What's new

Help deciding exhaust route for my tent closet microgrow

Gry

Well-known member
Veteran
Leave one of the doors open. Make a frame out of one by one material. Tack it up using two finish nails per piece.
Cut some thin plywood to fit in the frame.
Cut a hole in the top of the plywood for your blower , put an opening in the bottom for an intake filter.
AC filters work well for me as an intake filter.
This is a cheap and easy work around for a situation similar to yours, which has worked well for 18 years.
Inspector will look at it again in the very near future.
 

trouthugger

Active member
Leave one of the doors open. Make a frame out of one by one material. Tack it up using two finish nails per piece.
Cut some thin plywood to fit in the frame.
Cut a hole in the top of the plywood for your blower , put an opening in the bottom for an intake filter.
AC filters work well for me as an intake filter.
This is a cheap and easy work around for a situation similar to yours, which has worked well for 18 years.
Inspector will look at it again in the very near future.
Good idea but not sure it would blend in any better than some vents in the door. Plus I need to be able to open both doors to open tent...
 

moose eater

Well-known member
I am not supposed to cut big holes in the wall but can patch them easy enough. My current solution I'm leaning towards is buying a new set of doors to modify with vents and then keep the landlords doors untouched to replace when I move out or when he visits.
Sounds like a win-win to me.

I run an internal loop in a basement shop, with the intake to the shop about 8 ft. near a supply face from the HRV that brings fresh air into the basement, and the exhaust from the shop is about 6-8 ft. from an HRV exhaust face.

I run 12"x24"x2" custom made 99.9%-fill VOC-grade activated carbon panels in a custom made 'filter box' inside the shop, with a ~480 cfm (pre-adjustment for inline pressures) centrifugal fan pulling the adjusted volume of air through the filter box and out a reduced vent in the wall of the shop, creating a slight bit of back pressure at the point of the reduced ducting, to allow slightly higher humidity and temps in the shop.

Only when I get lazy about changing the filters, or forget to change them out, or fail to replace them when the ones I have are used, do I get any odor issues. And I'm running more plants than you are by a fair bit, even after cutting way back a few years ago.

You can obtain refillabe cages for the panels, or buy disposable pre-fillled panels.

It's a bit cheaper to fill your own hinged cages that are built to fit your filter box, per your specifications, but buying them pre-filled and disposable is easy and they do a decent job filling their frames. And bulk activated carbon from the same place is pretty reasonable, too.
 

trouthugger

Active member
Sounds like a win-win to me.

I run an internal loop in a basement shop, with the intake to the shop about 8 ft. near a supply face from the HRV that brings fresh air into the basement, and the exhaust from the shop is about 6-8 ft. from an HRV exhaust face.

I run 12"x24"x2" custom made 99.9%-fill VOC-grade activated carbon panels in a custom made 'filter box' inside the shop, with a ~480 cfm (pre-adjustment for inline pressures) centrifugal fan pulling the adjusted volume of air through the filter box and out a reduced vent in the wall of the shop, creating a slight bit of back pressure at the point of the reduced ducting, to allow slightly higher humidity and temps in the shop.

Only when I get lazy about changing the filters, or forget to change them out, or fail to replace them when the ones I have are used, do I get any odor issues. And I'm running more plants than you are by a fair bit, even after cutting way back a few years ago.

You can obtain refillabe cages for the panels, or buy disposable pre-fillled panels.

It's a bit cheaper to fill your own hinged cages that are built to fit your filter box, per your specifications, but buying them pre-filled and disposable is easy and they do a decent job filling their frames. And bulk activated carbon from the same place is pretty reasonable, too.
Interesting. This is your filter setup for your exhaust?
 

moose eater

Well-known member
Interesting. This is your filter setup for your exhaust?
The internal loop and filter box draws air diagonally across the shop, which has a closed door, separating it from the rest of the basement. The odor of the effluent from the shop is only minimally telling when standing in the basement between the shop's exhaust and the exhaust face for the HRV nearby during the last 3+ weeks before harvest, and most of my mothers are strains that wreak loudly.. Significantly reduced odor from before the filter box in the shop.

The intake air enters the shop from the SE corner of the shop, up high, near the ceiling, then crosses the room, and exits a snorkel of flex ducting that hangs down about 3 ft. from the floor, and is in the NW corner of the shop. From there, you can hard-duct and direct your exhaust to any area you'd like, as long as the air flow sweeps the room before being taken out by your ducting.

You can place a strategically 'sweeping' filter box in any area inside your grow area, and it will scrub that area's air, just as if it was hooked to the wall in a tight hard, closed exhaust suituation. Perhaps not quite as effective, but... close enough for rock-n-roll.

We're legal here now, so it's not quite as much of an adrenaline issue as it was when we were unconstitutionally recrimmed here for 11 years, betwen 1990 and 2001, and I was doing high-profile activism, as well as 'free market entrepreneurialism involving greenery' but those years alone are either a testament to the effectiveness of the loop defined above, or I'm just THAT lucky. :)

Maybe both? :)
 
Last edited:

Gry

Well-known member
Veteran
Good idea but not sure it would blend in any better than some vents in the door. Plus I need to be able to open both doors to open tent...
Blend, it does not blend at all. but it is the bedroom, so it not seen by anyone other than the landlord, who just came through for the annual inspection, and once again passed it.
The entire thing is held in place with six finish nails, and it can be removed in minutes, leaving me with four pieces of one by, and two cut pieces of plywood and a six foot piece of hard duct for the exhaust.
It was the simplest thing that I could come up with, and when it is time to leave, removing it will not be an issue.
It simply allows me to grow without modifying the property, which pleases the landlord enough that he approves of my temp configuration.
You have had some good people suggesting some interesting options. I will be interested in seeing what you end up going
with. Best wishes for positive results with whatever you select as an option.
 

trouthugger

Active member
Blend, it does not blend at all. but it is the bedroom, so it not seen by anyone other than the landlord, who just came through for the annual inspection, and once again passed it.
The entire thing is held in place with six finish nails, and it can be removed in minutes, leaving me with four pieces of one by, and two cut pieces of plywood and a six foot piece of hard duct for the exhaust.
It was the simplest thing that I could come up with, and when it is time to leave, removing it will not be an issue.
It simply allows me to grow without modifying the property, which pleases the landlord enough that he approves of my temp configuration.
You have had some good people suggesting some interesting options. I will be interested in seeing what you end up going
with. Best wishes for positive results with whatever you select as an option.
I get it. That is a good solution. The issue is my landlord should't figure out I'm growing. He rarely comes over though so doubt it will be an issue.

You're right, a lot of good suggestions here. The hard part is deciding on one and going with it!
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top