# Big fog chiller



## Jwb4881

I am new to the group and want to thank you for taking time to read my post. I just bought a Chauvet arena 2100 flex fog machine. It shoots out 30,000 cubic feet per minute. Anyone have any ideas on how to build a big fog chiller for that much fog?


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## Lunatic

Welcome to Haunt Forum!

Holy crap! Sounds like you'll be fogging the neighborhood! 

I don't know of any chiller bigger than the trash can chiller based on the vortex method. I'm sure you could build something bigger but probably not needed.

Good luck!


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## MapThePlanet

WOW, I would say that falls into the "go big or go home" category!

Not sure how large of a chiller is needed or what you are willing to build, however with that large of volume of fog, I would say you'll have to have a fan/blower draw the fog through the chiller....something along these lines:


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## Tokwik

Check out niblique's scratch built fog chiller thread.

Linky

He made his out of pink insulation foam and seemed to have very good results.

It seems that following his basic design, with maybe a few wooden supports, you could make as big of a chiller as you like.

Hope that helps some.


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## Jwb4881

Hey guys thanks. I know it's a beast of a machine. I made a chiller last year with a trash can dryer duct with a chauvet hurricane 1100. I have been looking for plans for a vortex type. To do in like a 55 gallon barrel. Anyone have a link or anything like that


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## Lunatic

You're going to need lots of ice!


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## Jwb4881

I'm sure I will need close to 100 pounds of ice. I may be stupid but I can't find a blueprint for a vortex chiller that big. Ugh


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## Tokwik

Jwb4881 said:


> I'm sure I will need close to 100 pounds of ice. I may be stupid but I can't find a blueprint for a vortex chiller that big. Ugh


Don't think you will find a blueprint for many of the large chillers.

If it was me, I would be thinking more horizontally than vertically. I'm not sure how much fog a 2100 machine would produce, but I would be thinking about a horizontal chamber(s) filled maybe with sections of ice walls rather than one solid chamber.

The sections would allow the fog to expand, cool, then expand, cool again. Not sure if it would work, but it would save on ice.

As a side note, 100 lbs of ice is a bunch, but not that much. The chiller I'm working on now for a 1000 fogger is only about 4'x2'x2' and I'm estimating about 120lbs of ice.

Hope it works out, I'm interested in what you come up with.


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## Jwb4881

Tokwik I'm sorry for sounding a little dumb. What do you mean by horizontal. Like a big can with the pipe coming up in the middle?


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## niblique71

Your fog chiller design will all depend on how you want to use your fog machine in your haunt. Sure you have a Huge Fogger, but do you want to blind your patrons or obscure your props?? A larger machine (To me) just means more reliable "Fog on Demand". I prefer shorter bursts over a consistant time period to have (hopefully) a consistant effect. With that said you could use any of the traditional larger ice chest coolers, or my cube chiller, or even a larger trash can chiller. Remember you always want to make direct contact with "ice cubes" when chilling fog. Dryer vent chillers are far less effecient because there is no direct contact with an ice matrix.

Any good design with 100lbs or more of ice should effectively chill your fog for a few hours. The more you use your fogger, means adding more ice periodically to maintain the "Chill".


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## Jwb4881

I got a bIg yard. My props are gonna be the usual. Tombstones, gargoyles and suck. I want the fog about 3 feet off th ground and so thick you can't see under it. I'm probablly gonna get froggys swamp juice or bog fog for the hang time. But I do live in Alabama so the humidity and temperature may cause problems. I have seen halloweens here be at 30 degrees and 80 degrees.


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## Lunatic

And the damn wind. The friggin wind!


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## Jwb4881

I just tried the dogger out for the first time. You can change the volume it outputs. I fogged up our entire neighborhood


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## Tokwik

Jwb4881 said:


> Tokwik I'm sorry for sounding a little dumb. What do you mean by horizontal. Like a big can with the pipe coming up in the middle?


Sorry, Like I said before, I have ZERO experience with a machine that large, and was just throwing out an idea. I couldn't imagine having to fill up a 55 gallon drum with ice so I was envisioning Niblique's "Scratch built" chiller in a larger scale. Doing that made my head hurt, so instead of building a "taller" chiller, I was thinking more along the lines of a "wider" one with intake and output ports at opposite ends.

Once again, this is just a theory and I have no idea if it will work in your situation.



niblique71 said:


> Remember you always want to make direct contact with "ice cubes" when chilling fog. Dryer vent chillers are far less effecient because there is no direct contact with an ice matrix.


Listen to this man, he knows of what he speaks.

And if you come up with a solution for ground hugging fog in the south, please share. I live in atlanta and last year the ground temperature (not air) of the grass was about 68* IIRC. Even with wet grass, no matter how cold I got the fog leaving the chiller, it would quickly warm up and rise up.

Hope you get it figured out.


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## Demon Dog

Jwb4881 said:


> Hey guys thanks. I know it's a beast of a machine. I made a chiller last year with a trash can dryer duct with a chauvet hurricane 1100. I have been looking for plans for a vortex type. To do in like a 55 gallon barrel. Anyone have a link or anything like that


My fog chiller is made from a 55 gallon plastic drum with a removable lid, then painted to look like a toxic waste barrel.
http://www.halloweenforum.com/members/demon-dog-albums-miscellaneous-picture31778-fog-chiller-b.html
If you cannot find a vortex chiller instruction you like or feel comfortable scaling up in size, PM me your email address and I'll send you one I wrote up for someone else (but was too big to post in the forum).

Froggy's Freezin Fog juice or something of similar quality works nicely and has good hang time. Email Froggy's for their recommendation based upon what you want. They'll respond. Be sure to tell them in what state you live and time of year you want to use it. Guitar Center also sells a fog juice that works well.


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## Jwb4881

*Wow*



Demon Dog said:


> My fog chiller is made from a 55 gallon plastic drum with a removable lid, then painted to look like a toxic waste barrel.
> http://www.halloweenforum.com/members/demon-dog-albums-miscellaneous-picture31778-fog-chiller-b.html
> If you cannot find a vortex chiller instruction you like or feel comfortable scaling up in size, PM me your email address and I'll send you one I wrote up for someone else (but was too big to post in the forum).
> 
> Froggy's Freezin Fog juice or something of similar quality works nicely and has good hang time. Email Froggy's for their recommendation based upon what you want. They'll respond. Be sure to tell them in what state you live and time of year you want to use it. Guitar Center also sells a fog juice that works well.


That is awesome in so many ways


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## Jwb4881

The fog chiller that demon dog made looks amazing. You are guinuise.


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## Jwb4881

I'm starting on my chiller a little at a time. I want to thank everyone Thant has helped especially devil dog. This form. Rocks


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## diablodeebo

I'm pretty new to yard haunting and tend to do everything on as small of a budget as I can (5 kids will do that to a guy). So I don't know if this will help much but....I use irrigation tubing for a fog chiller. I line it from my fogger down the length (25') of my house and then point the end where ever. Then fill with ice. The holes in the tubing work great for letting a small amount of fog out at a time down the entire length and still get a decent amount out of the end.


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## Fright Zone

@diablodeebo- That's a good way to go. I've never done it. I was thinking about it. There are some people, including the person who invented the relatively cost effective and simple, yet very good results ghostsofhalloween.com trash can, who are now using irrigation hose. But he plugs the end and uses no ice. I don't personally care for the end result compared to chilled. Go to the Vortex Chiller thread. I posted info and video links on page 92 of that one and irrigation hose from a Vortex trash can chiller. I may do that for a small cauldron with dryer duct (or I've seen a vacuum cleaner hose) from a 400W fogger. Using ice cubes or frozen H20 bottles. I can't put ice in the cauldron because it's already taped with lights from 2006.

