White powder

F

Finnicki

Well-Known Member
White powder on my pre filter. AC Infinity in-line 6”. I reached up to check a hanging strap on the filter and when I moved it, this white powder came floating down. Touched the fabric sleeve over filter and white powder came off on my fingertips. Was going to dis connect filter from fan because the plants’ smell has gone. This surprise makes me think I need to wipe down the whole tent before the next grow.
 
I have a small misting humidifier in the tent. No filter. No additive needed they say. Plant is clean. Almost thru flowering. Been a long three months. Image is showing where I pulled my fingers across pre filter.

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It is hard water deposits from the humidifier. You need to use RO water in your humidifier.
 
Maybe try a new cover next run.
A more traditional one i know a lot of companies like to provide bag type covers now
for flitters a bit restricting if you ask me the white mesh type one if you get what im talking about
of old lets much more air movement in or out.
 
I have this exact same problem. It’s a mixture between the hard water deposits and just plain dust. I have to clean off my equipment once a month to keep it from caking heavily. It’s not the end of the world, just an added maintenance step. You’ll know it’s this because it requires actual scrubbing to remove it completely as opposed to dust which can just be blown off.

One thing to consider is though, if this dust is settling on equipment it’s likely settling on your buds when they’re full and sticky. May want to consider a bud wash as part of your harvest
 
That is what I plan on doing. Happy I’ve had the sleeve on there. AC Infinity sez to not use the filter pre flower, so I can get two years out of one filter.
 
One thing to be careful of is, when your filter gets caked like that it makes your blower motor work much much harder putting quite a lot of additional stress on it. This can lead to overheating and can quickly degrade both the strength and life of your blower.

If it’s easy to remove I’d take it off once a week and hit it with compressed air or just shake/beat the dust off. If it’s machine wash safe, I’d also wash it between grows. I don’t use blowers or filters so I’m not sure what their handling care is. If it’s carbon you may want to avoid washing it in a washing machine.
 
Yes it is a carbon filter. Has to stay dry. After this I will be keeping an eye on it. Went down with a lint roller that took some off but not nearly enough.
 
I saw extra pre filters on Amazon today that I have missed previously. Before I added this evap humidifier to the equation I used a filter, sitting in a pan of water. A small fan blew across the filter as well as blew the plant to move it. But that method brought bugs. And it never got the humidity close to 50%. I would mist the walls of the tent, pour water on tent floor to try to raise the moisture %. This pre filter is my 2nd one. First is white, this next one is black. Under all that ‘snow’. Rinsed it and threw it in the wash by itself. Wiped down the charcoal filter as well. Had some white dust around the edges. What we do for a buzz…..
 
Beside RO, is there another filter I could run tap water through before adding it to the humidifier? What about using rain water? I don’t grow from June-Sept. if the basement is more humid then I may have to consider it. We grow just enough for her to smoke and me to make butter for edibles. Two plants per year would cover her needs. I would have to scale it back to make two plants last 12 months. We are retired and have very few appts to keep. So we dabble with it daily. Do errands early because I don’t drive once we partake. Can’t see how anyone could operate equipment under the influence.
 
You could just do like I do & not worry about it. I grow in my basement, temps range from 14c (57f) - 21c (70f) & 20-30 % humidity. When the temps outside are colder,-25 c I run my wood stove, which is in the basement, so room gets to 24-25 c . I use rainwater to water my plants.
Check my photos out
 
I was just downstairs to check the tent. 32 RH as I had shut the humidifier off. May harvest her tomorrow and then clean. If I run the fan w/o filter during veg, and run this humidifier, is there a round filter than I could mount on the in line 6”, that would stop any white powder from collecting inside the in-line fan??? The pre filter is not something I look at in my visits to the tent. I’m looking at temp, RH, buds, and the water level in the humidifier. I truly do not know how long that black pre filter has been white. Only takes once.
 
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