I've built, IDK, 5-6 foggers over the years. the best version:
55 gallon drum.
55 gallon drum dolly. Has to support 500 pounds.
Small, submersible, recirculating pump.
Squirrel cage fan, mounts on top, drives air into the machine and forces
fog out.
two water heater elements.
6" dryer vent hose.
6" dryer vent hose
adapter <6"aluminum flange, mounted above the water
line>
Various parts to make the hatch on top. Hinge, latch, gasket material.
Watertight
quad-box.
Water-tight switches to control Fan, Pump and heater elements.
Various SO
Water heater
jacket.
spigot or flange and
plug for bottom of drum to drain water.
A lot of
RTV or "Flex Seal"
It's really easy, kind of time consuming and you have to be sure all your electrical connections are hard and water-tight. You don't want loose wires, flex
conduit or the like getting caught on anything. It will eat up a TON of dry ice.
BTW do not store Dry ice in a sealed container without a gas relief device, it will explode.
@Jon Majors @Colin @Van and
@venuetech Posting in agreement and support with
ALL of the above.
In the late 1970's our Canadian National Ballet built a pair as Van described. Each 55 gallon drum was heated with two 20 amp 120 volt two Kw immersion heaters requiring four of our 20 amp non-dims to
preheat the two units, one on each side of the
stage. Over the course of a one week stay I fetched many fifty pound blocks of dry ice from a wholesale welding supply shop I passed on my way in from Burlington. The supplier would slice the blocks approximately 1" thick on a large band saw then wrap them in news paper for their ride to the
theatre. Dry ice sublimates directly from a solid to a hazardous gas thus I drove with my windows cracked open even between Christmas and New Years. Four Kw of
electric heat per drum would bring tap water up to temperature in about an hour, (You'll want to include thermometers on your drums as well so you can note the temperature of their water without needing to open them and lose precious heat.) Plunging the internal
wire basket full of crushed dry ice two or three times rapidly chilled the water to a useless temperature. Over the course of the National's '
Nut Cracker' visiting for several years I became quite adept at smashing and crushing sliced 50 pound blocks of dry ice and loading the internal
wire baskets.
Moving on to the explosion hazard.
Some years later an
amateur friend built himself a couple of slightly smaller dry ice foggers for spring dance recital season using drums of approximately 40 gallons. His machines worked well but one of his clients rented a local high school with plans to
load in and set up on a Thursday and Friday, focus and rehearse Friday evening then run performances twice on Saturday and twice on
Sunday. As his dry ice supplier was closed on the weekend my
amateur acquaintance purchased an even smaller drum complete with a tight
fitting lid and a latching metal surrounding ring. He lined his smaller drum with
insulation and had his supplier fill it to the brim with dry ice. He didn't know Van so he sealed it up tight and left it in a locked storeroom off
stage left Friday evening. Imagine his surprise when the sealed and secured lid was missing from his small drum Saturday afternoon with only the barest
trace of dry ice remaining. The drum must've gone off like a bomb; its sides were bulging and when he finally found his bulging lid it was on top of an approximately six
foot tall storage cupboard within the storeroom and there was evidence of damage to the ceiling above where the sealed drum of dry ice had been stored.
Yep! Blew up like a bomb!! That'd be science for you as
@BillConnerFASTC would tell you.
Posting from north of Donald's walls.
@Jon Majors It may be both possible and easy but wait until you start paying for all of that dry ice!
P.S. If you're the National Ballet and desperate for dry ice on a weekend, and if the mayor calls the Red Cross and pleads on your behalf, you can manage to acquire dry ice they manufacture in small quantities for transporting blood and organs for transplants.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard