Question about Carbon Filter

I am worried about the smell from my future grow. Will the carbon filter completely eliminate all odors related to the grow? It's a very sensitive issue and all smell must be a non issue. Help please, thanks!

To use the term "completely" makes it a difficult question to answer. I use a "soup" can filled with activated charcoal on the end of my exhuast and it helps a ton but when the tent is opened yes the smell at times can be overwhelming. I started using those little glad plugin air fresheners, 1 in each of the 4 closets rooms and one in that same room and it helps a bunch. Sometimes i even burn a scented candle to help eliminate the odor when i know i am going in. a description of your setup would help prompt possible solutions. Good luck.

Thx for the post. I'm looking into a 4x8 tent, sealed.

I use a bought charcoal cannister in my tent and exhausted into my home for 6 months without any odor until ya got within a few feet of the closet it was in....later, ran an exhaust duct to a flue but have been very pleased with the action of my char can....it's about 9 months old and still does a stealthy job....

A good carbon filter will. I can stand in front of the exhaust fan and put my nose up to the fan and cant smell a thing.

plan something ahead for harvest i have a filter in my tent but when i take down plants and trim it smells really strong and has no problem filling up a two story house and mayby outside if someone who dosnt smoke cigerettes walked by.

Bro. Carbon Filters are zero smell kept dry and off and covered if your doing any kind of spraying..dont put them on timer to work 24/7 and if your tent like most are a room within a room .the inner room Carbon filter for example 8X8X7 room 6" inline fan (Vortex is good} with a 16"X30" Carbon Filter (Phat,Active Air}..Your intake fan will need to push enough air into the room so as not to create a zero pressure.
The outter room needs its air scrubbed as well to insure zero smell. Ahigh end room air purifier can help there, or you can get a smaller carbon filter with a 4" inline to stand alone . you can use them like end tables and you want be sorry .. Ive gotten as much as 18 months use but happy with a pure 12 months.

It depends how sealed your grow area is, if the only thing exiting is going through your carbon. then there will be little to no smell as long as the carbon filter is good. With sealed environments though, you really need to make sure you have good ventilation or you'll run into humidity and temp issues. If it's not a very sealed grow room, you may still catch small wiffs of it every so often.

Thanks guys for the tips. What is easier to control? a sealed tent or a tent with intake/outake?

a room with passive intake is easier to control. all the air, even if its not airtight, that leaves the grow area leaves through the fan sucking it through the filter. so no chance for it to escape and smell.

Filter what you can and mask the rest.

igalig said:

I am worried about the smell from my future grow. Will the carbon filter completely eliminate all odors related to the grow? It's a very sensitive issue and all smell must be a non issue. Help please, thanks!

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Short answer is NO. It certainly helps, but simply having a charcoal filter doesn't mean there will be no smell whatsoever guaranteed. Depends on a lot of things; what strain you're growing, how good your ventilation system is, where your exhaust goes, etc. High humidity makes the filter work less efficiently, too. Its not unlikely that at some point it might smell like weed at some place in your house or yard. The key questions are, Is there anybody that will smell it? and Will they know what it is? My system I ventilate back into the room its in (my basement.) Usually when the lights are on I can smell a little something in the air, in the basement only. It doesn't carry into any other rooms in the house. Usually it's not too bad. Of course, I know what the smell is and I know its there. But other people, especially people who don't know what it is, probably won't pick it up. My wife knows I grow because I told her, but if I didn't she might have figured it out on her own. But I also have kids and in-;aws showing up all the time, and they don't have a clue.

I could probably try venting through a dryer vent or something, and in that case it's a good chance that there might be a very faint smell in my back yard near the dryer vent. My grow is very small, though. I'm not too worried about it. Bottom line is, odor control needs to be an ongoing concern.


If you're worried about other people in your household smelling it, then a carbon filter is a necessity, but don't just assume that if you get one then odor is not going to be an issue. It still is; a manageable one, hopefully, but an issue.