Help Choosing The Right Inline Fan

Hey all...looking for some advice on inline fans. My room is 6x5x8...Im completely clueless on the topic...Im planning on air-cooling my light but its mainly for odor as Im only using a 150 watt hps. From what Ive read if my room is roughly 180 cubic feet than I'd need a fan that could circulate that air 3-5 times a minute. So a fan thats maybe 400 some cfm? As far as matching a carbon filter I'm not so certain on what I'd need. Please help me sort this out and feel free to post links to items that would work. Im hoping to spend about $250 for an inline fan and filter that will cover this size room. If I cant find something for that price I might seal off half the room and cut a vent hole so I'd need less cfm. Thanks for the help!

This is a good guide:

Ventiliation Explained - Part 1 | BGHydro

Thanks for your post...would this fan be enough for my room? The rooms 180 feet cubed so in theory I'd only need to have a 48 cfm fan to remove air once every 5 minutes...but is once every 5 minutes enough to remove smell completely? I'm hoping this fan filter combo would fit the bill HTG Supply - A GrowBright 4 Tall Boy Fan & Carbon Filter Combo | Fan Filter combo any thoughts?

If you need quality filter and inline fan try : CAN fan 6" and CAN Carbon filter or VORTEX inline fan 6" and PHRESH carbon filter ( both fits perfectly ) . CAN require flange installation , PHRESH carbon filter ready to install right from the box . Both Phresh and Can are quality products . Both filters comes with prefilters so there is no need to buy one . Vortex inline fan comes with mounting brackets and 10 years warranty . Not sure about CAN but I am sure it has good warranty as well.

If you are on a tight budget, carbon air filters are really easy to make with stuff you can get from HD and the hardware store. I made mine and it works great.

There are several threads on this.

Do not cut corners , do not save on your security . Home made or sweat shop made filters are better than nothing but they do not stand close to quality filters which will give you 100% odor protection and peace of mind .Do it right from the first time. If budget is tight save money and buy quality filter.

Do not cut corners , do not save on your security . Home made or sweat shop made filters are better than nothing but they do not stand close to quality filters which will give you 100% odor protection and peace of mind .Do it right from the first time. If budget is tight save money and buy quality filter.

Sorry, usually agree with you but you are 100% wrong on this one. DIY carbon filters are every bit as good a ones you buy from the store. The reason for this is that a carbon filter is a very simple piece of equipment. All you need to do is make sure your air is drawn through, well, carbon. Plus, they are easy to test, all you need to do is smell the output, if it is working, no smell.

All a tubular filter is is an inner mesh to hold the activated carbon, and outter mesh to hold the carbon, an outer dust filter, a cap on one end and an outlet on the other. That is how the store bought filters are made and that is how you make a DIY filter. Same exact construction. Same materials. Same performance.

The store ones are really no better. The ONLY reason to buy one from the store is convince.

Simple ? Sure it does look that way but then why there is many reports that some no name filters does not perform well and no negative reports on top brands ? Let me give you one simple example . I have Phresh silencer and from both ends it looks the same inside and out . Design at the first look is extremely simple : just a metal tube with two ports ( one on each end ) and sound proofing foam inside . BUT!!!! When you connect your inline fan to the wrong port ( keep in mind both ports looks the same and only sticker on the silencer will point to the port which should be connected to the inline fan) so if you connected to the wrong port it does not silence inline fan what so ever , but as soon as you connected to the right port you an hear significant ( at least 50%) noise reduction..... Why? It is so simple ... But abviosly it is not. Same thing with home made carbon filters.... Quality filters do what they made to do , last longer, perform good in Above average humidity environment . The problem with people who advocate home made filters is they never had a quality filter before to compare and see that it gives you protection you need.And I'll bet you can not find grower who switched from top quality carbon filter to home made with questionable performance , but there is plenty of people who realized that illusion can not suppress the odor . If you made one and if it is truly good filter ( Ill be totally honest i have big doubts) then post the specs of your filter, how often do you replace it , how mush does it cost . So others can copy it ....I am sure you know that not all types of carbon can be used for odor

Edited by RO76, 25 May 2012 - 05:12 PM.

Simple ? Sure it does look that way but then why there is many reports that some no name filters does not perform well and no negative reports on top brands ? Let me give you one simple example . I have Phresh silencer and from both ends it looks the same inside and out . Design at the first look is extremely simple : just a metal tube with two ports ( one on each end ) and sound proofing foam inside . BUT!!!! When you connect your inline fan to the wrong port ( keep in mind both ports looks the same and only sticker on the silencer will point to the port which should be connected to the inline fan) so if you connected to the fringe port it does not silence inline fan what so ever , but as soon as you connected to the right port you an hear significant ( at least 50%) noise reduction..... Why? It is so simple ... But abviosly it is not. Same thing with home made carbon filters.... Quality filters do what they made to do , last longer, perform good in Above average humidity environment . The problem with people who advocate home made filters is they never had a quality filter before to compare and see that it gives you protection you need.And I'll bet you can not find grower who switched from top quality carbon filter to home made with questionable performance , but there is plenty of people who realized that illusion can not suppress the odor . If you made one and if it is truly good filter ( Ill be totally honest i have big doubts) then post the specs of your filter, how often do you replace it , how mush does it cost . So others can copy it ....I am sure you cone that not all types of carbon can be used for odor

Sorry man. You are just completely wrong. Here in CO there are a lot of growers that know each other. The big commercial grows don't bother with DIY, mostly, because they pay labor costs. The growers I hang with all used homemade filters, and honestly, laugh at people that buy them from the GS.

It is just not that complicated to draw air through carbon.

I am not trying to argue about it . All I am saying that home made filters are better than nothing but they far behind quality filters . That is all. I personally would never make or buy some filer with questionable quality , but this is just me .

I am not trying to argue about it . All I am saying that home made filters are better than nothing but they far behind quality filters . That is all. I personally would never make or buy some filer with questionable quality , but this is just me .

Yea, I agree, I don't want to argue, but I don't want people mislead.

Since you use the same materials to make a filter that a brand name manufacture uses, the quality will be the same if not better. This is really the easiest DIY thing you can make in a grow.

I have made my own ballast, but you need electrical knowledge. Made my own cloner, etc. They all work just as well as one from the store, and of all those, the filter was by far the easiest to make.

I just don't want folks to believe that they need to buy the fancy grow stuff to have good equipment that works.

Marsdude - I tend to agree with RO76 a bit here...

While I definitely agree with carbon filters being of relatively simple construction - I don't think most people could construct one that performs to the level of a good quality bought one. I mean, there's carbon and there's carbon! I can't even get close to the type I need where I am - and without the right carbon you're not going to get anywhere.

Also - how many people who assemble their own filter can work out the ratings for airflow, particle contact time and longevity...

Serious kudos to you if you have been able to construct an efficient ballast on your own! Your DIY and electrical skills are far above the average on this forum I'd say (especially if it rivals a good quality digital ballast, Wow.)

Personally I'd like to have a go at a DIY light mover....

Thanks for the input everyone--Ive been looking at building my own and I figure why not give it a shot...if it works great if not ill buy one. Got a 4 inch can fan on the way right now.

Marsdude - I tend to agree with RO76 a bit here...

While I definitely agree with carbon filters being of relatively simple construction - I don't think most people could construct one that performs to the level of a good quality bought one. I mean, there's carbon and there's carbon! I can't even get close to the type I need where I am - and without the right carbon you're not going to get anywhere.

Also - how many people who assemble their own filter can work out the ratings for airflow, particle contact time and longevity...

Serious kudos to you if you have been able to construct an efficient ballast on your own! Your DIY and electrical skills are far above the average on this forum I'd say (especially if it rivals a good quality digital ballast, Wow.)

Personally I'd like to have a go at a DIY light mover....

Honestly, if you feel you could wire up a lamp, you could probably build or repair a magnetic ballast. Really easy.


You are over-thinking the filter thing. Filters use activated charcoal, very easy to find or you can use a carbon filter sheet from HD, that is what I did. If you are worried about air flow, find what size commercial filter is rated for that air flow - and replicate it.

Here is a link to a thread on how to build a very easy carbon filter. I pretty much did this only I used two filters wrapped around each other:

http://forum.grassci...-step-step.html

You can also build one that uses the loose activated charcoal if you need scrub the air more.

Like I said, these are easy to make, cheap, and - they work just as well as the commercial ones. How do I know - I can smell! You can test these after you build them!

I would venture a guess that probably 80% or more of the home grows out there would be fine with a filter made from that thread. If someone had a bigger grow, they would just have to make a bigger filter.

I am done in here....