# Another Fogger question



## R. Lamb (Oct 11, 2011)

For the last 5 years I have been buying 1000 watt foggers from Party City. Each year, half of them don't work. I've tried storing them dry, Storing them wet, and even pulling them out every 6 weeks and running them. I used to have 7 of these things, now I'm down to 3 and one of those just crapped out. (I am not above returning the old one just after buying the new one at this point). My question is, Does the Chauvet Hurricane 1100 last any longer? Am I storing them wrong? What does it take to get a fog machine to last more than a year?
I guess that I should mention that I live in S. California and that the weather may also be part of the problem. We will be enjoying 100 degrees and about 10% humidity tomorrow and this is the end of September.


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## Scottzilla (Jun 13, 2007)

Yeah, the Party City ones (and similar <$50 foggers) tend not to last very long. Are they clogged or did the heater or pump die? If you plan on using a fogger year after year I would buy a little nicer one.

The Chauvet / American DJ, etc. ones are a step above the party store foggers. Then again, Chauvet makes good ones and cheap ones too. You should get a few years out of an 1100. I had one that I accidentally treated very badly and it's still going strong.

If you're really serious, you could step up to a Rosco or something made for heavy-duty theatre use (but then again, you could buy >10 party store foggers for what they cost)


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## dead hawk (Jun 5, 2012)

bought a 10 dollar fogger from marcs (local grocery) and a pint of the fog fluid they have for it ( non named) and it is going on its 2nd year working and it only uses a tad bit of liquid still using the fluid from last year and i rand the machine 5 times i guess its all in the design


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

I have used my 700 watt FX machines for 6 years without failing. I bought them at Spirit Halloween. Before storing them I run it dry then run a little distilled water through it for a minute and run it dry then immediately shut it off. They always work next season. 

I also have a Martin 850 fogger in which I store the same way.


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## Saturday8pm (Sep 5, 2012)

People's mileage varies according to storage habits ... one thing that WiLL kill a fog machine is running it dry ... since I couldn't spring for timers when I bought them, I relied on clamps to keep the machines going instead of stopping / going every 5 or 10 minutes. They haven't worked since.


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## Buzz (Aug 26, 2011)

One fogger feature I will not do without is the Auto-Shutoff-On-Empty. Because even with a timer, you run the possibility of running it dry.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I can agree with that, Buzz. I always store mine in a manner similar to Lunatic's. I run it without any fluid to flush the lines, then run white vinegar and distilled water through it to wash the lines/pump/etc., then I run it empty again to flush the vinegar and water out of the lines. I am currently on year 5 with my four foggers. 1 1000 watt, 1 700 watt, and 2 400 watt Halloween store foggers.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Wow, and Now to continue the HiJacking of this Thread, I've Always stored my foggers with fog juice in the lines and everywhere else. The ONLY time I've ever had a fogger fail was when it was run dry.

I didn't realize that there was still any debate about either/or.


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