# Fog machines



## Rallyemaster (Feb 27, 2013)

*Has anyone ever purchased a fog machine from cheaplights.com ?*
*Specifically 127-W-JUNGLE-SIS-M $49.95*

*http://www.cheaplights.com/cart/page28.html?gclid=CKy-mLH287UCFQqnPAodqSYA3w*

*Or can anyone suggest a quality fogger?*


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Sorry, I am not familiar with that model. I have seen 400 watt foggers for 25 bucks at Walmart and Target around Halloween time. I've seen them off season at one of the party stores. If your going with a no-name fogger I'd spend as little money possible, however, you get what you pay for. 

I've had the same 2 FX 700 watters that I bought at Spirit Halloween back in 2006 and they still work fine. My "cadillac" fogger is a Martin which is a fine quality fogger but they are a lot more money. I understand that VEI makes good ones. A DJ supply store is a good place to look at them. 

Consider what your using the fogger for and make sure you purchase enough wattage. I know people use 400 watters and love them. If you want to chill fog for a ground cover you might want to think about at least 700 watts unless its being used in a small area...400 might be fine. Some people use much bigger units but that would fog up my whole neighborhood. Is that a bad thing????? I use a an 800 watt Martin and chill the fog in my graveyard. I have a good amount of control and it performs very well.


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

With smaller fog machines, you often times can't have fog on demanas they cycle to heat back up you can't make fog. Its fog for 30 seconds. Heat back up for a minute. You need a higher watt and a good name for continuouse fog. 

Otherwise a well taken care of cheap machine can last for many years.


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Its sort of a crap shoot. I just tested 3 foggers, 1 1200watt, and 2 1500 watts, from a maufacturer in china. not the cheapest,not the most expensive, mid range china foggers. All 3 sucked. 15 second fog, over a minute and a half reheat cycle. We have better 400 watts.

I can certainly suggest some quality foggers, but there is nothing I can think of under 100 dollars, with the fog output and cycle times I want, anyways. 

I agree with stagehand that care equals long fogger life. My number one fogger repair right now is burned up pumps, bad pump springs and just dirty pumps. Someone tried to run an unknown black substance through a 700 dollar fogger, lol. We honored the warranty anyway,it was just the pump and fluid lines bad.


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## Abunai (Oct 28, 2007)

Kind of along the same lines: 

I go through the $25, 400W foggers from WalMart like they were disposable lighters.

My haunt is outside on farm-type ground (no grass, lots of dirt and dust). I've attempted to keep the foggers clean and free of gunk but, invariably, none of the foggers live through October.

Can someone suggest a fogging scheme that can be used in this type of situation? What type of special maintenance would you recommend for foggers in this environment that are expected to run 3 to 4 hours per night, two nights per week, for the whole month of October?

Is the fog juice from WalMart crap? Does it degrade with time/temperature changes?


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

Good fog juice will help keep the inter parts of the fog machine clean and from clogging up. Froggy Swamp Juice has the longest hang time of all there fog juice, 2 Hours +\- (they say) but that changes with the weather (wind, etc.). Long hang time means less time the machine has to running to put out fog. 
http://www.froggysfog.com/?gclid=CKuJ2Z23mrYCFc1QOgodOzsANA


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Im all for the quality fog juice. I can see the difference in the shop. we sell our own brand, but im not here to plug it. I prefer water based, based on heating elements ive cut open on older machines.

If you can, clean it with cleaning fluid after each night, or at least run some through if its going to be turned off for a while. IMO, heres what happens. You turn off the fogger, and the pump stops pushing juice, but the heating element stays hot for a while yet, and cooks whatever small amount of fluid left in the line (or element) down to a tar like residue. Too much of this, and you get a fogger, however expensive, that powers on, the pump runs, but it puts out little or no fog, regardless of fluid used. 

Or, you use the small tank on the 400 watt machine, instead of running the siphon hose into a gallon jug of fluid, and repeatedly over the course of a few days run the pump dry, with the fogger set either to constant on,or on a timer. Then, you heat up the pump springs,they get brittle, and break. depending on your handiness, and the fogger,you can rebuild the pump,BUT, you need the correct spring. If its just dirty (dust in the air, dust in the fluid, yada yada) you can open up the pump and lightly oil it with some turbine oil, or WD 40 (not the best, but hey, its there) work thepump manually for a bit to workit all in nice, and replace in the fogger.

If you are burning up 25 dollar foggers regardless of care taken, and yeah, they are sort of disposable IMO, then maybe you should consider somethingin the 3 or 4 hundred dollar range. Good warrenty with a good company, good, knowledgable tech staff,good fluid. Ifyou areplanning on having a haunt for a long time, then the money is maybe worth it. Its a tough call.

And my spelling is attrocious without the Ipad.lol! Where's my autocorrect when I need it?


