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Exhaust and Odor Control
Odor control can be
a big problem, especially in an apartment building, or other
close-quarters living. Almost everybody loves the smell of roses, but
gardens may be too odoriferous in enclosed areas, such as apartments. If
you are using the fermentation method of CO2 enrichment, the pungent
odor of your beer or sugar-water brew may make enemies of your nearest
neighbors. It is always best to try to keep the smells to a
minimum.
Skunk Buster
There are a number of ways to handle odors. The best by far is a heavy duty charcoal and electrostatic air filtration device. The most popular brand is called a Skunk Buster. The device is simply plugged into an electric outlet in the room containing the plants, and the smell is quickly removed from the air. Unless the room is vented directly into someone’s smell zone, the odor problem is eliminated.
Negative Ion Generators
After living with these things for many years, the author has come to appreciate ionizers as being wonders of technology.
Used in the grow room, ionizers take a
lot of the smell out of the air. By no means all of it, and by no means as
much as a Skunk Buster. As a side benefit, both research and the author’s
hands-on experience confirm that the plants grow obviously
better and faster in the presence of the generator It is difficult to
measure added vigor, even in a well designed and executed scientific
experiment but the practical results seem to verify the effect
Where To Exhaust
Air can usually be exhausted out a window bathroom vent, or
into the attic. It is always better to take the air up through a vent or
chimney through the roof.
Odor Control Inside the
House
A situation that many growers have to face is the slight
odor of the growing plants or fermentation permeating throughout the
house. No odor outside, but let someone take one step inside the house or
apartment, and they immediately notice the unusual smells
An ionizer anywhere outside the grow room usually gets nd of
migrating odors very effectively. An ionizer or Skunk Buster inside the
grow room will usually get nd of the odors before they get out to become a
problem
A whole house fan that continuously empties the house air
into the attic or out a window can change the air in the house rapidly
enough that lingering odors are soon removed.
CO2 and the Environment
CO2 sold in tanks or dry ice form is usually captured as a
by-product from another industrial process If it were not collected it
would be released into the atmosphere. We state this because many growers
are very environmentally consciousness and the idea of contributing to the
so-called greenhouse effect no doubt causes mental grief to these
growers.
CO2 produced through fermentation, soda / acid, or composting is just that - produced
CO2. Growers using these
methods are actually contributing to the CO2 in the
atmosphere.
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