# Making what I assume is a vortex chiller.



## SirOvenMitt (Aug 7, 2012)

Not sure I have ever posted here before but if not hello to everyone. I can see this subject has many posts unfortunately many posts are very old and pictures, videos and or links are no longer functioning. 
Now that I am getting other projects completed I have been wanting a fogger for our halloween party and for halloween night. Was looking at picking up the hurricane 1301 and using the Froggys freezin fog with a chiller.
I plan on making the chiller which I assume is using the insulation foam boards from say HD. So of course I have some questions to try and make sure I am on the right path.

The fogger needs to sit back from the inlet pipe about 3 inchs to allow the fog to mix with air?

Is a 2 or 3 inch metal pipe a good size for the inlet pipe?

Should the inlet pipe go to the middle of the chiller and run up almost to the top?

What height size does the chamber at the bottom need to be? 

And is a 4in pipe a good size for the outlet? Does it help to have a trash bag attached to this to make better fog?

How long does a 1 gallon of the froggys normally last?

I appreciate any help on this, it should be interesting as I have very little skill at making things from scratch.


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

I have not posted in a very long time, but since I started the Vortex thread, I will try to answer your questions.

You want the bottom 1/3 of the chiller to be an air gap and the top 2/3 of the chiller to be ice. The inlet goes into the 1/3 bottom air gap. The outlet pipe goes from the top of the ice down through the ice to the outlet. The inlet and outlet pipes should be 3 inch pipes.

The theory is, the fog is injected into the bottom 1/3" air gap and allowed to expand. The hot fog rises through the ice and is cooled. The fog is then forced through the outlet pipe back down through the pipe that is cooled by the ice and out of the chiller.

Let me know if you have any questions.



SirOvenMitt said:


> Not sure I have ever posted here before but if not hello to everyone. I can see this subject has many posts unfortunately many posts are very old and pictures, videos and or links are no longer functioning.
> Now that I am getting other projects completed I have been wanting a fogger for our halloween party and for halloween night. Was looking at picking up the hurricane 1301 and using the Froggys freezin fog with a chiller.
> I plan on making the chiller which I assume is using the insulation foam boards from say HD. So of course I have some questions to try and make sure I am on the right path.
> 
> ...


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

This is an old thread but figured it was worth a shot. I remember the monster chiller thread that was the stuff of legend it was so massive! I’m having a problem with my two Igloo square chillers. Even fully closed, they both leak around the lid. Every year we have tried something different but nothing has worked. We have tried tape, insulating foam that sticks around the inside top, a heavy rock... I literally cannot keep the fog from coming out around the lid. My concern is this year I bought a much larger, more powerful fogger and I’m afraid it’s going to be worse by an order of magnitude. Has anyone had any success preventing this or is it just me that’s having a problem? Thanks.


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## Tokwik (Oct 12, 2011)

Daphne said:


> This is an old thread but figured it was worth a shot. I remember the monster chiller thread that was the stuff of legend it was so massive! I'm having a problem with my two Igloo square chillers. Even fully closed, they both leak around the lid. Every year we have tried something different but nothing has worked. We have tried tape, insulating foam that sticks around the inside top, a heavy rock... I literally cannot keep the fog from coming out around the lid. My concern is this year I bought a much larger, more powerful fogger and I'm afraid it's going to be worse by an order of magnitude. Has anyone had any success preventing this or is it just me that's having a problem? Thanks.


Hey Daphne.

Have had similar problems in the past with your same issues.

My temporary solution that I have been running for three years now was to put a 45* elbow onto the entry pvc. Directing it either down into the ice, or upwards to deflect onto the bottom of the lid yielded about the same amount of fog escaping out the lid of my chiller. 
Adding some of that window insulation strips helped some. 
Adding weight helped some. 
Screwing the lid down helped some more.

At the end of the day, I had more intake volume than the chiller could handle. You may be faced with the same issue. It's possible you may need a larger air space in the chiller. (Less ice?)

As a last resort, if the lid is secure, you could try some gorilla tape around the seam at the beginning of the night. 
Might hold. 
Might not.

For me personally, I've just gotten used to having some escaping fog and now view it as part of the overall ambiance.

Good luck. Ill be setting up next week if you need any assistance.


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## xredge (Aug 21, 2014)

Had the same problem with a 50 or 60 gallon cooler the ice would just melt and once it turned into a solid chunk, didn't seem to take long. The issue would start.

Last year ended up going with a big heavy duty storage tote and used all semi rigid aluminum hose inside and a little bit of rigid hose/pipe, which seemed to do the trick for me. Aluminum piping will keep everything cooler than PVC at least in the chiller. I've done a bunch of variations over the years. Want to do a variation with the semi rigid piping and a partial vortex, along with a bigger tote, even though this one still had 3 big bags of ice with all the duct work in it still, just no time for campground haunt which is this weekend


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Hummm.... that does seem strange. Guess I would ask what the outlet of the cooler is like. How is it building so much pressure to have fog literally 'coming out the seams' even when sealed with tape, foam and extra weights to hold the lid closed? 

Ideally the chiller would be creating a cold draft at the outlet which should almost be pulling fog IN at the seams. Possibly too small of an opening on the outlet?


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