Curious on price, older MDG Atmosphere hazer?

[telmnstr]

Curious what a used price would be on an older MDG Atmosphere hazer?

Looking for a low cost oil cracking hazer solution.

[Picasso]

I would think $1300-2000 used. The nice thing about MDG is getting parts. Ive replace a solenoid in mine and you can order any of the parts that make of the hazer. I've clogged mine a few times over the last 10 years of owning it. Easy to clean and work on. Have also heard good things about Phantom hazers.

[kitatit]

Hi telmnstr,

As Picasso mentioned, have a look the Pea Soup Phantom hazer. It's an oil based machine that uses CO2 and costs much less that an MDG Atmosphere. It's made in the UK and is top quality. They use them for fire training and it can puff out super fine "cant see it haze" right up to pumping a whole building full of thick smoke where you cant see 2 feet in front of you.

You could buy one new with warranty(10yrs) and fantastic support for around the price of a second hand MDG.
Speak to Ben at http://www.smokemachines.net/buy-pro-hazer.shtml

Hell of a nice guy and very knowledagle and helpful.

I bought one from him and I'm very impressed. I can't give much of a review yet as I've only used it for 20mins a couple of times. Will give it a good work out in a few weeks.

Good luck
Kit

[Jem]

The Pea Soupers are used by the TV companies. They also use MDG's of course, but at least that gives an indication as to the quality of the Pea Soupers. TV co's want really good hang time, imperceptable haze and low residue, all of which are met by these top class machines.

[telmnstr]

Sweet! Thanks for the advice! I'm pretty lowly in my hobby so my budget is a bit more limited.

I've started to look into industrial atomizing nozzles, and am looking to get one that can do food grade mineral oil down to 1 micron or less. I can easily drive this with a compressor, co2, or a scuba tank with a 2nd stage regulator to drop the pressure to 20psi or lower.

[Jem]

I remember from some research I did on hazers a year or so ago that the particle size of the haze from the Pea Souper is quite a bit smaller than the MDG's (around three times I think). I'll have a search around and see if I can turn any of the information up. Perhaps a search on Google may help.

I would say be very careful trying to make your own, particularly from a liability point of view. Personally I would want the backup of a decent company if I was stuffing particulate into the atmosphere. Do it yourself and you're on your own... Just a thought.

[Picasso]

MDG has a few atomizing nozzles to pick from. Over the years it has gotten smaller and smaller. Mine used to set off alarms with the larger nozzle, after upgrading I've never set one off again. I started using MDG's with the older gray MX3000 units.

Is a few china clones of the MDG, never seen or used them myself.

Kitatit, would love some pics of the inside of the Pea Soup Phantom hazer.

[kitatit]

MDG has a few atomizing nozzles to pick from. Over the years it has gotten smaller and smaller. Mine used to set off alarms with the larger nozzle, after upgrading I've never set one off again. I started using MDG's with the older gray MX3000 units.

Is a few china clones of the MDG, never seen or used them myself.

Kitatit, would love some pics of the inside of the Pea Soup Phantom hazer.

Here you go.

You can tell a lot of care went into manufacturing this. The case and components are all TIG welled.

Definitely a company who takes pride in their products.

[Picasso]

Looks like an MDG copy. metering block injection to the heating block looks better, like the fully welded tank. some other random pics of and MDG here...mfg'ed in 1999? I forget http://shup.com/~picasso/lasers/mdg_hazer/

[kitatit]

This is lifted from their website.
"The Phantom Hazer is derived from a system that was first produced in 1965 and continuously developed and improved over the last 47 years. The Phantom is tried and tested technology with a proven track record of unbeatable reliability"

Heh, 47years gives you enough time to iron the bugs out!

One thing i did like about the MDG is its ergonimics for carrying it with the bottle being underneath. Not that this wippersnapper was ever inthe market for such an expensive beastie. What is the syphon CO2 bottle like to use?
Does it store a little less due to the syphon spout needing to be out of the liquid CO2?

I guess being able to exchange CO2 bottles is out of the question. is it any different to having a normal bottle filled?

I found a top local bloke who does pressure testing and filling of gas bottles. I bought 2 ex fire extingisher bottles with new valves. Nice small aluminium jobbies that hold 2.2kg. Too small for home brew guys but perfect for me. He has a third one and said he can just exchange it for $20 when i bring an empty one in.

Thanks for the pic.

Kit