If you’re looking for a simple way to take better care of your indoor plants, look no further than an air purifier for grow room.
No matter what you cultivate in your grow room, your air quality needs to be as clean as possible for the best results.
From unpleasant odors and fumes to harmful particles floating in the air, these can impact the quality of your plants. And getting an air purifier might just be the solution for that!
In this article, we’ll review the critical elements of your grow room’s ventilation and air quality so that you can put yourself in a position to succeed with the right purification system.
Air Purifier for Grow Room: Why Is It Necessary
A grow room is a room where you can raise various plants, including popular crops like marijuana, in a controlled environment.
Compared to outdoor or open conditions, grow rooms allow for more control over temperature, sunlight exposure, moisture, and air quality—all elements that can greatly impact the quality of your next harvest.
But while a grow room helps provide better control over the elements, it doesn’t guarantee the success of your harvest or entirely remove the dangers facing your plants.
An air purifier for grow room can help address the following:
Removal of Harmful Airborne Contaminants
Several airborne contaminants can impact the growth quality of your crop, cause odors, and even impact your health.
Some examples of harmful airborne contaminants are:
Fungi Mold and Mildew
One of the biggest dangers threatening your plants is harmful mold, mildew, and spores that carry several diseases capable of greatly damaging your crops.
Powdery mildew is one of the more common fungal diseases you may experience. Mildew can be identified by the white, powdery residue it leaves on leaves.
Botrytis can also be transmitted through the air and drastically impact your plants.
Fortunately, many of these particles are larger, allowing them to be picked up by a high-quality HEPA filter to help avoid spreading the diseases through airborne particles.
However, ensure you’re cleaning your filters regularly to prevent the spores from growing on the filter over time.
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are byproducts of crops like the marijuana plant that can react with sunlight and other compounds to create ozone.
This dangerous gas can cause respiratory issues and other health concerns in large quantities, making it essential to address them when planning your filtration system.
When removing VOCs, be sure you’re using a HEPA filter that includes a layer of activated carbon.
Activated carbon can adsorb your plants’ gas for a fresher, cleaner environment.
Plus, terpene, a VOC produced by marijuana plants, gives weed its distinctive smell.
By addressing them with an activated carbon filter, you’re also helping reduce the odor your grow room produces.
Remember – just because you like the smell of your plants doesn’t mean that your neighbors do!
Pollen
Cross-contamination can be a harvest killer if you’re selectively breeding your plants.
Plus, it can irritate the sinuses of anyone working in your grow room.
Fortunately, air purifiers can capture and filter pollen out of the air to stop unwanted pollination and keep your breeding under control.
Unfortunately, pollen can also accumulate on the filter, so clean your air purifier regularly.
It Provides Essential Air Circulation
On top of removing potentially harmful mold spores, pollen, VOCs, and other particles from the air, an air purifier will also help to improve airflow for a better growing experience.
Proper airflow in your grow room ensures that moisture levels are maintained to avoid providing a suitable environment for bud rot, mold, and mildew.
It will also discourage pests from setting on your plants and particles from accumulating on various surfaces throughout the grow room so that your air purifier can effectively filter them.
Continuous air circulation can even encourage plants to grow stronger as they resist the slight movement of the breeze.
Air Purifier for Grow Room: Crucial Elements of Ventilation
Your grow room may not be able to experience natural sunlight and airflow, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to replicate it.
Grow rooms require consistent airflow to help maintain the ideal growing conditions and provide your plants with everything they need to thrive.
The elements of your grow room that will work with your air purifier to effectively ventilate and filter the conditions in your grow room are vents, fans, and air sources.
Fresh Air Sources
Fresh air is essential to the success of your harvest. Therefore, your grow room should have a source of outside air that you can use to maintain optimal CO2 levels for ideal growing conditions in your grow room.
In some cases, the fresh air source may be as simple as a vent, door, or window. Still, ideally, you want to create a negative pressure system to ensure ample airflow.
You can achieve negative pressure by pulling air into the grow room with ample airflow and then pulling the air out through the exhaust fan at a lesser rate.
This configuration makes it easy to control the pressure by simply adjusting the exhaust fan’s capacity.
Intake filters can also effectively filter the air you’re pulling into your grow room to help remove larger particles like dust, dirt, bugs, and more.
Look for a filter that uses a filter with a high MERV rating for the best filtration.
Exhaust Vents
Exhaust vents are an essential part of the ventilation of your grow room because they allow you to pull air out of the grow room.
By removing old, stale air, the plants will accumulate fewer particles and emissions for more favorable growing conditions.
Vents also help to make room for fresh air so that your plants can continue to undergo photosynthesis.
Fans
Fans are a great way to encourage additional airflow throughout your grow room alongside your air filter.
