# FOG CHILLER HELP!!!



## the spooky kid (Aug 6, 2004)

I will be getting a THE FOG MACHINE by gemmy and i am wondering what the best tried and proven fog chillers that u guys and gals have used in the past and present [?][?][?]

the spooky kid


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## drunk_buzzard (Sep 9, 2003)

Spooky kid - I just bought a fog machine and am going to use the 4 inch pipe chiller. It seems better than the icechest idea.

"Howdy folks! Ya like blood, violence, freaks of nature?" -- Capt. Spaulding, House of 1000 Corpses


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## dazco (Oct 1, 2003)

Thats pretty much 90% of the replies you'll get at this forum. That is, the PVC chiller. Damn near everyone here has made one and loves em. There are a few variations. What i found is that all you need is a 4" PVC pipe around 8 feet long, tho some have used much shorter. Then a coupler on one end that takes it from 4" to 2" and about 6" or a foot of 2" pipe. Fill partially with ice, or do what i and a lot of others did.....fill it with frozen water bottles. They seem to work great from my one Halloween with one, and as i've said many times, the fog kept laying low even after the water bottles had long since melted.


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## emrldtrtle (Sep 25, 2004)

Are there pics of this version of fog chiller? Or maybe a clearer explanation of where the pipes go? I only know of the ice chest version.

"Welcome, foolish mortals..."
Turtle


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

Here's the link to the original.

http://www.geocities.com/liemavick/Fogchiller.html


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## dazco (Oct 1, 2003)

And heres the link to the original thread about it from last year. (100+ posts)
http://www.halloweenforum.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1007&SearchTerms=frozen,bottles


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## Misfit (Sep 25, 2003)

Can the nosle of the fogger be hot enouph to melt pvc?

All is done


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## Misfit (Sep 25, 2003)

or WIll it.

All is done


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

The heat did not seem to effect the PVC at all for me last year. I ran a 1000-watt fogger for five hours straight.


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## drunk_buzzard (Sep 9, 2003)

Just in case, you can use a connector that has a hole on top for heat to escape. (Correct name has left me at the moment).

"Howdy folks! Ya like blood, violence, freaks of nature?" -- Capt. Spaulding, House of 1000 Corpses


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## Misfit (Sep 25, 2003)

copper heat sink?

All is done


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

Just the regular PVC T-connector will let the heat escape and also provides some fresh air for fog expansion.


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## the spooky kid (Aug 6, 2004)

thanks for the ideas 

the spooky kid


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## Misfit (Sep 25, 2003)

nice nice, yah I was hooking up the chiller and I noticed how hot the nossle got. I'm paranoid about little things like that. Thanks for the Help.

All is done


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## BATFLY (Oct 2, 2004)

i am plannign on building a fog chiller this year, never heard of this method with the 4" 8' pvc pipe. might have to try it. i was going to use this method... http://www.ghostsofhalloween.com/projects/fog_chiller/ has anyone built one of these trash can dryer hose fog chillers? how'd it work?

demons to some, angels to others


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## Vernoch (Oct 5, 2004)

I live in the southeast and despite the mental image of the "south" being warm, Halloween can get chilly. Because of this. I've had problems getting good outdoor fog to chill below the ambient air temp. This problem has been made worse by the fact my fogger is pretty strong 7500cfm and the fog just zips right past the cooling element and doesn't have time to be chilled. 

The first chiller that I tried was the ice chest design. http://gotfog.com/fog_machine_chiller.html 
This was a big bust and I found I got better result just stuffing the drier hoes with ice to salvage the night. This might have worked for a much lower volume fogger. 

I then tried one of these trashcan designs. http://www.ghostsofhalloween.com/projects/fog_chiller/
What I have found is that with all of these designs, the fog really doesn't come in contact with that much chilled surface area. The chilled open tubes, like the trash can only work if you pulse the fog once in a while, and give it time to chill.