@Jwb4881- Call the Fire Dept. Otherwise someone else will!! Also go to that Vortex Chiller page and see if anything I posted recently strikes your fancy http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=3577&page=92&highlight=Vortex+Chiller

The Chauvet hurricane 1300 with fog chiller and booster fan video mentioned is classic. They also pipe fog thru a long roof gutter then thru a fan lol


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## Fright Zone

Fog Chillers Featuring 2007 Vortex Pro gallery I uploaded. The actual product. All photo credits to hauntforum member archutek. He used a Chauvet 1700 fogger to the Vortex w/ 40lbs out of a possible 60lbs of ice. 20lbs left after 3hrs. He compared it too an Antari Z Ice Low Ground fogger set continuous medium output 20lbs ice. I had saved his photos. I've uploaded them informational purposes only because this is easier and faster than searching the monster Vortex thread. http://halloween420.shutterfly.com/45

CountZero said he tried Froggy's Chiller forumula fog juice he used and the Chiller formula tends to rise slower, and break up slower, which helps with the "low creepy" look. He used an MBT 1000W fogger, a 60qt DIY Igloo Cube Vortex, and his trash bag on the outlet.

http://www.liquidrealities.com/images/fog/bagfogger.jpg


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## Jwb4881

@fright zone I appreciate all the help everyone has given me. I will call the Fire Department before I test anything. That thing puts out 30,000 cubic feet per minute. I have a hurricane 1100. I just wanted to have thick ground fog.


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## Fright Zone

You're welcome. I had been collecting a lot of videos and info this month and going back to old info. So it's a good time to share what I can.

I was half joking when I said alert the Fire Dept. I'd at least let the neighbor's know. But A) Unless you test during the day it'll mostly be at night on ToT (Trick-or-Treat). and B) If the chiller works it'll be on the ground, not blasting thru the air looking like smoke from a fire.

Here's a vid of the without a chiller someone did during the day. Chauvet Hurricane 1100 Test:





Here's my post reiterated from the Vortex Chiller thread:

An actual Vortex Cold Fusion (the small kitty litter pail-looking one. Not the huge Trash Can version. Proving it works with approx 20lbs of ice in a small container) in action outdoors with a Chauvet H-1100 and a FC-T *Continuous* timer.

Continuous Low Fog with a Fogger and Chiller





And a DIY Vortex reverse flow 44 gallon trash can. That means the fog goes into the pipe that goes to the top that's normally meant to be the outlet. 2" inlet 90deg PVC to the top. Forced down thru (50) frozen H20 bottles suspended with chicken wire with a 10" expansion area at the bottom out to a 2" dia perforated irrigation hose. It would be interesting to see how it performs with ice but he gets great results @3:20. *Chauvet 1300 fogger*. 




http://vortexchillers.com/ shows real Vortex products used indoors. You can see the dimensions and professional Martin foggers comparable to, if not better, than the Chauvet.

Take it from there. Have fun. Base on those examples you should be fine : )


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## Jwb4881

The chiller helped a lot but still cant get the fog to hug the ground. When the fog comes out its ice cold. I guess thats from 100LB of ice


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## R. Lamb

I too have a 55 Gal. Barrel made to chill fog. I'll be using Froggy's this year just to see how it compares to the party store stuff. I have to think that the cold weather you folks have to contend with makes a huge difference. The days here are usually 75 dgrees and the nights around 55 so, the fog I've been able to make hugs the ground very well and without wind will cover both sides of my yard (Corner lot), the neighbors and on occasion I even have to turn it off for a while when it begins to cover the street as well.


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## Buzz

You might look at the one I built this season. The idea can easily work with any size rectangular cooler.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=33150


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## Jwb4881

I use Froggys cryofreeze it's amazing fluid. I may add some dry ice to it also. I will post new pictures of the chiller this weekend and if I could figure out how to upload the video would be awesome.


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