need help with my cabs odor

I built a cab it's 42"h x 36"w x 17"d. I have a s&p td-100 on the low setting running 24/7. My intake is 2 4" midget darkroom lovers. When the fan is off i get a lot of odor leaking out thats why i leave it on. On high setting it is worse but on low 24/7 i get the least smell. It happens several times a day and it seems worst when i shut my bedroom door. My cab is sealed as good as i can make it. No light leaks at all. Whats i am doing wrong? Not enough intake?

Maybe a dumb question but you don't mention anything about a carbon filter, You do have a carbon filter hooked up to the S&P TD-100 right?

Yeah i have a 4 x 10 ipower filter only two months old

Do you know the CFM rating for the filter? Maybe the fan is not supplying enough static pressure. You will probably have 50% of the fans rated CFM once you attach the filter.

No i dont. I re did the connection between the filter and fan gonna see if thats it. It dosent stink all the time thats what is getting me so frustrated.

Maybe not enough passive intake. The general concensus for passive intake size if 2-3 times the size of your exhaust and in this case you have 2 times the exhaust but maybe you need 3 not 100% sure. The fan is blowing air out of the cabinet also correct? I don't understand why the smell is worse on high either. Unless your carbon filter is bad and fan needs to be on low to give long enough contact time with the carbon bed. You said you have only had the filter for a couple months, how was it stored and has it ever been in high relative humidity?

your intakes sound good enough, I had smell problems on my last grow with a 6" carbon filter, and i found later that I had pin hole leaks in the flex ducting heading out of the box, so make sure your ducting , tubing is sealed well, is the fan pushing thru your carbon filter or pulling?,, also there is a need for a miniumum airspeed across the carbon, if its too slow it is not as efficiant , the smell can be worse on high because of these microscopic leaks , see if you can look down your exhause tube from the outside while the grow room is dark and your light in the cab is on, you will easily be able to see any leaks at that time, I was surprised when I found me, and when i sealed them the smell was gone

Its pulling through the filter exiting out the back of my cab. I notice when i close my bedroom door it seems to smell up the bedroom. I'll look at the exhaust tonight when lights come on. I was thinking i might not have enough negative pressure because if it was a leak it would smell all the time not just some of the time right? The filter is two years old i bought it new and stored it in my closet until i could grow again. Its been in the box in the bag just chillin.

When the filter was stored was it sealed up in plastic? A carbon filter will not be effective if it has been stored at all over extended periods without being sealed because it will pick up the moisture from the air and clog the pores.

You can wash and recharge that carbon!

Use a mild biodegradable soap in RO or deionized water. Put in the carbon and swish it around for about 15 min. Drain and rinse, 3 times, soaking/swishing the carbon for 10 min the first 2 times.
Now dry it and bake it in an oven at 250 deg till dry.....The heat does the "recharge" as it dries out. The mild soap removes any accumulated oils that it may have absorbed (only in the surface pores [on the carbon] are where these oils get trapped).

This is how a major drug company does it's lab filter carbon.

P.S. You might try the oven recharge first as that has good effect if your whole filter fits and you don't feel you want to tackle removing the carbon....Be sure to take off the white "prefilter" first.

I checked the exhaust hose and sure enough lit up like new years. I duct taped it up real good. No more light. Now lets see how it helps.

It was stored wrapped up in thick plastic. I dont think its my filter. Once i wrapped the exhaust i didnt detect any more odor in it.

Thank you all for the help + rep comin at cha

Glad you got it figured out. Keep us posted.

dufiwon said:

I checked the exhaust hose and sure enough lit up like new years. I duct taped it up real good. No more light. Now lets see how it helps.

It was stored wrapped up in thick plastic. I dont think its my filter. Once i wrapped the exhaust i didnt detect any more odor in it.

Thank you all for the help + rep comin at cha

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Yup mine was the same way lots of pin hole s , Christmas tree is a good description

Alright guy's im still getting some smell occasionally. I think my carbon filter maybe getting too much rh. My rooms average is about 70%.

I also am in week four of flower, even my exhaust hose still has pinholes even after duck taping it, I stuck another carbon filter on the exit hole from my grow cab, so the big filter is inside the box and then the fan, then one foot of hose then my small homemade carbon filter, I bought five pounds of active carbon on eBay for fourteen dollars, and put one pound of it in the second filter, so now I am pulling and pushing thru carbon and all. And I mean all smell is gone again, pretty happy. Can you do something similar to get you thru this grow?

Im in week 7 of flower. Im almost done with this crop. Its the future crops im worried about. I wont continue unless i can get 100% smell proof. Also after putting my hygrometer inside the cab its only 40% rh. After this grow im going to replace the exhaust and see if it fixes completely.

dufiwon said:

Im in week 7 of flower. Im almost done with this crop. Its the future crops im worried about. I wont continue unless i can get 100% smell proof. Also after putting my hygrometer inside the cab its only 40% rh. After this grow im going to replace the exhaust and see if it fixes completely.

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I am right there with you, mine also has to be 100 percent smell proof or, 100 percent stealth, funny you should mention that, I too am going to do allot of work on my grow cab after this crop, things have to get better, the patches I am putting in place are working, but it needs improvement,
you can get 100 percent no smell, but it takes effort, and reading reviews helps, but that too is not perfect, some guy will say a fan is quiet, but he is in a bedroom and going out a window, where as I sleep next to my box and its a functioning bedroom and bathroom, I cant have a dedicated grow room,
what is quiet to one guy is a jet motor to the next, and purchasing 150 dollar fans to try them, and find out its not as quiet as someone says, then you have to return it,, or take a loss,
same goes with carbon filters, who to trust,,
I hate trail and error,, lol
good luck with your grows,

This time of year, the problem is probably heat. Carbon filters don't work much above 80 F. Test your air temp right next to the filter and see what you got.

Inside my box is running around 82 with 40-45% rh. My room stays around 70 and 65-70% rh. I think i need more intake and to refill my filter with better carbon.

some people report these work http://www.ebay.com/itm/271544738213?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
also carbon refills http://www.ebay.com/itm/290992862909?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT