# When Good Fog Fluid Goes Bad...



## Chris Chapman

So in a discussion I had recently it was brought to my attention that Fog Fluid has a shelf life of about a year. What happens when you use "old" fluid? Do you run the chance of damaging your gear, or just bad output volume of fog?


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## cdub260

All of my fog fluid is two or more years old. This has not affected the performance of my fog machines in any way.


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## wfor

cdub260 said:


> All of my fog fluid is two or more years old. This has not affected the performance of my fog machines in any way.



*Phew!*

Because we have three and a half gallons. And we will NEVER use that all!

I've never seen any "expiration date".

What is in fog fluid that makes it perishable? Is it not mostly water?


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## Les

The only time I would think that you're in danger of having bad fluid is when it becomes contaminated (open container). Whoever said that probably got it from a dealer who wanted to sell more fluid! Still wouldn't hurt to swoosh it up every once in a while. I know that gasoline is bad about getting stale and eventually taking on a gelatin-like consistency.


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## avkid

Freezing does bad things to fog fluid.


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## kiwitechgirl

avkid said:


> Freezing does bad things to fog fluid.



Can I ask why you froze fog fluid?! It's not something I've ever found a need to do!! Or did it freeze in a truck or something overnight? To answer the original question, provided the container isn't open, I've never had any problem with fog fluid going "off".


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## avkid

kiwitechgirl said:


> Can I ask why you froze fog fluid?! It's not something I've ever found a need to do!! Or did it freeze in a truck or something overnight?



It got left in unheated storage over the winter by mistake.


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## BDS0111

avkid said:


> It got left in unheated storage over the winter by mistake.


 
So...what was the outcome?? What did it do?

I have never heard fog fluid going bad after a year. Fluid routinely sits and sits for years and is then used with no problems. If if went bad after a year, there would be used by dates on the bottles...


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## avkid

BDS0111 said:


> So...what was the outcome?? What did it do?
> 
> I have never heard fog fluid going bad after a year. Fluid routinely sits and sits for years and is then used with no problems. If if went bad after a year, there would be used by dates on the bottles...


It turned hazy instead of the usual clear and crystallized.


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## church

I have seen it go bad in both the machine and the jug. In both cases it involved cheap non branded fog juice and it developed white strands/jelly substance or slime floating around in it - which blocks the heaters and pumps. It is actually called "biofilm" and is a large colony of bacteria. once the jug is opened bacteria enter the fog juice from the air, off your hands or clothing - just a fact of nature. When there is no chlorine present in water or no bactericide present in the solution the bacteria multiply at first you don't see anything but eventually you will get this slime. By the way this is what you see around the overflow on washbasins that are not cleaned correctly. 

The problem is that fog juice is usually made from de-ionised water with some alcohol and glycerine - with time the alcohol can evaporate and bacteria can grow.

This is one reason you should never drink de-ionised water or any water that is not chlorinated.

I now throw fog juice away after it has been opened and I empty and clean the tanks.


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