Water Only Fog Machine (No Dry Ice, No Fog Juice)

by wannabemadsci

472K83662

Intro: Water Only Fog Machine (No Dry Ice, No Fog Juice)

Water Only Fog Machine

Everybody loves fog, Theatrical Fog that is - Especially at Halloween, and there are many ways to make it:

1. Dry Ice was my first introduction to fog - Dry Ice dropped into hot water provided LOTS of dense low-lying fog. It was great, but you had to go get the dry ice and be very careful handling it. When I lived in San Jose, California there was a company called Able Carbonic near the airport that had a Dry Ice Drive Through around Halloween - it was great!. You could pull your car right into their warehouse and purchase however much dry ice you wanted without leaving your car. I've built a couple of contraptions to make using dry ice fog easier.

A safety note - Dry Ice is solid (frozen) Carbon Dioxide and in addition to being extremely cold (-109.3°F / -78.5°C), causing instant cold 'burns' on contact (use insulated gloves), it can present a suffocation hazard because the carbon dioxide gas evaporating off of dry ice will displace the normal air around you and deprive you of oxygen. I once had a small room filled with dry ice fog and it became apparent by the coughing and faster breathing that there was too much carbon dioxide in the room - Exit NOW if you find yourself in such circumstances!

2. Heated 'Fog Machines' that heat glycol-based or glycerin-based 'Fog Juice' to spray out a plume of white smoke/fog. I like to think of these as smoke machines more than fog machines. These are used at concerts to make the beams of light/lasers show up, and traditional low lying fog too . My commercial photographer friend, Kelly, introduced me to this type of 'fog' machine. He had a professional Rosco unit that was really built like a tank and pumped out tons of smoke. I eventually purchased a Rosco unit and have since purchased consumer 'fog machines' of various sizes at big box retailers on clearance after Halloween so that now I have 3 (or more, not really sure how many I have ;-).

'Fog Machine' fog tends to disperse all around you as if in a London Fog, so if you want it to hang near the ground you have to chill it. There are tons of Insturctables how to build one of these fog chillers.

3. Here is the new fog method - Ultrasonic Atomization. This is where a piezoelectric disk is electrically pulsed to vibrate at ultrasonic frequencies with a shallow layer of water over it. The surface of the water breaks up into fine droplets; fog.

Ultrasonic humidifiers use this method to produce the visible mist being blown out of them. Many years ago I saw the fog potential of ultrasonic humidifiers and 'plumbed' the output of one of them via a hose into a jack-o-lantern to have fog creeping out of its mouth. Later I published an Instructable using fog this way.

Fast forward to today. You can get high capacity pond foggers that will produce large amounts of fog (using >2 liters of water an hour). These high output atomizers are not cheap (>$200) but dump out tons of fog, low lying fog, without any carbon dioxide gas. No consumables but water and electricity!

Note: There are less expensive rectangular-shaped foggers which you can put in a rectangular storage container. Don't go much under 10 heads (jets) as you will not get enough fog.


P.S. If you find the Instructables I post interesting please click the "Follow" button above. Thanks!

STEP 1: Materials

You will need:

5 gallon bucket and lid

4 inch diameter dryer duct (larger diameter is OK)

Computer cooling fan and matching voltage plug-in AC adapter

Machine screws and nuts to fasten fan in place

Empty 2-liter soda bottle

One 12 Gauge steel wire (a T-bar ceiling hanger wire works)

12-Jet Ultrasonic Water Vaporizer (Mister) and associated power supply

Remote Controlled AC switch (optional)

Heat-shrink tubing or electrical tape

Solder (optional)

Water

Frozen Ice packs or Water Ice (as opposed to dry ice)

.

Tools:

Drill Motor and Drill Bits

Utility Knife or Sabre Saw

Wire strippers

Soldering iron (optional)

Heat gun (optional)

STEP 2: Cut Some Holes in the Lid

Take the bucket lid and mark out locations for the fan (main opening plus mounting holes), dryer duct and also a hole for the power connector of the atomizer to pass through the bucket lid.

Cut out the openings using a utility knife or sabre saw. Cut the duct opening about a 1/4" smaller in diameter than marked so the spiral duct will fit snugly in the hole.

