Carbon Filter Refill

[wigz]

Ok guys, so I didn't have enough cash to fork out for a new filter and my one stopped working in the middle of the last grow but I made it through without changing. I had just flipped to flower the other day when I realised I needed a new one! After much debating I decided to order 5kg of active carbon pellets which cost me 35€ delivered, 5 KG would have been enough to do 2 fills (2.4kg of old came out) however, when I searched through google for 4mm pellets I fell onto this site and forgot that it didn't say anywhere that they were 4mm, when they arrived I got everything ready to fill and realised on opening the bag that they were 2mm, I ended up using way for than 2.5kg because of the smaller size which is disappointing and I had read about smaller size pellets being more compact and letting less air through the filter, I decided to go ahead and fill her up anyway and I can tell you that its back up and working and still seems to have plenty of airflow.


ANYONE TRYING THIS SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THEY ARE ORDERING THE CORRECT SIZE! Normally 4mm!



Step 1: Take the filter down and take the sock off!



Step 2: Take a metal drill smaller than the head of the rivet and drill until the head of the rivet spins, do this for all 4 rivets (or however many you have).



Step 3: take the cap and sponge seal off and empty the old carbon into a bag, pop out the other half of the drilled rivets at this point.



Step 4: Fill her up! I used a piece of paper as seen in the photo to stop most of the spillage into the middle and a measuring jug to fill with.





Step 5: I used a case tumbler that I still have from when I was into shooting, it vibrates, normally with a medium inside for cleaning brass but I sat the full filter in it and gave it a min or 2 and gained at least 3-4cm at the top of the filter for more pellets, I forgot to take a pic of this but I have a pic of the tumbler. I know most of you wont have one of these so you will have to use your imagination on what you can use for vibrating!



Step 6: refit the cap and rivets, this step would have been 10x easier with the correct size pellets as the small ones were going everywhere, I ended up having to empty it because I did not pay enough attention to the middle bit being straight during filling. MAKE SURE THE CENTRE STAYS STRAIGHT WHILE YOUR FILLING! I have a rivet gun but if you don't I'm sure you could use self tapping screws or something like that.


Et Voila! Time to put her back on the wall, this whole process can be done in under half an hour, especially with the correct size pellets, its a good idea while the filter is down to bung the sock in the washing machine and let it dry!

[Josh]

Thank you for that, mate.

I have found out it's not a good idea to vacuum clean your CF with the cover over it. Mine came out black and had to be washed.

[bigbadbillybob]

this is the sort of job that you only do once.............
when your carbon eye liner and ingrained carbon in your skin is there for weeks.......

[flip]

this is the sort of job that you only do once.............
when your carbon eye liner and ingrained carbon in your skin is there for weeks.......

[wigz]

no probs guys! I guess you saw all the dust on the table it did wash straight off so not too bad! my workshop has this horrible carbon smell now though!

[flip]

Nice work!

[IMO]

Great idea glad it worked for you it’s certainly something to think about

[GMO]

cracking job dude. thanks for sharing

[Josh]

Thanks for sharing I'm all about diy stuff, great job

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[Sage]

Are you going to amend your soil with the old pellets?