odor control

[Acolyte of Zinglon]

a thread about the various methods of odor control, please keep in mind my tendency to focus the threads i start around myself, my ego can get rather assertive and im a compulsive planner.... if you have something to contribute, please just chime in

I've used a carbon scrubber in an 'open' room and it fucking rocked. Gave the room almost a sterile smell. Just set it to suck the ambient air in past the filter and blow out fresh smells. Mine was a borrowed commercial one ... I'm not DIY but I'm sure someone with some carpentry skills could knock one up in no time.

i hadnt considered this before, it would enable me to grow in my room without bothering anyone else in my house, it would also eliminate others' complaints about my use of incense, cause after i was done i would just turn on the carbon scrubber

i have known about this tek from the shroomery to make a diy carbon scrubber, im pretty sure the ethnogarden is open to the public
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/7675537#Post7675537

also, other methods ive hear of are negative ions and ozone, ions would be a good backup, but ozone would be out cause thats he room i sleep in...

i make my own co2

 

[vaporcloud]

I have also used ozone and it also works very well but has its own odor and in large volumes isn't suppose to to be that healthy. I certainly didn't like enhaling the ozone laden air They are also a bit noisy if its a fan driven one ... something else for you to think about if your using a carbon scrubber coz they are fan driven also to which equals noise unless you spend up large of brushless fans etc.

 

[Acolyte of Zinglon]

i usually sleep with a fan on in my room anyway, as long as it isnt too loud it shouldnt bother me

 

[Spiderman]

The carbon scrub thing is somewhat of a possibility, but a carbon scrubber that can handle a large room is not small, and requires a pretty decent sized fan to push it....

 

[Acolyte of Zinglon]

true, thats what i was thinking, my room isnt small but it isnt huge, a carbon scrubber could at least get the odor down to a level which it would be manageable

that being said, im a light user, and autoflowers are small plants, usually yielding just under an ounce each. i would be growing 10-12 plants at a time and reserving a female to produce seeds every so often, as its useless to try to clone autoflowers

if i can get a viable means of odor controll, i would be delighted to grow an autoflowering blueberry strain, otherwise its the mild mannered master kush for me

also, as an alternative to activated carbon, i have heard of something called carbon cloth, it is supposed to have the same properties as activated carbon, only it has more surface area, im wondering if this would be cost efective as it seems it would be more expensive to manufacture

 

[Purple-Days]

even without the filter, isn't an exhaust away from the living areas (negative pressure) a good idea?

 

[VapOracle]

Hello Acolyte of Zinglon,

Is it Ok to talk about this sort of thing here? If so, cool!

Assuming it is, *ahem* smell is obviously a bit of a problem, yeah, but choosing a low-odor plant is probably easier than trying to make or buy a carbon filter. When it comes to Autoflowering types (Lowryder and it's crosses), I'm aware of a few choices for low odor grows

The Original Lowryder
Pros: Practically odorless, apparently. Also, very discreet looking.
Cons: fairly small yields, average smoke

Little Red Ryderhood
A cross made by dutchbreed.com. Lowryder crossed with a red haired skunk.
Pros: Claims to be low odor, a good yielder and very strong
Cons: I've not seen anyone grow these, so 'buyer beware' as they say. Plus, I'm not sure about shipping to the USA.

Masterlow
from Mdanzig. Master Kush x lowryder
Pros: Apparently nice stuff, low odor and a fairly good yielder. Mdanzig is a very reputable AF breeder.
Cons: Seems to be out of stock in a lot of places - not sure about a US distributor

That's all I can think of, personally, but there may well be ones out there I don't know about.
My personal fave is Lowryder 2. A lovely, giggly smoke and a reliable yielder, but it does start to honk a bit in the last few weeks. Not an overwhelming smell, but i can get a bit whiffy.

Another option is an air ionizer, which causes the odor particles to fall out of the air (I think). Still, they are rather expensive and I have heard worrying things about them generating ozone, which can cause skin and lung irritation and generally isn't very good for you.