STEP 3: Prep the Fan

Cut off the end of the cord of the Plug-in AC adapter and strip the wires bare. Connect the stripped AC power supply lead wires to the fan leads. Match the polarity (+) to (+), (-) to (-). if they don't have matching colors you may have to use a voltmeter to determine polarity or just go with trial and error.

You can solder or just twist the wires and use heat shrink tubing over the connection or just electrical tape.

STEP 4: Mount the Fan and Duct to the Lid

Use machine screws, nuts and washers to fasten the fan to the top of the bucket lid with the airflow into the bucket. Since the duct is the spiral type it can just be twisted 'into' the opening to fasten it in place.

STEP 5: Set the Atomizer Head in the Bucket

Place the atomizer into the bucket, threading the power cable up though the hole in the bucket lid cut for the connector. After the cable is through the lid pack the connector opening with some foam to seal it off. Alternately you could cover the opening with duct tape.

Add water to the bucket until the level is per the operating instructions or until the 'low water' sensor is just covered.

STEP 6: Auto Fill

To keep the fog machine operating continuously the water needs to be replenished. An inverted 2-liter soda bottle will do the trick. It acts like the 5 gallon jug on top of a water cooler (bubbler).

Bend a wire support frame out of 12 gauge wire and hold the bottle in place with a zip tie. Bend a upside down U'-shaped hook in the top of the wire. Select the length of wire above the top of the bottle so that the mouth of the bottle is at the water level you want to maintain.

Cut a slot in the top of the bucket lid so that the 'u' bent hook can fit through. Position the hook so that moving it to one side will catch on the lid and suspend the bottle. Fill the bottle with water and hang it in position.

STEP 7: Energize!!!!!

Power up the atomizer. You can watch it work and fill the bucket partly with fog. The fog will not overflow the bucket, it just settles into the bottom of the bucket. Any fog moving up toward the lip of the bucket just evaporates before it goes over it. Air movement is needed to get the fog expanding and billowing. Power up the computer fan. You should now have fog pouring out of the duct!

If you want you can plug the atomizer power supply and fan power supply into a remote controlled switch. That way you have fog on demand!

The atomizer is using about 300W of power to atomize the water into fog and a large portion of that will go into the water as heat. So in order to keep the submerged atomizer from overheating you will have either run it for very short periods of time or add frozen ice packs or even just frozen water ice to keep the water temperature (and the atomizer) cool.

Now you have a virtually unlimited supply of fog - so put it to good use, like one of my favorites; a cauldron overflowing with fog - but that's an Instructable for another day - That other day came - see the link!

Enjoy!

52 Comments

Passerby2400 1 year ago

Indoor dirt arenas take a lot of water to keep moisture. High humidity prevents evaporation so would a fog machine save money on water?

JackM74 1 year ago

So how much noise does this make ? I ask because I have 2 low budget heated foggers now and they are too noisy to use in some situations. Thanks.

wannabemadsci 1 year ago

The bucket fogger with an atomizer inside altogether is probably not much louder than a desktop fan-cooled computer power supply. Of course it is hard to characterize the volume of the sound but it is quieter than the swoosh of spray that comes out of a heated smoke/fog machine.

jaybo2099 3 years ago

Combine what you have built here with a traditional fog machine and you will get tons of thick low lying fog. No need of the fan in the setup. Just plumb the fog machine output through the chamber that contains the ultrasonic device and the water. The fog picks up the mist making it heavy, and the pressure from the fog machine will force it out of the chamber. You get thick fog that immediately falls to the ground and hangs there for an extended time.

wannabemadsci 3 years ago

Really interesting concept. Have you tried this?
Thanks for your post!

wannabemadsci 3 years ago

How very interesting. Thanks for the links! I'll have to try this.
Thanks again!

Dinkelborg 4 years ago

I really like this project and I've been revisiting this instructable so many times now but a 200$ fogger unit is just way out of my budget for a little Halloween fun. I have three single head devices and tried to make a miniature version last Halloween which went okayish but not great ... I ordered another 3 headed fogger unit (21€ at Aliexpress) today and will try again with all devices together (so 6 heads total)

What I really keep wondering and can't find any info on the internet about:
Is pure distilled water really the best fluid for this?
I am not a chemist or anything but I wonder what happens with those vaporizers if you put them in different liquids. Alcohol? Liquid Silicone?
The only info I found was that apparently fog machine fluid works too
but the mist it makes is more transparent than regular water ...

