Venting through chimney

In my house I have a huge utility room. In that utility room is an old brick chimney. I want to use this room for my grow.

Do you think it would create a detectable smell outside if I were to vent my growroom up and out the chimney? I'm guessing it would exit at such a high elevation that it would not need any sort of scrubber for the smell. It's pretty much the same principal as at power plants. They don't want the smell/pollution detectable at ground level, so they put it way up in the air. Only this would only be a pleasant smell that has to unfortunately be hidden from suspicious people. I'm hoping this would work, because that would eliminate one of the cost of building a grow room. Although, the strains I'm growing seem to be ones that down create a strong skunk smell anyways. Which are Jock Horror and Blue Mystic. My first grow will be bagseed though, just so I know that I have everything down and ready to go to help prevent my good plants getting sick on me and losing them.

Do you own? Will anyone be needing to be on top of your roof for any reason? Do you have problems with ice in the winter, leaks you've been meaning to have fixed, etc.? Smells can do some crazy things, floating around and what not... it is ALWAYS better to be safe than sorry. :thumbsup:
All it takes is one uptight repairman to notice that it smells like a skunk died in your chimney. Either way, it does sound pretty damn convenient so I hope it works out.

Above + Beyond = Safe :jointsmile:
(if you're a math geek :hippy:)

Are you certain that the chimney is completely unused and is not connected to the furnace, water heater, etc. etc.? It would not be good to tap into it and discover carbon monoxide coming back through the other way. Cause, well, the usual way that is discovered is when they find the bodies.

Is it being used to vent plumbing? I've seen people do this in old houses as well - and you don't want methane gas backflowing into the house if something goes wrong someplace, either.

Does the chimney have a functional cap? Can birds or anything else get in through the top? There won't be enough extreme heat to discourage them, but there could be just enough warmth to entice critters into exploring a cozy new home. And exploring all the way down to your vent pipes...

Often old chimneys that are unused get plugged up with mortar or debris, sometimes on purpose and sometimes accidentally. If you haven't already checked for that, you need to do that too.

If all is well and everything is safe and functional, I think in terms of smell, you have to consider one other factor: weather conditions, especially if temperature inversions occur. I am not talking from experience with cannabis, as I have actually NO idea how much the plants could smell since I've never smelled a large number of plants - but I am talking from experience with people who burn cheap coal and other things in their fireplaces or furnaces. Under certain conditions, cold air ends up aloft - in other words above the warm air close to the ground - and "caps" the ceiling, making all the smells remain low. Walking through a neighbourhood where I used to live, you could pretty much tell what every individual person was burning in their fireplace or what fuel they used for heating.

I don't know how much you are planning on growing but I would think a chimney would require the same precautions as you would use for venting anywhere else out the side or roof of the house. Industrial chimneys are a heck of a lot higher than a house chimney and you can still smell what comes out of them sometimes. I'd just apply any of the principles and precautions that someone venting through a roof would apply.

This was mainly just and idea I got from another forum. Someone was using the coal chimney as there exhaust outlet. There are other things vented through it, but they appear to have their own pipe leading out leaving opening around the piping. I haven't looked into detail on whether it's feasable in my situation, it was just something I got curious about. I would have asked on the other forum, but I am still unable to post over there even though I registered about a week ago.

I do own, so that is not a concern. If it is possible to use the chimney, I could always put a scrubber on if it becomes a smell issue. I know industrial stacks are much higher, but they also produce a much greater amount of whatever they are venting. I guess my next step is to do some further inspecting of how it is set up with everything else that is using it.

I think it will work fine.Be better if it has that smut smell chimmneys get after use.

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Originally Posted by jobe

I think it will work fine.Be better if it has that smut smell chimmneys get after use.

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I like they way you're using your chimney.... Mine smells like SOOT

Be careful about it, it is possible to do. BUT, usually people only put separate flues inside of an existing chimney because the old one leaks (usually gasses, not water). But they may just have high efficiency appliances and that could be the reason.
Either way you should know in a short time. If it leaks your house will reak like a skunk.
Just be prepared to add the filter immediately if you start to smell it, inside or out. let us know how that works if you do it.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by NaughtyDreadz

I like they way you're using your chimney.... Mine smells like SOOT

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too funny. :lol5: i was thinking the same thing

smut, mmmmmm mmmmm good eats.