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Push or pull air through a carbon filter?

FarmerGreen

FarmerGreen

Member
Does it make any difference whether ventilated air is pulled through a carbon scrubber or pushed?
In my last cab I was pulling it through and that seemed to work fine, but for space reasons I'd like to push it through my next one.

Does it make any difference?
 
S

SICE

Active member
From my experience it does make a difference

If you push it, it seems to be harder on the fan. Some air might be getting pushed back and leak through some cracks in the vent.

Its not much of a difference from what Ive seen. Im noticed about 4-5 degrees hotter while pushing than pulling
 
señorsloth

señorsloth

Senior Member
Veteran
pull is a bit better, like 20% at best, but pushing will work fine in a pinch, ive had the same fan for almost 2 years, it NEVER EVER turns off and i have had it constantly blowing through a can filter 33 since i first bought it. i'm running over 100w per square foot, with a 430 watt hps and my 190cfm fan has plenty of power to push enough wind to keep my cab cool.

sure i could get suction a little higher if i sucked through, but i would have to move my carbon filter from outside my cab to inside, wich means a huge shadow on my buds, but i would also have to build a big light trap to replace my carbon filter, a carbon filter on the outside is a natural light trap, on the inside it just takes up precious space from a small cab.

whats more it took 6 to 10 feet of ducting to stuff my carbon filter inside my cab and that slowed down the air. it slowed it down more than it is now, pushing through the filter, because to push through the filter i don't need any ducting or light traps at all, just a fan on the inside of my cab attached directly to the carbon filter on the outside. it's lightproof and efficient, and seems to be working just fine.
 
FlowerFarmer

FlowerFarmer

Well-known member
Veteran
Pull.. otherwise you have no pre-filter by default. The pre-filter is on the outside of the filter.

Pulling will also wear the filter more evenly. By pushing the air will find the least resistant out of the filter and it will wear in spots and have fresh carbon in other spots.

If you must push (not recommended) take your pre-filter off of the outside of the filter and shove it down into the hole or over the hole in your filter so that your air is being filtered of fine particles and dust.
 
Chunkypigs

Chunkypigs

passing the gas
Veteran
pushing works just fine, I've always kept my filters and fan outside my tents to gain space and reduce the restrictions and length of ducting. I screw my fan to the filter and then tape it, no leaks. short piece of hose to a port on top and I'm vacuuming all the heat and funk from my grow. the lack of prefilter doesn't seem to make any difference in my applications.

if you are growing in a small space it's crazy to clog it up with all the air filtration equipment.
 
S

St3ve

Member
Pulling is much better.. aside for the filter.. pushed air has more resistance than pulled air so your losing fresh air to your ladies. Then the fact that the filter is designed to be pulled through. (prefilter and size)

If you really want the filter outside of the tent, then you have two options:
1) but a inline filter (ala Can66 inline)
2) build an inline. Just need to make a sealed box or a trash can or whatever is about the size. Then just pipe it
 
SMOKE-ONE

SMOKE-ONE

Member
Dont mean to highjack your thread,but my buddy is running a sealed room,with some Og Chem,and it has his whole house smelling like funk.He has a 14 in max fan and is pulling thru a 14 in Phresh.If we cant figure something out he's gonna chop everything down soon.we were thinking aboout slapping another 14 in filter on the other side of the fan,and run 2 filters,but I havent heard of this being done before.So which would be better for the fan and odor control.Put a filter on both sides of the fan or put the fans both on the same side and let the fan pull thru both filters?And also is 2 filters on one fan too much stress on one fan.He doesnt want to run 2 fans because he thinks he's already using wayyyy too much power.
 
FlowerFarmer

FlowerFarmer

Well-known member
Veteran
The max is a large fan.

It sounds as though his filter is bunk or he is pulling air through it too quickly...thus not allowing it to scrub fully.

Is his 14" filter specced at a comparable CFM to the MAX Fan?
What is the humidity like? High humidity pretty much makes carbon scrubbers worthless as once the carbon is saturated with moisture.. it can no longer effectively scrub odor.

Have always used Can Filter 150 or Max Filter on my Max Fans and never a smell issue.


I've seen a room from those AN guys that pulled through the filter...had a length of ducting across the room and pushed into another filer. Worth a shot.. sounds like that is what you are suggesting.

Grabbing a Vaportek Optimum 4000w w/ cartridge works wonders as well for a 2ndary odor solution.
 
Mister_D

Mister_D

Active member
Veteran
Smoke One - flowerfarmer gave some good advice, but the problem I see is: Your friends room isn't sealed like you say. I've been running sealed rooms for 5 years, and nothing escapes from the room even without a filter. That is of course provided you did a good job sealing the room :biggrin:. That said what filter is he running? How old is it? Yes you can suck from one filter and blow into another. Thats a great idea actually, if recirculating anyway.
 
SMOKE-ONE

SMOKE-ONE

Member
FlowerFarmer said:
The max is a large fan.

It sounds as though his filter is bunk or he is pulling air through it too quickly...thus not allowing it to scrub fully.

Is his 14" filter specced at a comparable CFM to the MAX Fan?
What is the humidity like? High humidity pretty much makes carbon scrubbers worthless as once the carbon is saturated with moisture.. it can no longer effectively scrub odor.

Have always used Can Filter 150 or Max Filter on my Max Fans and never a smell issue.


I've seen a room from those AN guys that pulled through the filter...had a length of ducting across the room and pushed into another filer. Worth a shot.. sounds like that is what you are suggesting.

Grabbing a Vaportek Optimum 4000w w/ cartridge works wonders as well for a 2ndary odor solution.
Click to expand...
Not sure what the specs are,i will ask him.The humidity is in check with sante fe dehuey,so that cant be a problem.
 
SMOKE-ONE

SMOKE-ONE

Member
Mister_D said:
Smoke One - flowerfarmer gave some good advice, but the problem I see is: Your friends room isn't sealed like you say. I've been running sealed rooms for 5 years, and nothing escapes from the room even without a filter. That is of course provided you did a good job sealing the room :biggrin:. That said what filter is he running? How old is it? Yes you can suck from one filter and blow into another. Thats a great idea actually, if recirculating anyway.
Click to expand...
yea I think that the problem is the room isnt totally sealed.Must be sum cracks somewhere.
 
S

St3ve

Member
SMOKE-ONE said:
Dont mean to highjack your thread,but my buddy is running a sealed room,with some Og Chem,and it has his whole house smelling like funk.He has a 14 in max fan and is pulling thru a 14 in Phresh.If we cant figure something out he's gonna chop everything down soon.we were thinking aboout slapping another 14 in filter on the other side of the fan,and run 2 filters,but I havent heard of this being done before.So which would be better for the fan and odor control.Put a filter on both sides of the fan or put the fans both on the same side and let the fan pull thru both filters?And also is 2 filters on one fan too much stress on one fan.He doesnt want to run 2 fans because he thinks he's already using wayyyy too much power.
Click to expand...

If its that stinkin then he should just run another fan to scrub. Meaning.. get another fan maybe like a max fan 6" with its own carbon filter just running 24/7 for the last two weeks or so. By scrubbing I mean, get a carbon filter, sit it on its end anywhere in the room with the fan mounted on top just blowing straight up in the air. Just leave it run and it will knock the stink down bigtime.
 
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