# DIY Fog Chiller Help



## schaef2493 (Nov 12, 2009)

I'm going truly DIY and building an ultra-low budget 1 or 2 time use fog chiller. Attached is a photo of the internals of what I have so far.

For those who don't know what this is, it is basically a cooler with a wire mesh tube ran through it. The compartment in the cooler is packed with ice and the hot fog coming from the fogger is routed through this unit, allowing the fog to cool and hug the ground.

Currently, the wire mesh going through the cooler is open all around. Looking around online, most just left the wire mesh tube open and surrounded it with ice. I was thinking, though, should I be worried about my fog getting cold and sinking down through the open wire mesh down into the ice?? Surely this will prevent the fog from getting all the way through? Should I cover the bottom half of the wire mesh tube with plastic to prevent this?

Thanks!


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## Footer (Nov 12, 2009)

It does not work that well. If the fog moves through at a decent speed you should not have any issue. Most home brew designs I have seen involve a radiator or a heater coil of some kind. I will be interested to hear how well this works for you.


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## rcopley (Nov 16, 2009)

I made a fog chiller for a production last year, it needed to fill a stage with ground hugging fog in the time of a transition (about 10-15 seconds). I used 2 fog machines on opposite sides of the stage, each one hooked into it's own chiller. I got lucky by using 2 fog machines because on the 1st or 2nd night of the show I had one of the chillers fail (the one on stage left if any one cares). My setup was extremely simplified, I pumped the fog from the fog machine into a tub of ice. For me, just pumping it through the ice bath was enough for me.

Just be careful, as with anything with theater, the risk are not always obvious. Take for example the failure I mentioned above, it was caused by the tubing I was using to feed the fog into the ice bath warping because some of the fog solution condensed in the tube (still scolding hot  )


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## seanandkate (Nov 16, 2009)

And note that you will lose a fair bit of pressure at the far end of the cooler if you're hoping to push the fog out a fair distance (as compared to the same distance covered straight out of the fogger itself). Sometimes a muffin fan can give it that extra push (suck?) at the end of the cooler.


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## Van (Nov 17, 2009)

A couple of important things to remember when doing this kind of thing. 

1. Immediately off the fogger you need to install a "hose adapter" There needs to be an air gap between the outlet of the fog machine and the begining of the hose. A fogger needs an adaquate supply of fresh air to eficiently create the fog. I think I posted a picture of a hose adapter on here long ago and if this seems pedantic, indulge me for the edification of others. So number one air gap between fogger and hose leading to chiller module. 

2. Directly related to #1 you need to install a muffin fan on the outlet side of the chiller module. The air gap and the back pressure created by the interior of the cooler tend to make the fog want to just boil out the inlet side. A muffin fan installed on the outlet side will help suck the fog through and make you much happier with the output. 

These units can work really well. stay away from a squirrel cage type fan or a really high CFM muffin fan, squirrel cages will tend to muck up the output and dilute it too much. 
Hope that helps.


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## directsound (Nov 17, 2009)

I have a Dry Ice fogger an Ultra Tech Dry icer Dancing on a cloud Wedding DJ Dry Ice effect  th Dry Icer

But I built a few from scratch and the one that worked best for me was one with a zig zag baffel system it gives you more cold air . Like the picture above but make it like a maze on the botom with a screen over it ...then you use a fast disapating fog juice like one from froggies fog Froggys Fog Fast Dissipating Fog - Stage & Studio Fog Fluid Formula

and here is a link for one they use Froggys Fog Vortex Fusion Fog Chiller - Halloween Ground Fog
hope this helps 

DJ Mikey Mike

www.directsound.com
www.doitfromscratch.com


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## DuckJordan (Nov 30, 2009)

I have had great luck with a 4" diamiter pipe which we fill with frozen water bottles generaly about 3 foot in length this not only still provides the presure but is smaller and more effecient as you have a longer area for the fog to actually cool. we have a version of this we hang on a batten and actually make a screen of fog by using two foggers with the frozen bottles in the pipe with holes drilled every foot or so to make a "screen" of fog.


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## directsound (Dec 30, 2009)

Cool I like the water bottle trick

MM


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## Bryce_J (Jan 12, 2014)

I am directing tech for a middel school's production of Willy Wonka. The director wants to cover the stage with low lying fog for the scene with the boat so that it creats an eery kind of water effect. we would be lighting the fog with blue led fixtures when the main lights go out but when the boat first comes out we want to have the fog machines start running and we would have the normal lighting on for a short while. Because the normal lighting would be on they want to have a nice thick white looking cloud of fog. Most of the dry ice machines i see give off this effect very well but in a show i just did recently they used the liquid co2 machines and the fog looked much more clear and thin. The biggest problems are we would need two of them and that the show as very low funding so we can't spend a lot of money on them. I was thinking of making my own dry ice fogger but that would cost me at leas $100 a pice and we would need to order about 60lb. of dry ice and we don't want to spend more that $200 all together on fog machines. I have tried building a fog chiller from a old cooler but that didn't work with any fog machines over 1000 watts and with the 1000 watt fogger there was not enough to fill the stage unless i had like 5 of them and the fog only stayed low for a few seconds then would start rising. So I was thinking of making one of the trash can chillers which would give it more time to chill but I'm still not sure if it would work with the 3000 watt foggers and if it did I don't know if it would stay low for long enough. the stage I need to fill is ruffly 40' x 20' and we need to fill it in about 45 seconds and it needs to stay covered for about 2 minuets. If you have any ideas or sugestions I would love to hear what you'v got! i need to have it in less than two weeks! so pleas respond A.S.A.P.!


