Started my autoflower indoor grow in september and was controlling odor for the second half of the grow with a carbon filtered fan venting outside(attached to a speed control outlet). I thought everything was on the down low as the wife never mentioned any odor(she’s not a fan of my grow operation).
My 21 yr old daughter came home from an OR University, walked in the house and said “holy shit, it smells like an college house-party in here…jesus christ can you guys not SMELL that??”. Apparently my wife and I had become rather desensitized to it as the odor built over a month or so.
I asked my daughter how she knows the odor of cannabis…she looked at me with her best Law-and-order SVU voice and said “I’m an R-A, Dad…it’s my job to know”.
I cranked up the fan quite a bit. At this point, close to harvest, anyone walking within 10ft of the exhuast vent has a pretty solid idea whats’ goin on in the basement.
Sounds to me like you need a larger carbon filter
And maybe so fresh air also into grow space
What size is your room or tent ?
It’s a 4x4 with 4 flowering plants in it. I have a carbon filter att’d to the exhaust, the ducting is 4" and I have good makeup air …but I think when the furnace blower comes on it overpowers the exhaust fan and draws some air out of the tent and into the house air through the filter housing(I’ll just plug that up).
One day the breaker tripped to the grow set up and the house filled pretty quickly with a rather pungent aroma! My wife wondered why all the doors and windows were open on a 40 degree day.
I have totally become desensitized to the smell and I don’t use a carbon filter either.
HAhaha yeah if tent is near furnace that could be a possibility
Sounds good a 4 inch inline normally move 150-180 cfm which should be more than enough for that space
I actually recycle my air back into basement and carbon filter in both direction ? Nobody come to my house and knows anything
I’m also in my basement but I have a boiler and baseboard heat
That’s some funny stuff right there. I want my whole house smelling like that. I don’t get enough company to really care. My entire family knows I grow. But enjoyed your story. Thanks for the laugh, read it to family and they chuckled too.
Maybe you should change your name to Non-Stealthy.
you probably have a few issues,
a 4x4 needs a quality 6" scrubber minimum, 8’’ or 10" is ideal for stanky strains.!
try a Can-Filter… Can-66 or a Can-75
the tent may be too close to a vent and stinking up the house,
and… not enough air exchange in the tent, u need 300-600 cfm if running thru a filter.
I grow bigger style 6 plants in a 4x4x6 grow tent and found that 6in exhaust fan at 440cfm with the charcoal filter was the way to go for me everything smaller didn’t work but when the fan is off omg the house smells like a smoke out is about to start
Thanks to all, wow, you folks have given me a lot to think about! I believe now that odor is escaping out the top openings of the tent simply through convection. The air at the top of the tent is several degrees warmer than ambient and I believe that “energetic” air is making it’s way out of the top.
I’ll have to study the issue of air exchange in the tent…it was my belief that enough negative airflow to keep the odors from leaving the tent would certainly provide enough fresh air for the plants. For the next grow I think I need to seal a little better…and make sure the cfm out the exhaust matches the cfm coming in through my proposed ducting.
Run your intake fan 3/4 speed of your exhaust this will keep tent in a negative pressure
Sealing it up would also help
Any other question tag me I’m a commercial Hvac guy with 30 years in the trade
Happy growing