Bloody smoke machines , question about hazers

[Lasermad]

Just doing a bit of a clearout and testing since the weather is Sooo unseasonally mild in Uk at moment it actually makes it feasible to go into garage ! without come back as an ice sculpture ! Im sure two years ago I was snowed in for 6 weeks in Feb ! Yet today a daffodil popped its head up in garden .... its global warming you know

Anyway I digress , 4 cheap smoke machines , all sub £100 though , not one of the sods working ..phew , looks like one the heaters gave up the ghost ! the other 3 heating up so likely blockages , time to get the vinegar out ! Anyways I know I should clean away before packing but I never do get around to it !

COME BACK ADAM .. bloody Canada ! Phew

Anyone , the point of this is .... do hazers require much maintenance after use , or can you just pack em away ? hazers generally more expensive , and £t500-£1000 for a decent one so just thinking waste of time for me if every time I pack it away for a month or two its broken on reuse

Paul

[Stiffler]

Hi Paul,

Can you tell us what type of haze machine you have?

-Eric

[Bradfo69]

I have never had an issue with a hazer. Fog machines on the other hand, I experience exactly the same sort of issues as you. The other "plus" is that hazers use considerably less fluid so are cheaper to operate. I have used a DF-50 pretty regularly now for about a year and have gone through less than a quart of fluid.

[Jem]

Hi Paul

I can only speak for the Look solutions Unique Model 2 hazer that I own. This hazer has a proper shut down procedure that purges the heater element to ensure no nasty goo stays in there. So, if you put it through it's shut down sequence you're unlikely to have problems. if however you just switch it off at the end of the night you're asking for trouble. It only takes a couple of minutes to shut down properly, so not much of an inconvenience.

On the subject of smoke machines, I bought a new small ADJ smoke machine a few weeks ago. Used it once for a couple of hours, stored it away for a week and it hasn't worked since , problem is I can't find the receipt so can't really send it back. Having said that it wasn't expensive but it's still damn annoying. I suspect it's the pump that's shot.

Cheers

Jem

[White-Light]

Jem, How did you pay?

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a receipt, only proof of purchase. If it was bought on a card or anything else that's traceable, that's enough.

Even without a receipt, some stores can trace purchases through store cards etc. (eg Nectar points, Tesco Clubcards etc etc).

[mmuhler]

Fog machines are easy to fix if its not the heater, pumps can be found on Ebay.


I have an ADJ Hazer works great I use Walmart brand food grade mineral oil in it. Very cheap like a 1.50 for 32 fluid ounces. Comes in a white bottle in the Walmart pharmacy section used as a laxative for the rest of the world, that's what the Hazer fluid from ADJ is, pretty much the same stuff they may have a bit different formula that gets better hang time who knows but at 50 bills a a gallon for the stuff I will stick with the Walmart laxative.

If you have a feeling that you need to..... Uh you know After spending a day in a Haze filled environment now you know why.

I never had any issues but I guess if you breathed in enough of the cracked oil particulates it may get things going.

I did have some fun with the Haze generator remote when I got it. I plugged it in to the 1/4 inch stereo phono jack on the hazer it did not work when I pressed in real hard it worked. I figured it was the Jack on the PCB that was bad. This was a refurb so and the company would have sent me another one but I figured I would get a back up PCB out of the deal and just replace the jack when and if I needed the back up PCB I was getting out of the deal for replacing it.

New PCB arrived free of charge installed it same deal. I checked continuity on the remotes Phono plug and found the tip was open replaced the molded phono plug with a nice metal one I toned it out same deal this phono plug was bad from the factory got out another phono plug I toned that out it worked, soldered it up and everything is good now.

What a PITA for an extra PCB but I would have gotten another refurb and who knows what would have been wrong with that one.

[Jem]

^^^ Haha @mmuhler, funny stuff

Al, It's worse than not being able to find the receipt... I can't even remember where I ordered it from

It was either Maplin's, CPC or some other online store. I ordered it at a time I was ordering lots of stuff online so it's anyone's guess... It's my age you know

To be honest I expected it to be pretty crap as it was only about £24.95. I'll try and find a pump somewhere and see if I can ressurect it.

[White-Light]

^^^ Haha @mmuhler, funny stuff

Al, It's worse than not being able to find the receipt... I can't even remember where I ordered it from

It was either Maplin's, CPC or some other online store. I ordered it at a time I was ordering lots of stuff online so it's anyone's guess... It's my age you know

To be honest I expected it to be pretty crap as it was only about £24.95. I'll try and find a pump somewhere and see if I can ressurect it.

Well in a way thats even better!

Simply log into all your online stores and check your account history.

You'll not only find out which store it was, but the online account history also serves as your receipt as it usually contains your invoices.

[norty303]

IMHO, you don't need to spend silly money to get ok results, you seem to be from one very cheap extreme to another very expensive extreme.
I own a number of foggers/hazers, but the ones I use almost exclusively are a QTX FX1000 and HZ2 (basically the 400W and 600W versions of the same machine)
I picked them both up for under £100 each on ebay as refurbed/ex demo stock, and they perform faultlessly so far, either on the remote or DMX, and they are nice and economical. They are fazers in the strictest sense, but they will run continuously with barely visible output, and yet still be able to produce a really good haze that can still build up over time to white out the room!
I use the Stairville HD fluid, which helps both in quality of haze and probably helps keep the machine in better working order.
And if it does break, it's not so expensive to feel bad about having to throw it away or replace.

[mmuhler]

Yes agreed the Fazers work well I got a really good price on the Haze Generator I was going to make one but thought by the time I got done it would be the same amount of money in time. Of course I did not bargain for the remote issue. Part in the machine are easy to replace the only thing I do not like about it is the noise and will use a regular fog machine if that is an issue as long as I can get away with the fire alarm issue.

I will check out the QTX and see if I can pick one up at some point.

All I have for a fogger at this point is a Gemmy I bought after Halloween in 2005 for $15.00

Hazers are great indoors but a fogger is a must for outdoor shows.

IMHO, you don't need to spend silly money to get ok results, you seem to be from one very cheap extreme to another very expensive extreme.
I own a number of foggers/hazers, but the ones I use almost exclusively are a QTX FX1000 and HZ2 (basically the 400W and 600W versions of the same machine)
I picked them both up for under £100 each on ebay as refurbed/ex demo stock, and they perform faultlessly so far, either on the remote or DMX, and they are nice and economical. They are fazers in the strictest sense, but they will run continuously with barely visible output, and yet still be able to produce a really good haze that can still build up over time to white out the room!
I use the Stairville HD fluid, which helps both in quality of haze and probably helps keep the machine in better working order.
And if it does break, it's not so expensive to feel bad about having to throw it away or replace.