Carbon Scrubber, a bit confused

Hello there. I am setting up a grow in a DR80 tent. Planning everything out, and I am looking at carbon scrubbers, both retail, and DIY.

A lot of the carbon filters I see have the duct opening on one end, and a solid end on the other. To me, that means it goes at the end of the chain, all of the exhaust ends up going into the filter. Is this correct on the models I am seeing with the closed end?

My confusion is because, well, I have 2 questions.

1. Wouldn't the filter being the "dead end" for the exhaust build up pressure inside? And if so, wouldn't that end up being a bad thing?

2. I would think that the carbon scrubber in the beginning of the chain would be better since the inline fans are better at pulling than pushing. Is my thinking misguided? And if in the beginning of the chain, wouldn't both ends of the scrubber need to be open for air to fully flow through them?

Ok, Educate me on the carbon scrubbers, and where you put them in the chain. Thanks.

Carbon filters can be used both ways you mention above......they wont restrict air...no pressure builds up because that is how they are designed....max air flow...now diy ones have that problem...they build up pressure unless you have a good design....now if the scrubber was open on both ends it would not filter anything air would just go right through....the inside of the scrubber is empty.....the carbon is line up with mesh on the sides.....that is why you pull or push air through and why the end is capped off...you can place the scrubber in or out the room it is in.....some people chain them up high within the grow room and pull air through it...some people set it in or out the room on the floor and put the ducting up high and push air through the scrubber bot work equally well...

jcdws602 said:

Carbon filters can be used both ways you mention above......they wont restrict air...no pressure builds up because that is how they are designed....max air flow...now diy ones have that problem...they build up pressure unless you have a good design....now if the scrubber was open on both ends it would not filter anything air would just go right through....the inside of the scrubber is empty.....the carbon is line up with mesh on the sides.....that is why you pull or push air through and why the end is capped off...you can place the scrubber in or out the room it is in.....some people chain them up high within the grow room and pull air through it...some people set it in or out the room on the floor and put the ducting up high and push air through the scrubber bot work equally well...

Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply. Still a little confused. If you put a carbon scrubber that has a metal capped end at the beginning of the chain (Scrubber, ducting, fan, exhaust), How does air get pulled through a metal cap? How does air enter the carbon scrubber?

On my DIY scrubber i have it at the end of my exhaust, the fan pushes air through the filter. I also have a metal cap on the end. The reason the cap doesn't block air flow is because the sides of the filter are made of a material that air passes through. Essentially the cap on the end is what causes the air to have to flow through the filtration media. Same theory applies if you are pulling air through the filter.

Ahh ok, Well that makes sense. Thank you very much. In some of the pictures I have seen of the retail carbon scrubbers, the whole thing looked encased in a solid material, so that is why I could not see how air would enter.

Which leads me to one more question. I saw a DIY where the guy used some plastic pipe fittings, a couple pantyhose and vents on each side, and filled the main body of the piping with activated carbon. Are filters such as these effective, or do they just block the air once it hits the wall of carbon?