Do rooms have to be 'Air Tight' for a Carbon Filter to work?

[googolsack]

Hello, I was just wondering if grow rooms/ cabinets have to be air tight, or close to, for a carbon scrubber/ filter to work?
(Is a carbon scrubber/ filter the same thing?)

I guess they can't be air tight if there is one fan sucking air in and one pushing air out can they?
If so, does the room/ cabinet have to be air tight everywhere except at the inlet and outlet?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Hammerhead]

Nope most are not air tight. the less you have the better. My scrubber works very well and I have many air leaks.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

nope. you might need more filters though. they are only meant to clean a certain square footage, and if there is air leaks the square footage will be a higher number than just the room it is in.

 

[googolsack]

Thanks hammerhead, what do you mean 'the less you have the better'? Less air leaks?

 

[Hammerhead]

Yes if you have large hole some smell might get out there. Just tape it up black duck tape over any hole you can find also this will help with light leeks.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

I think there should be negative pressure in the room. It is not mandatory, but it works like it should if you have a smaller amount of air pushed in to the room than being extracted.

 

[RedOne]

really depends on where you are set-up.If you are in the attic for instance,being air tight would be advantageous,due to the possibility of pulling very dusty attic air into the tent/growspace, and addressing all the problems that come along with that.....and of course there's the smell,ye gods the smell!!!!

 

[BlueGrassToker]

If the cab or room is air tight, then the carbon scrubber will NOT WORK AT ALL!
There has to be enough air coming into the room to satisfy the air being exhausted out.
Seal up the intake end of a vacuum cleaner hose and see how well it works.

If you are exhausting with a 6" fan and duct, then you need at least one 6" hole plus a bit more for intake air. Sealed up it just won't work at all.

Pizza, if you push a bit more into than being extracted what you have is POSITIVE air pressure in the cab. This is what leads to odors bypassing the filtration and being pushed out the nooks and crannies. The optimum would be to have just enough air coming in to satisfy the exhaust. If you were to have an adjustable intake orifice, if you keep opening it up until the pressure just stops pulling on the door, then it is just about perfect.
As long as you are not "pushing" air in with an intake fan, then as long as the intakes are big enough you can't go wrong..even if the holes are WAY bigger than needed. There will still be negative pressure.

 

[Yes_I_Am]

I think there should be negative pressure in the room. It is not mandatory, but it works like it should if you have a smaller amount of air pushed in to the room than being extracted.

its all about the neg pressure, when you open you door you should have air being pullen in, thats when you know your about right.

 

[sm0k4]

its all about the neg pressure, when you open you door you should have air being pullen in, thats when you know your about right.

I agree, you should hear the pressure change through the sound of the fan when you open the door. If you don't, you probably will get some smell seeping out. You need negative pressure in the cab so everything is being expelled through the filter, not cracks and leaks.

 

[BlueGrassToker]

I know that when you feel the door sucking in you know you have negative pressure. Thing is, you are robbing the system of what it is asking for...and as a result you equipment is not operating as efficiently as it can.

What you want is to feel that sucking negative pressure and then cut another hole. If it still pulls on the door, cut another hole. The hole that stops this sucking in of the door is the perfect and last needed intake hole. There is no more guess work, as you already knew you weren't supplying all the air the fan could take out..due to the sucking of the door. When you added the last hole, and the sucking stopped, nothing as far as the pressure of the cab has went to the positive side...nor will it. You could cut five more holes at that point and you would still not be able to create positive pressure in that cab or room.

The ONLY time you can have positive air flow in a cab or room is if you are forcing more air in than the system can exhaust. This requires a power source on the intake side of things...ie a fan blowing air in. Never do that and you won't ever have positive pressure in the box no matter what.

Another issue that comes into play is noise. If you don't supply the air the fan at the exit asks for, the motor of the fan and the air passing noise increases.
The point when you added the final hole, and the sucking stopped, is the point that the system can run it's most stealth.

 

[Hammerhead]

I think he needs to give more info. I dont think he was talking about a sealed room. Im sure he has intake and exhaust. If not then sure he needs to add those. I have neg pressure I can see the panda film move in when I turn on the exhaust. I use Active intake 4" and exhaust 6" I dont relieve that extra neg pressure it wont hurt anything. My space is far from air tight not even close but I do look for light leaks and cover those.

 

[A-Dark-Hollow]

negative pressure man should suck in like a chubby girl wearing a bikini