I am setting up a carbon scrubber made out of a 6" tall, 4" diameter metal mesh pencil holder with a 1/2" layer of activated charcoal for my 4'x7'x4' grow box with 5 plants. Can anyone suggest a good fan for ventilation? Thanks, Dan
so you got 112 cu ft in your grow area.. so your gonna want a fairly powerful inline fan. you will need to double to cfm of whatever fan you plan to choose based on your grow rooms size because a carbon filter usually cuts down on the flow by about half. in my much smaller grow room i use the s&p td-100 because it is really quiet and powerful at 100 cfm per minute. now this fan probably wouldn't be powerful enough for your room, but that style of fan would be something to look into. if i am not mistaken i think you need to replace the air of your grow space once every 5 minutes or so. in that case 112 cu ft/ 5 =22cfm x 2 for filter so you get 44 cfm- this is according the the ventilation FAQ thread (which you should read). this is only for fresh air, not temperature control. so depending on the lights your using and heat issues, you might want to double or tripe that number. then i would suggest a passive intake and a small fan inside to provide air movement for your plants. check out the ventilation faq its got alot of helpful stuff. good luck let me know if i can direct you to anything else my friend and i'll try and help
Thanks much for the info lighteningChief. Checked out the ventilation FAQ sticky which was greatly informative. Thanks for the refernce to the inline fan supplier- best prices I've seen. My only concern is the noise level of the fan. the website said so but would you agree that the fan you use is relatively quiet compared to other simlar fans?
although it is pretty quiet, i was actually expecting it to be even quieter, but with my closet door open im sitting across the room and you can hardly hear the fan but it is noticeable to me because i know what it is. its just the rushing air from the exhaust duct that you hear. some solutions to this problem would be a DIY exhaust dampener, or you could get a speed controller and dial down the speed of the fan until the sound is at a manageable level. i have also read that after putting on the the carbon scrubber the fan will quiet down even more, but i have yet to make my scrubber. in my closet with the door shut you can walk right up to the door and not hear a thing, only i know what the very dull hum is inside . i wish i could think of a good comparison to the volume that the fan operates at, but the only thing i can think of is it is about as loud as a 4inch desk fan if that helps at all... glad i could help! good luck
Cool beans. the sound level will be fine. Installation looks managable. Just need to finalize my carbon scrubber design. I would prefer to filter thru activated carbon rather than a carbon matte filter for the scrubber. Air filter would be easier to set up but I'm thinking activated coal would be more effective in eliminating odors. Still brain storming but I'll post up what I decide to do and how it goes
Cool man if you want check out my grow you can see how I mounted my fan to my cabinet and ran the ducting. You can also see where I put my passive intakes. I don't have a link but if you view my other posts it's under the thread "1 plant grow cabinet" hope it helps you some. If you have anymore questions let me know