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Very often, it’s desirable to have fog stay low to the ground. This effect creates a dreamy environment on a stage and is utilized quite frequently in ballets, operas, concerts and other theatrical productions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a performance of the classic ballet “The Nutcracker” that didn’t use this type of effect. Since the fog from a fog machine is warm, it tends to rise and fill up an area instead of hugging the floor, which can make it difficult for the audience to see what’s happening on the stage.
Fortunately, there are a few different effective ways to create a low-hanging fog effect.
- Use a Dry Ice “Pea Souper” Fog Machine. Basically, a pea souper is simply a container filled with heated water. When fog is needed, lots of dry ice (20-40 pounds) is lowered into the water, usually inside a metal basket. As the dry ice subliminates from a solid to gas in the hot water, it produces clouds of cool carbon dioxide for a few minutes. This gas is piped to the desired location with dryer hose. Pea soupers are very effective for creating thick low hanging fog since carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air, it stays low to the ground. Since the main consumable of a pea souper is dry ice and not fog juice, they quickly become much more expensive and difficult to use than a normal fog machine. A popular model of Pea Souper is the LF05E made by LeMaitre (pictured above) and at nearly $700, is a lot more expensive than it seems like it should be. However, most rental houses have them on hand if you need it for only a short time.
If you decide a pea souper is your best option for low hanging fog, here are a few tips:
- Look up industrial gas supply companies in your area to find the best prices on dry ice. It’s far cheaper to buy it in bulk from them than from the supermarket.
- If you break up the dry ice into smaller chunks, you will get a lot more fog output in a shorter time than if you use larger chunks, but will also get less fog time. An effective way I’ve found to break up dry ice into smaller pieces is to then use metal tongs to put it in a heavy cloth bag and then hit it with a hammer until you’ve reached the desired size.
- You can safely store large quantities of dry ice in a normal insulated cooler for a few days, but do NOT store dry ice in a normal freezer. To the 110 degree below zero dry ice, putting it inside a freezer almost 130 degrees hotter than it is akin to putting a regular ice cube inside a hot oven. If you do this, your dry ice will evaporate within hours.
- Be very careful if you use dry ice. At a temperature of -110 °F, dry ice requires that you take special safety precautions during handling and storage. Always wear thick gloves, eye protection and use metal tongs to handle dry ice. Never touch dry ice with your bare skin, it will cause frostbite burns within seconds and can leave lasting damage.
Now, a few other ways to achieve low hanging fog with a normal fog machine.
- Build a Fog Chiller to cool the fog from a normal fog machine. I’ve tried this numerous times with mixed results, but sometimes it actually works pretty well. The idea is to use dryer hose to duct the fog output from the fog machine into a chilled chamber to reduce the temperature of the fog in order to discourage it from rising. This can easily be achieved by cutting a hole in the side of a waterproof box (Styrofoam coolers are a great way to inexpensively try this) that is filled with ice. A hole on the opposite side of the cooler can be connected to more dryer hose to pipe the fog closer to where you want it to come out. Tip: I like to use those reusable sealed cooling packs instead of ice because they stay frozen a lot longer than normal ice and don’t make any mess when they thaw. I’ve also tried using a small amount of dry ice (about 5 lbs) to cool the fog, which works pretty well. The downside to this technique is that fog output from your fog machine will be reduced somewhat. Some of the fog will condense back to fog juice inside the cooler, so you need a pretty powerful fog machine to get a decent amount of low hanging fog. This technique won’t achieve the same thick low hanging fog effect that the pea souper would create, but it is a good way to get a similar look without the mess and expense of large amounts of dry ice.
- Get a fog machine with a built-in cooling system. American DJ makes a fog machine called Mister Kool that takes the principle described above and builds it into the same unit as the fog machine. You just fill the Mister Kool with 4 pounds of regular ol’ ice and fog juice and out comes reasonably low hanging fog. As before, this is not going to replicate the pea souper effect exactly, but it can get fairly close. It also has a built in water drainage system to make getting rid of the water from the melted ice a piece of cake, something that’s definitely not as easy with a home-built low lying fog solution. If you need thick ground-hugging fog, using a Dry Ice based system is the only reliable way to consistently achieve it. However, if you just want the fog from your fog machine to stay closer to the ground, chilling it is usually an effective way to obtain that effect.
American Dj Mister Machine Remote Photo
American Dj Mister Machine Remote Picture
American Dj Mister Machine Remote Photo
American Dj Mister Machine Remote Picture
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
 Not super great, but it doesn’t suck either.
By L. Blanco
Just wanted to chime in here because I purchased one of these recently for Halloween. I read a lot of negative reviews, but I went with my gut and bought one anyway. Quite frankly, I was pleasantly surprised. The unit itself is pretty sturdy and appears to be well-built. Most of the complaints about the unit appear to center around the fog not staying low to the ground. Well, depending upon the room temperature it is in, the fog will either rise or stay low to the ground. In a warm room it won’t take long for it to rise. Well duh, is this really a surprise to anyone? In cooler rooms it will stay down longer, but eventually the fog will warm up and rise. ALL FOG WILL. Also, it isn’t for outside use and it even says so in the instructions. I suspect complaints of the unit burning out and not working were the result of the operator letting the the fog juice run out resulting in the failure. The instructions warn against this as well.
I do have a legitimate complaint, and that is with the water drainage lever on the back of the unit. It doesn’t indicate which is the “open” or “closed” position. I got a little concerned because the melting ice was not collecting in the drainage bag. I tried both left and right sides and even called the company and they said “right.” Well, they were wrong. The lever, at least on my unit, has to be straight out in the middle. With the unit slightly raised and slightly tilted back, the melting water run right out and into the collection bag.
I would give the unit a higher rating if it were slightly cheaper. For a 400 watt foger, it looks like you’re paying at least $75-$100 for a built in chiller. You can make a chiller to attach to your fogger yourself for about $20. I don’t think I would recommend the unit for DJs on the go. They have enough heavy equipment to haul around, and other fog units may be better suited for their needs. But for use at small parties, home use, haunted houses, etc. the unit should perform well. I actually used mine outside on Halloween, and if not for the wind blowing so hard that night, it would have been perfect. However, for outdoor haunting displays, for next year I may pick up a pair of 1000 watt units. They cost less and should produce even more fog.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
 Fog everywhere
By Mhidden
This fog unit produced fog just like a regular fog machine. It still requires fog fluid and low lying and it does not come with it so buyer beware. It is just as or nearly as cheap to buy a fog machine and attach a chiller which will be my next try. A vortex fusion is what I am looking at and will review as well. I don’t work or am associated with them, I am about to give the Zen Dolphin a decent review.
The rate of rise on the fog was fast and almost immediate. Without properly ever blanketing the floor, it couldn’t even make it’s own remote disappear right next to it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Fog Chiller that works
By William S. Maley
This is a nice compact all in one unit. This is a multi-day multi-season machinge. It has the largest reservior for ice I have seen yet. When compared with standard for machines the fog it puts out stays much lower to the ground. However the 400 watt is a bit on the low side so the volume of it’s output is medium to low. The picture of the fog comming out of the machine is greatly exagerated. The amount of fog juice it can hold is small, so be careful. When it runs out of juice you can easily burn up ANY fog machine. When done and it is time to store clean it with fog machine cleaner.
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