[sugabear_II]

Micro carbon scrubber

This design is adapted from a larger design built by Haps that uses a big net pot and a milk crate for full room odor control. This one is designed to work with computer fans and is intended for micro grows.

Materials;

Carbon - you don't need much.
3" net pot
4" net pot
hot air register filters or some other filter like material (edit: pantyhose is a great option here that people have actually found to be superior - a pair of the type found in those plastic eggs/balls is adequate for one scrubber and should run less than a dollar)
duct tape (but of course!)


So here we go.

Tape a couple of pieces of filter over the outside of the 4" net pot. (edit: or just stretch the pantyhose over the net pot.)




Here it is done.



edit: this step can be accomplished using pantyhose instead and may in fact be easier and provide better airflow - this is what i happened to have laying around at the time.

Now add a layer of carbon into the bottom - maybe 1/4" deep.



Now add filter to the inside of your 3" net pot.








I did this in a rush and I have a tendency to just throw things together, I am sure this could be done more carefully but this is what I did.


So now we put the 3" in the 4" and add carbon a little at a time between the 3" and the 4". Pressing down and shaking it occasionally will ensure fill is good and even.


Now we tape the gap.




Here it is done. Again I'm sure people can do this and make it nicer.

So now I tape it to my intake on this pci slot fan which I like for exhausting micro grow spaces.


Now we are done. Air flow is still very good.

I built this for a drying box and it kept the smell under control - considering I had about 3+oz dry of stinky buds in there I feel it should work well for the micro grower.

I'm going to give it a run in a few weeks when I need to flower a plant in the cab I usually veg in.

So I challenge you micro growers out there to try this design out and tell me what you think. It is meant to be cheap and easy to assemble and should not only cut down odor but works as a light trap.

suga


edit: so what do you do if you don't have a set of net pots and/or easy access to a hydro store - well you look for something else to use instead at a place you probably do have access to - a walmart - and here's what bongasaurus did with some black wire mesh pencil holders like this



and construct using the same principals (big thanks to bongasaurus for the great add on DIY w/pics )....

Originally Posted by bongasaurus

So I went to Walmart today to get me some supplies to build a scrubber. I still hadnt really decided on if i should go with this design or red greenerys rubbermaid scrubber. I dedided on this as it will just take up much less space and seems like about the same carbon coverage.

i found the mesh pencil holder sugarbear pointed out but no jumbo sizes left in stock but i managed to find a bigger one elsewhere. I got my supplies together and i was ready to build. It seems like there must be other growers around here, Walmart was sold out of activated carbon too I also found that elsewhere. Along with some duct tape, about a foot of weather stipping, some pantyhose and duct clamp

I had to remove the foam cushion and drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the pencil holders. Then wrapped them in the panty hose. I rolled up the netting on the smaller one leaving the extra up top which i tucked inbetween the 2 mesh cyliners after I had filled them with the carbon. Then jammed the weather stripping in, and finally attached the clamp. She just needs to be hooked to some ducting and then up to the fan one the hopeful lades start flowering.

Thanks Sugabear! Just thought Id share my take on your scrubber desgin. Hope this might help others out

well ic wont let me upload pics again Ill edit em in when its working

[Lemon]

Nice design Sugabear. I very well think i may build one of those sometime soon. does it need to be the only vent in the space the smell is coming from, or can you just place it anywhere in the general area / room?

[alphacat]

Another question: d'ya think it's possible to maybe use either coffee filters or fine screens instead?

[sugabear_II]

lemon - this would be used for the exhaust fan so that all air being pulled out of the grow space is treated. this will be the most effective way to control odor. If you have multiple exhaust fans you would need to make a filter for each. While you could put it in the grow space to recycle and treat the air in the grow space it will work better treating the air on the way out of the grow space. This is what the big setups do - either they pull through the filter and exhaust or exhaust pushing through the filter.

That is a good point - this could be used as a push through filter if needed.

Alphacat - yes you could use coffee filters or screen. These just happened to be the materials I had around. The idea though is for it to be very easy and that is one thing the net pots give you which is a pre-made frame - if you were to use screen in place of the filter material I used it would work well - if you tried to do it with screen without the net pots it would be a pain in the arse since you'd need to build a frame for the screen to go on.... make sense?

[pontiac]

[Turnip]

If this works for a grow, it's great. I've made something of similiar dimensions, but it couldn't the handle the smell of a c99 4 weeks into flower...fingers crossed!

Lemon: a scrubber that small won't be able to clean a whole room out, so you'd want to put it right over your exhaust fan. Prefferably before the fan, so it pulls the air through the filter rather than push it.

alphacat: coffee filters probably won't let enough air pass through. what you need is pretty much something to keep the carbon in place, so mosquito net or something would do fine.

[edit] man, was I slow...

[alphacat]

Heya, sorry for the lack of clarity - I meant using coffee filters/screens inside the net pots instead of filter foam or batting - not freestanding. Heh.

[PHB]

Very cool scrubber sugarbear! How many cfm is the pc fan you use? I have a fan that is ~40cfm. Would that work?

Thanks,
PHB

Holy crap, I've already given you karma!

[sugabear_II]

Originally Posted by PHB

Very cool scrubber sugarbear! How many cfm is the pc fan you use? I have a fan that is ~40cfm. Would that work?

Thanks,
PHB

I thought the fan was rated for 60 cfm - but the only one I can find available now is rated at 35 cfm - doesn't look exactly the same though.

I use one of these to cool my veg cab with up to 70watts of cfls.



I don't know if one of these could cool a 100+ watt CFL grow effectively. You might need two.

However the design should be easily adapted to the regular non-pci slot fans too.

[alphacat]

Panty hose might work good too. I mean, for filter enclosure material that is...

Originally Posted by alphacat

Panty hose might work good too.

Pantyhose does not belong in this hobby. Or perhaps it may. Do they still come in eggs? Because that was pretty cool.

[alphacat]

L'eggs! That sure takes me back... jeez.

Pantyhose belong in every hobby.

Where could I buy the materials for this project?

[alphacat]

Originally Posted by TheOneWill

Where could I buy the materials for this project?

Carbon - Aquarium Section of Pet store (used in filters)

3" & 4" net pots - Hydro store or possibly garden supply

filters/filter-like material - Hardware store, the bigger the store the better. The filter stuff is in the HVAC section. You can also use thin sheets of filter floss from the Aquarium section of the Pet store as well.

duct tape - anywhere.