First-Time Hazer Outside

[pschlosser]

My teens are old enough, this year, they want to stay home for Halloween and asked I pull out some gear for a beam show and a few effects. I'm projecting horizontal beams about 7-feet high across the yard and front of the home. There are also several lower HeNe beams bounced throughout the yard as well.

I’ve used my American DJ Haze Generator indoors several times with great results. It nicely fills a High School Gym in less than an hour. I’m using the hazer, outside, for the first-time. I fired it up, last night, and it ran for several hours. I must say, I was disappointed in its ability to fill the area with haze. These were no-wind conditions with 60F ambient conditions.

I ran out of proper liquid some time ago, and I’ve used food-grade mineral oil ever since. Could it be my choice of liquid that is the problem?

I’m looking harder at a fog machine, something in the 1000w range. But honestly, I thought given enough run time, my hazer would provide the effects I want to see the beams.

[m0f]

Yeah the oil based haze machines just don't keep up much outdoors, there's always the slightest bit of wind, and that's all it takes. Even 2 DF50's which are a much bigger version but similar in design to the adj haze generator don't keep up outdoors. Well maybe ok around a stage but for beams need nice wide coverage. Different fluids won't make much of a difference, the reason they work so well indoors is due to the hang time, which is meaningless outdoors in even the slightest wind

You're on the right track with the fog machines. Also make sure to use a big fan. I use 1HP carpet blowers for larger areas, but you could probably get away with something smaller for if covering a smaller area. The fan help in two ways, first the obvious distribution, but another big way they help is by cooling the fog so it stays closer to the ground.

Another thing that works very well, and it really useful for covering a large area with minimal number of fog machines is poly tube. Sometimes marketed as smoke tube for the film industry, but also available from places like uline for industrial purposes. Run a length of it for the area you need to cover and place it upwind of the area you want fogged. Attach a big fan or blower to one end, tie a knot in the other end and inflate it. Poke holes wherever you want the fog to come out. If the holes are very small, some of the fog fluid will condense in there, but not enough to worry about. The results are a beautiful, natural looking fog that stays nice and low right where it should be.

For the fog machine itself, if just using at home once in awhile, it may be worth just grabbing one of the $30 1000 watt walmart specials. Usually only available around Halloween. When I started doing shows, all I had was two of those, and they lasted me between 8 months and a year of 1-2 shows per weekend. So somewhat disposable, but at that price, to be expected.

If just for home use once in awhile, something like that is a pretty good solution. If needing something you can count on, then a higher quality machine is a better choice. Eventually I bought a Martin Magnum 2000 and have been super happy with it. Has had some heavy use over the last few years and never a problem. I also bought 2 ZR44's before the summer which are great too. All are capable of continuous use, which is a great feature outdoors, as sure enough a small bit of wind during the re-heat cycle will clear out any fog in the air. But if using the smoke tube, there's always a certain amount in the tube itself seeping out, so much less of a problem if using a cheapo machine.

[norty303]

Nice tip on the poly tube Thanks

[m0f]

Hey no worries. Works surprisingly well to fog a wide area. The only difficulty is at events where there is foot traffic in all directions, but can be quite a distance upwind. And wind changes can be the enemy. Easily solved by having two semi-circular walls of fog, one on each side in order to handle any direction of flow.



Here's a pic from one show, it's a time lapse but gives an idea of the area it covered. About 100ft upwind of the dome, I had about a 300ft of poly tube ran straight across the field. The wind was very gentle, however fogged pretty much the entire festival with one fog machine (A hessy, little hand held propane fogger). The best thing is practically no-one even realized it was artificial, most though it was just a foggy night. The whole field, the camping area, all the way past the gate which was 300ft or so. I had another one setup in the forest behind which took care of that stage and all the trails in behind.

[pschlosser]

Thank you much for the confirmation about the hazer.
right, then, foggers for outdoors.
I'll checkout the local wally marts and see what I can find.
I wasn't aware 1000-watters were that low in cost.

Many thanks.

[White-Light]

Another thing that works very well, and it really useful for covering a large area with minimal number of fog machines is poly tube.

Out of interest what diameter tubing do you recommend and what guage?

[absolom7691]

I use this stuff with 3X chauvet 1100s for halloween: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Advanced-...0#.UmcGfXByV9I It blankets the area pretty nicely but it does cool the fog...

[m0f]

Out of interest what diameter tubing do you recommend and what guage?

20" Diameter, 3 mil, black. But it's the only size I've used, so can't really compare it to other sizes, but it fits over a carpet blower easily with room to spare and secures well with a couple of zip ties and a bit of gaff. I used a fork to poke the holes, do give an idea of the hole size I used. In a bind I used the end of a zip tie to puncture it, which worked ok too but in a few cases accidentally tore it a bit. But was easily patchable with a bit of gaff tape. I found the smaller holes tended to give a more natural foggy look.

I bought a 1000ft roll a few years back and lasted me several seasons, but unfortunately I left it somewhere this year so will have to get another roll. It's reusable at least for a few times, but can get a bit of a smell to it if put away for extended periods without drying it out properly.

Here's where I bought it, probably not the best place price wise but convenient for me as only a 20 minute drive.

[buffo]

A little late to this party, but a word of advice for outdoor shows with fog: The brand of fog solution you use makes a difference!

Personally, I swear by Froggy's Swamp Juice, by Froggy's Fog. Yeah, it's more expensive, but it's worth it. Put it in a 1500 watt fog machine and it will create a SHITLOAD of fog that hangs around for a long time.

Adam