Air filtration in tent vs outside tent?

[Badfinger]

Still a lil confused even with the pic......is that the beginning of the exhaust tubing or the end of the intake tubing?

This is in the tent , this is were the sucking air starts, exhaust fan and charcoal filter are outside on top of the tent.
I liked olbobcat's idea of using a CAI filter as a prefilter to keep my exhaust fan clean, I just didn't realize how fast these things clog up.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

This is in the tent , this is were the sucking air starts, exhaust fan and charcoal filter are outside on top of the tent.
I liked olbobcat's idea of using a CAI filter as a prefilter to keep my exhaust fan clean, I just didn't realize how fast these things clog up.

Ok, got it now, that's the start of the exhaust.....do you leave tent open or zip it closed and the air enters through one of the screened vents along the bottom? That was more where I was talking about if zipped up. A regular house A/C filter taped over the intake screen port along the bottom can filter out a lot of dust before it even enters the tent.

 

[Badfinger]

Ok, got it now, that's the start of the exhaust.....do you leave tent open or zip it closed and the air enters through one of the screened vents along the bottom? That was more where I was talking about if zipped up. A regular house A/C filter taped over the intake screen port along the bottom can filter out a lot of dust before it even enters the tent.

I normally keep the door zipped up. My main fresh air vents are the bottom tent vents on the sides. Which I have charcoal filtering fabric taped over. But the plants seem to give off a lot of particles/debris themselves.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

That's where I was talking about....looking at the color of the dust on the filter cover and the color of the charcoal filtering fabric taped over the intake vents we might have found the problem if it is releasing charcoal into the air........might try removing them, cleaning the carbon filter cover, replace it and run without the charcoal cloth or get a cheap A/C filter ( 2 or 3 bucks at HD, Lowes or Ace hardwarte stores) as an experiment.....only other thing I can think of is dust kicking up off soil in the pots if you are using soil.....Like JerseyPhresh said, mine have always been a light tan/brown color by the end of the grow.

 

[Badfinger]

That's where I was talking about....looking at the color of the dust on the filter cover and the color of the charcoal filtering fabric taped over the intake vents we might have found the problem if it is releasing charcoal into the air........might try removing them, cleaning the carbon filter cover, replace it and run without the charcoal cloth or get a cheap A/C filter ( 2 or 3 bucks at HD, Lowes or Ace hardwarte stores) as an experiment.....only other thing I can think of is dust kicking up off soil in the pots if you are using soil.....Like JerseyPhresh said, mine have always been a light tan/brown color by the end of the grow.

I removed them.
I will need to revamp my tent setup next grow, that back corner top vent is a bear to deal with in the middle of a grow. My tent is in a corner and that back corner is up against the corner of the room.
I'd really like to lay my hands on another top bar for in my tent, I liked my air filtration setup when it was inside the tent.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

I normally just have the carbon filter inside with short (3-4 inch) pipe to the exhaust fan on outside. Upgraded to a 3 x 5 x 6.5 and everything is a reach, and with a bad back I am having to rethink/rearrange everything.

 

[olbobcat]

Is it common for your auto filter to get clogged in 8 weeks? I guess these things really do filter dust.

They get clogged up. Before switching to an evaporative humidifier even more often than that. Now I am on the dry amendments which will get up there and clog it as well. The room is sealed so not much dust in the air except created by the grow.

 

[Badfinger]

They get clogged up. Before switching to an evaporative humidifier even more often than that. Now I am on the dry amendments which will get up there and clog it as well. The room is sealed so not much dust in the air except created by the grow.

lol, this is my first run with dry amendments, and I do not have an evaporative humidifier. plus I added 200 more watts of light this grow, now I'm fighting heat for the first time.

 

[GreenBean]

That's interesting about the cut to size carbon filter on your passive intake vents. I've been using them for years mostly to control light spill into a room (keep it darker in the actual room) and never had them give off particles.

I REALLY like @olbobcat 's idea on the car filter. Could move my filter and fan outside and not have to use such a large extension on my Gorilla possibly. So thanks for that! Something to ponder for the future.

Olbobcat and I have the same humidifier. Absolute game changer for me. If you look on Amazon you can sometimes find them open box for around $70. I only need to fill it about once a week. If you're using RO or distilled water in your regular humidifier then maybe not so much an issue with particles. But the 4 gallon evaporative does seem to help (me) with heat.

Heat really starts to SUCK this time of year. Do you have AC, etc?

 

[Badfinger]

That's interesting about the cut to size carbon filter on your passive intake vents. I've been using them for years mostly to control light spill into a room (keep it darker in the actual room) and never had them give off particles.

I REALLY like @olbobcat 's idea on the car filter. Could move my filter and fan outside and not have to use such a large extension on my Gorilla possibly. So thanks for that! Something to ponder for the future.

Olbobcat and I have the same humidifier. Absolute game changer for me. If you look on Amazon you can sometimes find them open box for around $70. I only need to fill it about once a week. If you're using RO or distilled water in your regular humidifier then maybe not so much an issue with particles. But the 4 gallon evaporative does seem to help (me) with heat.

Heat really starts to SUCK this time of year. Do you have AC, etc?

My main reason for the cut filters over the vents was also to knock down the light spilling out.
Yea, I have central air, but way to early to turn it on here in the northeast.
The clogged intake filter was the cause of my problem, its all good now.