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Low fog effects


tomy364

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Totally agree with Ynot - you can't beat CO2 for the best effect.

 

So you think that CO2 dry ice is best low fog effects!? Does low fog chiller unit like low fog pro have some advantage

between dry ice CO2 low fog unit?

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The advantages of using SOME chilled fog units are simply that you don't need to store the CO2. And the effect should be on-demand remotely at the push of a button.

 

DISadvantages include the fact that using ANY kind of fog fluid means that as it warms up again it WILL rise. his, for me, spoils the effect when you just want low fog.

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The advantages of using SOME chilled fog units are simply that you don't need to store the CO2. And the effect should be on-demand remotely at the push of a button.

 

DISadvantages include the fact that using ANY kind of fog fluid means that as it warms up again it WILL rise. his, for me, spoils the effect when you just want low fog.

 

agreed

 

I am working on a panto at the moment and we are using a antari low fogger the effect is spoilt when the smoke rises

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I found the best low fogger to be a Jem Glaciator. - the chiller is really effective which keeps the fog low on the floor and it disperses before it has a chance to rise. Of course, it rises a little - but not to the point of spoiling the 'dry ice' effect!
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To be honest, the pain in the bum and safety issues around CO2 are just not acceptable any more. Pea Soupers are were the best things available in terms of ease of use and effectiveness for year and years - but is a gadget filled with boiling water really ok to have sitting there in the dark? Even worse when people put them on castors so they could be moved around, or in the case of one venue - they decided they must be filled somewhere NOT on stage, then moved back. This year all QDOS pantos that need low smoke have Glaciators. I accept the damn things can be tempermental, and need far more loving care and attention - and the judicious use of screwdrivers to unblock them - that kind of thing, but you can wheel them around, hit a button and they produce nice smoke - certainly as good as a pea souper until the turns run through wafting it around. No storage problems with CO2 or getting it in the holiday period when your storage box is full of bags of air!

http://www.earsmedia.co.uk/glaciator.jpg

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I agree completly with what paul says. Glaciators are just a lot easier and safer. Yes we have been lumped with a unit that has seen better days, but show me anything that takes the abuse it is taking and not going faulty and ill buy it.
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Id pick the Freezfog over any of the above suggestions including real dry ice.

The output with a G300 is far superior and better compared to glaciator/pea-souper and even the londoners.

Completely in agreement with monkey. Two of the buggers will easily fill an arena size stage with a far better effect than any of the electrical chillers, and far more controllable than dry ice. And as Paul said, it was great to say goodbye to paper bags full of gas.

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:D

Sorry guys - you won't budge me on my original statement.

Tried several fogger options over the years - including a Glaciator from a frienldy neighbourhood BR member - and not found one, even with high dissipation fluid, that could cope with our situation.

With a relatively small space and LOTS of generated heat, it doesn't take long for the smoke to rise and spoil what I'd say is the archetypal low-fog effect. I've found nothing to beat it frankly.

With the Glaciator we'd find the effect great if started at the start of the show, but when we tried that particular model for Jack & the beanstalk a few years back, the cloud-top scene near the end of Act I just didn't work. We fell back on the Soupers.

 

Oddly, the BRB Nutcracker before Christmas used 2 Pea Soupers side by side with a fogger each - the effect they WANTED for the start of act II (Clara flies in on the goose over the clouds) was a mix of low and rising fog and it worked the way it was designed. But that was two distinctly separate effects generated at the same time.

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I have to agree with Ynot - on a stage, there is no substitute for real dry ice. I've also tried various alternatives over the years and always come back to the real thing.

 

Scottish Ballet are currently touring Nutcracker with 4 Pea Soupers in use at the start of Act 2. It's quite a long scene involving two gauzes, and fog just wouldn't stay low enough for the duration.

 

There is also the issue, particularly with dance, that many foggers can leave a slippery fluid residue on the dance lino that is hazardous to the dancers. Over-enthusiastic use of Pea Soupers can leave a slight watery residue, but at least that will evaporate fairly rapidly or can be quickly mopped up with a towel if it's a larger spillage (and there is a convenient blackout!).

 

Sure, there are issues with sourcing and using dry ice, moving kettles of boiling water around safely etc., but nothing that proper risk assessment and trained operators can't deal with.

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I can't give you a comparison but I can speak for the Lemaitre Freeze Fog unit. I think it's fantastic. A very effective carpet of rolling low cloud. On our raked stage I love to see it cascading down treads in the set, down the stage and then cascading into the pit. We use one unit centrally located on the back wall with a T piece and two flexible tubes to be able to supply fog to both sides of the stage. Mind you it does need fairly copious amounts of liquid CO2 cylinders to make the cold.

 

We did consider something like the pea souper but discounted the use of real dry ice on risk basis.

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