door. It was quiet and efficiently done. I had no idea they were growing.
 
in my town they use choppers with flir to look for hot spots from lighting and "visit" everyone that looks suspious. i figure its just a matter of time before they pay me a visit :(
by the way i like the DIY filter good job !

cheers!
 
I did something very similar to this, I grew 1 plant in my closet when I pulled it to hang the smell became very noticeable very quickly, so in an attempt to do something quick I built a carbon filter much like yours, it eliminated all smell, just sitting in the closet like you show, good job and good post:grinjoint:
 
Good job. I began with a set-up like this. It worked for light duty, but nothing heavy (as you said "about 90%). I tested it on weed smoke. But, if you construct an inner chamber and fill the gap with activated carbon you will "scrub" the air completely. It only cost me about $20 to upgrade the unit, and most of that was for the carbon. And for maximum results, hang it and suck the air through the filter and exhaust it from the room. Blessings!:peace:

BTW, go to YouTube and search "grow op bust" as well.
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but what if for your filter, you used a motor assembly from something like a shop vac? That would be a nice strong motor with a good amount of airflow. Kinda noisy yes, but i would think that would really get the job done.
 
I had a huge setup of 3 feet tall white widows 6 of them budding smelled like heaven itself but no one ever said anything or mentioned anything about it.

They were all stored in my closed with the door open 1/2 12 hours a day. No filter only insense [idk if I spelled that right] candles that smell ok my sister uses them.
 
The majority of the busts mentioned that the cops started looking more because they smelled pot plants, or the tip to come to the house mentioned that someone else smelled something too.
This is a major reason to vote yes on 19, it will Eliminate the smell/sight of pot as probbale cause for a search warrants.
 
A cop would say "someone smelled it" because its sounds bullshit ...the real reason is likely credit card purchases, social media posts (fed agencies are big buyers of these from credit agencies, google and facebook) and electricity bills (it becomes pretty obvious if you dont know what you are doing)
 
Back
Top Bottom