Restricted air flow through inline carbon filter

So I just bought a 4" VenTech inline fan that came with a Virgin charcoal carbon filter. 2 days of use and no air flow. I opened my tent this morning and noticed the temps were high, like 89F and the humidity was at 65%, so I put my hand over the exhaust and noticed absolutely no air being sucked out, then I removed the carbon filter and viola full air flow.. so the carbon filter is clearly defective.

I'm guessing something is restricting the air flow. I tried shaking it for a few mins to loosen the charcoal, didn't work. It's set up so the fan sucks air through the filter, both fan and filter are inside the tent.

Instead of sending this piece of junk back which I'll have to pay for, is there any way to make it work? The cylinder casing is held together by rivets so I cant even take the damn thing apart.

Here's the model:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q2ER5C

Any suggestions?

Was the plastic removed from filter can?

Connect the fan directly to the filter, plug it in. Is it still obstructed? Are you sure it worked when you first set it up? There's no obvious reason for this, unless you have a kink or obstruction in your ductwork.

SnapsProvolone said:

Was the plastic removed from filter can?

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Yep, tried it with and without the fabric filter as well, same problem.

shnkrmn said:

Connect the fan directly to the filter, plug it in. Is it still obstructed? Are you sure it worked when you first set it up? There's no obvious reason for this, unless you have a kink or obstruction in your ductwork.

Click to expand...

Tried connecting it both to intake and exhaust sides, still restricted.. I was hoping there would be some jedi trick lol

It sounds like it lost its activation, call the 800 number and have them do a hard reset on it.

Wisecracks aside, do you have enough CFM to push through that filter? The ad says 190 CFM so I think you want to have at least a 300 CFM fan connected to the filter. Do you have that?

Sucks to buy something and not have it be as advertised. I suppose sellers name LowBaller is a clue of what to avoid in the future.

Low baller is a good seller. Contact him and I'm sure he will help you. I got a light with a broke bulb told him and he sent me a replacement before I got around to send him mine back. No questions asked. Dude is my only source for equipment.

Those little filters are always restrictive. I bought a cheapy one like that for my cats area before and "clogged" less then week later, made the fan real hot, so i threw a old phresh 6x16 on it and worked. Some times the metal overlaps when they make them which basicly closes the holes. Buy a bigger filter.