Bloody smoke machines ... Grrr ... ideas for repair

[Bradfo69]

I've talked about doing this with mine for months. I think TODAY is the day. I've procrastinated enough..... I bought some distilled water and have clear vinegar. Now its just the trick of finding a few minutes at work to take them outside, set 'em up and do it! It's uncanny how often every time I get involved with something I want to do, the phone rings or, someones at the door, or there is a delivery.... work.... a four letter word if there ever was one.

[GT500]

On the subject of foggers, I recently bought a QTX FX1000 2nd hand off ebay for £75 in good nick. I used it on a festival stage (half open on the sides) all weekend and used just over a gallon of fluid. Hazer was running constantly under 50% all night.

That's good to know, as they are under 200 quid brand new, bargain compared to other hazers.

[Bradfo69]

The deed is done! Nasty. Greasy. Have lots of paper towels! One was a little stubborn until I opened it up and ran water/vingar just through the pump.

Looking forward to my DF-50 getting here this week!

[masterpj]

isn't emptying out your fogger stupid?
it will burn down your fogger

[norty303]

Only if you run it whilst it's empty. The pump seals and bearings don't like running dry.

[masterpj]

IIRC you need to fill the tank with a mixture of water and vinegar, then press fog until the tank is empty (providing it can unclog it of course). If possible you could also screw off the nozzle and put it in a water and vinegar solution.
I'm not sure if it was vinegar though, other sources might recommend other chemicals, and the amount of vinegar will vary.

This should actually be done every 6-12 months if you use your fogger regularly. Not that I ever did that :P But certainly not a bad idea if you think the output is a bit low.

(I'm not responsible for any broken foggers)

I highlighted the part where it says until the tank is empty.
So basicly you just run it for a while then until it's almost empty you add fog juice and run it for a while till it's clean?

[colouredmirrorball]

Maybe it's better to remove the vinegar solution before adding fog juice.

[norty303]

Technically, you could mix vinegar into your smoke fluid and it would probably clean itself as it ran. It would smell bloody awful though, and evaporate nastily

[Anthony]

I find the cheaper machines use a finer bore tube which is more prone to clogging. I had 2 heater blocks clog in a Chauvet machine in the space of 3 months.
My advice is to avoid the cheap and nasty machines and spend a few quid more on something that'll do the job right.
.

maybe 1 am an exeption to your "rule"
I own a cheap 35 euro ADJ miniFog and ran almost 20liters of fog fluid in 1,5 years, Cleaning the thing last week after almost 2 years without use.
The thing stil works fine...... unbelievable!!!

I bought the machine for studio photography use, but after the laserbug bit i used it alot for my photon adiction.
The plan was to use te minifog temporary and buy a better bigger machine for laser use but i never felt the need to upgrade because the thing keeps on going.

[Lasermad]

Thanks for replies guys , defo seems like vinegar is the way forward

Paul