Damn, rough luck! But who knows, maybe a bunch of dudes won't be so bad haha. At least they won't be bitchy every 3 weeks =P
Hehe, your math is right...but there are other things to consider. The whole thing regarding negative pressure (or "suck") is that if your vent system is strong enough to (even slightly) suck in the sides of your tent, it automatically means nearly every molecule of air in your tent is exiting through your filter. If the tent is zipped up tight, a small PC fan with no filter is probably enough to vent appropriately. The filter, however, is another issue altogether. Filters provide resistance, sometimes strong resistance, that has to be overcome via a certain amount of pressure. This means that your fan has to be strong enough (provide enough CFM's) to push (or pull) the majority of the air through your filter rather than reversing direction and escaping back into the tent. A 100mm (~4") PC fan only moves 17-30 CFM, but the filter you've linked has a minimum recommended CFM of 100. That doesn't mean that NO air is getting out your filter, but chances are that a lot of it isn't. But, I trust your judgement- if you couldn't smell anything, then you couldn't smell anything. But it does make me wonder what other factors are at play.... Maybe the tent being closed all the time + the closed closet are enough to keep the smell contained? Maybe the strains you grew were very mild on smell? Maybe most people who complain about horrible smells aren't using grow tents and CFL's....maybe they're using MH or HPS and thus have to vent but weren't using carbon filters at first. Or maybe most people aren't using tents + closets...I can't say I've heard a first-hand account of a small tent grow creating huge smell issues, but I haven't heard the opposite either. Or maybe most people don't just grow 4 plants at a time. Or maybe your setup was JUST enough to make all the difference. So in the end.....who knows, but it'll be interesting to do a little more research into this. One question though- when using a PC fan, what kind of power supply or transformer did you use to power it?
I'm confused. Are you saying this is good or bad? Do you want "every molecule" sucked out? When I set it up, I put the fan in first, then ran the hose to the filter location. I put my hand on the end of the hose and it felt like a decent amount of air. ???? This is not a dedicated PC fan. I bought it at the hydro store. It was a fan that they had set up in the exact tent I bought on the floor display. It came with a plug. I understand what your getting at but I really don't have any answers other than mine didn't smell to a level that I was uncomfortable with. Nothing, NOTHING like before I got the filter. When I walked into my house upstairs, I could smell it immediately. Part, I'm sure was my imagination and part was it was reeking from 3 weeks on. After I got the filter, I could vaguely smell it when I opened the door to the storage room but it was for literally, one second. ???? I don't know bro.
Interesting! Is it more like a duct booster or a square/round cage fan? The more I think about it, the more I don't want too much vent power. 1) because of noise, even if just intermittently, 2) because during winter my house is cold and I'll want as little venting as possible to control temp and odor, and 3) because I may eventually need to run a fan 24/7 for odor control, and if I do then I need it to be a weak fan on purpose to preserve as much heat as possible. With that in mind, I think I might do [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Suncourt-DB204-Duct-Booster-17551/dp/B0002HTFIE"]this fan[/ame]- 65CFM (not 80 like it says); should be just strong enough to pull air through a homemade carbon filter, and only $26 with free shipping with Amazon Prime. Even if the filter reduces the net output CFM by 92%; that's still more than the 4 CFM needed by the formula.... It sounds like you're pushing air out of the tent into a filter. If you can feel suction from the tent side with the filter installed, you should be good. However, another note is that I've read several sources which suggest sucking air through the filter is better than pushing it through. This would mean having the filter on the tent side and the fan pushing in the "open" direction. That's how I've read most people install them. Can't prove it's better though >).
Since our grows are so similar I thought I'd give you an update on mine.... I had 5 strong plants of 4 varieties going and started flowering 2 weeks ago. The good news is that the males showed themselves right away....the bad news is that I've only got 1 female. And it was the skinniest, weakest, single-cola plant of them all! One intermediately-healthy plant still thinks vegging is cool, so it's hanging out for now, but I have high hopes.... I'm kinda glad I didn't make clones because I would never have made a clone of my pathetic confirmed female, but I'm going to go ahead and make clones of the vegging one in hopes that it's female and just flowering later like females tend to do... Anyway, some pictures; I went from picture 1 to picture 2 .