# Destructive testing



## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

I got a new 1500 watt up fogger, and its been running on straight tap water since 9 am this morning. I have it on a stainless counter, so it can't catch anything on fire if it bursts into flame, lol.

Im going to run it that way until something quits, on continuous. The pump seems to be fine, not abnormally hot.

I need to figure out a way to run it straight to a faucet, though. I don't want to change out the gallon every few hours, especially at three am.

So, I will post once it croaks, and see if I can clean it back up and get it going again.


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Sweet. I got it hooked up to a line from the faucet. Now it can just run all night.


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

The heater element (measured through a hole in the housing) is staying at 191 to 200 degrees, varying as the fluid hits it just a bit. There is some lag.

The housing surface and thermal switch (exposed portion) is at 170. 

The nozzle (oddly) is at right around 160.

Measured from 12" with an infrared thermometer.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

The question is why? What are you trying to prove or accomplish? Now i am curious.

At the same point if you wanted destructive testing you would have mounted it above one of your flame cannons. Just saying.....


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Why?

Well, a couple reasons.

I live in two places (although I have no fixed address, oddly, lol). I live on the weekends on a farm with my GF. Hobby farm, but its a nice place, 10 acres of pasture, creek and 3 year round springs, chickens, ducks, pigs and all that. So I am busy on the weekends.

During the week, it is cheaper to have a really ( and I mean REALLY) crappy apartment here, than pay to commute. My apartment literally has a couch, a coffee table, 2 industrial sewing machines, and an electric kettle and a French press coffee maker. That's it. No radio, no TV, just couch and internet and sewing. So....

The second reason. I have access to a lot of stuff, clean rooms, lots of foggers and parts, food grade glycols and distilled water. And if I ruck for two hours after work, that still leaves a lot of time before I am ready to sleep. 3 or 4 hours a night at least. 



So, how long does it take to kill a fogger run constantly 24/7 on straight tap water? I wanna know.

12 hours and counting, and its humming right along. Makes a great humidifier.


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Well, after 24 hours straight running on continuous with only tap water, there is a noticeable crust at the end of the nozzle, and the force of the output is way down. It has decreased the "reheat" time, and extended the output time, but I can feel a slight lug in the pump, it just sounds as if its working harder. The pump is not hotter than yesterday. The other temp readings I took haven't changed.

Its clearly getting clogged up inside the heat exchanger. This fogger has a cast in tube, around an 1/8th inch I.D. Maybe a bit less. I predict the fogger will be dead soon, but at least I can say that the pump can run quite a while with only water to cool and lubricate it. If the pump goes, I think it will be because of the increased work needed to push the water through a smaller and smaller pipe.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Damn, sounds like hard water buildup. That didn't take long...bummer. I'm pretty sure if distilled water was used there wouldn't be that problem. I wonder if filtered tap water would increase the pump/nozzle life. Good info HippoFeet! Well, this is why they say to use distilled water when flushing the pump. Makes sense.


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Yeah, it went fast at the end. 27 hours and some change, and the buildup in the tube insulated the water (or slowed down the flow) and for an hour actually balanced the fogger so it never shut off. It was maintaining just the right heat in the heat exchanger to run non-stop. But, the output went way down, to basically nothing, and started to heat up the pump. I shut it off, to cool down before I clean it. Im going to try an actual fogger cleaning solution first, and see what that does, although I suspect it is meant to just flush the glycol out of the exchanger, and then I will use CLR (meant for hard water buildups) and then a 96.5 % nitric acid/ distilled water solution, and see which one works the best.

I won't be running any of the cleaners through the pump, I will take out the heat exchanger, and push the cleaners through the exchanger tube with a turkey squirter.


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## Tokwik (Oct 12, 2011)

Man you must be bored.

How about a small side job fixing foggers? Or maybe design an upgraded heating element for the cheaper $50 models? Something universal that would bolt in to various designs. Just a thought.

I know how you feel with the destructive testing. I always enjoy figuring out the "why" when something mechanically fails. Now that you've proven that hard water buildup is occurring, you'll need to repeat the experiment with the distilled if your overall goal to is figure out how long the pump will last on its own.

Keep up the good work.

:cheers:


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Thanks,

I'm actually not too worried about the pump, although I was curious to see if it HAD TO HAVE fog fluid/glycol running through it to lubricate it. I replaced the pump to see if it had somehow been damaged, but a brand new one wouldn't pump anything into the clogged heat exchanger either. So it seems like the pump will be ok, at least in the short term, just pushing water.

And, I have 5 gallons of distilled water waiting, but I need to see if I can even unclog the heat exchanger first. Im having trouble getting anything to flow into it, I may need to let it cool down so I can at least handle it, then soak it in a tub of cleaner. 

I knew it would clog up, but I was a bit surprised that it was that fast. 

I mean, coffee makers have heat exchangers in them, right? And I can use tap water in there for a long time.


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## Offwhiteknight (Sep 17, 2008)

Hippofeet said:


> Thanks,
> I mean, coffee makers have heat exchangers in them, right? And I can use tap water in there for a long time.


Pretty sure there is not only a difference in tolerances, but in the sheer amount of water and size of the "pipe" it's going through.

The Keurig type coffee makers do have a much more significant issue with hard water; it can kill those machines in mere months. It's why they say distilled/purified water AND still cleaning with vinegar solutions. Much more like a fogger...


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

I totally burned the crap out of myself opening up a Keurig. Never again.

And, the heat exchanger is toast. I let it soak overnight in a mild acid solution, and I still cant pump fluid into it. So I learned "tap water bad". If I had a bandsaw, I would cut it half and see what was up, but anything I have to cut it will smear the metal too much to make it worthwhile.

I'll drop in another heat exchanger (its used, unfortunately, but only for a short while, and only with actual fog fluid) and run it on distilled water for a few days.


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