Originally Posted by RB56

Completely unscientific thought. I've had it in my head that a carbon filter should only last 1 - 1.5 years. Pretty sure I've seen the same posted here and elsewhere.

I have had a carbon filter fail after 18 months - the first one I ever bought. It was cheap junk with very little carbon in it. Instead of there being a device related law - failure in 12-18 months, it seems possible that longevity is determined by the volume (surface area, I guess) of the charcoal. So 5 times the charcoal may mean 5x the lifespan.

Just from what I've seen related in this thread, I'm going to adjust my thinking to this: A good filter could last 5 years or more, especially if it's given the reverse air blow out after every few grow cycles and cooked every few years. After that, replace the charcoal. Certainly better than buying new ones every year.

Being the cheap bastered I am I have tried to bake it a few times, it's a long process unless you have a large comerical oven available,or a single small filter, and it's pretty cheap to replace. I no longer try to bake it ,also just a heads up it stinks really bad when your baking it .

[Granger2]

Well since it turns out that we are basically in agreement, let's argue about which one of us is the cheapest bastard. -granger

[queequeg152]

reactivation only works on certain types of foulants and on certain types of activated carbon.

moreover you need to hit like 1500c to really re activate the carbon and form new cavities.


just buy new vapor phase activated carbon.

make sure you buy the right shit, not the alumina mixtures, and make sure you get the right size.

activated carbon relies on a certain EBCT for fluids and vapors... if you get granuals that are too large the contact time is too low and you dont achieve proper treatment.

if the contact time is too high... you get good odor removal, but at the expense of unnecessary static pressures.

you want the contact time reccomeded and not much more.

[RB56]

Sounds like the bake is out, so use and blow out for a few cycles and replace charcoal. Thanks.

[chomsky]

Originally Posted by RB56

Sounds like the bake is out, so use and blow out for a few cycles and replace charcoal. Thanks.

That's what I'm doing. Just ordered my charcoal.

[RoyalFlush]

Old thread but I must throw in my knowledge for future noobs.

Almost all carbon filters (no matter which brand) come flawed from the factory. The problem comes from the connection ends not being compressed or sealed tightly, this causes the filters to have a small gap where the carbon is losely held on the ends, allowing unfiltered air to pass easily. I found that once the filter was properly connected/sealed, all air will pass thru the carbon and come out 95% scrubbed ( remainder 5% only for dog noses).