# DIY Dry Ice Fogger



## Bbdude

So, this is my first year coming back to haunting. A few years ago I was helping my dad with haunting our yard a Halloween, but since I moved out I have been living in an appartment and never had a chance to haunt.

Well over the summer I bought my first house, so now i have a garage to build things in and a yard to haunt!

Money is tight this year, but I still wanted to get started building my haunt inventory. I cant afford a nice fog machine, and Im not a fan of throwing $40 at a Wal-Mart fogger (idk if I am just unlucky but we never had good luck with them) then still needing to build the chiller.

And that is where this project was born.









The idea here is super simple, as dry ice 'melts' it makes PERFECT ground fog. The point of the fogger is to make the dry ice 'melt' faster, and redirect the output to a specific location (instead of simply fogging around the cooler).

Here is a quick picture of the inside of the cooler.









The construction is just as simple as the concept. Inside the cooler is a water heater, a bin to hold the ice, an output pipe, and water.

The most important thing in this build is the water heater. This one is a 1500w Screw-In heater element that I got from Lowes for $10. The point of the heater is to heat up the water (to make the dry ice 'melt' faster and make more fog) and to keep the water from getting cold (dry ice is -110 degrees so without the heater, eventually the water will start to get cold and then start to make LESS fog)

The biggest challenge is building the pvc enclosure for all the wiring. I opted to do it this way so I didnt have to make any holes in the cooler below the water line, and so i could keep the heater as close the the middle (and away from the walls of the plastic cooler) as possible.

The best way to do this was to take a pvc 1 1/2 slip to 1in threaded addapter. I cut it in half, sanded off the Hex end so it was smooth, threaded the heater into the 1in threads, then nested that into a 1 1/2in pvc coupler. I then attached a power wire I had laying around to the heater terminals and filled the area with silicone, just in case the pvc has a leak.

















(split post due to picture limit)


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## Bbdude

And here is what the final heater element looks like. I reduced the size down to 1in because I had alot of 1in pipe laying around, and I wanted to secure the pipe to the cooler with a 1in PVC T Snap Fitting.









Next, the plastic bin to hold the dry ice. Not much to say about this really. The bin IS needed however. If you just simply throw the dry ice into the cooler, it doesnt make very much fog. It is also nice becuase I have it set up so only about an inch is in the water.That way when I fill it with dry ice, not all of it starts to melt and I can make it last longer before needing to refill.I got this one for $1 at Wal-Mart.

Here are a couple pictures from the test run I did yesterday. This was tested with about 2lbs of dry ice and let the water heat up like a nice warm bath.

















Final Thoughts/Side Notes
-This will work best if the water is just below the output pipe. It was a little lower in this test, but I think if I fill it up more, the fog will be able to come out better
- In the test, I only let the heater warm up for about 5min. Longer warm up times will result is hotter water, and more fog. Will do another test soon and post some pictures if it helps.
-I am in the process of putting a fan on the lid to help push the fog out (as you can see in the first picture). I got the fan from a car (i am a mechanic so I found it at my shop for free). This perticular fan is a 12vdc Cooling fan; roughly 12in wide. I had it running off 5v for tests but it is still blowing too much. Will have to play around with it a little

Overall it was a 'successful' project. Didnt output as much fog as I had hoped, but like I said I still have some testing to do. In its current state, it would still work great for a small scene or inside for a party.

PROS:
-I built this for about $20. I was able to salvage most parts of it. I purchased the heater, a couple of the pvc fittings, and the flexable ducting.
-GREAT low lying fog
-No odor
-No haze

CONS:
-Running Time...my first test with about 2lbs of dry ice lasted about 30min. I am planning on using 10lbs on Halloween and hoping it will last 1.5-2hours
-Running Cost...due to the low run time, it takes a bit of dry ice to run for long periods. 10lbs of dry ice is $15, which I think is more expensive than running a chemical fogger for 2hours
-Low output


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## Batbuddy

Cool fogger! It is cheaper to run a chemical fogger but the fog is not as low laying unless you chill it, in which case you still need dry ice, so it ultimately costs more. But I like how you used what you had and made a nice machine.


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## Bbdude

Right, I used to use regular ice for my chiller so in that case this may cost more or b pretty clos. But either way I figured it should be able to get me by until the sales come up and I can get a chemical fogger.


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## Bone Dancer

Nice job on this how-to, good explanation and good photos.
I have used dry ice on a small scale before using a crock-pot cooker to keep the water warm. If you don't heat the water, it will freeze around the dry ice and stop the reaction. That is until the dry ice "melts" and builds up pressure inside the ice coating and blows it off with a fair amount of force. 
Thanks for sharing your idea.


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## Bbdude

So just a little update for anyone else who may be thinking of trying something like this.










This is the effect she second time I tried out the fogger. Raised the water level to just below the output pipe, and used a full bin on ice. The bin I used would hold one 7lb bag and lasted roughly 45min (i used two bags total)

I didnt end up needing the fan on top, the output was high enough to put out a good amount of fog, plus with a light breeze the fog was already having a hard time sticking around and I figued using the fan would thin it out even more.

Overall i would say I worked alright. was able to cover a small area really well, and I am sure it would work great indoors. The fog it makes is amazingly spooky, just doesnt cover much area.


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## Spookilicious mama

*WOW im so glad I came over here I love your fogger and the step buy step seems easy to replicate! How do you hide the cooler in your haunt?*


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## Fiend4Halloween

Nice tutorial. Thanks for sharing your info and pix, greatly appreciated.


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## stagehand1975

I used to be part of a community theater group that had a homemade dry ice fogger. there concept was using a metal trash can, heating element, ducting, a basket to lower the dry ice into and a computer fan in the lid to push it. Indoors with the fan we could fill our entire stage with it. I have wanted to build one for myself but haven't had the time. We toss dry ice at work every day as some things we have shipped use dry ice to keep it cold.


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## Neise77

Thanks for the information. I like your design. I have been looking for a pros vs cons on dry ice vs liquid fogger. I am particularly interested in how long the dry ice lasts.


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