"steam" from boiling pot

[cisgrig]

We need "steam" from a boiling pot - hot ice is not available so need some suggestions.
Thanks

 

[ToddH]

Tri-Ess Sciences A-B smoke works really well. Google it for a supplier.

 

[CSCTech]

You would have to be careful, but you could cut a hole in the back of the pot, fit a hose to it, run the hose or tubing to a low output fog machine. The hole should be above the waterline of course, if you are actually going to have water in it that it.

 

[MarshallPope]

How is it being used? Will it be on stage for a length of time, or is it just carried on for a couple of minutes, or what? Will it be possible to get either a power cord or some sort of ducting to the pot?

 

[cisgrig]

it will only be about 5 minutes on stage, the cook is stirring the pot and singing...

 

[derekleffew]

...hot ice is not available so need some suggestions.

Assuming you mean dry ice, I guarantee you it is available in Pine Bluff, AR. You might be able to buy a small supply from your local Baskin-Robbins or other ice cream store. I've also seen it in larger grocery stores, including Wal-mart, and I think you have some of those nearby also. In college we used to get it from the Science Dept. It really is the least-troublesome method to create the effect. Not authentic, as steam rises, but an accepted convention, just as audiences have come to expect that moonlight is blue-green.

 

[ccm1495]

If you can get dry ice ... and it's not hard to get you can just put it in water in your prop. Then if you can have some moving air from a fan or if someone can blow on it it will move more like steam instead of low lying fog. It will also make a quiet bubbling sound like boiling water.

 

[MarshallPope]

I would agree that dry ice is likely your best bet. You should be able to find it in Walmart, if sourcing it is a problem. My walmarts have it, both in Texarkana and here in Arkadelphia, so I would think that you would have it there also.

If for some reason you cannot use dry ice, maybe you could use an ultrasonic mister in the pot with some water? With this you would have to deal with getting power to it, but without the expense of dry ice for each show.

EDIT: The more I think about it, this seems like the perfect opportunity to use an ultrasonic fogger. It's a small effect, one which a cheap ($30-ish) mister would easily be able to handle, likely more cheaply than could be done with dry ice. True, the steam won't rise like it would in real life, but, like Derek said, the audience will forgive that little difference.

 

[WooferHound]

Many years ago before they made Fog Machines the fog/haze effect was produced by heating Ammonium Chloride in a pan on a hotplate. It would be difficult to start and stop on cue though.

 

[CrisCole]

Many years ago before they made Fog Machines the fog/haze effect was produced by heating Ammonium Chloride in a pan on a hotplate. It would be difficult to start and stop on cue though.

No! This is a very bad idea. There is a reason they don't do this anymore. I don't want to discuss it here.

I'd go with an ultrasonic fogger.

 

[cpf]

Ultrasonic is the way to go. If you're having issues with it flowing over the sides of the pot instead of rising up, try tossing a disposable heat pack (or a small bladed fan, for a different effect) in the very bottom of the pot, it should create enough of a current to push the mist up and out.