Why is there still smell outside my apartment?

So, I've been having a slight odor problem because I moved my plants to a larger room and didn't have a working carbon filter/fan for about a month.

Now, I've purchased an expensive S&P TD Silent 800 fan and a Can-Lite 800 carbon filter..

And the smell has maintained at pretty much the same level.

I am both surprised that there wasn't as much smell before and that there is still smell right now.

There is also a slight smell inside the grow room that has lingered.

What could it be? I've spent almost $1,000 on this and I'm not getting results..

depending on how big and how dank your plants are a carbon filter may not be quite enough. i had to get a inline ozone generator as well.

do you just have it blowing the air in the room? or do you have it exhausting somewhere?

a dont know about your problem ( probly shitty brand ?idk)

but an old vetran told me one sunny day that uses " fish tank active carbon rocks" is his filter and they get rid of all stinkyest weed smell......and never fails him .

lol there canfilters and there all prob made in china anyway. but the size of your plants and how many plus how good they are can easily over power a carbon filter. specially one that your not exhausting properly.

i have 2 1000cfm and a 650cfm with 4 1ks so there is a to of odor that they need to get rid of. if your just blowing the air right back into your room its possible that it could be pushing air out of your room that hasnt been scrubbed

I use an Ozone generator,
A friend gave it to me as a gift.
It has a simple timer on it like an old cooking timer.
I keep it next to my A/C Air Handler, I turn it on for 5 minutes and you smell nothing, not even the smoking I doing at that moment.
Run it for 15 minutes and it smells like a sterile room and I could cook Curry and no smell will linger.
Ozone Must be on a Limited timer as it is poisonous in large quantity.
Bless,
DZ

How bigs the crack on the door?

How do you have your filter and fan set up??

Are you pulling the air from the carbon filter?

Need more info. If you are not getting negative pressure in your space you could be leaking. Also, the smell can lingerie depending on how long ago you put in your scrubber. If your pushing through, instead of pulling, you can get leaks.

You could also have leaks at any connections that need to be sealed.

I would check for leaks, and maybe add some ona gel.

I have an 880M3/h fan blowing air out of the room and no intake. I have plenty of negative pressure.

I simply can't figure this out.

In what order do you have your ventilation set up? for example my set up is like this

carbon filter directly taped to inline fan>>>>>>ducting>>>>>>reflector>>>>>ducting>>>>>>>reflector>>>>>>>ducting to outside

(>>> represent what way air flow is moving)

I had a similar problem as you.......I noticed when I had my inline fan placed before blowing the air outside the odor actually was worst than no filter.Well what happens is that the reflectors and ducting have small leaks that would suck dirty air out because of the placement of the inline fan and the small leaks(no matter how much aluminum tape you use you will still have small leaks)......placing the fan on the other end actually blows the air thru the reflectors and ducting making it impossible for unfiltered air reaching outside as long as your filter and fan have a good seal when connected together.

This is how i had it before with the problem

filter>>>>ducting>>>>>>reflector>>>>>>ducting>>>>>>>reflector>>>>>>ducting>>>>>inline fan>>>>>ducting to outside


hope this helps

Are you growing in a tent or just directly in a room? If you are growing directly in a big-ass room where you cant control your air pressure...

Good luck on one carbon filter scrubbing that one.

Go check as many bar and restaurant bathrooms as you can until you find one of those battery powered fragrance released spray things. Itll be hanging on the wall, usually white. They spray every 30 minutes. Steal it. They work really well. Or go buy one at the grow store. But if your broke steal it. Besides the ones at the grow store suck compared to the industrial ones.

jcdws602 said:

In what order do you have your ventilation set up? for example my set up is like this

carbon filter directly taped to inline fan>>>>>>ducting>>>>>>reflector>>>>>ducting>>>>>>>reflector>>>>>>>ducting to outside

(>>> represent what way air flow is moving)

I had a similar problem as you.......I noticed when I had my inline fan placed before blowing the air outside the odor actually was worst than no filter.Well what happens is that the reflectors and ducting have small leaks that would suck dirty air out because of the placement of the inline fan and the small leaks(no matter how much aluminum tape you use you will still have small leaks)......placing the fan on the other end actually blows the air thru the reflectors and ducting making it impossible for unfiltered air reaching outside as long as your filter and fan have a good seal when connected together.

Click to expand...

But even if you have small leaks in the ducting, the air would just leave the duct but eventually flow back into the filter, no?

I don't have my lighting and my fan/filter connected. I used to, but now my cooltube is 5" and my duct is 8", so I can't.

I just use the cooltube with no fan in it and I cut a hole in the ceiling to where the filtered air goes up.

So, it's just:

Filter >>> Fan >>> Duct >>>Attic

TheYokel said:

Are you growing in a tent or just directly in a room? If you are growing directly in a big-ass room where you cant control your air pressure...

Good luck on one carbon filter scrubbing that one.

Click to expand...

Why? I have a 10 M3/h room that is scrubbed perfectly by a 240 M3/h fan.

So an 880 M3/h fan can't scrub a 20 M3/h room? Don't see why, man.

