Carbon Fiber Filters

[hazy]

EDIT: last update i'd only suggest these filters for a small grow. You're better off just getting a can type carbon filter.

I'm starting this thread to talk about these filters because I dogged them pretty hard in my threads and somewhere else, and I was wrong.

These filters are small lightweight and they work great.​

When i first got it, i liked it. i had been having issues with an inadequate fan and filter. Then I could smell that NYCD, not real strong, but enough, and thought they just sucked. I edited posts in my thread and yelled about them not working and saying don't buy them.

I was wrong. Now I still have to go back and print retractions in my grow threads.

Old Soul suggested that maybe I had a leak. I had went through and caulked every corner and around the ducts where they go through the ceiling. I told him, no i don't have a leak! Then I found the hole in the ducting. Venturi effect pulling unfiltered air right out.

I fixed the leak and the smell went away. I walked all around the house sniffing. No smell.

Now, I have 2 4" vortex fans and one is hooked to a DIY carbon filter that works great. (with the right fan, not so good with the old little duct fan i used to have that caused me to go buy the fiber filter.)

A little over a month ago, I decided to unplug the diy filter and just exhaust through the Fiber Filter. Not one bit of smell. So now I have an extra fan and filter for a future project.​

I have two of the 4" filters, so I can change them out when they get dirty. Then it's outside with the dirty one to hose it off inside and out. Then shake it out and let it dry.
I use the triple layer/single pass filters. I also have a single layer/multi pass scrubber, but don't need it. I might set it up in my office just to help with the smell from smoking joints and bowls, and from trimming. But most of it gets sucked into the closet and through the filter, so it's not real bad in the office.

I highly recommend getting these filters. They can be found for 55 or 60 bucks for the 4". I know most grow store websites sell it for more like 70-80 dollars. pm me if you want the site I'm talking about. It's the cheapest i found, and I looked all over. brown box shippers with a business supply sounding addy on the box.

 

[dongle69]

I have to say that when I tried them for filtering odors, they did nothing, and my ducting had no holes in it.
They have been reassigned as intake filters to keep the bugs out.
I can now smell my neighbors chimney odors coming in through them...

 

[hazy]

I knew I had read someone say that, and it was you. I don't understand, but suppose it's a QC thing from the manufacturer. Had to run to the store a minute ago, and when i came back did a walk-around and searched in vain for a smell. I can climb a ladder and put my nose right at the vent to the outside and still no smell. Both of mine are good, so maybe you just got a shitty one. Too bad, maybe you should have returned it.
How big is your area?
Mine's only 5' x 26" x 7". Two levels in a closet basically. I run 9 or 10 strains including a pretty smelly Sour Diesel, and have a dozen to 20 flowering at any given time.

 

[dongle69]

I have 4 of the 6 inch and when I was trying to use them for odor, I tested 3 different spaces.
A 4x4, 4x8, and 8x8.
I even tried 2 as exhaust filters in the 4x4 and they didn't work to kill bud odors.
Swapped for 1 can filter and the smell went away.
A lot of stores stopped stocking them for the same reason, so if they had a quality control issue, it was huge.
I'm onto bigger and better things now so I'm OK with using them as intake filters.
Big, heavy filters are unfortunately the only ones that stop odors for me.
Now I'm in a 14x19 room using a Phat filter and loving it.
At least yours work for you!

 

[Goldy]

so..it works? or it doesnt...wt about for a small cab witha 250w? just pushing air out of the cab through the filter? these filters are hela cheap compared witha store bought carbon scrubber

 

[elfstone]

I have a 6" on the exhaust side of a 6" Active Air fan pulling air through a duct attached to a Cool Tube holding an Eye Hortilux 1000W Dual Ballast lamp inside a GrowLab 145 with 12 flowering Cannacopia strains. The heat from the lamp assures low humidity (carbon filters don't work above 60% humidity). Absolutely zero odors. Tried a 4", but it was not as effective.

 

[Goldy]

sounds good thanks

 

[hazy]

Hey dongle, you gotta use what works for you.
It's hard to tell in the pics, but is there a chance that you have the scrubbers instead of the filters. Kind of looks that way, but ?? In the second pic I can see the pleats, and they look like they're folded to tightly to be a filter. The pleats on the 'filters' are very thick and rounded looking. The ones they call scrubbers are multiple pass single layer recirculating type filters that sure don't work for exhaust, while the ones they call filters have 3 layers and are single pass for filtering everything out.

If you hold one up to the light and can see through the filter material, it's a scrubber not a filter.

I pulled my regular carbon filter out of the closet completely tonight. I just don't need it anymore. I set the fan in my office with a carbon fiber 'scrubber' attached to it and the air in my room is so clean I can't even smell this bowl I'm smoking.

