Hello. I'm making a PC grow box. My biggest concern is odor. The PC case is approx. 20" x 20" x 10" interior. I have a few questions about odor elimination and ventilation: a) i have a 6in duct fan pulling out air at the top, mounted to a 140mm fan spot with a lot of foil and duct tape. Would this be too much or too little air? b)I was looking into Ona Odor Control, activated carbon/ carbon filters, and oscillating fans with ionizers. I was wondering which would suit a grow this size? Thanks!
a) I don't think to much air is possible. Personally I would have more cool air intake than exhaust. b) Carbon filters are best but for the space you have thats impractical so your best bet is the Ona Odor Control.
A passive intake with dual carbon-filtered exhausts is what I would recommend for a PC grow, or similar sized small area grow. There's not much area space in there and 2 120 MM PC fans on full power should be enough to keep a slow negative pressure on the inside of the container. If you want more air flow for heat control then a fan on the inside can be used, and maybe an intake fan. It depends on how hot your setup runs on what will be needed. Passive intake is working perfectly for me on my grow in my sig.
Thanks for the advice guys. I still do not want to make any quick decisions, as i need this to be very effective (practically no odor, unless the PC is open). I was half asleep last night, and i definitely could have included more details so: a) I'm using 4 100w equivalent cfl's. 2 are 5000k, 2 are 6500k (may upgrade to all 4 being 6500k) b) I made a carbon filter out of the 6in duct using this guide: http://forum.grasscity.com/do-yourself/557994-carbon-scrubber-step-step.html I took it apart, but it can still be reattached. Do you think this would work as it's own exhaust/ odor eliminator? Note: The 6in duct fan doesn't fit exactly on the box (grated circular spot on back of comp). The outer 3/4 in of the diameter of the fan is on the solid box. The rest is on a grated circular part. How much would this reduce the fan's effectiveness? The fan specs claim to pull 150cfm. Thank you
It depends on what your ambient temperatures are like. If it's too cold, you may want to get a fan controller to decrease the speed a little. Also, with it running full speed, it will be way louder than any pc fan by the way. How many cfm's does it pull? I would calculate the cube feet in the pc box and go look at bongsauce's micro resource thread, which will help you calculate how much cfm you want from the fan in order to keep it a certain temperature above ambient with certain wattage. I've never seen it but I do hear there can be wind burn from too much wind (usually happens on plants constantly in front of the fan). Carbon filters are very difficult with case fans but works well with duct fans. It might make it much less stealth though. ONA pro works very well. I would also pick up a Hamilton Beach TrueAir carbon scrubber. It's extremely cheap ($10), available at home depots, and works decent for a micro grow. For the ventilation questions, I would ask bongsauce as he seems very knowledgable and helpful.