Why is my filter leaking smell

[coreywebster]

Another option is adding another filter.
They make inline filters.

So you'd have Filter>Fan>duct>InlineFilter>ExitVent

I think Can make them.
Obviously , like any fliter, it reduces airflow so you'd need the leg room on your fan to account for that.

 

[Fish scale]

I don't have a choice 5% of smell is leaking outside from the vent I can't get a new carbon filter until another 2 weeks I can't afford to lose my project especially now but of course I don't want my bud to smell like ona gel... :/

If you can't afford to buy another carbon filter at the moment then just keep your windows closed in your house. That will help prevent the smell from leaking out. And put your ona gel in the room next to your grow

 

[itsaliveterps]

If you can't afford to buy another carbon filter at the moment then just keep your windows closed in your house. That will help prevent the smell from leaking out. And put your ona gel in the room next to your grow

Its a wall vent that goes outside

 

[Fish scale]

Its a wall vent that goes outside

It should be fine, as long as it's not too close to your tent. But if you are worried about smell leaking out of your tent you need to make sure your whole house is sealed to prevent any smell from leaking outside.

 

[Smokenpassout]

If in doubt replace it. How many grows did you do with it? Did you wash the prefilter?, and yes it supposed to be on! A few tips from experience…..One I dont run carbon filters more than 2 grows, they lose maximum effectiveness by then. After that I will use them only for the minor smell of vegging and swap to a new one for those crucial weeks of flowering stinkiness. Also AC Infinity sells carbon filters, where you can replace the carbon with fresh carbon. Same as a new one, and cheaper in the long run. Also I find carbon filters 95- 98% effective, NEVER 100% but better than anything else! For that remaining 2-3% smell of sweetness, Id suggest Ona Gel placed away from grow, a good plug in, and a nice air purifier machine helps too. Cheers.

 

[itsaliveterps]

If in doubt replace it. How many grows did you do with it? Did you wash the prefilter?, and yes it supposed to be on! A few tips from experience…..One I dont run carbon filters more than 2 grows, they lose maximum effectiveness by then. After that I will use them only for the minor smell of vegging and swap to a new one for those crucial weeks of flowering stinkiness. Also AC Infinity sells carbon filters, where you can replace the carbon with fresh carbon. Same as a new one, and cheaper in the long run. Also I find carbon filters 95- 98% effective, NEVER 100% but better than anything else! For that remaining 2-3% smell of sweetness, Id suggest Ona Gel placed away from grow, a good plug in, and a nice air purifier machine helps too. Cheers.

Hey man thanks for the advice appreciate it yes never truly 100% blocking smell especially during flowering but like you said 95-98% effective so buying a phresh carbon filter next week for now I've placed a ona gel into my extraction wall vent so it's continuously blowing air forwards away from my grow hopefully, but dis stuff is very efficient and effective not perfect but it's officially diverting that 5% leak until next week fingers crossed.

 

[Smokenpassout]

Hey man thanks for the advice appreciate it yes never truly 100% blocking smell especially during flowering but like you said 95-98% effective so buying a phresh carbon filter next week for now I've placed a ona gel into my extraction wall vent so it's continuously blowing air forwards away from my grow hopefully, but dis stuff is very efficient and effective not perfect but it's officially diverting that 5% leak until next week fingers crossed

Hey man thanks for the advice appreciate it yes never truly 100% blocking smell especially during flowering but like you said 95-98% effective so buying a phresh carbon filter next week for now I've placed a ona gel into my extraction wall vent so it's continuously blowing air forwards away from my grow hopefully, but dis stuff is very efficient and effective not perfect but it's officially diverting that 5% leak until next week fingers crossed.

Awesome yes, replace your carbon filter new. I have had success with Phresh and Ac Infinity carbon 4” canisters. Also splurge for a $60-$70 gallon of ona. Stuff is strong, so keep far away from your girls. When you have it to spare you’ll find it easy to keep plastic plates around the house with a good size scoop of it! Hitting areas around the house with extra freshing is nice around late flower too. Also, since your buying that new filter, it never hurts to consider sizing up your filter and fan, for more intake/outake/negative pressure. Like going up to a 6” from a 4” carbon fan and filter. better scrubbing more air exchange per minute.

