Smell outside of the house -- even with 3 filters

Discussion in 'Security' started by biggerbud11, Nov 16, 2014.

  1. After doing a bunch of stuff, I can still catch the smell of pot outside. Driving me nuts! I will walk around the house and catch a whiff of it. Not all the time, and pretty faint. But distinct enough that the wrong person smelling it would cause me some serious problems.
     
    So here's my setup (all in basement):
     
    1 converted room, about 350 cubic feet - 11 plants (4 to 6 ft tall) - 2 1K lights (air-cooled, filter)
    1 5x5 tent - 6 plants 4 ft tall  - one 1K light (air cooled, filtered)
    1 table in lung room with 600 watt T5 sunning about 20 clones in veg (smell not too bad)
     
    Both rooms are in a basement. My last harvest was a complete stink-fest outside the house for the last month of flowering (maui-waui, AK47 and an unknown).  So this time around I made some improvements:
     
    big room: 2 6x20 carbon filters with 400CFM fans. 
    tents: 1 6x20 carbon filter with 400CFM (nominal) fan. 
     
    Carbon filters are all VENTECH -- cheap but heavy as hell. One is 8 months old, the others about half that.
     
    I'm guessing I'm pushing roughly 600CFM through these rooms after filter/light loss. All are currently set up as:
     
    filter -> fan -> light -> out of room.
     
    All output air goes through a vent box into my furnace room and that air likely goes up the chase into the attic mostly. Furnace room has 1/2 gallon of Ona gell sitting in it (where the air enters from the other rooms).
     
    Options on the table:
     
     
    Do you think its my cheap filters or I'm having some other issue? They are pretty well-reviewed on Amazon.
     
    thanks!
     
     
     
     

     
  2. You might need to add another fan and filter to combat that smell. Or try growing a less smelly photo.
     
  3. Get a good filter if you're worried about smell..CAN or Phresh makes good filters. Stay away from the cheap ones..I've found they don't work half as good.
     
  4. I am thinking about hanging a 6x24 Phresh with a Hyperfan in my furnace room (where the 600CFM of air exhausts to). Have that just pull air into the filter and expel it right back into the room (kind of like a secondary filter system). Seems (slightly) cheaper than $500 of new filters.
     
    My other suspect is the room itself -- I have put plastic on the drop ceiling and duct tape to the walls. But the walls themselves have no plastic. But I doubt that stink goes through the wallboard? Is that possible?
     
  5. Go with a phresh filter and you'll never want to buy the cheap stuff again. I use their inline and have before my fan

    And smell can easily go through drywall bro. Its designed to breathe. I build houses for a living ;)

    Get some panda film on there, real cheap for a roll
     
  6. #6 DazedAndStoned, Nov 26, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 26, 2014
    You have any windows down there too? Smell will go past windows that are not sealed properly when installed. Should be spray foamed, if not you may feel a draft, smell more than likely may seep through there as well if you feel a draft
     
  7. There is a person living near me. He was growing. He lived next to a busy highway. Everyone that drove by his house could smell the plants in his backyard. It was obvious. I don't think he got ripped. I wish you luck bro.
     
  8. Ok, I'm running some ozone into my exhaust room a week ago. I'm cycling it every couple of hours for a few minutes. Seems to help some but maybe 9 times out of 10 I can catch a whiff outside. Not strong considering I'm at the tail end of flowering, but I want zero smell outdoors. What is maddening is that there is no smell like this smell anywhere inside the house/crawl space/attic. Only outside, and only an occasional wind current.
     
    I hung a 6" vortex with a phresh fan in my exhaust room tonight. Essentially scrubbing the exhaust air one more time. Hopefully this is the end of this. I'm planning to by three 40" mountain air filters to replace my cheap ones. If that doesn't do it, I'm out of ideas.
     
    No windows in the actual grow rooms, but the lung room does have 2 windows. Theoretically, the tent and the windowless grow room are under suction from the three 440CFM fans running 24x7. The lung room doesn't smell.
     
  9. #9 bushsmokerkushsmoker, Nov 30, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 30, 2014
    On my way to school I used to smell strong weed smells everyday, I narrowed it down to 2 houses. One time I saw a guy come out one of them smoking what I thought was weed, so I said "I can smell your grow op from out here" winking, and he started going on about what he's growing...safe guy
     
  10. Could it be someone else's Grow near you?
     
  11. Try putting cedar chips (mulch) around the foundation of your house.  That should cover it up pretty good.  An ozone generator in your basement on a cycle timer would be a good idea also.
     
  12. It honestly could be the age of the filters.

    I know with can fan filters your supposed to replace the carbon every year. With the amount of "smell" running through your cheaper ones, they may only be effective for a few months.

    Just a thought.
     
  13. have had mine for over 2 yes and still works great!
     
  14. any portable a/c units being exhausted from the grow room? They have caused me odor issues many times..
     
  15. Could it be from your clothes? Outside you might be getting some wiffs off your shirt or whatnot. And If your house is getting on in years it could be leaky.
     
    Try scaling back your grow if you can't solve it another way. 
     
  16. #16 fssalaska, Jul 17, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 17, 2015
    I see this is a old thread but I have had the same thing happen to me.


    This is the way I stop the smell of stank ass strains like blue cheese and critical kush
    It cost a bit but staying out of jail is priceless..


    1.I have used many filters over the year and the best ones I have found that are sold locally are the 8x40 CanLite filters.


    2.If the filter starts to poop out in late flowering I put another one under my house where I vent.
    So one filter in grow room *stink - filter - blower - ozone if you want vent outside - then another filter, works awesome, and hell with what people say about sizing fan/filter always run a bigger filter than your blower is rated at.


    3. Using a older filter to polish the air in your grow room at harvest time also very helpful.


    I change out my filters about every 2 to 3 crops and even at harvest time you can walk around my house or come inside and don't smell anything..


    Stay safe people.

     
    • Like Like x 1
  17. i like the cedar idea. Matter fact I had a friend that used to carry a small his weed in a fresh cedar box as it blocked the chronic aroma.
     

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