Can we talk carbon filters for a minute

Have a ac infinity 150mm inline exhaust fan and an imperial carbon filter size is about 600mm long and 250mm round. My fan is set to run always at a lower speed of 2 any higher and I have humidity issues and temp problems as it’s full swing winter here at the moment, anyway my tent is in my garage in a framed room in the corner it is insulated and foamed the only place air is getting in is under the door and the exhaust fan vents into the garage out of the room, when I lift my garage door up you can most definitely smell the plants and they are only in veg the smells not faint nor strong it’s just there. Seems to me the filter is not working very well at all and again the plants are only in veg and I’m a week away from flip, any tips tricks welcome ?

The carbon filter should have a recommended cube per second airflow rating. If it's the air flow is too far below or above the cps the filter won't work properly. Also if the fan isn't running fast enough to give you negative pressure in the tent the smells will leak out.

Kola_Kreator said:

The carbon filter should have a recommended cube per second airflow rating. If it's the air flow is too far below or above the cps the filter won't work properly. Also if the fan isn't running fast enough to give you negative pressure in the tent the smells will leak out.

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Hmmm okay I have one of the larger vents open with a 150mm flexi running out into the room for better air flow in do you maybe recommend closing that up and just opening the two mesh vents down below, that should create a little more negative pressure in the tent with a lower fan speed because the resistance would be more? The ac infinity exhaust fan is super grunty and even at a lower speed setting it deffs sucks the tent in a little bit

You could put another carbon filter in the garage with a 6 inch fan and just have it on constantly circulating the air in the garage. Honestly I always thought that carbon filters were a waste of money. If you have a strain that stinks carbon filters wont do shit. If anyone asks tell them you have a skunk living under your garge, and put a haveahart trap to pretend like you\re trying to catch it

My A.C. Infinity filter lasted around three weeks before it stopped working, I flipped the filter around and got around another fortnight of use, I've gone back to Mountain air or Phresh -both last me years in one or two C.4 foot tents. A.C. fans seem OK, but the filter had no weight compared to a Mountain air for instance.

Sounds like your pulling air from a garage and then pushing air back into the same garage.
Thus recycling air.. ?

A filter won't clean 100% of the smell, not normally a problem if venting outside, but recycling it can be an issue.

You could double scrub with an extra fan and filter. Or you could add an inline filter to your existing set up , you will have to turn the fan up to deal with the extra resistance .

When it comes to carbon filters.. always buy a top quality one, not a happy one, not a cheap "we make everything" brand.. a company that specialises in carbon filters . There's lots of options.

It only takes poorly packed carbon to render the filter useless and all these cheap ass companies are cheap for a reason.

Instape said:

My A.C. Infinity filter lasted around three weeks before it stopped working, I flipped the filter around and got around another fortnight of use, I've gone back to Mountain air or Phresh -both last me years in one or two C.4 foot tents. A.C. fans seem OK, but the filter had no weight compared to a Mountain air for instance.

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The filter is a imperial not ac my exhaust fan is ac

coreywebster said:

Sounds like your pulling air from a garage and then pushing air back into the same garage.
Thus recycling air.. ?

A filter won't clean 100% of the smell, not normally a problem if venting outside, but recycling it can be an issue.

You could double scrub with an extra fan and filter. Or you could add an inline filter to your existing set up , you will have to turn the fan up to deal with the extra resistance .

When it comes to carbon filters.. always buy a top quality one, not a happy one, not a cheap "we make everything" brand.. a company that specialises in carbon filters . There's lots of options.

It only takes poorly packed carbon to render the filter useless and all these cheap ass companies are cheap for a reason.

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Yup sounds like that’s my problem tbh recycling air, I will reroute the vent outside and see if it helps at all, the carbon filter isn’t a cheap nasty one it is probably one of the better ones available in my country and all the reviews in them are consistently good so I’ll take your recycled air theory and run with it for now haha

Cpappa27 said:

You could put another carbon filter in the garage with a 6 inch fan and just have it on constantly circulating the air in the garage. Honestly I always thought that carbon filters were a waste of money. If you have a strain that stinks carbon filters wont do shit. If anyone asks tell them you have a skunk living under your garge, and put a haveahart trap to pretend like you\re trying to catch it

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Great idea! But only if you actually have a stinky skunk in your country I’m from New Zealand and we don’t have skunks haha, hmmmm maybe stinky old hippie living in the garage ?

maby get a better quality filter, im not sure on the quality of the carbon inside the a/c infinity filters. i agree with the other guys adding a 6" fan with a filter scrubbing the air in the garage is a good idea

xox said:

maby get a better quality filter, im not sure on the quality of the carbon inside the a/c infinity filters. i agree with the other guys adding a 6" fan with a filter scrubbing the air in the garage is a good idea

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Carbon filter is not an ac infinity one, it is imperial ventilation, the exhaust fan is is ac infinity

They really only do so much, and that activated carbon wears out over time. Exhuasting into the same place your intaking from will compound the stink problem. In the end I gave up and haven't used one since. The neighborhood never smelt better imo

Hey mate,
I basically have the same setup or at least very similar.
As said already, your best bet would be another filter in the room scrubbing the air.
It’s all about having the negative pressure to stop leaks and another fan and filter should be enough.

I run a long duct from the tent exhaust and out a hole in the “framed room”, across the ceiling of the shed and have it stop just shy of the open shed door or to a roof vent. If it’s very long, an inline fan can be added to boost.
The open air dilutes the stink and blows it away.
This changes depending on the time of year, winter is roof vent, summer open shed door.

Certain strains are just filter killers though!


Good luck!

not sure it wouldnt be better to put the 2nd filter inside the tent rather than inside the garage. this would be recirculating, not vented into the garage.

MtRainDog said:

They really only do so much, and that activated carbon wears out over time. Exhuasting into the same place your intaking from will compound the stink problem. In the end I gave up and haven't used one since. The neighborhood never smelt better imo

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It’s only 3 weeks old

Always had smell problems until I lowered the airflow and had good negative air pressure. Now I have zero smell

Gemtree said:

Always had smell problems until I lowered the airflow and had good negative air pressure. Now I have zero smell

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What did you do to improve the negative pressure

raggyb said:

not sure it wouldnt be better to put the 2nd filter inside the tent rather than inside the garage. this would be recirculating, not vented into the garage.

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I think I’m going to reroute the exhaust to blow out if the garage and have a small intake fan fitted to the garage wall to draw in fresh air should help I’ll see how it goes if I don’t get the smell under control soon I am going to wait to flip until it is have houses all around me and the guy up the back is on house arrest so police sometimes visit to check him walking straight past my garage cannot take the risk of any smell I think I will need to invest some money into a double scrub system not taking any chances

Sounds like all you need is a better filter. Swap out the imperial for a mountain air filter and you should be right. See if they will refund you on the imperial.

If it's the dead of winter, consider sealing up the framed room as air tight as you can and run a duct (no fan) from the framed room to the outside. Then, connect your exhaust fan to a thermostat that you place inside the tent. When it gets too hot in the tent, the fan kicks on and draws in fresh cool/cold air like an A/C until it's cool enough, then turns off. Have an oscillating fan in the tent for continuous airflow.

That way you're taking air from one place (outside), running it through your framed room/tent then exhausting via fan through the carbon filter into another place (garage) fixing the re-circulation issue and helping to control temps, killing two birds with one stone.

If you still have an odor problem after that change the filter and/or get a larger one.

If you still have an odor problem after changing the filter, get an ozone generator and put it in the garage.

Good luck.