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DIY - Build a Carbon Scrubber For Dummies!

I'll be re-doing the whole DIY today. I'm going to attempt to make everything a little more clear and retake pictures and try to be as detailed as possible.
 
Ok it's complete. I just edited the original. I'll have to read over it a few times to make sure I haven't missed anything. If anyone notices any typos or misinformation or anything odd, please leave a post. My goal was to make this clear for anyone to be able to build.
 
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G

Guest

If I do a 6" filter for my vortex 449 cfm at what I believe should be 27" long (length = going as closely to the formula as I could understand), would the outside diameter be 8" for mine? Is 8" ducting parts something home depot will have readily? I plan to build one real soon, so I'd like to know if I'm getting this right for a larger filter.

Thanks for the DIY DubanPoison! :wave:
 
Sorry Marley. I've used it all up.

Admiral - Glad to hear you like it. Good luck on construction and watch those sharp edges to prevent the leggings from tearing.
 
G

Guest

Thank you for the do it ur self tut ;-)

Thank you for the do it ur self tut ;-)

Xlnt I like this version better than the old paint bucket style, have to make another one and this one Ill try, looks great, nice layout easy to read and understand Thanks again DP
peace,
Master Thai ;-)




sweet and stinky :yummy:
 
G

Guest

i made one of these and i tested it with incenses and i could still smell them, i have a stanley blower pushing air through it. the filter i made is about a foot long do yall think i need to make it bigger i also added those honeywell filters to it and i still could smell it. my guess is the fan is to strong for the size of the filter.

if i cant get this right im just gonna have to end up buying a filter, so my mind will b at ease, then i'll just use my stanely to full air from my cooltube n get another fan to hook up to the filter
 

Ganico

Active member
Veteran
Does anyone think a 3'' long section of carbon is enough for a 50cfm bathroom fan and 12.5 cubic feet of space? haha


Would that work?
 
Ok guys. You must have missed the importart post about formulating the size of filter. It's really fairly simple, but that will make or break your system. The core is very important to be the correct size based upon the power of your fan. If you don't make your core long enough, the filter wont work. I haven't found out from experience, but I assume it's possible to make it too long too, but haven't come across that problem yet.

If you look back on the first page where I displayed some examples of CFM to Core ratio's you'll see the relation.

Here's the info again as before;
durbanpoison said:
Just take the CFM of your fan and choose the diamater of core you want and divide it accordingly. For example: I have 175 CFM and intend to use a 4" Diameter core. So I can look at the list above and figure;
150(CFM) divide 9(H) = 16.6 (Approximately)
Then I can take my 175(CFM Fan) and divide it by 16.6 to get 10.5". Therefore, my 175 cfm fan with a 4" Diameter would need a core height of 10.5".

*IF YOU DON'T FOLLOW THIS FORMULA, YOUR FILTER WILL LIKELY NOT WORK*

If you would like me to do the math for you (which I showed the formula already so you should be able to do it yourself) post the information and I'll follow up with what you'll need.
 
Master Thai - Thanks for stopping by. I hope this design works well for you like for me! My whole basement used to stink. Now You can't smell anything even in the same room.

Aizen - If you give me the specs of your fan, I'll let you know what you need if you would like me to figure it out for you.

Ganico - You may want to pick up a more powerful fan. I think that it could probably do the job for you, but I would recommend running it 24/7. I truly think that would work for you though using a 3 - 3.5" filter. I would also suggest that you overshoot the 3" filter since it will be so small. 3 and half inch should work fine if you use that same size ducting like in my diy. Good luck and let us know if you go thru with it - I would be curious to know how you'll get that to work.
 
G

Guest

Hey Durban. I am pretty sure I understand the formula. Please see my post above and tell me if I am correct.
 
G

Guest

This is much nicer than the DIY scrubber that used to float around OG Looks like there would be a heck of alot more flow Good work.
 

TheSource

Member
With the forumula I figured out that I would need a height of 27". My wire that I bought is only 24. Would it matter if I wrapped two peices around each core?
edit. 450CM vortex and a 6" core
 
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Ganico

Active member
Veteran
DP- Alright cool. Also I was thinking maybe just make a square filter the size of the bathroom fan to fit on the bottom. Seems like a saw a DIY tek like that a while back, couldn't find anything like that through a search though.
Got a stanley fan, but it'd be better to use as small a fan as suitably possible, to cut down on materials/carbon. I mean, it's only 12.5 cubic feet, pretty damn tiny space, a stanley fan would be probably be hella overkill. Could be wrong about that though.

