Fog/haze machine alternatives?

[mac.calder]

I too get really fed up with not being able to use my haze machine. Especially now as I have changed my lights to LEDs (2 x Equinox Quadzilla), which due to the limited light look great in haze but pretty rubbish without. A couple of weeks ago, I did not even bother to ask the venue and just stuck the haze on a low ouput on a long timer. No alarms went off, the venue were none the wiser and the lights looked great. But thats the benefit of haze over fog. Its not as obvious.

 

Uh Huh... So when you are in a venue like mine with no audible alarm and an auto-callout system and 4 fire engines arrive 15 minutes later, are you going to foot the $16,000 bill for a false callout due to not following venue policies and procedures? The venue certainly won't.

[Ashley R]

I too get really fed up with not being able to use my haze machine. Especially now as I have changed my lights to LEDs (2 x Equinox Quadzilla), which due to the limited light look great in haze but pretty rubbish without. A couple of weeks ago, I did not even bother to ask the venue and just stuck the haze on a low ouput on a long timer. No alarms went off, the venue were none the wiser and the lights looked great. But that's the benefit of haze over fog. Its not as obvious.

 

Uh Huh... So when you are in a venue like mine with no audible alarm and an auto-callout system and 4 fire engines arrive 15 minutes later, are you going to foot the $16,000 bill for a false callout due to not following venue policies and procedures? The venue certainly won't.

 

After skimming over a lot of Dj orientated forums and video's. a lot of them seem to have this mentality that even when the venue says no/ they don't bother to ask, they just start pumping the room with fog/haze.

 

Even if there was an audible alarm, it wouldn't really do much would it? As the Auto-call would have already gone out, and the trucks from the MFB would be already on their way?

[Richard CSL]

I think the venues management, and the advisory fire alarm installation companies, electricians, fire advisory officers are all at fault here, because they know the rooms are to be used for entertainment, therefore they should also know that smoke machines are likely to be used, so a correct decision is to only fit these rooms with overheat sensors, and not smoke detectors, and anyway a fire is far more likely to start in a hotel bedroom than an entertainment venue, because at the end of every night the staff are there clearing away the empties and rubbish, so any fire risk would be spotted at this time.

[mac.calder]

There is a hell of a lot of politics that tend to surround most corporate venues (that is pub and hotel venues) - most are not designed in consultation with technicians or people working in the business, the policies are not made by people in the industry etc. Particle detectors are cheap, they are also reliable and will be triggered long before a Rate of Rise or Fixed Temp detector will. Type of detectors affect insurance policies - more sensitive and unforgiving, the less you pay... Bottom line does enter into the decision quite often.

 

Some venues are also against oil based hazers due to residue left behind and the slip-factor when a careless technician spills the bottle of fluid.

 

Generally the consensus is to install both, and allow isolation of particle detectors only whilst the venue is manned (ie during events) - but you pay more than twice as much to run dual systems... Bands don't generally pull in the big money. In corporate they are bottom of the pile as far as priorities go... In the pub industry, they bring in some business, but don't kid yourself into thinking that the pub would go broke without live music... And a band can perform without lighting. Why spend more money when you don't have to?

 

Obviously, the better corporate venues will have the ability to isolate... your smaller ones though... And your smaller pubs?

[LXbydesign]

Again it depends on the design and install of the system.

 

Ours has a 3 tier level.

 

On activation of a smoke alarm, the system sends a phone/pager alert to operations staff who goto check it out. If the system hasnt been reset in 2 minutes, it then starts the audible intermittant alarm to put everyone on standby. Again, after 2 minutes if not reset then it goes into full evac / alarms on continuously / mag locks opened / auto-call to LFB - punters out!!

 

Of course if any fire alert point is activated, then the system goes into full evac mode straight away.

 

We can disarm any zone we like and specify a time for it to be re-armed - but as good practise we manually re-arm.

 

We're lucky with haze and smoke. I have tried to set them off by filling the venue, but havant been able to yet! Its only pyro smoke that sets them off.