Low Lying Fog

[lightinglouisiana]

I'm trying to figure out the best bang for my buck to produce a low lying fog effect.

I currently have 2 High-End FQ-100's using their Stage fluid, I'd like to be able to produce a low lying effect with one of these units. I'm prepared to hear that I'm dreaming and it can't happen with this specific fogger/fluid combo.

I guess my question(s) becomes:
- Is cooling this Stage fluid going to give me the effect I want or will I need specific 'low-lying' fluid?
- Can I put whatever fluid I want in this fogger? Or will it damage it?

I called High End product support and got absolutely nowhere.

I'm also welcoming as many pieces of advice/tips for making this effect come to life.

 

[coldnorth57]

http://makezine.com/projects/ultimate-fog-chiller/

Here is a DIY way to do it

 

[TheaterEd]

And Here is a Video

 

[cbrandt]

We've had good luck running any number of foggers and fluids through a chiller unit. We have the Ultratech LSX unit. Always test though, a lot of small variables can make a big difference.

 

[venuetech]

The videos do not show that ice will melt, and when it does there will be water to deal with. water weighs about 8lbs a gallon so if you dump 20 pounds of ice into the trash can that will be 2.5 gallons of water to deal with.
the best way is to raise the input/output ports a few inches to allow that water to collect in the bottom of the trash can. so it can be disposed of at the end of the evening. or you could pump accumulated water to a drain or container.
the foil dryer hose is easily punctured by ice chunks so load gently.
I have a version of this that fits a 5 gal bucket a fan pulls the fog through the ice. no dryer hose in the bucket. a wire platform supports the ice 8" off the bottom, the fog is shot into that void with the input hole high enough to allow for water collection.

not sure about the juice questions. I use a short term fog juice so it disperses quickly

 

[JD]

Dry ice in the chiller eliminates water, but is more of a logistical problem.
"Is cooling this Stage fluid going to give me the effect I want?"
No, when the juice goes into the unit it is heated back up to a high temp. It's all about getting your output stream to be cooler then the air on stage, and hoping the HVAC or other air currents don't wreck the effect.

 

[BillESC]

Also be aware that chilling the fog condenses it to about half the normal volume.

 

[DRU]

Fog rises because it is warm. You will have to cool the fog after you fire it out of the fogger. One of the technical design solutions books shows a way to use a window AC unit to chill the fog and push it out. I've also seen haunted house enthusiasts run a pipe through a cooler (like the ones you fill with beer for backyard barbecues) and shoot through that with dry ice around the pipe.

Sent from my LGLS660 using Tapatalk

 

[Malabaristo]

I've had pretty good luck using a heater core from a car (basically a small radiator) and running ice-water through it using a small fountain pump. It's a little more complicated than just ice in a box, but it makes the actual chiller part more compact and easy to hide while allowing the ice to be in a more accessible location. The heater core also allows the fog to flow through it with very little resistance.

Rosco recommends their Stage and Studio fluid (https://www.rosco.com/fog/fogfluid.cfm) for this sort of effect because it dissipates more quickly than standard fluid. That means that as the fog warms back up enough to start rising off the floor, it also dissipates--leaving just the chilled fog behind. This is especially helpful in places with limited airflow.

Airflow tends to be the hardest part of making this work well in my experience. The venue I last did this in has pretty strong airflow towards the doors in the wings when they're open, so we had to be careful about when people entered to avoid having all the fog sucked offstage.