Trackr said:

Why? I have a 10 M3/h room that is scrubbed perfectly by a 240 M3/h fan.

So an 880 M3/h fan can't scrub a 20 M3/h room? Don't see why, man.

Click to expand...

Depends on how his apartment is set-up... does he have a room between the grow and the front door?

Or when he says the outside stinks, does he mean he is venting it out a window and can smell it?

If his room has open doorways than he is pulling air from more than just that 20m3 room. Where in the room is it located? Is it in the back of the room, and there is a door in the front?

Does he have a fan pointed at a door that is blowing air at a faster rate than the filter is sucking in?

There are a lot of reasons it might not be able to scrub the room to the level he is looking for.

I have a 12x8x9 room with 1 950cfn phresh filter with a 740vortex fan on it, a 400cfm8inch w a 300 something fan and a 400cfm 6inch with a 300cfm something fan on it 3 filters and i am pretty unsmellable. Slow your dan soeeds down some and have the filter just reciriculate in the room to scrub all the air. A few times. The entire area of my room is 860 and i scrub air the air 2.5 times in 1 minute

Trackr said:

1)But even if you have small leaks in the ducting, the air would just leave the duct but eventually flow back into the filter, no?

I don't have my lighting and my fan/filter connected. I used to, but now my cooltube is 5" and my duct is 8", so I can't.

I just use the cooltube with no fan in it and I cut a hole in the ceiling to where the filtered air goes up.

So, it's just:

Filter >>> Fan >>> Duct >>>Attic

Click to expand...

1)Not if you have it set up like the second example....dirty air would be sucked thru the leaks never making it to the filter

Okay you have it set up like I do but not to your cool tube..........Maybe the attic where your air goes might be the prob, if it has nowhere to go it could be pushing the air back into your grow area causing unfiltered air out through your doors/cracks,but you say you have plenty negative air pressure......something has to be wrong if your having odor problems obviously.I have 1 small filter in a 16x20 area with no odor issues at all.Been using the same filter for years.Only other thing I can think of is if your relative humidity gets too high then the activated carbon stops working.

TheYokel said:

Depends on how his apartment is set-up... does he have a room between the grow and the front door?

Click to expand...

Yes, the living room.

I placed the end of the duct going into the living room instead of the attic and there was way more smell outside the apartment.

TheYokel said:

Or when he says the outside stinks, does he mean he is venting it out a window and can smell it?

Click to expand...

No, of course not. There is no smell coming from the end of the duct.

The only place there is ever any smell is in front of an apartment on the first floor (I'm on the third floor).

TheYokel said:

If his room has open doorways than he is pulling air from more than just that 20m3 room. Where in the room is it located? Is it in the back of the room, and there is a door in the front?

Click to expand...

It's just a regular room. I keep the door shut.

TheYokel said:

Does he have a fan pointed at a door that is blowing air at a faster rate than the filter is sucking in?

Click to expand...

What? No. The fan is rated at 700 M3/h. The fan is rated at 800 M3/h.

TheYokel said:

There are a lot of reasons it might not be able to scrub the room to the level he is looking for.

Click to expand...

I can't think of any that apply.

anzohaze said:

I have a 12x8x9 room with 1 950cfn phresh filter with a 740vortex fan on it, a 400cfm8inch w a 300 something fan and a 400cfm 6inch with a 300cfm something fan on it 3 filters and i am pretty unsmellable. Slow your dan soeeds down some and have the filter just reciriculate in the room to scrub all the air. A few times. The entire area of my room is 860 and i scrub air the air 2.5 times in 1 minute

Click to expand...

I don't understand. You're saying I should vent the air into the room instead of the attic? How would that work?

jcdws602 said:

1)Not if you have it set up like the second example....dirty air would be sucked thru the leaks never making it to the filter

Okay you have it set up like I do but not to your cool tube..........Maybe the attic where your air goes might be the prob, if it has nowhere to go it could be pushing the air back into your grow area causing unfiltered air out through your doors/cracks,but you say you have plenty negative air pressure......something has to be wrong if your having odor problems obviously.I have 1 small filter in a 16x20 area with no odor issues at all.Been using the same filter for years.Only other thing I can think of is if your relative humidity gets too high then the activated carbon stops working.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I had the same setup. A small 240 M3/h fan/filter. Worked like a charm for over half a year.

Now I come to replace it.. and this happens.

I checked the duct and there are no holes. It's insulated, as well.

Can't figure this out..

Trackr said:

No, of course not. There is no smell coming from the end of the duct.

The only place there is ever any smell is in front of an apartment on the first floor (I'm on the third floor).

Can't figure this out..

Click to expand...

You are forgetting Occam's Razor... the simplest answer is often the correct one.

You have zero smell in your apartment. Zero smell on your floor. Zero smell in your attic.

But it smells outside on the first floor.

Someone on the first floor smokes with the window open...

You need a room scrubber to continually scrub air. Get another carbon filter for when your exhaust. The exhaust filter should be bigger then exhaust fan. You will then virtually have no smell as you have one filter continually running in the room and the other one for exhaust