I figured the scrubber will cut fan power in half, so that's two times a minute the air will be exchanged. Could be better, but I think that'd be fine.


What you say bout it?
 
Aizen - You should try and find the CFM's of your stanley. I think you would need much longer filter, but that's pure speculation. My filter doesn't even work if it's not long enough. I found this out by trial and error. More than enough times lol. The core of the filter is extremely important in size. Something that I just thought of though is that you also have a half inch layer of batting on each end of the carbon. I suppose that's why i'm inclined to add a half inch to whatever size filter you need.

Stoned2Death - I think you'll be in the same boat as TheSource. Read the reply below. I would probably do the same as I suggested to him. I'm kind of replying in reverse here sorry!

ORPotGuy - Thanks! I do what I can. :joint:

Ganico - You know, I was just thinking of an alternative for you to save you some time and money. At wallyworld you can get these little fan carbon filters that just use a carbon filter pad. I think with your air space it would work just fine. I like to use them in my little 'smoking lounge' in the basement just to keep it odorless and they really do a great job. Same thing with pet odors. They go for $10-15 if I remember right and you can get replacement filters pack of 4-6 for something like $6-10. They last quite a while though. This is what i initially used on an old cab I built, except I had to in effort to cool the box as an exhaust, but they don't really move enough air in that case, but with your situation I think one or two would work fine. They plug right into the wall - you can't miss 'em.

TheSource - Thanks for the props. I tried to be very detailed so everything looked nice. Hopefully it's easy for everyone to understand. I suppose I need to make the formula bit a bit more user-friendly though. To address your Q: about the wire, I might recommend using the wire and rolling it the other direction. I think you would run into some trouble if you tried to make an expansion piece if I'm understanding you correctly. Also I would suggest 27.5". 27 would technically be right on the money, but with the experiences I've had, it seems like it still needs to be slightly larger. My filter is near perfect with a 4" Core and it seems like it should still need a little more length. Again though, I would roll out as much as you need in height, and then roll it up in the opposite direction that it came rolled in to achieve the shell you'll need.
 
G

Guest

Quote:
Originally Posted by durbanpoison
Just take the CFM of your fan and choose the diamater of core you want and divide it accordingly. For example: I have 175 CFM and intend to use a 4" Diameter core. So I can look at the list above and figure;
150(CFM) divide 9(H) = 16.6 (Approximately)
Then I can take my 175(CFM Fan) and divide it by 16.6 to get 10.5". Therefore, my 175 cfm fan with a 4" Diameter would need a core height of 10.5".



You say you have a 175CFM fan and intend to use a 4" diameter. In the following line you use 150CFM and divide it by 9. 150CFM? in the following line you go ahead and use 175CMF in your equation. Why did you use 150 to get 16.6?

EDIT* So if i have a 85CFM fan i would use:
150/9 = 16.6.
85/16.5 = 5.12"

so my filter height should be 5.12"?


- Andy
 
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Andy-
Apparently I'm an idiot LOL. Probably would have helped to use my own fan as the example. In any case, I just did 150cfm because that's the first one on the list.

For your 85CFM you would do the following:
85CFM(Fan) / 16.66(Ratio for 4" Diameter Core) = 5.10(Core - Inches in Length).

I really do need to make some time to re-write understanding the formula. Sorry about that - hope it helps.

Peace and Sticky Green Trees
~DP
 
xero said:
I used 1/4 inch hardware cloth (nice and springy) with a piece of screen door material cut to size laid over it. It pretty much sticks to the hardware cloth on sharp edges by itself, bt you'll have to push it on a little. It pretty much eliminates the need to stretch panyhoes over the outside, though I did over the inner 6" filter with a lot of work. The outside 8" was impossible, so I'm glad I had already bought the screen.

How is it that you get a backdraft if your inner core is too short? Wouldn't it just blow it through the filter faster with less surface area? I followed your formula and made a 24" though. It's huge, gonna be hard to conceal unless I sit it on top of a cab inside a box.


Great idea with the window screen. That probably would be less likely to get clogged. If you're running a humidifier, make sure that the water is very pure like R/O or Distilled. Otherwise, the salt particles get sucked in the filter and clog it up with white powdery crap. Not the good trichs either.
 
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