 

[Acolyte of Zinglon]

well im planning on getting my medical card in a couple months anyway, so itll all be legal for me

i was planning on ordering the autoflower master kush from dutchbreed, as dutchbreed seems to be a really solid company, theyre almost never out of stock, and their stealth shipping is top notch from what ive heard. the original genetics of the master kush come from dutch passion, ive read about dp master kush and it seems to have an extremely low amount of odor, which is a double edged sword causethat also means its not going to have a very strong flavor, which is unfortunate, but at least ill have my medicine without stinking up the house

for my medicinal needs i prefer an indica dom, as i have type 2 bipolar disorder, and i eed something that calms me down when im in a hypomanic episode, and to lift my spirits when im in a depressive episode
sativa doms tend to overstimulate my already rushing mind, and to me it stops being pleasant and i have to wait for the comedown, indicas just chill me out and allow my houghts to slow down to a more normal pace

 

[Acolyte of Zinglon]

ok, i think ive settled on a strain, an autoflowering cross of blueberry and ak47, this isnt exactly a low-smell cross though, ill probably have my room sealed off from the rest of the house most of the time. the master kush apparently had some issues with seed germination and low yeilds, where ak genetics generally give more branchiness and certainly doesnt hurt the potency

im considering an ionizer, because i can get one for 30-50 that would take care of my room, but im not sure how well it will work with odors. ionizers are primarily meant to reduce allergens (another plus, i have dust mite allergies) and people have said they can at least reduce the odor, if not completely eliminate it

i might go with an ionizer and ozium or some other air freshener that has proven to be able to handle the smell, or theres something called smoke out by the manufacturers of orange chronic here in california that is an air freshener specifically designed for the odor of cannabis, i believe that it works because it was formulated to fit in with the odor and modify it, making is smell like oranges, so the odors click together to smell less suspicious rather than trying to smother the cannabis smell out, the major advantage being is that its not chemical, its derived from actual oranges

 

[vaporcloud]

Growing is a lot of fun ... and work.

I use to grow an outdoor sativa strain under flourescents for fuck sake and the scent was very low. The yield wasn't high but it was was a stealth setup which did produce some lovely red hairy buds.

I think the indicas stink more than the sativas and if you can get a sativa that flowers in a relativly short time your laughing.

I also for many years grew a Hindu kush strain under a 400w HPS and man that thing stunk like fuck. very chemical smell (and it was an organic grow). A very high medical grade herb that shit!

 

[Tuck]

For non growers, would something like a charcoal absorber for a refrigerator be a decent way to reduce odors? I've been using one of those periodic air spays to help reduce odor in the room where I partake. But an episode of Good Eats mentioned these charcoal absorbers as a much better method over baking soda in reducing fridge odors and I'm wondering if that would be a decent method for reducing odors from my stash drawer.

 

[willieR]

Personally, I would much prefer to simply remove the offending stink molecules rather than pump chemicals to simply mask them. I don't at all like chemicals. Also (personally) not fond of creating Ozone and other derivatives. So after a good amount of research, I settled on Carbon filtration.

You can make your own carbon filter very easily. I've built three. The key is the carbon type. Not all Activated Charcoal is created equal. You can buy carbon from coal, from industrial chimneys, and from Coconut. Coconut carbon far and away adsorbs (not absorb) more efficiently. It's what NASA uses (used to use?).

After selecting the best carbon source, we look at the particle size. THe great majority of carbon you buy in a pet store (other than being coal carbon) is a small particle size designed for water filtration. This is inefficient for air filtration. I've had some say that the finer particle size associated with water filtration is more advantagous for air filtration. Nonesense. For air filtration, you want the larger particles.

Technically, you want 4x8 vapor phase Coconut. 4x8 is the standard mesh size.

Carbon Activated Corp sells 55 lbs, 2 cu. Ft. for $95 + $45 for UPS

http://www.carbonactivatedcorp.com/products.htm best and cheapest source that I've found. Plenty of carbon for future refills.

I would also mention that I have not found a commercially made filter that uses Coconut. The ones that I've looked into all use coal.

I have used different size fans, from 250CFM to 450. I connect the fan with a variable speed controller from the hardware store. Just be sure you get the controller that controls a ceiling fan, NOT a light bulb. You do NOT want a lighting dimmer switch, though they look similar.

Set one up in an offending room in high speed and you will smell nothing very fast. Have the fan going low and slow and you can smoke while it's going. Perfect

 

[willieR]

I'm bumping this because I think odor control is a big deal, and the DIY learning curve is low to build these very high performance units

 

[willieR]

I was hoping more would join in on this, as it's such a direct connection to legal issues...

 

[Hippie Dickie]

good information! if you add a HEPA filter, the air cleaner is perfect for helping to control allergies, too -- a very legitimate function.

 

[willieR]

That's very true. Another thing is that the carbon filter is just a good idea since our homes are full of chemicals

I want a cube...