Venting for C02 in sealed room

So I know the title is confusing. But I’m a little confused myself.lol. I just got my mini split in and although my room was setup with the intentions of being sealed I dont have money at the moment to buy the C02 equipment. So I will need to pull in air to replace the C02 in my room every so often but I don’t want to vent out my cooled air. I have 8 and 6 inch fans and filters. I’d prefer to have the 8 running all the time as a scrubber since it’s new but haven’t made any decisions yet, atm it’s setup to vent to the attic, but that was supposed to just be temporary as I know venting to the attic can cause some issues. I do have an intake that draws air from the rest of the house so it’s a fairly controlled intake temp.

Rooms size is roughly 8x11x11

Do the exhale bags work goood enough that I could get by with a few of those ?

Ghetto yeast/sugar Co2 generator temporarily if i was stuck in your situation but get the real thing as fast as you can.

I suspect you will need to take that hit. Air exchange will require venting out the stale to bring in the fresh.
At what intervals to exchange is the next question.

Is it primarily the Co2 controller cost?

No the bottles are the prohibiting cost at this point I think they 130-150 a pop and gonna need 4 as I have to drive kinda far to get them.

Yeah I’m wondering if I just set my speed controller on lowest setting and maybe even swap out the 8 inch fan for my 6 inch fan and run it slow 24/7.

Awesome having that mini split.

If you get a Co2 meter up and running you will know your Co2 level....to help know if/when you need to bring in fresh.

It happens. Found my Co2 was sucked down into the low 200s one morning. Oops...my bottle ran out. My bad.

Yeah I need to get a meter, at this point I’m way over budget like buying rolls of tape to finish out the panda plastic hurts kinda over budget . Lol. I had no idea electrical wire was so expensive and then the mini wasn’t near as cheap as I thought was gonna be after buying linesets and what not. I will go check out amazon for a meter tho and see what I can find. I wanted to just wait til I had the money and get the whole Argo trolmaster setup.

So do you think a 6 inch fan turned as far down as it can with speed controller pulling thru a big can filter could run 24/7 for now to pull in fresh air and keep the smell down. I have never ran without negative pressure.

If I have to set it on a timer I’m not sure what to do about the intake since when there is no negative pressure the smell will leak out the intake.

Apalchen said:

So do you think a 6 inch fan turned as far down as it can with speed controller pulling thru a big can filter could run 24/7 for now to pull in fresh air and keep the smell down. I have never ran without negative pressure.

If I have to set it on a timer I’m not sure what to do about the intake since when there is no negative pressure the smell will leak out the intake.

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You use a backdraft damper https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Air-736982-Back-Draft-Damper/dp/B004JKDNG0/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=6+inch+duct+damper&qid=1557949340&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Herb & Suds said:

You use a backdraft damper https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Air-736982-Back-Draft-Damper/dp/B004JKDNG0/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=6+inch+duct+damper&qid=1557949340&s=gateway&sr=8-3

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How much pressure do they take to open I was literally just typing that question out about dampers, just not sure how much pressure it needs to open, I would hope it opens before my plastic starts sucking off the walls.

Apalchen said:

How much pressure do they take to open I was literally just typing that question out about dampers, just not sure how much pressure it needs to open, I would hope it opens before my plastic starts sucking off the walls.

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They open easily I have two 8 inch

awseome man thank you. So here the plan then I will use a reducer to go from 8 to 6 inch on the duct to the attic then hook up my old fan and filter that are 6 inch. The filter is getting old but I’ll clean it up and should work for the few mins an hour it runs. Then I’ll scrub the room with the 8 inch filter. For intake I’ll just use one of those dampers.
Do I need a damper inline with the carbon filter for when it’s off?

I need to find a timer that has less than 15 min increments and the damper and that should be all I have to buy at the moment unless you guys see any inherent problems with this. I know I shouldn’t vent to attic and it won’t be by winter when it really matters. Just this first run will have to be without C02 as I’m tapped out atm.

I made some alcohol lamps with 3/8" copper tubing soldered to a mason jar lid, tiki lamp wicks and fueled by methyl hydrate from the hardware store. I have a simple CO2 controller but like you, no cash for a tank as yet. Need a portable AC/dehuey unit too so I can run a sealed room mainly to keep my humidity up as it's real dry here.

