fog/haze without a fogging machine?

[VibrationsOfDoom]

..I use incense in my room... As I said, I'm not very much into beams, but I DO like the Hem brand of incense, as A. they are hand rolled in India and one little stick will burn for almost an hour... Lasts longer than the sticks they sell at Wal-Mart for $1 for like 40 sticks... And Hem sticks smell exactly the same way burned as they do sitting in the box, which is something I've been marveling at. I use the incense because, well, I love the scents they have... And the room the laser is in is about 15x15 (or was it 10x10? I forget). Anyway, my question is, since most people have seen the pic of the Goldenstar laser I use (reference this post here: http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...0A-Mini-review)

Since I know most people on here have laser systems that are open ended (IE, you could literally reach in there with your hand and touch the beams... lol), would the "residue" from incense smoke harm my laser? I usually burn at least a stick of incense every day (sometimes two a day); there's also a computer in my room as well... So far I haven't had any problems with anything, but I just thought I'd ask... I don't run the laser all day, maybe for an hour or two here and there... I am more often on the computer than looking at laser images...

[TechJunkie]

The hassle of getting glycerine on a regular basis will probably cost way more then just spending 25 Euro's on a fogger.

Every drugstore, or store that carries skin care products in the US carries the stuff. I can count at least 6 stores in a two mile radius from my house that carry it. Its cheap too. $5 will buy you 100 foggings easy.

Foggers are cheap, but add in the price of decent fog juice, and distilled water to keep it clean, and its not that cheap.

[Nemo222]

I have had my cheepo foger (30$) for about 6 years now. I bought it on clearance at a hardware store after Halloween. Its a little slow and its duty cycle is around 20% But it will fill up a small room in about 5 minutes and I have used it to fill up a large industrial bay in about 30 minutes and keep it fogged as well as an event at a medium sized art gallery. (Also, one time I used it to completely fill up a bus shelter so dense you couldn't see through it. My friend was catching the bus home and when he stepped out of this billowing box the bus driver was rather confused) It came with one half liter jug of fog juice and I have only just needed to buy more. I have cleaned it once with distilled water and vinegar and it still pumps fog like a champ. I do not expect it to be able to keep up with any significant ventilation systems, and I expect if i was using it every week it would not last as long as it has. For the smaller spaces I use it in however, it works fantastic, and for the low price of 50$ for 5+ years of use it wouldn't bother with anything else.

[WolfMax]

Ok noob questions, what is the difference between a Hazer and a fogger? Which is better? And which is recommended for a small area?

[TechJunkie]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haze_machine

I guess it depends on your application, and budget.

[White-Light]

Ok noob questions, what is the difference between a Hazer and a fogger? Which is better? And which is recommended for a small area?

It depends what you want.

Fog is usually water based has quite a large particle size and thus is quite thick and easily visible and produces strong paisley effects in tunnels, sheets etc. It's what many DJ's / clubs use because the machines are cheaper. The disadvantage is it's visibility in that you get a visibly foggy room and if you overdo it, too much fog will actually reduce the brightness of your lights not enhance them. It's thickness and particle size are an advantage if used outside.

Haze is much lighter, it has a much smaller particle size and thus it's less visible, hangs longer and produces more subtle paisley effects in fans etc (if at all depending on the haze level). The advantage of haze is some machines eg MDG Atmosphere, Pea Soup Phantom, can produce a haze so light with such a small particle size, that it's barely visible / noticeable to the eye. - look at many tv shows that use haze eg Pointless on BBC 1, The Million Pound Drop on ITV, and you see the moving heads / lasers have very well defined beams but when you look at the contestants / presenters / audience, it doesn't look foggy in the studio. The camera doesn't pick up anything in the atmosphere at all. That's the advantage of haze. Hazers also tend to use less fluid. It's also worth noting that with haze, water based haze has a larger particle size and thus is more visible than oil based haze. Oil based haze used to be "cracked" using a heater and mineral oil which has raised concerns with regards to health and did often leave a residue of oil on surfaces / lights etc leaving them greasy, whereas modern machines tend to use food based oils that are atomised using only a little heat and compressed air.

[norty303]

And to add a small addendum to Al's post, there are also things known as fazers, which are basically a fogger with a fan to spread the fog out. These will often be able to run continuously.

Fazers tend to be the cheaper units, and are often described as 'Hazers' in the marketing blurb.

Personally, I tend to think of oil crackers as hazers, water based with fans as fazers and water based without fans as foggers.

Even the more expensive Unique, Smoke Factory, etc 'Hazers' are still really just a water based unit with a pump and fan (albeit with a decent fluid and an additional air pump to smooth the output and achieve smaller particle size)
Fluid for my Tour Hazer II is about 4 times the price of the fluid for my cheaper QTX HZ2/3 fazers, but it uses it at least 4 times slower, so its about the same cost overall.