A question about fog machines

[Hughesie]

Hi i have a question about using a fog or snow machine you see every year my street does a christmas light show and the costs of the lights is getting into the hundred and i thought i'd go all out a buy a fog or snow machine

what i want is low fog cascading down a stair case outside

unfortunetly the event is outdoors so their is wind

any ideas

awhughes

p.s i live in australia
so it would need to be able to be purchaced in aus

[Mayhem]

Hi Hughesie89,

Could you either remove your avatar or resize it to 80pix wide. Currently, it throws the entire page out. If you need help to make it smaller. let me know.

Essentially, if you want smoke or fog to fall, it has to be cold.

There are two ways to do this and the most effective is with a low smoke generator (LSG) that uses liquid nitrogen to not only chill the smoke but it also bond with the glycol, making it heavier.

The other way is to buy a smoke machine that accepts the ice bucket attachments. This then blows the smoke through a chill box that is filled with regular ice.

I have not used the second method but I have used the first and it is pretty expensive and something that you would only look to hire.

Cheers,

[koncept]

yes, pleae resize the avatar.

i have used the second method, it has turned out ok. you can build your own chiller module. basicaly all you need is a box that you can put ice in, then add a fan on the output side. a 12 in computer case fan or equivalent works great. then as the fog passes through it will cool and as you wanted roll down the steps. dry ice might not be a bad idea to use as well

[jonhirsh]

Snow machine? I own a few and they do not create smoke. they create a foam like substance that falls like snow. they cost about $600 CDN a pice if your woried about budget these arnt the way to go.


For low lying fog you can use a Dry ice machine as well as the above mentiond methods. but your outdoors and the slightest gust of wind will unsettle your fog it will generaly not work well out doors as well your in a hot climate. and to keep the fog low to the ground it has to stay cold. but in a warm climate it will rise off the ground very quickly,


dry ice is extrmly expensive. and if you want the effect to last a while you will need multiple machines. The dry ice machines we rent are about $300 a day plus dry ice which ends up being about $100 for a 10 minute effect depending on what were going for.


and what i gather from your post that you are looking to save money. well i think buying a machine will not save you money on your lighting as you put it?


try using what you have more effciently rent some gear insted of buying it will go farther.


JH

[Foxinabox10]

For low lying fog, you can use the Antari Ice Machine. It works very well and I've used it several times. If it's outside and cold, it would work even better. It's about $500 and you might be able to get it for even less.

The link is http://www.antari.com/ice.html

[Hughesie]

Thanks Dry ice is too hard to deal with

[jonhirsh]

the only other way to go thats reliable is nitrogen and that is allot of work and is more expensive then dry ice.

so i think its time to rethink your effect and think of ways to do it with out it being out doors so you can use an regular ice low fog machine


JH

[Foxinabox10]

jonhirsh,

I'll have to disagree with your statement that the only reliable ways to do it is nitrogen and dry ice. The low lying ice foggers work great from the ones that I have dealth with.

[jonhirsh]

mabey but not outdoors on steps where people will be walking and in and out plus the warm weather that they have in australia?

the ice machines need certain conditions to opearate to full efficiency,
a cool room and a more static area then dry ice and nitrogen are necessary. because the tend to coll the smoke down only a fraction of the nitrogyn and dry ice both of which are not going to work well but will work better then the regular ice machines


JH