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## csilvia9 (Jan 12, 2014)

Hi, I am currently doing Snow White and using low fog for the forest. I too am on a small budget. Im using a 1000 watt fogger with a chiller using regular ice, not dry. Also the type of fog juice you use is very important. I'm using  1 Gal - Cryofreeze - Stage and Studio Low Lying Ground Fog Machine Fluid, 
It hugs the ground and is usually gone before it starts to warm enough to rise. Im on a small stage so this is enough but you may want to go with 2 foggers if your stage is big.


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## Bryce_J (Jan 12, 2014)

csilvia9 said:


> Hi, I am currently doing Snow White and using low fog for the forest. I too am on a small budget. Im using a 1000 watt fogger with a chiller using regular ice, not dry. Also the type of fog juice you use is very important. I'm using  1 Gal - Cryofreeze - Stage and Studio Low Lying Ground Fog Machine Fluid,
> It hugs the ground and is usually gone before it starts to warm enough to rise. Im on a small stage so this is enough but you may want to go with 2 foggers if your stage is big.


Thank you so much for the help you just saved me a lot of stress.


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## derekleffew (Jan 12, 2014)

Bryce_J said:


> ... I was thinking of making my own dry ice fogger but that would cost me at leas $100 a pice and we would need to order about 60lb. of dry ice and we don't want to spend more that $200 all together on fog machines. ...


See about renting a Pea Souper (or similar) from DesignLab or GrandStage Chicago.


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## Matthew Giles (Mar 5, 2018)

Hi,

Has anyone tried using a fog machine passed through a pipe of ice to create a low lying effect? How do you find it compares with professional low lying for machines?

Thanks


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## StradivariusBone (Mar 5, 2018)

What do you mean by pipe of ice? Like a pipe with bags of ice on top? You need to have some sort of heat exchange between the hot air of the fog output and whatever cold stuff you've got (be it ice or dry ice). We did a variation of the cooler using some baffles and a fan to draw the fog out of the cooler and into a 4" PVC pipe that worked pretty good at cooling the fog down, but I don't think just a pipe with ice around it would be enough to cool it effectively.


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## Matthew Giles (Mar 5, 2018)

I've seen examples of YouTube with it done using the fog directed into a pipe containing frozen bottles of water. I don't know how effective this is?


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## RonHebbard (Mar 5, 2018)

Matthew Giles said:


> Hi,
> 
> Has anyone tried using a fog machine passed through a pipe of ice to create a low lying effect? How do you find it compares with professional low lying for machines?
> 
> Thanks


 @Matthew Giles To give you one more thought: A small squirrel-cage blower, envisage LARGE hair-drier or automotive windscreen blower, can be used at the input to your pipe / chiller box to establish a steady flow of air into the chiller, past the ice or dry ice and out via your exit hose. Once you have the blower running and the air flow established, it's a simple matter for your fogger to fire fresh, hot, fog into the blower's air intake where its flow is already established and its exit path a proven route to your exit hose. The blower won't mind having hot fog fired in and through it and you should find very little delay in the time from cueing your fogger to having chilled fog flowing from your exit hose. 
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


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## MarshallPope (Mar 5, 2018)

I've used the pipe-of-ice method before. It's been a while, but if I remember correctly, it went something like: Fogger --- 1 1/2" T-fitting (For airflow) --- 1 1/2" pipe (Approx 2') --- 4" pipe (10') --- 4" elbow fitting, opening to the sky.

It worked, more or less, giving a nice, slow creeping mist of fog. I wouldn't recommend this method if you needed any serious volume or speed of fog, but it works fine for what it is. It does tend to make a mess, though - just something to be aware of. Water will end up everywhere.

I think I roughly half-filled the 4" pipe and loosely filled the 1 1/2" pipe. I'm sure some experimentation could be done to find a level of ice that works best. Introducing a fan into the equation and stuffing in more ice would probably work wonders. I'm thinking you might want the fan to pull the fog through from the exit end, rather than pushing it through, but that's just a gut feeling.


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## Mistermon (Mar 6, 2018)

I did this a few years ago and had pretty good success with it. Agree with Marshall, though, that you won't get huge amounts of fog. 

Our method involved a 32 gallon garbage can with lid. I cut a hole for a 4" pipe at the height of my fog machine. I attached a tube leading from the machine to the top of the can (used a 90degree elbow) about 3 or 4 inches from the lid. There was a wire mesh grate that held the ice (we used regular, but dry ice would be better- just in small pieces). I cut another hole near the bottom of the can (4" again) to which I attached flexible dryer vent for the fog to exit. Added one more hole for a hose to drain the water, and it worked just fine. You have to leave a couple of inches between the fog machine and the entrance to the 'chiller' so air can enter and the fog can begin to expand. The theory is the fog enters the tube, and is forced upward, having nowhere to go, it is forced over the ice, then, having been chilled, exits the only available port and hugs the ground. We really did get good flow from this thing (I'll try to get some pictures- we lent it to another school and it's still there). Found that low lying fog was the best bet. 

I think I copied the design from Froggy'sFog: http://www.froggysfog.com/machines/fog-chillers.html#page=1

Cost us less than $50 to make.


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