 

[ec121]

Do you think that's why? It's leaking smell bcuz I haven't connected the ducting to filter & fan air tightly enough?

I mean it could be. If there's just a tiny cm gap between the duct and the shaft of the fan or the filter, then the fan is going to suck unfiltered tent air into the fan and out of the house.

In order for a carbon filter to filter properly, all air must go through the filter so both connections to the filter and fan must be airtight.

As weedstoner mentioned, with small filters and fans, you can probably skip the ducting and see if your filter shaft and fan shaft will connect together and then duct tape the shit out of it. I did that when I ran a 2x2.

 

[1212ham]

But I thought the whole point of exhausting to the outside was to get rid of the hot stale air?

The goal is to control temp, humidity and co2.

Venting inside is common and many of us grow only during winter when that hot air feels good.

 

[1212ham]

I'm using digital spyder farmer My fan setting is on level 7 is this too high?

Lower speed might help, depending on filter size and quality. There are always variables.

My controller is usualy set control fan speed to based on my temp and humidity settings.

 

[Nizza]

Lower speed might help, depending on filter size and quality. There are always variables.

My controller is usualy set control fan speed to based on my temp and humidity settings.

lower fan speed could also drop co2 levels. Id monitor co2 when looking at dropping fan levels to a minimum, we want 3 air exchanges per minute minimum

 

[ec121]

The goal is to control temp, humidity and co2.

Venting inside is common and many of us grow only during winter when that hot air feels good.

Are you venting into your lung room? You don't ever have a problem recirculating warm/humid air back into the tent or molding up the walls in the room? What size tent?

 

[Instape]

I tried venting inside,
but soon stopped,
around 90% of the water we give a plant is transpired and evaporated into the air,
I have a conservatory attached to the house (UK) and in the morning it was raining inside where the water condensed on hitting the cooler roof,
the whole atmosphere was saturated luckily the rain showed me what was going on before it developed into a major problem but effectively pumping liters of water into the interior atmosphere is not a good idea,at least not in locations where we regularly see 90%+ humidity outside.

 

[1212ham]

lower fan speed could also drop co2 levels. Id monitor co2 when looking at dropping fan levels to a minimum, we want 3 air exchanges per minute minimum

Bought a co2 logger over 4 years ago. It's typically around 500-700, never under 400. I really wonder where the 3 exchanges/minute number came from, no one can tell me.

 

[1212ham]

I tried venting inside,
but soon stopped,
around 90% of the water we give a plant is transpired and evaporated into the air,
I have a conservatory attached to the house (UK) and in the morning it was raining inside where the water condensed on hitting the cooler roof,
the whole atmosphere was saturated luckily the rain showed me what was going on before it developed into a major problem but effectively pumping liters of water into the interior atmosphere is not a good idea,at least not in locations where we regularly see 90%+ humidity outside.

Yes, venting to the lung room for years. Humidity gets high on occasion during flower and I run the dehumidifier a little. Tent is 20" X 36" x 72" in a small room in a small house. Actually, I often run the vent over to the furnace cold air return but it doesn't seem to help a lot.

 

[1212ham]

Just had an idea for super sealing duct connections...

 

[Nizza]

Mastic Tape works great imo. but too permanent. I would just use some good duct tape (3m)

 

[JustBlazin]

Been growing a long growing time using can filters. They are one of the best carbon filters out there. I believe they are one of the originals if not the original carbon filter company.
I grow super stinky ganja always and ive never been able to get rid of 100% of the smell from my flower tent unless I double filter it.
I use my mother tent to dry in so i set up a 2nd carbon filter in my mother tent and vent my flower tent to my mother tent. In late flower my mother tent reeks.
But after the second scrubbing it takes 100% of the smell out.

It may be possible to scrub 100% of smell with one filter, but you would need to buy a way bigger size filter than comes/recommended for your size of tent.

My flower tent comes with the small 4" filter that doesn't do nearly enough. But once it goes through a big 6" filter is scrubbed 100%.

You may want to think about getting a 6" fan and filter with a speed controller so you can reduce the speed of the fan. 6" fan is to big for a 4x4 or whatever size tent you have i believe.