# Questing about a vortex fog chiller



## Erebus (Jul 28, 2009)

I found the other topic about the cortex chiller, but it is 86 pages long.  Anyways, it seems that the fog machine blows in the bottom, then rises and comes down the tube that is open at the top. Right? But some people have better results making it go the oposite way? Correct? I was given a dog food box (maybe it was cat food) and I plan on making a vortex type chiller. I have a Rosco 1600 chiller that puts out a ton of smoke. Do you think it would work better if you had the fog blow in a t the bottom, have only like 2 inches from the bottom until the grate, then ice all the way to the top, and instead of using a pvc pipe for the outlet, but use a dryer exhaust pipe and make it wrap around in a circle (through the ice) and then exit. Kind of like a vortex chiller and the trash can chiller, all in one. What do you think?


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

For any piping, inlet, outlet, internal should be smooth walled pipe. The ridges in dryer vent hoses will slow and reduce the output of the smoke. I don't even have a vortex chiller. I have a large cooler with a strainght run of wiremesh from one end to the other in the shape of a pipe. I do plan to make a vortex chiller this year to try it out, but I will use the original design and keep the open chamber at the bottom using a 1/4 of open space and 3/4 of ice.


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## slicerd (Nov 13, 2009)

I looked at a lot of stuff last year on vortex chillers and fog chillers in general and really don't know how much the input of the vortex matters. The main thing seems to be to get the fog to flow through the ice and have as much direct contact as possible. This is why a lot of people do not use the dryer tube because your fog just shoots through the tube and out without much contact to cool the fog. I ended up using a 5 gallon bucket and shooting the fog through the top out the bottom and into a tube full of frozen water bottles and I got some pretty cool ground fog.

Of course any sort of wind will mess up even the best efforts and if you have a pretty good fogger like it sounds you do then it will melt through a couple gallons of ice pretty quick too. I wish I had taken pics of my chiller before it went into the attic I liked my design thought it was much easier to do than most vortex chillers.


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## Night Watchman (Aug 15, 2009)

Erebus, I read that entire Vortex Chiller thread, than I asked a ton of questions, started a revival thread on the topic, and watched videos on youtube. I built one last year out of a 48 quart rectangular cooler. I think it is a matter of personal preference which tube you use as the inlet and which you use as the outlet. I think the 1/3 ice 2/3 expansion area are important and keep the ice topped up. Most if not all the people on the big thread liked the design and many of them tweaked it to their own preference. I think that the smooth ABS type pipe is a better idea and allowing the fog make contact with the ice. 
Here is mine with a 400 watt Gemmy.


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