Carbon filters and high humidity. Upgrade to CarboAir or install ozone?

[StealthLED]

I'm now on my 3rd carbon filter this year because of high humidity so just wondering how people managed to run humidity 70%+ and keep the carbon filter still filtering smells... I see loads of people on Instagram running close to 80% and I've asked them if they have smell problems and they say no....

I use viper pros but because I now follow vpd which I've noticed as a very good impact on my strains so I'd like to try and stick to the higher end of humidity instead of low, I'm on my 3rd carbon filter this year and I've just noticed this one is starting to let a little smell through now at 5 weeks into flower...

I've been thinking about using ozone inside the ducting but it vents outside where people are and I don't want anyone dropping dead outside my grow room

I've also been looking at the fairly new CarboAir filters, they make a few different types 50, 60 & 100mm of carbon inside, plus the outer sleeve is a lot thicker then standard around 6mm thick, I think most standard filters have 50mm carbon. I was thinking about getting the 100mm one but will this just be the same and stop filtering smells after a few weeks? Anyone in here tried these filters?

Or I was thinking about turning the room into a sealed room and using CO2 and then just having a filter scrubbing the air? Either way I need to spend some money but I don't know where to spend the money, 100mm carbon filter or sealed room with co2?

At the moment humidity is 65-70% sometimes might creap to 73% temperature dependent...

Room size is 12x8 but ceiling hight is only 5'10 up to 7ft so not sure if this factors into the problem?

 

[Grapefruitroop]

Im running a sealed room....and i will reccomend it to you if you are in USA
But I was wondering the same exact thing....because i live in the third world and here the electric company swings the tension whenever they want so my AC sometimes go off...and im tired of this...i feel i need to vent!!!
My room is little bigger 21 by 9 and i def cant have a filter failure neither change filter every grow ...seems stupid....

I was wondering if i could built a duct around my LEDs and vent only the lights, circulating air from outside thru the duct , cooling the lights and goin out again...keeping the room sealed with no AC ......In this way no need of filters...

 

[HHHcleanroom]

What contaminate are you attempting to fix? If your concern is odor then ozone (O3) is what you want, if you have an organics or gaseous oxidizer is the problem then charcoal. Let me know what your trying to address. I think I can help you.

 

[Grapefruitroop]

I think that me and OP are in the same boat, meaning would like to cool the room without stinking the sorrounding...
And the concern was that i live ina humid area...and i was afraid to vent because of the short life of those carbon filters (given the RH and the pretty big and dense canopy that is pretty much like the room) the canopy is 21 by 6...
So do you think that a Ozone genny in the exaust duct will do the trick?
I also run LED ina cinderblock basement that is pretty cool also in the summer so the venting could be very sporadical just when the temps go off range...Infact i was still thinkin to supplement CO2 given the sporadical air change....
Thanks!!!

 

[HHHcleanroom]

I think that me and OP are in the same boat, meaning would like to cool the room without stinking the sorrounding...
And the concern was that i live ina humid area...and i was afraid to vent because of the short life of those carbon filters (given the RH and the pretty big and dense canopy that is pretty much like the room) the canopy is 21 by 6...
So do you think that a Ozone genny in the exaust duct will do the trick?
I also run LED ina cinderblock basement that is pretty cool also in the summer so the venting could be very sporadical just when the temps go off range...Infact i was still thinkin to supplement CO2 given the sporadical air change....
Thanks!!!

Several issues at play here. Humidity, odor, energy recovery and spore activity.
1. Humidity can be can be handled via dehumidification system. Sized for room volume. The problem with these devices are they are mold making machines, as are split ac systems.
2. Odor: If its caused by the plants or non-organic chemicals can be address with O3 generation. While if the odor is cause by chemicals fertilizers, alcohols etc them either potassium permanganate or charcoal filter.
3. Energy recovery addressed through proper filtration.
4. Spore and items with mass can be address through actual HEPA Filtration. Not HEPA Type Filtration.

The could be a way to handle. two square box on top use to put HEPA air into grow room. Air handler, dehumidifier other filtration in room on right grow room on left. Not real expensive to do either.

 

[HHHcleanroom]

If you sterilized the dirt prior to growing you would have a fungus free grow room.

 

[Grapefruitroop]

WOW! Thanks so much for all this very useful infos!! You are awesome!!!
I used to grow shrooms on a pretty big scale and i built a LaminarFlowhood using a HEPA filter that was able to filtrate and produce sterile air.....thats what you meant right ? instead of those HEPA type that they sell at the hardware stores for cheap..

May i ask you more info about that potassium permanganate?just for curiosity....how do you use it?
Ok so i will look into some Ozone generators...
The whole world of home AC minisplit is such an headache....efficient machines are delicate and with a low quality electric service is just worse...then the industial ones are just stupidly unefficient plus very expensive...
Sealed rooms have many pro's but the dependency from a machine that is so complicated is not fun at all...