Last year I went all out and built the heat exchanger type of chiller.
http://www.earthsands.com/holiday/halloween/propsfogchiller.html
Having been frustrated the past 2 years, I naturally modified everything to give it "more chilling power". My stove pipe was 4 feet, wider and had MUCH more coils. Additionally, I encased the whole thing in a big tupperware type type which contained the ice/water and pump. This would chill the pipe itself as well as the copper coils/water. This was by far the best design I have used. (pics should be up on a page sometime in the near future) 

There were a few things I wanted to fix. The first thing was that when fog is captured right out of the nozzle, it doesn't properly expand, and you tend to have a lot less fog than you would if it were simply release into the air. To solve this, this year, I am creating a "fog chamber". This is basically a semi sealed pvc frame cube wrapped in plastic. My fog machines are placed inside. This should not only allow the fog to expand, but will also solve the second issue I have with most designs. It should capture all that pesky fog that escapes during the cycle of your machine. This "Fog chamber" has a drier hose that lead to last years chiller. One thing I almost missed. I have a fan attached to the chamber which will help push the fog out. I wil adjust the speed of the fan to make certain it doesn't push to fast etc. I love the simple $20 fogger and will probably put it on the very end.. just to help drop the fog temp to the lowest possible.

I plan on creating a web page with pics as well as a video for all the XP users. I will also try to quantify data by recording outside air temp/vs the temp of the fog. So many designes are "demo'd" inside or during the day when it's easy to get fog cooler than then air temp. My goal is a design that will work on pretty cold nights.

Oh one note. needless to say, this "design" isn't very compact. One reason for the fan is to push the fog. The fog machines/fog chamber/ and heat exchanger pipe will be near the garage and away from people and the fog will be piped up to where I want it.

Feel free to drop me an email @ [email protected]


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## Pumpkin Man (Sep 24, 2004)

You might have heat problems if the fog machine is in a "fog chamber."


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## Vernoch (Oct 5, 2004)

Good point! That is why I have that fan I mentioned directing the cool night air directly to the the fog machines.


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## special2usa (Oct 11, 2004)

I've been reading about all these different fog machines and different ways to make THE BEST fog chiller machine. This will be my FIRST time attempting the Fog thing. I have a small backyard and I already purchased the VEI Mini Fogger V919. I want to build a chiller to go with my fogger. What is truly the best chiller to build for a small backyard? 

FYI: I'm a girl, so simple and effective would be great

Please Help


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by special2usa_
> 
> I've been reading about all these different fog machines and different ways to make THE BEST fog chiller machine. This will be my FIRST time attempting the Fog thing. I have a small backyard and I already purchased the VEI Mini Fogger V919. I want to build a chiller to go with my fogger. What is truly the best chiller to build for a small backyard?
> 
> ...


Welcome Special 

This is the easiest and most effective for the money.

http://www.geocities.com/liemavick/Fogchiller.html


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## special2usa (Oct 11, 2004)

Thanks!!


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

liemavick's GeoCities site has exceeded its allocated data transfer.

So here's a pic of what I use. Just connect the T-connector to one end of the 1.5" PVC pipe and the reducer to the other end. Connect that to the 3" PVC and fill with frozen water bottles. I use duct tape to secure the connections, no need to glue the PVC parts together. Put the nozzel of your fogger in the T-connector and fog away. The PVC seems to withstand the heat just fine.


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## cubedgame (Oct 8, 2003)

What I have used in the past is the cooler design. It worked pretty well for my 1000 watt model as I had the fog going in on the top of the ice and sinking down under the ice to exit at the bottom. I think I may do this cooler again and then attach a PVC Pipe cooler to the end of it to get the fog extra chilled. For my 700 watt model, I used a smaller cooler and that didn't go so well as it melted the ice pretty fast and i was refilling it last year. I think the best way to go would be the heat exchanger but that is a bit more complicated than the pipe idea or the cooler idea.

