# A Near Miss



## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

We almost had to cancel last night.

At 5:30 I fired everything up: lights, check. Sounds, check. Effects, check. Props, check. Fogger: nothing.

My trusty workhorse Chauvet FX-800 wasn't making fog, just squirting a healthy stream of fog juice out the nozzle. 

With TOTs due any minute, I did what I had to do: Dragged it inside and started emergency repair. I figured the worst I'd end up with is no worse than what I had now, and at best I could fix it.

Luckily I was able to open it up and find the problem right away: a corroded connection to a thermal cutout. I broke out the soldering gun and started in. And then the soldering gun broke. Had to replace the tip, but was soon back in business and made the repair.

The first couple of TOT groups had already come through. Luckily my step-daughter was there to answer the door while my wife was out with our son.

I put the repaired fogger back in place, fired it up, and it worked. Really well, too. The weather was warm enough to keep the fog hugging the ground perfectly, and the timer was set to keep it producing a fairly steady stream.

All in all a very good night.


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Well, Hallowe'een is supposed to be "scary"... ;-)

Glad it worked out in the end... no fog would be surely disappointing!


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## Night Watchman (Aug 15, 2009)

Thats cool glad it worked. I would have swore, been pissed, and kicked the thing until it worked or parts came flying off.


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

i'm glad that it all worked out for you!


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

The thing's been in service for five years now. It's time to retire it I think. That, and I took out about a gazillion screws, re-securing only a quarter of them; it's bound to fall apart now. 

As for the kicking & swearing... I can't say I was entirely calm about it, but there were little kids present, so I had to reign it in a bit. When the soldering iron broke, though, I realized that the situation was heading toward being comical. Like, I'm not SUPPOSED to have fog this year. As if.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I know the feeling. Glad you could get it repaired.


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

Heh, it wouldn't be Halloween without a last-minute panic or two, right? At least you got five years out of the machine. I'm on my third in five years.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Goes with the terror-tory..............


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## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

Think spare, that's what I do.


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