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Originally Posted by search1st
You usually don't need a fan on the intake, so don't bother.
Correct, however sometimes you do.
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If you feel you NEED an additional fan on the intake (working together with the exhaust fan), when exhausting through a carbon filter (to remove odor) you want the intake fan to be SMALLER (lower cubic feet per minute, CFM) than the exhaust fan. That way all the air leaving the grow chamber will pass thru the filter. Otherwise, you may leak some odor through cracks.
Wrong, you want the pressure to be equalized or for the intake the be passive. In a cabinet enviroment if you have the intake pushing less air than the exhaust and you room is sealed then the intake becomes nothing more than an air flow restriction. It would be better to do without an exhaust in this situation.
Also you shouldn't really have any cracks or anywhere odor can leak out so easily. Duct tape is cheap to buy and easy to use on the inside of a grow cabinet.
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You never want to use only an intake fan for the same reason: the positive air pressure in the chamber may cause the smell to leak out without passing thru the filter. Ideally, your chamber will be NEGATIVELY pressurized, so that if there are any little cracks, clean air from outside the chamber is leaking in (rather than smelly air leaking out).
Correct. Don't need to add or argue anything on this one. This paragraph is spot on.
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Also, remember that the air is moving through the 4-inch exhaust fast, and that you may want your passive intake hole to be a little bigger than 4-inches (since the exhaust fan has to work a bit harder to suck the air in through a 4-inch intake than if you had, say a 5- or 6-inch intake).
Correct, or as I prefer, make 2 equal size exhaust holes. This will allow you to draw in air from 2 locations instead of one and help to keep the temperature even throughout the entire cabinet. :thumbsup: