Snow!

[mm01]

As some of you may know from my previous posts I volunteer at a disabled children's charity and I get involved in anything technical. The subject of fake snow was mentioned on a Zoom call earlier in the week so Ive been spending a little bit of time looking into it. I found a few posts on here that seem to suggest that you are lucky to get a season out of a snow machine while on hire and to just buy the el'cheapo ones for that reason. We are however only looking at using it once on Christmas day above the patio doors so the kids can look out at the "snow". There are some on Amazon for £70-90 which I wouldnt mind paying if we were going to use them for a 4 week period but for a one off its going to make it an expensive affect. Can these units be cleaned properly after a single use and stored away until next year?

 

Alternate thoughts were snow confetti but thats not something Ive ever used either.

 

A full risk assessment would be carried out as I know snow machines can make the floor slippy.

[bigclive]

It's usually the pumps that fail in classic wet-foam snow machines. They can be changed or maintained by someone with reasonable technical skills.

 

The snow fluid is basically 99% water with a surfactant, so it tends to be unfriendly to pump components during a years storage.

[natjones]

Someone at work insisted on one a couple of years ago. beware the £70 snow machines . They are awful - and that's video evidence.

 

At least it provided a talking point as to just how awful it was...

 

If you can, see if you can get a rolling drum filled with dry snow. A local hire company might be able to provide something. White Light do these https://hirewl.com/p...e-1-2m-chisman/ and https://hirewl.com/p...achine-6ft-16a/ which are quite effective

Edited November 24, 2020 by natjones

[Jivemaster]

Someone else (thank goodness) provided one to a office party I did lights for, it was crap, just made an effect by a door for a few minutes and left a very soggy carpet in a posh hotel.

[adam2]

What about a bit of lateral thinking, and ordering some real* artificial* snow ? for outdoor use only. Kids love it. No mess or slip hazard indoors, and the outdoor risks are no greater than when natural snow falls. Up to a few tons can be delivered in a refrigerated truck, very large volumes are made as needed on site. No residue left when it melts, just water.

 

Safe if kids swallow it.

 

Outdoor play is safer under present circumstances.

 

*Real in the sense that it is actual frozen water rather than being foam or other fake stuff, but artificial in the sense that it is made by man, not naturally occurring.

 

 

 

[Dicky]

I think for the effect you're after, and it's outside, the £70 machine is probably your best bet, there's not much to clean up if it's outside (it just disappears fairly quickly), and the effect can be pretty realistic. I once used one to cover a small garden as a surprise for some children, and it was great. The video that there was a link to was the same sort of machine that I used, but the foam snow came out as you would expect (as a 'flurry' not as a snow slug - never seen that before from those types of machines!

 

 

If you want to store it, as Clive suggests, the pumps are what fail, so when you want to store it, I would run some distilled water through it to clean the pipes, and then take let it take some air in so the pipes are empty, then it *should* be able to be stored for a reasonable length of time. The manufacturers might have other info about this too.

 

They are really loud, as it's the fan to blow the liquid through the fabric nozzle has to operate at quite a speed to make it work - so as long as sound isn't an issue you're good to go.

 

Dicky

 

[ImagineerTom]

we've got some sitting in the warehouse doing nothing at the moment - would you like to borrow them?

[bigclive]

I've never seen one of the cheap ones producing blobby foam like that. The high pitch suggests that the blowers outlet holes might not be lined up properly on the front of the unit.

 

To get decent throw from those machines usually requires an additional external blower. But even then the throw isn't good due to general air resistance. These things are best for snowing from height.

[Glyn Edwards]

we've got some sitting in the warehouse doing nothing at the moment - would you like to borrow them?

I know we don't have a FB style "Like" Button, but if we did I'd be using in for posts like this. Thankyou

[ImagineerTom]

Pfft!

 

2020 has been a write off, we won’t return to serious revenues until June 2021 at best; in the mean time we have all this stuff sitting doing nothing; if it can help someone else then frankly we have an obligation to get it out there because if it sits on the shelf nobody wins.

[natjones]

we've got some sitting in the warehouse doing nothing at the moment - would you like to borrow them?

I know we don't have a FB style "Like" Button, but if we did I'd be using in for posts like this. Thankyou

 

Bravo! It's stuff like that which makes this a lovely industry sometimes!

[mm01]

Thanks to everyone for the advice, it seems like it should be possible providing I don't get a duff machine that produces a blobby mess as in the video!

 

we've got some sitting in the warehouse doing nothing at the moment - would you like to borrow them?

 

Tom - that's an incredibly generous offer thankyou, however with us being 'up North and going into Tier 3 next week (and for the rest of the year it seems) I'm not sure how we would be able to get them from you?

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by mm01

[themadhippy]

that's an incredibly generous offer thankyou, however with us being 'up North and going into Tier 3 next week (and for the rest of the year it seems) I'm not sure how we would be able to get them from you?

Simple,your just nipping down to the midlands for an eye test.

[sandall]

Call it "work" & anything goes.......

[ImagineerTom]

Thanks to everyone for the advice, it seems like it should be possible providing I don't get a duff machine that produces a blobby mess as in the video!

 

we've got some sitting in the warehouse doing nothing at the moment - would you like to borrow them?

Tom - that's an incredibly generous offer thankyou, however with us being 'up North and going into Tier 3 next week (and for the rest of the year it seems) I'm not sure how we would be able to get them from you?

 

DM me your mailing address - they are small and light enough to travel as parcels.