OMG!!! SERIOUS odor problem, but I have....

ok, back from work now. I was going to reply to each of you indivuldualy, however that would be just way too difficult and confusing So here we go, my attempt to reply in one big MONEY shot!

Before I mass reply, i want to thank ALL of your for your 411 and replys!

* Im going to purchase some of those crystal gel thingies in a jar tommarrow. Hopefully that will do the trick

* But STILL with this $250 Can filter that is only 60 days old should NOT be letting my attict and front yard smell!!!

* I did read the Roseman thread, it was awesome, however it did not help my specific situation

* I have a 1700cfm fan and the BIGGEST filter you can buy AND a speed controller hooked to the fan. I have experiemented with the lowest setting/middle/ and full blast and STILL MAJOR skunk smell shooting out of my attict

* I would NEVER post without previous research. Im not an idiot buddy

* No, my humidity RARELY goes over 40%. Ozone generator huh? Hmmm, maybe I will see about purchasing one tommarrow.

* Also tried to turn off my OS fans to see if that made a difference. Unfortanutely that did not help

* My filter/flange/ducting on my filter/fan is air tight. i even used a SHIT load of foil tape ALL around them!!

* yes, my grow room is sealed. And my house is 45 years old.

* The fan and filter are matched. The fan can pull up to 1700cfm but I NEVER run her that high. I have a speed controller and keep her at "low"

and a couple more notes. I am in only my second week of flowering of my VERY first grow with the Shavia Skunk strand ( a first timers best choise) so I have been told

and today, I went up into my attict expecting to get hit with the skunk smell from the front yard (and side of my house) and to my suprise it DIDNT smell!!?? I then crawled over to my exaust ducting (from the grow room) grabbed it and looked down into it and saw my fan working properly. It had only a very faint smell coming from the it? So I said out loud WTF!!!???

I then immediately ran down and out to my front yard and sure enough it STILL smelled like bigtime SKUNK!!!!!!????

WTF!!??? I have never heard of this before. All the best equiptment, hooked up properly, with on 6 plants.

again, thank you for ALL your replys guys

-B

whats your humid at? if your humid levels are to high it makes it harder for your can fan to work

brett silva said:

and today, I went up into my attict expecting to get hit with the skunk smell from the front yard (and side of my house) and to my suprise it DIDNT smell!!?? I then crawled over to my exaust ducting (from the grow room) grabbed it and looked down into it and saw my fan working properly. It had only a very faint smell coming from the it? So I said out loud WTF!!!???

I then immediately ran down and out to my front yard and sure enough it STILL smelled like bigtime SKUNK!!!!!!????

WTF!!??? I have never heard of this before. All the best equiptment, hooked up properly, with on 6 plants.

again, thank you for ALL your replys guys

-B

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I hate to bring up such an obvious possibility, as im sure you've considered it, but could it be that you have a skunk near your house? A little paranoia mixed with a real skunk?

Well, other things to try:

Exhaust out a roof vent as high as possible. Maybe it builds up in the attic, instead of being taken away and dissipated in the wind.
(i exhaust way up high, and ive never smelled anything outside, and i do check)

Ozone Generator. they actually change the smell.

Ona bucket. This month's hightimes has an article (Jan, 2010, "growroom security secrets) with several suggestions, including plans for making a contraption that may be perfect for your attic. Sorry i dont have any links; Hightimes makes you either buy the paper mag, or pay for it online, but its still on the shelves as of today.

I wanna live in your neighborhood.

Is your prefilter dirty? I had to change mine about every 10 weeks (had perpetually dusty rafters in basement tho).

Change it often--it is cheap ($12-20) and both increases efficiency and extends life of CAN filters.

BUT...You are running a 14 max fan, correct?
AND... you say the filter is about 4ft/100lbs...which would make it a 100, or possibly a 38Special 125 (I have my store catalogue handy )---it appears that your fan MAY really be too strong.