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## Tokwik (Oct 12, 2011)

So a question along the theme of this thread.

I'm looking to upgrade my "el-cheapo" 1000W party city fogger that is doing the best it can, but doesn't have the output that I need anymore.

Honestly, I haven't done much research yet, but it is a purchase I want to make over the summer. 
What are some of the brands and models that give you the best overall performance for the money? I'd like to keep the fogger running constantly through a fairly large chiller and I know that I'm going to need to drop some cash in order to get that accomplished.

The $1000 and up machines are out of the question. I'm thinking my budget will be in the under $500 range so I'm hoping that brings up a few decent options, but not sure about where to start.
I know I could buy a bunch of cheap foggers for the same money, but was hoping for something with better quality.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

How do I keep missing these threads....

Tokwik, I am sort of in a similar boat. I have a VEI 930T that has worked like a champ several years but the reheat cycles are killing me so I want to put a bigger hopefully continuous machine on my chiller and use the VEI in my pumpkin patch or something, who knows...

I haven't been impressed with several things I've read about a few of the manufacturers so I am currently looking at the Martin Magnum 850. Supposedly, it is capable of continuous output and while I can't find any reviews, Martin sounds like a pretty reliable brand. 

Hippofeet built a continuous monster fogger that is freakin amazing but building something like that is over my head unfortunately. 

Hippofeet, thanks for those tips. After all the stuff I've read, I always just emptied my machine and left it until the next year. I'll score some cleaning solution this year. 

I had no idea you were this involved in the biz. We would love to see any pics you would like to share of stuff you've built/worked on. Heaven knows that fogger was something else!


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## george_darkhill (Aug 8, 2013)

Cheaplights.com is notorius for cheaply made, chinese products, i wouldn't buy from them, but I never have, so im not 100% certain that their products are inferior, its just what I have heard.


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

BTW, for anyone looking at the Martin Magnum 850, the timer remote is not included and it is over a hundred bucks. (grand total around $390ish.) After buying it separately, you are almost up to the next machine, the 1200 (around $420ish) which includes the timer.


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## dead hawk (Jun 5, 2012)

I use cheap 10 dollar machines I find around clearance stores, I would look there first. I do recommend cauvet machines as some are cheaper but they make a quality product


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## TNathe (Sep 28, 2006)

ive killed my chauvet 700w fx foggers by badly clogging the heating elements. I have tried boiling the aluminum blocks in vinigar for an hour but it did nothing. I can only assume cheap juice did this to the heating elements and/or not proprly cleaning them afterwards. 

Anyone have any hook ups on getting just the hating elements? Everything else works on my machines.


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## Sblanck (Sep 13, 2007)

I have two of the walmart specials for about 3 years. I use a 10' long black corrugated pipe filled with a bag of ice and it seems to work for the length of time I am outside. I did own an expensive fogger and it worked well also.


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## dommyboy (Oct 15, 2011)

My primary is a Chauvet Hurricane 1300. This puts out a ton...and cay easily fill a warehouse in 2 minutes. It can also easily split (via pvc piping) if you want to send the fog in several directions. 

I too have pretty much made anything 400W disposable. They tend to be pieces of junk, and the heating elements and/or pumps break, and arent even worth repair. 

Never had a problem with my Chauvet...$125 off eBay. It was a steal. 

Also use good fog juice. The store brand stuff is glorified water. I've used Chauvet's (which was great) and am going to try the 10-31store.com free sample soon. 

Good luck!


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

My Martin 1200 arrived a few days ago. WOW! It loves Froggy's and completely obliterated the end of my house and truck. It was like standing in a cloud. My husband and daughter asked when it was going to stop to reheat. I finally just let off the button. This thing is a beast!! I haven't played with the timer, I was just running it wide open with the button down. Neighbors stopped their cars to look but we are close to that time of year anyway.

I did try putting the fog through a corrugated pipe with holes on wet grass. Holes were facing down. Didn't love it. It rose way too fast so it looks like I will likely have to build a second chiller for my smaller machine. This one is getting the chiller.

Granted, I have only used this machine for 2 days which isn't much of a longevity report but I love it and I was a big fan of my smaller VEI!! 

I think I am starting to scare the neighbor's dancing in the fog (it happened when I initially got my VEI) but my daughter was out there dancing in it too this time!


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## BobbyA (Mar 12, 2011)

FWIW I have two larger machines, an American DJ Fog Storm 1700 HD, and a VEI V-960 (El Capitan or some such). The VEI is great, as long as you don't set the output volume too high it will not need to stop and reheat. The fog storm (lol) is a piece of poo.
It only draws 1450 Watts from the wall outlet (so does it pull the other 250 watts out it's butt ?), runs 15 seconds and then reheats for 65 seconds. Does not run continuous at any setting. I did a review of it on Amazon, but short answer is I would not recommend it to you.


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