 

[HHHcleanroom]

WOW! Thanks so much for all this very useful infos!! You are awesome!!!
I used to grow shrooms on a pretty big scale and i built a LaminarFlowhood using a HEPA filter that was able to filtrate and produce sterile air.....thats what you meant right ? instead of those HEPA type that they sell at the hardware stores for cheap..

May i ask you more info about that potassium permanganate?just for curiosity....how do you use it?
Ok so i will look into some Ozone generators...
The whole world of home AC minisplit is such an headache....efficient machines are delicate and with a low quality electric service is just worse...then the industial ones are just stupidly unefficient plus very expensive...
Sealed rooms have many pro's but the dependency from a machine that is so complicated is not fun at all...

HEPA Filtration: HEPA Filtration uses Brownian Motion/Diffusion to filter out particulates. The most penetrating particle size is 0.03 um at 99.97% or greater filtration.

Charcoal Filtration: Either absorbs or catalyze contaminants. Absorbed chemicals typically include organically derived petroleum products, phosphates, chlorine, chlorides, pesticides, ozone and herbicides.

Potassium Permanganate: iron, manganese, oxidizers, formaldehyde

I could literally produce a room free of contaminants, as long as you can clean the soil up. Which can be done with heat, microwave or hydrogen peroxide. The only issues is re-inoculating good flora in the sterile soil.

None of this stuff is really that expensive.

 

[Grapefruitroop]

Do you think i shall be concerned to where exaust my ozone duct? i was thinkin to use a cimney i dont use....but is it safe to pump Ozone in the air above my house?
As we are speking i had to give a forced dark period to the plants cause i couldnt sparkle the lights because of ac fails for tension swing
im 12 days from harvest and im pissed as hell...i dont know if this swings will continue....if i should just cut everything , and smash that ac trow it in the garbage and open a vent....

 

[HHHcleanroom]

Ozone is a "STRONG" oxidizer which services to reduce the auto ignition temperature of flammable object. Since the chimney is non flammable and would discharge above the roof line, I think that could work. As to the growing/harvest part. I am trying to learn that part.

 

[CF89]

Is there any truth to cooking carbon filters in the oven to get them to perform as new again?

 

[HHHcleanroom]

Is there any truth to cooking carbon filters in the oven to get them to perform as new again?

Yes, as long as they were used to strip organic compounds (such as petroleum products, but cook outside). If they were used to catalyze a contaminant such as an oxidizer (ozone), chlorine other other type chemicals, then no it won't work.

 

[CF89]

I did a bunch of reading last night. Seems like an oven isn’t hot enough and it needs a kiln or a tiger torch to burn it off. Needs to be around 800F to clean the carbon filters?

 

[HHHcleanroom]

I did a bunch of reading last night. Seems like an oven isn’t hot enough and it needs a kiln or a tiger torch to burn it off. Needs to be around 800F to clean the carbon filters?

Yes, thats correct. If you use lower temperature, you still get value, just does't take as long between loading.

 

[Grapefruitroop]

Mr HHH
As far as choosing the blower for the intake....im a little confused cause here they express the static pressure in Pascals...(or at least what i understood)
So if i have an H14 filter with a resistance in 130Pa means that im gona have to match a squirrell cage blower that can handle that right? and that number should be in the data sheet of the blower...that simple or thers some math formula? ....Or i m just makin things too complicated?!?!

 

[HHHcleanroom]

Mr HHH
As far as choosing the blower for the intake....im a little confused cause here they express the static pressure in Pascals...(or at least what i understood)
So if i have an H14 filter with a resistance in 130Pa means that im gona have to match a squirrell cage blower that can handle that right? and that number should be in the data sheet of the blower...that simple or thers some math formula? ....Or i m just makin things too complicated?!?!
View attachment 1041497

Convert pascal to water column [inch] - Conversion of Measurement Units

Do a quick conversion: 1 pascals = 0.0040146307866177 water column using the online calculator for metric conversions. Check the chart for more details.

www.convertunits.com

Use this link for your conversion.

130pa is only a 1/2 inch water column. Standard squirrel cage should be capable of .6 -.75". I couldn't imagine why you would need an aluminum pleated HEPA. These things are rated for 100s of CFM with a starting resistance of .75" or more. How big is the room your working with and how many times do you want to exchange the air?

 

[Grapefruitroop]

Thanks! Ehehe thats kind of what the filter company i contacted was tryn to say too...well....i'm ignorant and i started from what i knew...cause i bought one of those years ago to build a Laminar Flowhood...maybe overkilled but 100% sterile air and no contamination...
Anyway...
The room is 1906 cubic ft.....and i was shooting for a 3 min x air exchange?! ( I have LEDs so prolly i could go 5 min...open to suggestions hehe)

 

[HHHcleanroom]

You need exactly 158 cfm of air, round up to no more than 200 cfm. a bathroom fan and a small mini pleat hepa (for about 20.00 or less on ebay) and you will have it made.

 

[Grapefruitroop]

Wow....i was goin very far away!! Thanks so much! So not even bother with the centrifugal blower?

 

[HHHcleanroom]

Not needed. Something like this.