My $3 Carbon Filter

[panhead]

What is activated charcoal and why is it used in filters?


Charcoal is carbon. (See this Question of the Day for details on how charcoal is made.) Activated charcoal is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen to open up millions of tiny pores between the carbon atoms. According to Encylopedia Britannica:

The use of special manufacturing techniques results in highly porous charcoals that have surface areas of 300-2,000 square metres per gram. These so-called active, or activated, charcoals are widely used to adsorb odorous or coloured substances from gases or liquids.
The word adsorb is important here. When a material adsorbs something, it attaches to it by chemical attraction. The huge surface area of activated charcoal gives it countless bonding sites. When certain chemicals pass next to the carbon surface, they attach to the surface and are trapped.

Activated charcoal is good at trapping other carbon-based impurities ("organic" chemicals), as well as things like chlorine. Many other chemicals are not attracted to carbon at all -- sodium, nitrates, etc. -- so they pass right through. This means that an activated charcoal filter will remove certain impurities while ignoring others. It also means that, once all of the bonding sites are filled, an activated charcoal filter stops working. At that point you must replace the filter.

from Howstuff works .com

lol with this info looks like all activated charcoal is vapor based

Wow dude,what inspired all of that,was there a question i missed ?

 

[LeRoy JaBluntski]

What is your fresh air intake situation,is it passive or powered,what size is the fresh air intake,are there any bends in any of the intake or exhaust pipes.

How did you mount the bathroom fan,ceiling or wall mount.

there were some bends but i just cut off the excess and now its straight up no bends at all. i mounted it on the outside of the wall right in between my plants and light. its a powered one and i don't need an intake as its in my closet with the door wide open. i also have an airconditioner and the room is sealed up.

 

[jayrollinhippy]

i just started reading this thread from the beginning and saw the post where it said aquarium charcoal wont work. just thougth id clarify things for all here to know that all activated charcoal is the same.

 

[panhead]

i just started reading this thread from the beginning and saw the post where it said aquarium charcoal wont work. just thougth id clarify things for all here to know that all activated charcoal is the same.

Cool & thank you.

 

[UnluckyCharm]

wow thats a really cool idea, thanks for sharing

 

[RandyRocket]

This is what i did with my $3 bag filter. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/78637-coffee-can-filter.html

 

[panhead]

This is what i did with my $3 bag filter. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/78637-coffee-can-filter.html

Sweet

 

[JordanTheGreat]

dammit tho... all these are excellent odor control solutions. i was thinking something along the lines of that coffee can... imma have to get on that and share the results with you guys. and the other thing i was thinking about using that carbon for was possibly for a water purification device for those of us who aint tryin to pay for a reverse osmosis setup. should work right?

 

[McLovin420]

Here is my $3 filter & coffee can. Well mine cost a little more to build. I couldn't find any Scotch Brite so I bought a woolite washable bag.

Great idea man. My room hasn't started to stick yet but hopefully it won't stink up the whole basement this time.

 

[bicycle racer]

not all carbon is created equal do not by cheap carbon it will not work for long. find carbon with the smallest particle size the large particle carbons are inneficient at removings smells and other pollutants if you can afford. you really get what you pay for with carbon. i have used dozens of different brands and grades of carbon. try products called bio-chemzorb(aquarium pharmaceuticals) or chemipure(dick boyd enterprises) these are high grade activated carbons that also contain ion exchange resins they are highly effective. also stay away from charcoal totally useless and not the same as carbon it has to be heated to 1600 degrees and hit with water vapor to be activated so it is of no use for our usses. carbon works like a microscopic sponge trapping molocules in its latticework like structure(it looks cool under an electron microscope) because of this once it has filled up it has to be replaced it cannot be rinsed or reused. i would recommend replacing at least every 3 to 4 months depending on amount used. the biggest problem is getting a fan with the power to draw air thru the carbon as it wont work if the air flows over or past the carbon inline fans are necessary

 

[mrbuzzsaw]

People sure get uptight here. LOL maybe they should smoke more.

I was going to post my canister design so you all could copy But since your all uptight A-Holes I guess I won't

i have been reading this thread for a while and i was just gonna quietly lurk on this one but after this post i had to chime in.


HOW old are you????
you come off like a child.
I was gonna show you but now ill keep it to myself!!!

wake up your being an immature child.

post it or not we wont lose any sleep.

funny thing about communities when someone jumps petty everyone knows it and he don't last long.
you are here for 1 of 2 reasons .
to learn or to teach.

i read your first post you came off talking down.
go back and read it.
if you had an improvement you should have simply said hey i have an idea to improve the design but you did not.



Now Be helpful or be silent.

 

[mrbuzzsaw]

can you rince the home made carbon filter off and reuse it? will it remove the smell again or do you have to throw it away and make new ones?

my understanding if you heat it up it reactivates. i dont know how hot tho

 

[mrbuzzsaw]

• Steam regeneration

This method is restricted to regenerating carbon which has only retained a few very volatile products.