wannabemadsci 4 years ago

Thanks for your interest! I have only used tap water. Distilled would provide longer life as there are no minerals to deposit on the ultrasonic disks. I would not use anything other than water. I think alcohol would create an explosion hazard.
Stay tuned, I am working on another alternate fog machine that will not use expensive parts and hopefully will perform as well. Planning to post in October.

wannabemadsci 4 years ago

It can work outdoors, but as with any fog, the slightest breeze ruins the effect! So I would not recommend using this fog machine outdoors. For fog outdoors the high wattage heated glycol- based fog machines can pump out lots of fog and you can chill it with many of the plans here on instructables. Or you can go with lots of dry ice in lots of hot water and get lots of fog.

wannabemadsci 6 years ago

As mentioned in the Instructable, there really isn't any "cheap" 12 -jet vaporizers. Amazon carries one similar to the one I used but it is about $200.

I found a 3 jet unit that is rated to put out 1.2+ liters per hour. Sounds too good to be true for $41. I have not tried it but plan to in the near future.

scottbaker828 7 years ago

Just ordered this, will test it whenever it arrives from China, but only $8 so a smaller upfront investment!

https://www.amazon.ca/Etree-Ultrasonic-Maker-Fogger-Fountain/dp/B0067XS2IG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1492310147&sr=8-6&keywords=ultrasonic+mist

wannabemadsci 7 years ago

Thanks for the comment and glad you are interested in exploring the use of ultrasonics for fog. However, a unit like the one you sent the link to will not produce enough atomized moisture to produce fog that you can blow into a space. If you are lucky you should be able to fill a container with a small amount of fog. Which might be OK if you want to create a mini cauldron filled with fog.

Good luck - let me know the outcome.

nemxwasp 7 years ago

I definitely want to make this just curious how your original is holding up or if it wore out (like my plasma globe did). Wanted to see if you think it's still worth the $200 before I spent it.

At my work we go big with Halloween decorating but I've never been able to use a fog machine (and don't want to hassle with dry ice) since mine is a heated that will rise and set off smoke detectors. I definitely want to have one of these in my effects collection for next year.

Great job this is awesome!

wannabemadsci 7 years ago

Thanks!

The ultrasonic vaporizer/atomizer is not cheap so I understand your concern in spending the 'big bucks'. However, I really like my unit. There is nothing quite like tons of billowing fog on demand. And I like not having to go get dry ice or having to keep feeding dry ice into a unit - This is so much nicer. I do have to use water ice to keep it cool, but that is so much easier.

I've had my ultrasonic atomizer for about 5 years - Now I don't use each year and I don't run it for days on end, but it seems to have held up well. The piezo disks on the unit are replaceable and my understanding is that it is the disks that wear out or fail.

If you are going to build this fogger I would make two suggestions: 1) Use a larger container. I put it in a bucket to enter the 'bucket challenge'. I usually have mine in a larger container that I can wheel around with a sealed flip-up lid that works great. 2) Get the float ring for the atomizer. The float holds the atomizer at the correct water level while floating on the top of the water. This way you don't have to have a water auto fill device, the unit just floats on the water. This allows for a larger supply of water for longer run times and more water ice to keep it cool.

nemxwasp 7 years ago

Sweet! I was going to ask what improvements you would suggest. I already bought everything and was going to build this weekend. My fogger came with a float but obviously doesn't fit in the home depot bucket. Are you suggesting a cheap cooler? Or what exactly are you using? I read the same about the disks and it has great reviews on amazon so I just bought it. Totally awesome idea! II'm going to test it buy fogging my backyard lol.

Thanks again!

wannabemadsci 7 years ago

I used a type of rolling storage container. I don't remember if it was general storage or for dry pet food or something similar. It has a nice gasket in the lid so all the fog goes out the hose. See the photos:

Good Luck on the build. Let me know how it goes and send photos!

nemxwasp 7 years ago

I did your exact same setup using a 50lb pet food container except I fitted the hose into the container like you did with the bucket (the adapter I bought was too big but I plan on returning it for one that fits)
and I used gorilla duct tape to seal everything for this test run. Looks great after it runs for a bit. Any advice for thicker fog? Thanks a lot! This is super cool!

nemxwasp 7 years ago

I forgot to say my fog does not look like yours does in the kitchen photo.
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