haze/fog machines keep breaking

[jason5d]

Hi,

 

The venue I work in, we go through a lot of haze/fog machines.

I'm wondering if it might be because of energy surges

(Are haze/foggers known to break because of energy surges)

 

Last night the power went off for no apparent reason when it came back on

the adj jet fog machine no longer makes smoke and is stuck on "heat"

 

Any thoughts?

[bigclive]

Could the power have gone off because the ADJ fog machine shorted internally and tripped either the power circuit breaker or the RCD? If that happened and it uses a triac for the heater control then it would also have potentially caused the ttriac to fail short circuit.

 

What ways do your machines fail. There are various contributors to failure.

 

Cheap fluid with impurities can cause heater blockage due to a build of of baked residue in it.

 

Long periods of storage between use can result in pump seizure. The pumps are cheap and simple and fail a lot.

 

Using oil haze fluid in a glycerol/water haze machine can attack silicone pipes and o-rings and cause pump fouling.

[timmeh2]

Hi

 

I have lost count over the number of blocks and pumps I have replaced on smoke machines due to the wrong grade of fluid being put through it.

 

It is absolutely a false economy to use the wrong grade of fluid to try to save a few pennies.

 

I agree with clive that the heater block probably went dead short and blew the triac or some similar fault. Either way, unless you can repair it, it's destined for the skip.

 

One of the biggest issues is caused by long-term storage of fluid. Not only is it hygroscopic (water absorbing), the oil and emulsifiers settle over time leading to separation. People then fill it up, the machine takes a big gulp of crap and either the pump seizes or you get a blockage.

 

Smoke machines can be (and should be) regularly cleaned by running a pint or two of hot boiled water through them to flush out residues before they can build up to form blockages.

 

In the olden days it was possible to clear a blockage by disconnecting the pump side of the block and firing compressed air through it. I wouldn't attempt it now though due to the use of lower grade metal in the pipework.

 

As you've suffering repeated issues then either you might be demanding too much of your choice of manufacturer.

 

All the best

Timmeh

[jason5d]

Fair point about the ADJ, but it was the main safety breaker for the stage that shut down it powers the PA as well - not good mid gig.

Equipment fails only knock out the rcd on one of the distro boards (this is a proper stage in a venue that fits over a 1000)

 

We use the ADJ as the back up to the hazer and fogger effect

 

we only use good quality fluid, I make sure hazers are run every 2 weeks

 

another hazer an Adj Venue Entour that has recently gone wrong is making a regular knocking sound inside

when I run it. It's under warranty so it will go back on Monday.

 

when u say pumps fail a lot, could that mean yearly?

 

thanks

 

 

 

 

 

Could the power have gone off because the ADJ fog machine shorted internally and tripped either the power circuit breaker or the RCD? If that happened and it uses a triac for the heater control then it would also have potentially caused the ttriac to fail short circuit.

 

What ways do your machines fail. There are various contributors to failure.

 

Cheap fluid with impurities can cause heater blockage due to a build of of baked residue in it.

 

Long periods of storage between use can result in pump seizure. The pumps are cheap and simple and fail a lot.

 

Using oil haze fluid in a glycerol/water haze machine can attack silicone pipes and o-rings and cause pump fouling.

[niclights]

I'm not familiar with these particular units but haze machines sometimes have mechanical thermal cutouts which have to be manually reset. Perhaps if these have one the nature of the power fault could have caused the thermal cutout to trip (assuming that the unit wasn't the cause of the power fault)?

[bigclive]

If the main breaker is an RCD and there are always guaranteed sub-RCDs in distribution equipment then it's a good idea to use a programmable main RCD with a higher trip current and slight time delay to allow the sub circuits to clear the fault first. Typically I might suggest 100mA trip current and a 100mS time delay. That's a modification that would have to be done by a suitably experienced electrician though.

 

In good quality equipment the pumps should last a few years, but ADJ is fundamentally branded imports close to the quality of the original cheaper units.

 

Pumps are a standard item that can be changed by a suitably competent person who understands how to do the work safely. If the heater block is furred up then it may be cheaper to buy a new machine.

[indyld]

Keeping smoke and haze machines going is often an uphill battle, even with quality brands if they are in a busy hire stock or permanently blasting away at a club. The combination of heat, wet, gunge, and moving parts mean something is always going on.

 

Common issues are thermal or flow related but tripping RCDs can be insulation breakdown or component failure.

 

You recent heating issue does sound like a thermal cutout or fuse thing.