The 4" should work great with a 250w light, Goldy.

elfstone~ yeah, I imagine you'd need a 6" for that. Glad to hear it's working good for you.

 

[dongle69]

It's hard to tell in the pics, but is there a chance that you have the scrubbers instead of the filters.....the ones they call filters have 3 layers and are single pass for filtering everything out.

The boxes said single pass and I got them from 2 different vendors, so again if there was a quality control issue, it must have been pretty bad.
They just can't keep up with my crops.
At least they are little better than the OdorSok.

 

[hazy]

hey dongle, I know you got em different places, and maybe you just grow more pot than they can handle, but I still wonder if you ended up with filters or scrubbers. In your second pic, they look like they have thinly folded pleats. The one on the right's a little dark, but the pleats still look thin. The pleats on the one on the left are pretty clear and sure look thin like a scrubber instead of a filter.

I actually ordered a scrubber by mistake and decided to keep it to recirculate. I haven't been using it lately, but wifey's been complaining about my office stinking. (I smoke in here only or outside.) So I set it up again today. This is one of the HEPA filters on the intake and blowing through a scrubber.

My air is crystal pure clean right now!


Anyway, here's some pics for folks to compare the two types of carbon fiber filters.

Below are pics of the 'scrubber'
Notice the folds/pleats are nice and thin and straight. Because they have only one layer. You can see through it if you hold it up to the light.

-----------
-------------
Below are pics of the 'filter'
Notice how the pleats are rounded. Three layers don't fold so easily. These are the only ones that one should buy.

 

[dongle69]

Ya I got the filters for sure.
I even keep mine cleaner than what you have pictured.

 

[hazy]

Yeah. I don't get how the filters could work for one grower and not for another. I've seen the same thing with odorsoks most hate on em, but others swear by them.


I suppose size of grow may make a big difference.

 

[hazy]

Just a little update

Just a little update

I rearranged my grow room a while back, expanded and added an air-cooled hood. So I have a 4" Vortex pulling through an Organic Air filter and exhausting outside, in the original closet, and also a 4" Vortex pulling through an Organic Air filter then blowing through the hood with a 1k hps and then through a long duct and out.

I had noticed a smell outside when I redid the ducting while making the change^^ I found a small hole in the duct. Well I cut part of the duct out and remounted the fan on the ceiling.

The smell got worse.

I live in the country, so not a concern for neighbors smelling, but visitors and other people who live here, don't need to smell it. I had decided that maybe the filters were just too old, or that all the new girls in bloom were too much for them. I was going to buy new ducting, to see if they had pinholes, and thought probably I was going to get a new real carbon filter(i have one nice diy filter).

Something from when the rearranging was going on told me that the problem was with the one in the closet, so yesterday I replaced that filter with my DIY filter, and the smell went away! Now that tells me that the other Organic Air filter is just fine, and that my ducts are fine. The OA filter that is still hooked up is over a bunch of big stinky 30+ day mommas and I can't smell a thing outside!

I was inspecting the Organic Air filter and notice some damage. Some bent pleats in the inverted nose cone end. I did it no doubt while rearranging it. The thing was in a fucked up spot to get to and I had to get forceful, it's better now. I held it up to a light and could see light shine through on the inside in the area where it was bent. that's where the smell was leaking at.

So, i'll figure out how to glue it back and have a good filter again. Soon as I fix it, I'll put it back, so much smaller and easier to work around in my cramped space.

Again, just when I thought, i was going to have to tell you guys that the filters sucked, it turns out that the filters work fine. just be careful when holding them near the metal ends.

You can see the smashed pleats. There is rubber or glue or whatever that holds the end of the filter into the metal ends. I apparently grabbed it and broke it loose from the glue. It should definitely have more glue in the end of the filter when manufactured. This may be where the Defect is that's affected other growers with these filters.

 

[elfstone]

The Cannacopia strains soon totally overpowered these little filters. I put a "Goblin" carbon filter inside the tent and all odors were taken care of. I cannot vouch for these filters anymore. I see it as money wasted but lesson learned.

 

[hazy]

I've had this filter for over a year and it's time to replace it. It's working fine now, because I just chopped but in the last few weeks of stinky chem4 and gak, it just can't handle it. Still stuff flowering, but not so stinky and not so many so far along, so it's working fine right now.
I'll be getting a can filter of some type because I've started running too much for this little filter to handle.

 

[Carl Carlson]

Hazy, did you ever clean yours?

by the way, here's the website for anyone that it interested

http://www.organicairfilter.com/product.shtm