• Thermal regeneration

By pyrolysis and burning off of adsorbed organic substances. In order to avoid igniting the carbon, it is heated to about 800 °C in a controlled atmosphere. This is the widely used method and regenerates the carbon very well, but it has two disadvantages: it requires considerable investment in either a multiple-hearth furnace and it causes high carbon losses.

• Chemical regeneration

Some process based on the action of a solvent used at a temperature of approximately 100 °C and with a high pH.

• Biological regeneration

This method of regeneration has not yet been applied on an industrial scale.

 

[mrbuzzsaw]

My plants are stinkin up my house lol and this sounds great. From my understanding I just make these filters than tape them on a fan and point the fan at the plants and it will kill the smell?

No this is not how it works.
ill explain.
what you do is isolate the4 plants from the rest of the house and then allow air ro enter the isolation area and then pull that smelly air through a filter made of carbon.
as the smelly air passes through the carbon grid the odor sticks to the carbon and is scrubbed out of the air. you must pass all stink air through this grid to be effective.
if you have the plants just sitting in the open you wont clear it out.

 

[KidCreole]

ok, so what if there is NO ventilation? what if your grow closet is just that, a closet? in the event that you have no ventilation, do you just put this thing on the floor? mount it to a wall? i guess that would work... and PANHEAD(he started the thread so i am lissenin to him the loudest, no disrespect, hes an elder ) if you dont mind me asking, what is the potential for damage that will be done by the doors mostly always being closed for "roomate" reasons... lol they are accepting of the grow but no need to attract unwelcome questions from visitors! she is three weeks into 12/12 and the smell is QUITE noticable in the room, not overbearing, but strong nontheless... while the lights are on and i am looking the plant over, i make sure to keep the overhead fan on high and let her sit under it for an hour or so and keep the closet doors open so they air out too. im sorry for hijacking your thread and asking this question,but my rambling DID actually have a point no one had asked (or had the balls to admit they had such a lame-ass setup... im pathetic... i know ) about a "still" air situation. If my post doesnt need to be up i wont say a word if you remove it.

 

[KidCreole]

yeah, not sure where all the self-loathing came from, but my question still stands...
i think.

 

[BongJuice]

Here is a way to make carbon filters for less than $3 each,they take about 30 minutes to make & all components & materials can be bought at any meijers store.

As for attaching them to what you need to there are several options,there is always duct tape in a pinch but i connect mine using hose clamps from the hardware store,the hose clamps make it easy to take the filter off if needed & is more secure that tape.

These work every bit as good as a $80 carbon filter i bought off of ebay & cost less than $3 each & about 2 hours time to make 4 of them,its not getting any cheaper than that.

I don't have any odor issues, but I was curious to see if your idea would work.
I made one exactly the way you did and attached it to my exhaust fan with a 4 inch hose clamp.
It cut down my exhaust by more than 75%.
The reason why it doesn't work is because when the exhaust blower is sucking in air, it only has that area where the filter is to suck in air.
Now if the area that it was sucking in was in the shape of a tube (Say 12-18 inches long) the exhaust blower would have more cubic inches of air to suck in, and it wouldn't cut down your exhaust as much. It's still going to cut down your exhaust some. But not as bad as your idea.
Nice try Panhead....But I'm going to have to give it a thumbs down.

 

[panhead]

I don't have any odor issues, but I was curious to see if your idea would work.
I made one exactly the way you did and attached it to my exhaust fan with a 4 inch hose clamp.
It cut down my exhaust by more than 75%.
The reason why it doesn't work is because when the exhaust blower is sucking in air, it only has that area where the filter is to suck in air.
Now if the area that it was sucking in was in the shape of a tube (Say 12-18 inches long) the exhaust blower would have more cubic inches of air to suck in, and it wouldn't cut down your exhaust as much. It's still going to cut down your exhaust some. But not as bad as your idea.
Nice try Panhead....But I'm going to have to give it a thumbs down.

I'd love to see a pic posted (promptly) of this supposed filter in action,how it was installed,what exhaust fan it was connected to ect.

Also, where are you getting your numbers from,you quote "75%" as if your measuring the actual cfm output of your exhaust ,if you are measuring exhaust cfm please let me in on the method you are using to accomplish that task,that shouldnt be too hard an accomidation should it

Nice try bongjuice but im giving you a massive thumbs down for being a petty ass man who holds a petty ass grudge, then letting it carry over into a thread designed to help people with little cash to spend on a filteration system.

Not only a big thumb down on you personally as a man for your childish & petty posting of falsehoods but a negative feedback to boot, for letting your pettiness carry over out of toke n talk.

Come back with verifiable measurements of what you spew or beat it

 

[KidCreole]

any thought your panheadedness?

 

[panhead]

any thought your panheadedness?

Sorry for not keeping up with the questions,in your case you can do something but not with a standard box fan or an oscalating fan,you'd need to buy an inline fan or a squirell cage fan,then mount a filter onto the intake side of the fan,the air that comes out the other end in the form of exhaust will be cleaned,you can set the fan/filter combo on a table,attach it to the ceiling or any place that gets good air flow,this method is proven to work,allthough not as well as true ventilation it does work & will control your odor if enough air is exchanged.