Fog Machine Question

mightymel

Member
I have an American DJ Fogstorm 1200 HD. I recently got it working again after replacing the thermal fuse on it. We were using it during rehearsal last week and noticed that after the first burst of fog, it would shoot another burst of fog on its own. Then sometime later about 10-15 it would shoot another burst. Is this normal? We plan on having the machine on stage hidden under a platform but if it shoots fog on its own we need to look into fixing it or coming up with a plan to hide the bursts. Anyone else have this problem with fog machines? How do/did you remedy it, if at all? Thank you
 
All of the different fog and hazers that I have worked with will puff a little bit of fog when they are not being asked to do as thier heating tanks expand as it gets hot.
 
A little puff is pretty normal, but you shouldn't be getting a full blast. One low tech option is to just plug the machine in a couple minutes plus warmup time before you need it and then unplug it when you don't. You could also try running hose to the needed exit point and have the machine somewhere that you could disconnect it from the hose when you didn't want the effect.
 
How much fog is coming out in those bursts? A little bit is normal but if it is very noticeable from the audience then that could be a problem. Whenever we use the hazer during one of our shows, I use this box fan that I have rigged up with a stagepin power connector instead of an Edison one. It is controllable from the board so when we need more haze I just simply turn up the hazer and turn up the speed of the fan. This means that all the puffs of haze that come out when we aren't using it will just dissipate above the stage and nobody can see it.
 
I would second clean it out suggestion. Run a dilute mixture of distilled water and white vinegar through it, then follow with pure distilled water. You can also use commercially available Coffee maker cleaner.
Sometimes the impeller pump on these starts to go bad. Some are nothing more than a piece of hose that gets squished in a linear motion to push fluid through. these hoses wear out, or get stiff and the follow up puff is a result of them opening up after being stuck.
a Cleaning should do wonders.
 

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