# Fogger/Fog Juice mystery



## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

From what I can see, many people have problems with their foggers not working after a year or so. Does anyone think this may be a result of not using the recommended "fog juice" for their particular fogger?

I know there are several threads out there that say that you can use most fog juices in almost any fogger, but this might be the problem people are having.

I always use VEI fog juice in my VEI foggers and have not had any problems to date.

Any thoughts or comments?


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## Wildomar (Aug 30, 2006)

I doubt it is that simple since I tend to use whatever juice that is reasonably priced. But I always clean mine with 50/50 mix of distilled water and fog juice and then pack it away with this mixture in it.


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## Beepem (Jul 17, 2006)

i dont think so because fog juice is glycol and water is fog jucie...


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

I think the quality of the fog juice depends on various factors, such as, purity of the water, grade of the glycol, percent glycol to water mixture, etc.


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## Wildomar (Aug 30, 2006)

I would agree with you that cheap juice could be a factor, but I doubt you would have to stick with the manufacturers brand versus a comperable brand.


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

I'm speculating that a particular manufacturers fogger may be "tuned" to it's own brand of fog juice. If the formula of the fog juice is different it may cause deposits to form more rapidly.


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## Wildomar (Aug 30, 2006)

It wouldnt surprise me to hear that the folks that manufacture foggers purchase their fog juice from a large chemical company and just slap their stickers on the front. Obviously this is only based on a guess, but since chemical mixing of any kind requires a variety of additional permitting, a company may want to avoid that part of the business. I have always "assumed" this to be the case and just purchase reasonably priced fog juice as opposed to the cheap stuff and thus far (knocking vigorously on wood) no problems.


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## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

I run many foggers, of many different brands. I use whatever juice I can get the cheapest. Up until now, I've only had problems with one of the Lite Fx models, and that was after two years of use. I don't even think it's the pump on the bad unit, but a dead heater, so the juice can't even be blamed for that.


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## CountZero (Oct 8, 2006)

I've never had a problem with my foggers clogging either. (Knocking on wood). I've had one fogger for about 8 years now, and its still plugging along just like the day I got it. I've never used the cheap fog juice though. I've always mail ordered my juice. I started out with the same brand of juice as my fogger, and gradually upgraded to other brands over the years. I have noticed that some brands seem to produce thicker fog than others in my machine, and some formulations seem to do better in chillers through my machine. My previous favorite type of juice just got dethroned in testing last night. I found a different formulation that seemed to work alot better through my chiller.

Has anyone else noticed a difference in output between brands or types of Fog Juice? I would think that output might also be an indicator here. If a particular brand of juice is clogging a fogger, it seems logical that it might be thicker and harder for the fogger to vaporize and as a result, it might not produce the same quantity as a more filtered juice. Thoughts? Anyone seen problems in the amount of fog from a machine that clogs easily?


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

I decided to buy "premium" fog juice (from DJ/lighting store) again this year rather than using the cheep stuff because I had read of a couple people that had seen bad batches of it, both new and after sitting around for a year... and though I don't have a lot of money in my foggers, I would rather not have to replace them so I'll try my best to treat them well. I know many others like Vlad have had good luck using whatever is at hand, but using the good stuff gives me a little peace of mind. I too would guess that most of the generic stuff comes from one huge batch, placed in different bottles with different lables on it.


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

The only reason I started this thread is because Vlad posted this thread on cleaning foggers. I've seen quite a few posts from members who can't get their foggers to work after a season or two. I was hoping this thread would shed some light on the "mystery of the dying foggers".


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