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Filter for grow room allergens

P

panckage

Member
When I run my grow tent I get runny nose/allergy symptoms. It is not from pollen. A hepa filter on the outtake of prevents these symptoms.

I am in the process of building a box for my fan and would like to get the appropriate rated filter for this box. I have been looking at filters i can diy to this box. Any ideas what the type of filter(eg. MERV rating) would be the best compromise for this?Note that the allergy is not to pollen. I don't know what I'm allergic too so I'm unsure of what rating filter I should be looking at...


Help me! XD
.
 
GOT_BUD?

GOT_BUD?

Weed is a gateway to gardening
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I would think a 5-8 MERV rating would be your best bet. You're not operating on people or trying to build an electronics clean room.

Or are you? :muahaha:
 
MJPassion

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
What he said!^^^

Keep in mind too that the most important aspect of air filtration is time of exposure to filtering elements. If building a home made filter, use the largest surface area you can & the slowest moving air.

Said simpler, BIGGER IS BETTER.
A simple LARGE surface area carbon filter should be placed in front of any HEPA filters.
 
P

panckage

Member
A carbon filter is on the fan intake. Filters in the tent intakes would be difficult as they are 2x5" holes. I would need to build places to mount these filters over the holes too and it's only a 2'x2' tent so I don't have much room to work with.... Is there a reasonablely priced and practical option here?

Ok MERV 5 to 8 sounds like a good place to start. As for the source I think it is just whatever the plants give off. Even roasting turkey in the oven gives me hay fever like symptoms. I seem to be really sensitive
 
GOT_BUD?

GOT_BUD?

Weed is a gateway to gardening
ICMag Donor
Veteran
2" x 5" holes. Are they round holes or rectangular?

If they are round, could you adapt a cone filter for a car air intake?
 
S

SoulAnnoyed

Member
GOT_BUD? said:
2" x 5" holes. Are they round holes or rectangular?

If they are round, could you adapt a cone filter for a car air intake?
Click to expand...

That would be way too restrictive.

You need a huge surface area, even with Merv6,or you fan won't pull it. Like 20x20 with a 4" deep pleat..
 
P

panckage

Member
Thanks guys. I have a hepa filter on the outtake of my fan and it works fine but could use optimization. I am planning to build a box for it to improve noise and airflow. I am just looking for the best compromises
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
I would just build an extra filter or 2 for the rooms you are in most.

A cheap walmart box fan($17-20), with the best 20 x 20" allergen filter you can get and tape it right to the fan.

It will outperform any of those fancy looking hepa filter\ air cleaner units on the market. Especially if you make a V with 2 filters for double the surface area. But then its a little more bulky in a triangle shape.
 
P

panckage

Member
I just bought a MERV 12 filter. I was a bit surprised by the material. It looks easy to work with. I'm going remove the filter sheet and wrap it around the outside of my carbon filter. I'll report back in a few weeks when I get to it!
 
Gry

Gry

Well-known member
Been using a pair of ac filters for my intake for a long time. Buy them by the case and replace them once a month.
Not allergic to anything, but close up pictures of buds made me think it was a good idea.
 
P

panckage

Member
Well I bought the merv 12 filter and tore the filter sheet out (such a pain, glue everywhere!). The material looked kind of thin so I kept the sock on the outside of the carbon filter and ended up just wrapping the merv 12 filter sheet around the outside. It seems to working as my allergy symptoms have been pretty minimal since doing that. I think its fair to say its a success. As a plus doing this has (along with a couple other small fixes) has really improved my airflow. The temperature has gone down 3-6C. I may even be able to run the fan at a lower speed now

I still need to add backdraft dampers to the ventilation inputs though as fumes leak out there when the fan is off
 
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