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new hazer - your opinion please


csg

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Im considering a new hazer at the moment to replace a cracked oil system. Much as I love the consistancy and hang time of a cracker, they are not video frendlly ( gets into projectors and leaves residue on the optics), and do give residue problems on kit over time.

 

Ive been playing with various glycol and glycerol fueled systems of late ( the usual suspects inc unique, le maitre, jem etc) and all seem to be not even close to cracked oil in effect and hang, but obviously more equipment / venue friendly

 

In tv land, I do see the MDG atmospheres around and they are excellent machines, but at a price. they are oil based, but heated rather than cracked, and seem to be free of residue problems

 

I cant afford the MDG - but I have found , online a similar machine, the phantom hazer from pea soup. This is an oil based, heat based machine which claims to have very long hang time, no residue probs etc. The manufactuerer, Concept, are based in the military, emergency service and public sector, and their reserch into the safety of the system seems to be thorough, and it seems to have all relevent approvals

 

I am planning on seeing the machine in action at their factory next week, but would like to know if anyone on here has any experience with these machines?

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I have used the tour hazer a few times,and it certainly a well built and designed machine. The problem remains that it is glycol based, so has the hang time of a glycol based system ( not too long), as well as the haze being moisture absorbing, and therefore problematic to some fussy singers

 

my applications range from theatre, festival dance tents and nightclubs.

 

I am very keen on a system like the mdg atmosphere, which produces very consistant and fine haze, and was hoping that somebody on here had looked at these machines,andhad some feedback

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The Phantom Hazer certainly looks interesting. Claims about particle size are impressive although I find it hard to believe that any mineral oil based haze won't leave residue, regardless of what a manufacturer says. It just doesn't seem plausible. MDG offered me money back if I had residue after a year, but I wondered if this was realistically provable!

 

Remember that the MDG machines need CO2 cannisters as well as the oil.

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the co2 bottles dont hold any fear for me - I also run a cirrus heavy fogger which runs on 34kg liquid draw bottles, so 2kg gas draw bottle will almost be a pleasure

 

on the residue issue, I know exactly what you are saying - however my direct experience of mdg machines has been very good, and the manufactuer of the phantom claims that they sell machines for use in clean room enviroments, for airflow studies etc, with no residue problems

 

I think any residue problems would have to be far less than a cracked oil system, well, you would hope so anyway...

 

I will try to get to see the machine next week I think. If it is what they claim, it should be an excellent piece of kit.

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Well I have gone for this model, or rather the fan-less model which is a good deal cheaper. It arrived this morning, and I gave it a try out in my industrial unit.

 

the particulate size is certainly very small indeed - I can clearly see individual glycol or cracked oil smoke particles when exposed in a bright beam close up, but not so with this machine. the haze hung in the unit for at least 2 hours without topping up, so impressive so far

 

very quiet indeed as there are no pumps or compressors, I guess this is why these kind of machines are popular in tv world.

 

Im going to try this out in a theatre tomorrow where I am lighting a production, so hopefully it will work well

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well, tried it out, and all I can say is it performed superbly - absoloutely even, very fine haze throughtout the venue. Once I had finished plotting the show, I turned the hazer off. 90 mins later the level and coverage of the haze had not changed at all

 

The machine used less than 100ml of fluid over the 6 hours it was running

 

so, highly recommended, and so much better than all the alternatives I have used.

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the machine uses a food grade mineral oil which is drawn from a pressure pot inside the machine by the gas supply, and passed into a heat exchanger - much in the way a conventional smoke machine works, apart from the lack of pump.

 

I cant comment on your thoughts on heated oil being banned other than that both this machine and the whole range from MDG use this principle, and both hold every safety approval I know off. This machine is manufactured under ISO9001 which stipulates the production of non toxic smoke. They are approved for use in emergency service and military training. With all that, im sure it is safe to use

 

Apparently, the manufacturer ( concept) does not like to be seen to sell to the entertainment sector, fearing that it dilutes their reputation within the military sector...

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It's worth noting that Concept have been in the smoke machine game for a very long while. I used to run a number of Concept Genie Mk Vs which worked on what sounds like a similar principle. CO2 bottle into reservoir, dip pipe vaporiser into heat exchanger into output nozzle.
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  • 6 months later...

On the website, they mention that it can be used as a hazer or as a fogger. Have you tried it? How can you switch from the haze to the fog? Do you only change the CO2 pressure?

 

Your last posts were in April. After 7 months, what are the pros and cons?

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