___________________________
-cubedgame


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## Lil (Oct 16, 2004)

Last year was our first year with a fog machine and I had not discovered any Halloween sites, or ever heard of a fog chiller. We bought the regular cheap fog machine you see everywhere (at Target). What we got was fog smoke, great if someone was hiding in the fog and jumping out, lousy if you wanted a lay low to the ground creepy fog look. We wanted the simplest fog chiller to make as in Minnesota it can get cold anyway. We made Lieviecks (or however his name is spelled) PVC chiller and tried it out last night. It worked GREAT and we were so glad we didn't spend time on a more complicated or spendy chiller. The only thing we may not use is the elbow on the end where the fog comes out chilled. Mr. Lil thinks it looks better and goes where he wants it to go just shooting straight out the pipe end. We use our's outdoor and I think indoors it would be great. Now, we just hope for a low breeze and not a howling wind on the 30th, the night we do our trail. Lil


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## Otaku (Sep 10, 2004)

I still use my ice chest chiller, and find it works great. I used the design put up at GotFog.com. Since I don't have a lot of room for a long PVC pipe, this was the best choice for me. I cheat a bit by placing 20 lbs of dry ice in the cooler along with the ice cubes. It runs for two nights, about four hours a night, and there's still dry ice left over.


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## wicked (Aug 27, 2002)

We tried the chest type chiller w/o any success, so we made the pvc kind last year, also w/o success--I think our fog machine was not powerful enough to work with the 8' long pipe, (700w, 2500cu.in. of fog per min) so we modified it--we added 2 "T's" every couple of feet (for fog escape) and added a 3" coupler with a small fan (out of an old cauldron fake flame), at the oppsite end of where we have the elbow vent, to help blow the fog through the pvc, and we're using dry ice instead of regular ice. I think alot of the problem trying to make low-lying fog here in So.California, is the weather just dosen't get cold enough to make these other type of chillers work well. But after making the modifications we had WAY good success--This thing works perfect! Finally we'll have what we've been wanting for years, a VERY chilly low-lying fog. Oh, and also I bought another fog machine to tie into the same chiller. It's a continuous fogger, with a pulser--We got it at Party City for 20 bucks! And it's GREAT!

The banshee shrieks with* WICKED* delight, on this a cold and death filled night!


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## cubedgame (Oct 8, 2003)

scarefx, what exactly is the purpose of the 1.5" pvc pipe? Do you fill that with regular ice or what?

wicked, is that constant fogger you got the commander version or the regular version? Does it seem to sputter out fog wimpily like mine? Link: http://www.halloweenforum.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5035 <--a video there too! Thanks.

___________________________
-cubedgame

Free Thunder Soundtrack:
http://webpages.charter.net/cubedgame/cubedgame/thunder.htm Enjoy!


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## scarefx (Jul 25, 2004)

> quote:_Originally posted by cubedgame_
> 
> scarefx, what exactly is the purpose of the 1.5" pvc pipe? Do you fill that with regular ice or what?
> -cubedgame


I use the 1.5" pipe to position my fogger away from the chilling pipe so the fogger is out of the way of the TOT's. You do not need to fill that piece with ice. You can reduce the length or eliminate the 1.5" pipe completely if it serves your purpose better. You do need to allow some fresh air to mix with the fog as it comes out of your machine. That's why I use the t-connector. It fits great on the end of my fogger. However, other people have eliminated that piece as well just by keeping their machine about an inch or two away from the end of the pipe.


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## superstein (Oct 13, 2004)

OK, being both cheap and lazy - hmmmm, make that thrifty and someone who works smarter - I modified Liemavicks design to basically the following $2.98 chiller

Yep $2.98.

Buy one 10 foot length of 4" black flexible sewer pipe for $2.98 at Home Depot.

Cut a 1 1/2 inch hole in the top of the pipe about 3 inches in from one end.

Fill with ice / frozen bottles and slide the end with teh cut hole next to your fogger.

Relax, have a beer and enjoy the fog.

OOOOH - and if you want to get more sophisticated, you could take a few pieces of Duct tape (always on hand) and tape up the one end (near where you cut the hole) - so you reduce the diamter size of the opening from 4 inches to about 2 inches.

