Will high humidity in winter make the activated charcoal filter stop working and release unpurified air outdoors?

Indoor Growing
1

I have ebb and flow tables with a heating mat under each of them.

When the lights are out, the temperature drops considerably. Plants seem to do fine. But the humidity goes up to like 85%. My exhaust fan is on a pretty low setting so it doesnt get too cold.

First there is the worry of mold, but my main concern now is that I read somewhere that the charcoal filters stop working and the life expectancy is decreased because the charcoal filter gets filled with water molecules?

Does that mean that the smell goes outdoor unpurified? I can’t have that to happen.`

How quickly the filter looses its life expectancy?

I am not sure how to keep the humidity down. If I turn up the fan I think the humidity will still be high because temperature goes down and the air will be less able to hold the moisture.

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Seems to me that you can solve 2 issues by getting a dehumidifier. When your lights go out, turn off the exhaust fan and turn on the dehumidifier.

Also, depending on the specific activated carbon you’re using and the construction of your filter, you may be able to wash the carbon off. I do this with mine, and can keep using the same carbon forever.

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Crank the fan and see what happens.

Define cold. A little chilly is ok.

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I had one totally LOCK UP due to high humidity; very little to NO airflow out of the fan exhaust. I had to ditch the filter and just suck the air up and directly outside smell or no smell.

The filter eventually recovered but only after I ignored it in a corner next to the radiator for a season for the carbon to fully dry out.

The smell issue was only a problem due to the carbon getting saturated and thus not being able to do much of anything.

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5

Humidity spikes during lights out is not good. My solution to that was an AC Infinity
with controller. At lights out the controller will maintain RH at whatever you have it set at.
85% RH is only OK for seedlings, early to mid veg I like 65%, lat veg 60%, flower 55%, maybe lower depending on bud size.

Yes… but… as I understand it, the retention of water molecules in the carbon is a variable depending on RH levels of the air. It doesn’t stop the capture of odors but it does hamper it.

Cheers
G

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Had 85% rel humidity. I checked the air exhaust and there was not even a slight bit of odour. Until now it still works.

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I have noticed a smell when the humidity goes too high, so charcoal will lose effectiveness at high humidity I can verify.