# Spirit 400W Fogger Problems



## BamaWeen (Oct 6, 2009)

Bought my spirit 400w fogger and set up my first display this year. Real excited and got everything set up with a few minutes to spare Halloween. Hooked up my fogger and let it warm up good and got a good blast of fog -- realized that I had not put my frozen water bottles in the tubing, took care of that and loved the ground hugging results! Hit my remote for the third puff of fog -- no fog. I kept messing with it and we even took it apart later. No obvious problem. I did notice that the unit does not appear to heat up -- any ideas? Unfortunately, I lost the receipt (yeah, the only receipt I cannot find from all of my supply purchases!). Anyone have any ideas on how to troubleshoot it out?


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

BamaWeen said:


> Bought my spirit 400w fogger and set up my first display this year. Real excited and got everything set up with a few minutes to spare Halloween. Hooked up my fogger and let it warm up good and got a good blast of fog -- realized that I had not put my frozen water bottles in the tubing, took care of that and loved the ground hugging results! Hit my remote for the third puff of fog -- no fog. I kept messing with it and we even took it apart later. No obvious problem. I did notice that the unit does not appear to heat up -- any ideas? Unfortunately, I lost the receipt (yeah, the only receipt I cannot find from all of my supply purchases!). Anyone have any ideas on how to troubleshoot it out?


Those are most likely made by Fitco. Did you check for a fuse? If there is no heat from the heater it is probably a blown fuse. The fuse holder is normally located near the power cord on the case. Mine have a screw cap (large philips head) and the fuze is a fast blow 5 Amp 125 VAC type. You can get a pack of them cheap at Radio Shack or Home Depot.

If it's not the fuse then it could be a defective thermal fuse in-line or near the heater itself. You can get those at Radio Shack as well. It's the same type fuse that goes into a coffee maker.

If not you can always buy another one, look around they are on sale everywhere now that Halloween is over. I bought four of those 400 watters at our local Marc's discount store at $9.99 each, they where $19.99. I found two 450 watt mini foggers at $4.99 each.


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## BamaWeen (Oct 6, 2009)

You know, we "looked" at the fuse... But, we did not test the fuse! We check for continuity in a few other places -- but now that you say it, I am thinking, "no, we did not really check the fuse". I will be so bummed, then happy if that is it!


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

FWIW, the 400W "Celebrate It!" brand fogger I got from Michael's worked all night, ~5 hours and put out pretty good fog using Spirit fog juice. The fogger is actually made by Gemmy. The real test will be if it works next year.


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## charlie (Jul 9, 2007)

Determine if it is actually heating. If it isn't, start with the fuse and move forward from there. I believe there is a thermostat as well. 

In the future I would go with a higher end fogger - especially if you plan on haunting year after year. It will save you money in the long run. I've had an American DJ fog hog for 13 years and its still going strong (I did have to clear the pump once due to cheap fog fluid). I bought a Chauvet F1700 a few years ago and it is amazing.

I'd recommend using Rosco fog fluid too - it seems to lubricate the pumps well and the density and hang time of the fog is second to none.

charlie


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## trentsketch (Jul 27, 2009)

I also picked up one of those Spirit 400W foggers for this year. There were definetly some issues with it heating up regularly. I wound up switching from the timer to the remote control to have better control over the fog. It would still stop working for five to ten minutes when it reheated after a good blast. If I went conservative with out the ammount of fog, I had more consistent results.

Part of what drew me to the device was the external fuse. My last one had to be disassembled to even get to the fuse and then I couldn't find one that fit. 

I'll probably pick up another of the 400W foggers for next year to have two. Heat up issues aside, it's a powerful little unit, keywork little. It was easy to hide inside a smaller prop for maximum surprise. When I go back to a chiller next year, it can probably sit inside the hidden trash can and not disrupt the design.


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## Hallowennie315 (Sep 5, 2007)

Last year, I bought a 700 watt fogger from spirit (most likely made by fitco) and used it this halloween. It works fine except it does not stop when it is not warm enough. When I turn it on, I can push the fog button right away and it just spits out the fog juice. I havent taken it apart, but I think it has to do with the thermometer near the heater. Thanks, Mike.


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## BamaWeen (Oct 6, 2009)

charlie said:


> Determine if it is actually heating. If it isn't, start with the fuse and move forward from there. I believe there is a thermostat as well.
> 
> In the future I would go with a higher end fogger - especially if you plan on haunting year after year. It will save you money in the long run. I've had an American DJ fog hog for 13 years and its still going strong (I did have to clear the pump once due to cheap fog fluid). I bought a Chauvet F1700 a few years ago and it is amazing.
> 
> ...


From what I can tell, it is not heating. I will have to check that tomorrow night (got home too late tonight to bother with it). I do plan to add another fogger for the future. This was my first year and I thought that the 400w fit the budget better and then intended to add a bigger horse during the year. Was really bummed when it didn't work because I thought a couple of times to fire it up and just check it out before the big day -- but alas, was too busy.

Will check it tomorrow and get back about it...hoping fuse!! Would make the wife happy, she already is a little upset at the budget for the small display this year -- I told her most was startup and reuseable stuff.


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