Aroma

[woodydude]

As some of you may remember, I have an issue with aroma. No, I smell fine (at least I think I do), it is my house that stinks of mj!
There is an isolated spot in my hallway, right in front iof my front door that always seems to smell. My theory is that the smell is coming from a light fitting and smoke detector that are located there and this area is right under my grow room.
I have tried ONA, I have a carbon filter with an exhaust fan which sucks in the sides of the partitions in my grow room. Basically I have tried everything I can think of except a tent. I dont have the funds for a decent tent and will not buy a cheap one from ebay.
What do you think about this.
There is a crawl space between the bedroom with the grow and the ceiling with the light & smoke alarm fixtures. If I set my intake fan to suck the air from the crawl space instead of the loft, will that stop the smell? I will be drawing the air from the crawl space, thereby creating negative air pressure in there.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[King Bud]

I don't think taking air from the crawl space will work too well because it won't allow for decent airflow, but maybe it's worth a try.

There are insulation products designed for light fixtures and wall sockets, which could seal the leak. I think it's a latex spray foam, but I'm not sure if this is the one that's safe around electricity.

You could make your own tent with some plastic sheeting surrounding a wood frame. "Panda film" (poly film) has good reflectivity, and can usually be bought by the foot. Velcro tabs could work for the door.

It might be worth considering how you'll be drying your plants. If you plan to grow right after this crop, you may not have any lightproof areas in your carbon-filtered room to hang them. With a tent, you could plan for seperate veg/flower/dry areas, all vented through a carbon filter.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

All my intake air comes from my crawl space. I don't know if it will help your odor problem, but the air in a crawl space in generally warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. I personally find it to be an excellent choice for intake air.

You can use spray foam insulation to close gaps at electrical outlets, smoke detectors, etc.

 

[blancolighter]

Are you running your fan and filter 24/7 or only with lights on?

 

[woodydude]

Thanks for the replies guys.
KB, The room is already partitioned in the way you mention, apart from the floor area. I stripped the room yesterday and laid plastic across the floor to see if that would help but it is too early to say. I also run a perpetual harvest system so my drying is done elsewhere.
THG, I used the spray foam on the old warm air heating system and would not like to use it anywhere near electrical sockets. I rent, so if the owners need access to those sockets it may be hard to explain why they are stuffed with expanding foam. Lol. If the crawl space is good enough for you THG, it will do for me also!
Blanco, I am only using the fan/filter with lights on. It is a bit too noisy to run 24/7 though it is fixed to a wall right now so the vibration doesnt help. I am looking to change my whole air flow strategy and moving this fan so I can run 24/7 is a priotiry.
Thanks again. W

 

[OldHippieChick]

I noticed you said you weren't interested in the cheap ebay tents. I've had no issues with my cheap ebay tent and it was suggested by another tent grower here who's now running three of them. Mine was right at $100 with shipping. I'm very happy with the product.

 

[Locked]

I think the cheaper tents on ebay get a much worse reputation then they really deserve most times. I am sure there are people peddling garbage out there but just a lil bit of research can usually keep you away from them. I have 3 "cheap" tents from ebay and love them. Anyone who knows me here or on other forums knows I have done a bunch of grows the last cpl years and all were done in those tents save for my very first grow. They are still in good shape even after all the abuse me and my cat have put them through...lol
The brand name tents are better....I can't even argue that point and wld not try...but you can get good tents on ebay in the 100-130 dollar range shipped depending on size. Tent grower for life you cld say....they just make life so much easier. JMO

 

[blancolighter]

Well man, if you are only running your fan for 12 hours out of the day, thats gonna be a huge smell issue there, as well as drying your weed in a place that is not getting carbon scrubbed. I would suggest correcting these issues to fix your smell problem. It shouldn't matter where your intake is coming from in regards to the odor. If you have enough cfm going to create negative pressure in your grow space, you should be fine. If its too loud for you to run your fan 24/7, I would suggest making that your issue to address. You can buy insulated vent tubes or look into how those vortex fan mufflers are made and make one yourself for cheap with parts from home depot. You can also get a piece of dense foam to put between your fan and whatever its mounted on so it stops vibrating. As far as drying in another room too, you're creating another whole smell issue elsewhere, if at all possible, build some kind of drying box IN your grow room so the smell can be contained there. If you fix these problems I can pretty much guarantee that your smell issues will dissipate.

 

[woodydude]

OHC & Hammy, thanks for the andorsement about cheap tents. I do fancy a tent but finances wont stretch to one just now. How I have my space partitioned is a wooden frame, plastic sheeting, diamond mylar to create an enclosed space however the floor is not sealed. Strangely enough, after the suspected hermie a friend had got me paranoid so I gutted & cleaned my room at the weekend and it seems to have cured the smell issue, for now anyway. I still intend to try the fan drawing air from the crawl space though.

Blanco, thanks for the interest fella. The methods you mention to baffel the sound of the exhaust fan are what I intend to try once I get round to it. I have a camping floor mat just itching to be cut up! I have a couple of cool tubes arriving this week so it will be a good opportunity to change the layout slightly and stopping that noise is a must!
As for the smell coming from drying, I said "elsewhere", meaning not in this house. I dry over at my partners place since that is where it mostly gets smoked lol. I have a large cardboard box roughly 1m cubed which I put string across the top and it has 4 computer fans, 2 in 2 out blowing through it.
I will get it all sorted, strange how I started this thread and it seems to have gone away for today! No doubt tomorrow will be a different set of problems.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

THG, I used the spray foam on the old warm air heating system and would not like to use it anywhere near electrical sockets.

Huh? They use this type of expanding foam around electrical boxes, light fixtures, smoke detectors, and any other penetration that allows air to enter or escape all the time on new construction and remodels.

 

[Classic]

Huh? They use this type of expanding foam around electrical boxes, light fixtures, smoke detectors, and any other penetration that allows air to enter or escape all the time on new construction and remodels.

Electrical outlets and switches are notorious for being places that are bad for air leaks. It's really common to seal them for energy savings. If you don't want to use the spray foam stuff, you can buy gaskets for them. The gaskets are not permanent and easily removed.

hXXp://www.amazon.com/Gasket-Covers-Electrical-Stopper-Gaskets/dp/B002TIHKZE

 

[glderguy]

Yes if you dont want to foam due to your landlord go with the gaskets. I certainly know how landlords can be at times! Maybe 24/7 fan operation would help as well. I have one of those cheap tents and really like it. They make things really easy for set up and compared to the crap, wood frames/plastic, etc I used to build many years ago even my cheap tent seems like a Rolls Royce, I like it. Good luck with your odor control.