Also...One way to check for leaks in your seams is to take a lit joint into the garden (for a few secs only) and you can watch to see how effeciently the air (via watching the smoke) travels into the filter--kind of waft or carry it past all the seams and see if smoke is being sucked in through seams/leaks or if all the air is being scrubbed thru the filter.

I always used my circ fans to direct the air in the general direction of the filter.

Did you say whether or not your room is sealed? That will totally make a difference too.

good luck

try the ona block or gel and if u still have it u prolly got a skunk in the area or under your front porch dont shoot the fucker either u wont ever get rid of the smell

I think you have your numbers wrong, like I said before if you are running a can 100 with a 14" fan then you either need a larger filter or a smaller fan. The standard can 100 has a max cfm rating of 840.

Are you running the fan continuously 24/7? If it is turning off by thermostat or something then that will allow the smell to escape from the room through every little crack.

Is your intake on the side of the house where the smell is strong?

When it is running, take a lighter or joint and test around the cracks at your door to make sure the flame is sucked into the crack actively, confirming that you have negative pressure in your room preventing smell from seeping out anywhere as long as your fan is running.

If that is all good, then I'd disconnect the exhaust hose and run it as a scrubber briefly to be sure it is actually removing the smell. If it does that effectively I see a few possibilities:

- Most likely too fast airflow
- perhaps the filter is not filled entirely to the top allowing a little smelly air through without being cleaned
- skunk smell has another source, either animal or neighbor's plants?

If you don't smell it in the attic and this is a home how about in the crawlspace under the house? Maybe you have positive pressure in your room or your whole house which is forcing the smell out any crack it can find, and you just don't see where it's coming from because it's barely leaking out all over.

Make sure the grow room has negative air pressure so the only air going out is via the filter.

Also only buy ONA GEL if you are going to try that, (I use it too) not any other crystals in a can as you said.

Do you have a fan on the air intake for the room? No no no, that would cause positive pressure.

how about a pic of the fan ? you have a good can filter not sure why any one would tell you to to make a small d.i.y if that filters not working there is something wrong. how fast is the out going air moving? i would think its something to do with the fan.

Gentlemen, thank you again VERY VERY VERY much for your replys and 411

Here is the latest. I went to my grow shop today and the crew there has absolutely NO idea why this is happening.

Just a quick refresher, I am currently into my first grow.
My girls are in the 2nd week of flowering with only 6 plants of medical marijuna (they vegged for 60 days) and as of 4 days ago I have a HORRIBLE STRONG skunk odor exiting my vents from my attict onto my front porch and in my front yard. The smell is ONLY in my front yard (for everyone who walks by OR comes over to visit can smell) and STRONGEST is at my front door!!


As I failed to state earlier to the forum here is that my filter is the Can 2500. It was $360.
And my filter is only 60 days old.
And again the fan sitting on top of it is a 14" Max Can fan.
and the fan has a speed control and is always at the lowest setting and yes, the fan does run 24/7
and it is not a skunk or my neighbors because I used my ladder, set it up on my front pourch and smelled into the attict and smelled it BIG TIME!!!!! So I know its my babies and my filter is not working.

I did buy the Ona gel/crystals (in a jar for $20) today. And get this guys, this is what happened when I brought it up into my attict:
As I mentioned earlier, when I go up into my attict there is NO SMELL. And also , when I grab my ducting (from the 14" vent fan down in my grow room) I feel the air shooting out into my face (from the grow room) with STILL NO smell! And also, there is only a very slight smell in my actual grow room. But outside it is not a slight smell, but it's a MONSTER smell! Anyway, as I crawled over to the vent up in my attict closest to my front door (vent #1 out of 8 in my attict exiting to my front yard) about 6" inwards from the vent itself, 6" above the insulation and 6" down from the roof, THERE WAS THE SMELL!!!!!!!!! And it smelled just as bad as it does in the front yard.
So, I pured some of the Ona into a plate, placed it in the vent housing, then went down and back outside to the front yard to test smell. And guess what..............the smell was STILL there!! Now, it wasnt as bad, cuz I did smell some of the Ona. So maybe 15% improvement

I then went back up and put plates with gel in ALL of my 8 vents. It took a while to say the least
The gel in all 8 vents didnt make the skunk smell go away, just maybe 30/35% tops

So, my theory is this. For whatever reason, my filter did not work. And all the bad air just shot into the attict and got absorbed into the insulation for the last 80 or so days. And Im thinking since its been so friggin cold that somehow released the smell up and out of the attict.


This is some crazy but scary shit fellas.

In my next post, I will reply to everyone. Thanks again

I'd blast that attic with ozone.

Did you see my post about positive pressure in the grow room? What you describe is exactly what happens. You don't smell it in the exhaust or the attic but you do smell it at a very specific place where no air should be coming out thus no smell.

There is positive pressure in that room period or no smell would get out.

You must change it so you have negative pressure. Or keep digging around in the attic insulation for the skunk that crawled up there and died.

Cold weather doesn't release smells it reduces it, so the insulation soaking up the smell doesn't make sense. That's easy to test, grab a handfull and smell the insulation and see if that's the cause.

stinkbudd1 said:

you want to find roseman go to the bubblephonics /bubbleheads tutorial

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Yes rosemans will be better from the look of it good luck with it I haven't read the rest of the thread so I dont know if you got it all worked or not yet.

brett silva said:

My girls are in the 2nd week of flowering with only 6 plants of medical marijuna

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medical marijuana, as in you have a card for it? then let it reek the place up, fuck the po-lice! haha jk man.. im kinda worried about odor in my apt too cuz i have a tiny ass apartment, and will probably have 3-4 plants flowerin in there. the whole buildings gonna smell delicious lol. but ive already talked with the landlord and he knows im growin medicinally so im not too worried. good luck though, all ive heard about controling odor is that ONA gel and then the DIY carbon scrubbers

Hey OregonMeds thank you very much for your replys.


I did a few things after reading your latest post. I went to my grow room and checked the intake of fresh air which is coming from under the house via 6" inch ducting and there is NO SMELL whatsoever. So, totally clean fresh air.

also, as far as negative pressure goes, I think Im good. I only have one door into and out of my grow room and when I shut the door, the air from inside actually tries to resist and fight me. And I have a BOATLOAD of wheaterstripping around the door to keep the door and the room sealed.

and also, I think the Ona gel has worn off. The smell in the front AND side of my house is just absolutely OUT OF CONTROL!!!!! ANYONE should know that Im growing pot now!

and yes, I do have a card and Im only at 6 plants here in California, however with a $360 filter there should be NO way a cop should be knocking on my door.

Looks like I have to try the ozone tommarrow

If there is any smell at all that means there is an odor leak or your carbon filter is not working. Go invest in a decent carbon filter! It will remove nearly all smell, and if your entire neighboor hood is smelling than you better hurry your ass.

jnuggs said:

maybe a stupid question. Is your fan's CFM so high that it pulls the air across the carbon too fast?

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what kind of set up do you have??? cause for only six plants it seem like you have way to much fan there. shit i have two six inch inlina fans with carbon filters for 16 plants. Plus if you dont have a fan speed controller you could be running your fan way to fast. This could render your filter useless. And if your humidity is over 60% percent the filter is basically useless as well...

my bad i juz saw that that was already covered ...LOL

Xtensity, I have a $350 2500cfm MEGA filter thats only 60 days old that didnt work? Maybe, or maybe not.
Anyway, tommarrow I will remove my 60 day old filter and bring it BACK to the shop I got it from and RETURN that shit for another one! Hopefully it is a lemon. Now if the BRAND new filter STILL doesnt work, well then, fuck, I think I have to shut the girls down