# Ground Fog Question - Anyone Tried This?



## FreakShowQueen (Oct 3, 2013)

Hi fellow haunter's and Halloween enthusiasts! I know most of us are extremely busy getting our haunts set up this month so I don't expect much feedback but I have a few questions to pose to ya'll and was hoping someone had already tried something similar. If not , I guess this girl will grab her trusty power tools and hope and pray that I don't burn up my new fogger in the experimental phase. 

I work in an area of our haunt that is essentially a long lane with trees on both sides. For the last few years I have wanted to use a chiller with a fogger to give me a good amount of ground cover fog to really set the mood for my scene. I tried to do this on the cheap last year with a fogger that I had repaired, dryer vent hose with frozen water bottles inside and failed miserably! This season though I have done some more research (Fogger's for Dummies - Leave a bit of a gap between your output and your vent hose. Do Not Duct Tape Output port to said vent hose or risk frying your fogger. Ask me how I know!) , purchased a new fogger with a built in chiller, and have the idea to use the fog curtain concept another haunter posted to Haunters Hangout but angle my PvC so that it pushes fog across the lane from the south.

My questions for ya'll are these :

1) What length and diameter of PVC would a 400w fogger be able to support? My lane is huge but I don't need it down the whole lane necessarily.

2) What size holes should I drill in the PVC and how far should I space them?

3) Ice? I need my ice to last at least 2-3 hours before I have to change it out due to the fact that we don't have many breaks. My thoughts on this range from using ice cream salt on my ice, using those ice packs that are for lunch boxes (since it is a relatively small space for the ice to begin with), or freezing a salt water mixture in small bottles and using these inside the chiller. I will not use dry ice as these supplies come out of my own pocket and I would have to travel farther every day that I work out there just to pick it up. 

4) I would really like my fogger to be on a remote so that I can push it as the patron comes around the corner. Is there any way to install a remote in a 400w Froggy's Fog Ground Fogger ? An aftermarket product perhaps??

Any input, suggestions, or just taking the time to read this and deem me crazy is appreciated! I really would like to know that someone out there has tried something similar in an outdoor area and had decent results. Any tips for a NEWB with a fogger are helpful!

Thanks from Oklahoma - where the wind blows everything away!


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## aidtopia (Sep 15, 2016)

For 1 and 2, I think you need to experiment to see what works best for your fogger and setup.

For 3, my understanding is that the built-in chillers need frequent ice replenishment. You're probably better off building a simple external chiller that can hold a lot more ice. There a zillions of decent designs online, and most aren't very expensive to make.

For 4, yes, you can get a remote (or a timer) based on what I see on the Foggy's page for this fogger: http://www.froggysfog.com/ground-fog-machine.html

If this for outdoors, I'd also consider putting a low retaining wall on either side of your lane, to help concentrate the fog where you need it and so that it doesn't just drift away. Just some stakes and plastic sheeting at the edges of your lane could help.

I've also seen a couple online demos that suggests the fog juice specifically designed for ground foggers does do a better job than generic fog juice.


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## xronos (Sep 25, 2013)

Re: the ice - the laws of physics are working against you somewhat. Built-in chillers don't have a very large capacity. To get the fog chilled adequately, you need ice surface area. Frozen water bottles and the like don't have nearly the combined surface area as lots of small cubes of ice (in fact, a round object has less surface area than any other shape). The downside of having smaller pieces of ice and more surface area is that it will melt faster - which makes sense, because the more efficiently the ice is absorbing heat from the fog, the faster it's going to melt. The best way (aside from using dry ice) to have both good cooling and longevity is to use more ice simultaneously, which would require a larger chiller than the built-in one. Otherwise, it doesn't seem possible to extend the duration too much without also sacrificing quality of the fog. A salt water solution would have a lower freezing point, so you could theoretically get the ice colder by freezing a salt water solution, but you'd need a bunch of ice trays or some other way to ensure you had pieces with enough surface area to squeeze into the limited real estate of the chiller. It would likely make some incremental difference but probably not too drastic (you might get a 20% salt solution down to 2 degrees F, compared to -109F for dry ice).

Also, I hate to say it, but with only 400w, it going to be difficult to push through pvc and a chiller. I know that some people have pulled it off, but the more underpowered the machine is, the more everything else has to be perfect, including the environmental conditions. Wind is the biggest enemy, of course. If you're outside in a large area, there's no replacement for raw output. For the pvc, experiment, and if you find some examples online, note whether they're using a larger machine and/or a fan to assist. If so, you should go more conservative on the specs; e.g., shorter pipe length and/or bigger diameter, etc. than the examples. For a remote, check compatibility, but these might work: http://www.froggysfog.com/wireless-...fun-fog-400-1000-and-ground-fog-machines.html and http://www.froggysfog.com/timer-remote-for-fun-fog-400-1000-and-ground-fog-machines.html


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## Batbuddy (Sep 3, 2014)

I have worked with professional theater foggers al the way down to the little 400 wat ones. A 400 watt fogger is going to have a hard time filling a Lane with fog especially if the wind is blowing. For reference, I had a 2000 watt professional fogger with a liquid CO2 chiller cabinet the chiller outputs a 12 diameter duct. On a slightly windy night, it could keep my yard filled with ground fog. I hate to crush your hopes but I am going to agree with xronos that you are asking a lot from a baby fogger, Also the pvc will limit your flow too much unless you have a fan pulling air through it. Having a TON of regular ice cubes is going to be your best bet if you don't want to pop for dry ice. Freezing salt water doen't make it colder its melting ice with salt that makes water that is colder than freezing point. I little chemistry fun if you happen to have access to ammonium nitrate you could sprinkle that on the ice and it does have an endothermic(gets colder) reaction with water.


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