# More Chauvet 1250 woes



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

I finally got the 1250 in that I ordered on the 1st and I open the box to find that it has what looks to be rusty drops off liquid all on the outside. The tank had about an ounce of what I can only assume is rusty fog juice. The brass filter and fitting look to be corroded from laying in the old juice, This all cleans up so far ok, but I am not too happy with this. I called the tech support line and the only thing they can think of is that the unit went through a Q/A process and they did not get all of the juice out. 
The inside of the pickup line from the filter back all looks clean, so I am hoping that it is just a mess in the tank. The tank and filter are soaking in white vinegar now in hopes that I can get all the gunk out before I can even try and test it.

I would not risk it and just send it back, but it took forever to come and I really need it before the 30th.


Sorry just venting....


----------



## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I've read similar tales about finding a mess in the box when opened, and TS saying it was the fault of spotty QA testing. I have a 1250, and it looks more and more like my experience was the exception to the rule - my fogger was clean, dry and operational. It did, however, clog it's nozzle on Halloween night and I had to stick a pin in there to clear the clog. Given the state of your fogger, I recommend you take off the nozzle (easy to do with a socket wrench) and inspect it. Might save you a panic moment on the Big Night. Just curious - who did you order it from? I got mine here:

http://www.electronicscity.com/product_info.php?products_id=913&osCsid=94b1ca

The dealer may be the difference?


----------



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

I cleaned out the mess inside the tank and scrubbed the filter to get all of the corrosion off and blew it out with compressed air. I fired it up and the pumped primed after about 60 seconds. Output was not that impressive, but the cheapo Target fluid I would suspect has something to do with that. I'm going to try and pick up some Froggy's the next couple of days. I looked them up on Google maps and it's only about 15 miles to their business. Don't know if they do pickup orders or not. Output pressure was very good though.

I am only able to get 3 shots of ~10 seconds every 30-45 seconds before it goes into re-heat for 2-3 minutes. I was thinking re-heat would be less  frequent.

I will go ahead and clean the nozzle. I was thinking of going ahead and running a tank of distilled water and vinegar through it as a precaution.

I got it through Electronic City. My only complaint with them would be better communication. I did not hear a word until I emailed them a week later and got the shipping notification the next day. I don't hold them responsible for the fogger issue. I am faulting Chauvet for that one. 

Between this and be unsuccessful at getting a timer to work with my old 1741 I have not had much luck with foggers this year.


----------



## dqderrick (Oct 15, 2008)

I have some somewhat relative info to add to this thread....

On Monday (10/13), I ordered the Chauvet 1250 from Amazon.com with overnight shipping (I get $3.95 overnight shipping with my Amazon Prime membership.) I got the 1250 and it came in 3 boxes! 1) Amazon box 2) Chauvet white outer box 3) Chauvet inner box with graphics.

I currently have a LiteFX 700 watt fogger (about 8 yrs old) and wanted something with less recycle time and more fog creation in general. I'm trying to fill my backyard ground with fog using the Ghosts of Halloween fog chiller.

I was very excited at the overall craftsmanship of the Chauvet 1250. A month ago, I bought a $20 1-gallon jug of Fitco Fog Juice. The fog juice wasn't a bad deal with my 20% coupon and free shipping deal with a big purchase I made last month. Anyway... I filled the 1250 about 1/3 full and waited for it to heat up...

I followed the instructions of priming the pump. Here were my initial observations:

Chauvet 1250 with $20 1-gallon jug of Fitco Fog Juice
The initial heat up time seemed longer than I expected. 
The fog was very thin. (I could see all of it, including the initial 10ft or so of blast)
After priming, the 1250 allowed for about 2.5 sprays using full duration and lowest interval with the timer enabled.
I was disappoin
ted.

I got my LiteFX 700watt out and ran them side-by-side. The LiteFX sprayed out thick fog that I couldn't see through! What the heck!??!! The 1250 at $150 should be running circles around a $50 (or whatever 700watters cost today) fogger.

I decided it could be the cheapo Fitco juice. I dumped it back into the container and got out my ancient 1-gallon container of LiteFX "Premium Professional Fog Juice". I don't think they sell this stuff anymore.

I filled the 1250 with the LiteFX fog juice and after an initial priming saw much improved fog density. I immediately put an order in for Froggys Low Laying fog juice.

The LiteFX fog juice and 1250 combo now seemed comparable to my LiteFX 700watt machine. But that doesn't make sense. The 1250 should be blowing the old LiteFX 700 watt out of the water!

This ebay auction states the 700watt lite f/x or fog f/x should output 2500 cu.ft./minute.

Crap! The 1250 should output 10,000 if operating at spec!

Maybe I just need to break it in or use better fog fluid. I'm tempted to have another one overnight to me for testing but that seems overkill.

Thanks for letting me rant.

DQ


----------



## SQWIB (Oct 14, 2008)

There is a PDF somewhere on this site that goes into detail on how to sissasemble and clean the pump


----------



## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Mine came with some mosture in the tank, but what seemed really strange was all the toner powder in the box that I had to clean up...??!!!


----------



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

I've been playing with it most every night. So far, so good. 

I did get some Froggy's ordered yesterday. Not 10 minutes after placing the on-line order I get a call from them asking if it was OK if one of their employees drop it off at my house instead of paying the shipping. He drives right by every day on his way to work. Had he not been on vacation this week he could have dropped it off same day. Saved me $10 on 2.5 gallons of swamp juice. I was happy to see that they took the time to notice that they could save the customer some money and made a call to me.


----------