In a 10x10' room it gets the CO2 over 1500ppm in 15 min or so. I made a smaller one that uses smaller tubing and a cotton shoelace for a wick. Can run that all day burning much less fuel so I'm not having to keep running downstairs to light the wick or put it out every half hour. Kept in a metal can for safety but I've been doing it for years with no problems. We used to use the same thing in science class in junior high so if it's safe enough for a bunch of kids it should be OK for adults.

When the wicks burn down to just nubs the flame is barely visible but you still get lots of CO2. I was doing my testing when it was well broke in. Crappy soldering job that I have got better at. If you keep the propane torch on the tubing more it won't melt the seal around the lid and can pull the wicks back so they are barely above the top of the tube. I use a couple of wire nuts to snuff them out and keep on top to reduce evaporation when not in use.






I tried something that would put out a lot more CO2 faster but ran into heat issues.



This is the controller I bought for around $270. The same one with digital readout was $200 more. Ouch! I have the flow gauge and solenoid already so just need a tank and gas. Made in Canada! Wishing I'd got the better one so I could run the CO2 at double the normal atmospheric level of 400 but I can set this to run at 1000 and put it on a timer so keep the level a little lower than that. During the stretch I want 1500+ tho.

Apalchen said:

awseome man thank you. So here the plan then I will use a reducer to go from 8 to 6 inch on the duct to the attic then hook up my old fan and filter that are 6 inch. The filter is getting old but I’ll clean it up and should work for the few mins an hour it runs. Then I’ll scrub the room with the 8 inch filter. For intake I’ll just use one of those dampers.
Do I need a damper inline with the carbon filter for when it’s off?

I need to find a timer that has less than 15 min increments and the damper and that should be all I have to buy at the moment unless you guys see any inherent problems with this. I know I shouldn’t vent to attic and it won’t be by winter when it really matters. Just this first run will have to be without C02 as I’m tapped out atm.

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By chance, does running that scrubber combo perform 90% of odor control?


Here's a timer on my wish list that goes down to 1 minute.
https://www.amazon.com/Century-Heavy-Digital-Programmable-Outlet/dp/B071KXV73N

1 second.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07H1D267F/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

TintEastwood said:

By chance, does running that scrubber combo perform 90% of odor control?


Here's a timer on my wish list that goes down to 1 minute.
https://www.amazon.com/Century-Heavy-Digital-Programmable-Outlet/dp/B071KXV73N

1 second.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07H1D267F/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Am not sure what your question is? I actually hung the new filter from the ceiling last nite that was part of my worry was finding somewhere out of the way to mount a filter that big. I am still trying to figure out if I just want to run that filter on a timer and duct out to attic for now or hook up my smaller filter and fan for that and let this one Just scrub the air. I wish there was a way to have a y and hook up like a damper that would open on a timer so the same fan that’s scrubbing air could exhaust every so often too. Is that possible? Just trying to get best smell control possible and this is be newest filter.

If your asking if scrubbing the air by itself will remove odor by 90% I’m not sure as I’ve never ran without negative pressure.

A stand-alone fan/filter combo is what I was referring to...




...running 24/7....recirculating and scrubbing the air of odor. So the room never reeks! At the same time, it's catching and filtering huge amounts of dust, lint, hair, and any other crap flying around. And helps with air circulation....possibly eliminate a fan.

Almost zero odor in my lil 4x8x8.

Yeah I had hoped to run my large 8 inch fan with the big can filter as recirculating like u just posted. To do that I’ll also have to hang my 6 inch fan and can 66 filter. Problem is the filter is over a year old, since I’m only gonna use it to vent out to attic on a timer at like 5 mins an hour or so to keep ambient c02 up I’m thinking maybe it would still work. I’ll upgrade it as soon as I can and when I go fully sealed after getting c02 I can put it in the veg room. I figure having one in the veg room which sets across the room from my flower room will help pull any extra odors out that escape the flower room.

Apalchen said:

No the bottles are the prohibiting cost at this point I think they 130-150 a pop and gonna need 4 as I have to drive kinda far to get them.

Yeah I’m wondering if I just set my speed controller on lowest setting and maybe even swap out the 8 inch fan for my 6 inch fan and run it slow 24/7.

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Got mine from coca cola 25$ deposit 15 to refill