They don’t often do any filtration themselves, but they help to disperse the heat and reduce excess moisture in the topsoil to help avoid creating breeding grounds for pests or harmful contaminants.
Air Purifier for Grow Room: Different Types
When purifying your grow room’s air, you have some options.
Some of these purifier types can be found together in a single unit, so aim for the most comprehensive coverage you can afford.
HEPA Filters
HEPA filters are the most common form of air filtration.
Filters commonly come in H12, H13, and H14 efficiencies, with each new rating providing greater filtration than the previous.
They’re used in homes, offices, and even grow rooms to help reduce the number of airborne contaminants, allergens, and pollutants.
Each filter often consists of multiple layers that work together to help reduce odors, remove particles, and improve air quality.
A HEPA filter works for many aspects of purifying the air in your grow room. Still, the most practical benefit is the ability to remove mold and mildew spores that pose a significant threat to the health of your plants.
Including an activated carbon layer also assists with filtering out VOCs and odors to make your grow room more hospitable.
Some air purifiers may also include a UV-C light that helps to purify the air of smaller particles that standard HEPA filters can’t eliminate, adding another layer of defense against harmful substances.
Photocatalytic Air Purifiers
Photocatalytic air purifiers use the photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) process to purify the air.
They’re usually more costly, but if you’re aiming for maximum protection against airborne particles, PCO can help.
PCO uses ultraviolet light and a catalyst, usually titanium dioxide, to create a chemical reaction that oxidizes organic pollutants like dust, dirt, mold, and other airborne particles.
During the reaction, released electrons interact with water molecules in the air to produce hydroxide ions that break down the organic substances into cardboard dioxide and water.
There is also the potential for air purifiers to create small amounts of ozone, so pairing a photocatalytic air purifier with a carbon-activated filter or a separate HEPA air purifier with a carbon filter can help to address ozone concerns.
Air Purifier for Grow Room: Our Top Picks
Need help choosing a suitable air purifier for your grow room? Here are 3 of our favorites.
1. Nuwave OxyPure HEPA Air Purifier
The Nuwave Oxypure air purifier is excellent for larger grow rooms thanks to an extensive 2600+ square foot effective range.
It uses an H13 HEPA filter to remove 99.995% of pollutants under 0.3 microns. It combines it with an activated charcoal layer for odor removal and an ozone removal layer that helps ensure your air is safe to breathe.
2. IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier
IQAIr’s HealthPro Plus air purifier features the highest grade HEPA filter, an H14 filter, designed for medical usage due to its 99.5% efficiency down to as small as 0.003 microns – 100 times smaller than the H13.
It works in rooms up to 1125 square feet and has a “V5Cell” layer that removes odors and ozone from the air, so it can handle just about every contaminant your grow house may experience.
3. Puraclenz P750 PCO Air Purifier
Suppose you’re looking for an affordable PCO air purifier for a small to medium-sized grow room. In that case, the Puraclenz P750 may suit you.
It offers an affordable price point for this type of air purifier with 750 square feet of effective range (or up to 3,000 sq. ft. range with higher-tier models).
The purifier also includes a pre-filter to help remove larger particles to effectively reach the smallest particles, like viruses, bacteria, and pathogens.
FAQs about Air Purifier for Grow Room
What Grade of HEPA Filter Should I Get?
Generally, you should get a HEPA filter with the highest rating possible.
You’ll often find air purifiers with H13 filters that remove as much as 99.995% of airborne contaminants under 0.3 microns.
You’ll also want to check for odor-controlling or ozone-removing combination filters to address multiple issues simultaneously.
What’s The Best Type of Air Purifier for a Grow House?
The best air purifier for you will depend on the size of your grow house, the other appliances you have available, and your budget.
H13 HEPA filters are great for removing the vast majority of organic compounds in the air. However, they require a carbon filter to remove gasses, and you must clean them regularly to avoid particle accumulation.
PCO air purifiers are generally more expensive and excel at supporting smaller rooms, but they can address all organic particles at once and don’t require direct contact with the air they filter.
How Do I Remove Grow Room Odors?
The scents produced by fertilizer, weed, and other organic materials are caused by gaseous VOCs that require a carbon-activated filter to remove them from the air.
Is PCO Air Purification Safe?
PCO purification is mostly safe due to very low levels of ozone emission.
However, many air purifier models using PCO include an ozone filter, and you can always buy your own carbon filter to combat ozone effects.
Air Purifier for Grow Room: Achieve Better Harvests!
You should consider getting one if you don’t currently have an air purification system in your grow room.
They offer a wide range of benefits for you and your plants, including removing harmful diseases and dangerous ozone and circulating the air to help protect your plants and provide ideal growing conditions.
Need some more recommendations? Check out the best air purifiers for weed smell and keep your grow house habitable.