A whole lot less work - the cut hole serves the same purpose as the PVC T pipe opening, its already black to blend in with the night and your haunt - and it only costs you $2.98


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## wicked (Aug 27, 2002)

> _Originally posted by cubedgame_
> 
> 
> wicked, is that constant fogger you got the commander version or the regular version? Does it seem to sputter out fog wimpily like mine? Link: http://www.halloweenforum.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5035 <--a video there too! Thanks.
> ...


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## Vernoch (Oct 5, 2004)

My two cents worth (plus a lot of cash and time)

Ok here goes.  I'm a techno person, so naturally I've tried pretty many all of the disigns out there. I do like the heat exchanger coper coil design, but ever I must conceed that it simply is not worth the time or money. The cheap $10 dollar design or even the $3 version are the most efficient. They are cheap and they work GREAT. So do yourself a favor, unless you are simply into "building" the chiller, use a variation of the $10 design. It's simply the best way to go, little or no modifications are actually needed.. 

Conceeds that simplier is often better.s


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## dpolking (Oct 8, 2004)

*$7.95 fog chiller*

As I type this my 10' section of 4" black flex drainage pipe is testing in my lab--er--basement. For this first test the pipe is about 1" away from the F/X 700 Watt fog machine with my timer set to the shortest invterval between bursts. With only the ice that I had in the tray of my freezer's ice maker, it is working great in the basement. Fog is staying near the floor, whereas last year I had this machine in the basement for a Halloween party the the fog floated up and all over the place. 

The fog is exiting the tube a little fast, but I'm sure that'll change when I really load the pipe up with ice on Halloween. I'll be going out and buying 2 more sections of pipe for my other 2 foggers. I may do an outdoor test tonight just to see how it does with this minimal amount of ice.


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## bringjoy (Aug 28, 2005)

Inquiring minds want to know -- did you do the outdoor test? I'm looking for hard data <smile> to show my husband. He built an ice chest chiller a couple years ago which worked OK -- when we were living in LA -- but not great. Now he wants to spend the time and money on the copper tubing design and I'd rather buy more lights with the money -- especially since we're in Houston and it may well be cooler here on Hallows.

Thx for any info you have!


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## dpolking (Oct 8, 2004)

*Outdoor test for the 7.95 Fog Chiller*

Worked about as expected with only an icemaker tray full of ice, and a slight breeze. Hugged the ground fairly well for a minute or so between bursts, but I do expect much better results with a pipe full of ice. Still was vastly improved over having no chiller at all. 

I sure hope that this year I don't have the 20 MPH winds I had to content with in 2004!!!


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## Stench (Aug 30, 2005)

Would it be better to use frozen bottles of water in the pipe rather than ice to keep condensation down?


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## Scary Barry (Oct 6, 2004)

Being the GENIUS that I am I decided to try a french drain black pipe to build my first chiller. The holes are already in the pipe so no need to drill any to let the water escape. The pipe is flexible so I can bend it around trees, brush etc. Ha Ha...I'm so smart! I packed that sucker with ice, put the fogger about 3 inches from the hose and enjoyed my brilliance. Well...too many holes in the pipe and fog went everywhere. A little bit of fog came from the end that hugged the ground but most of the fog went shooting out the holes. The kids danced in the fog and laughed at their super-genius father.

I now, humbly, use the Liemavics $20 fog chiller with no problems.


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## MichaelMyers (Jun 2, 2004)

i tried to build the pvc chiller and it sucked because my local hardware store (ACE) didnt have all the parts so i had to try and make something myself and it turned out to be a waste of money on my part


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## natascha (Jul 21, 2004)

I have heard people using Ice and/or Frozen Water Bottles, has anyone tried it with Polar packs, the jell like freezer packs? 

Do you think they would last longer than frozen water bottles? 

I have quite a few of them from Medications that I have delivered that have to remain cold, so the price is right! 

Only concern I have is that they are housed in a plastic that I don't know if it would melt from the heat of the fog.

Any feed back would be appreciated!


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