Thread: dry ice for fog chiller questions

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so I am thinking about using dry ice for my fog chiller this year and have a few questions.


1) The place that sells it is about a 30 min drive from home, whats the best way to transport it so it don't disappear on the way home?

2) Can it be stored in the freezer for a couple days? ( i think it can but dont want to assume ) The place that sells it is not open on Saturdays

3) I want to make a large garbage can vortex chiller ( fed by a Chauvet F1250 "1200 Watt" Fogger) as I dont have the room to run it thru a pipe that is packed with ice, I think it should work fine or is it over kill?

4) How many pounds of dry ice do you use in an evening?

thanks for your help

edit; did some googling and they say not to store the dry ice in a freezer , there goes that idea

Personally I would stick with regular ice.......cheap, easily available, and you do not have to worry how you handle it.

If you're really set on using dry ice,

1) Use a styrofoam cooler to transport the dry ice. A plastic lined cooler may be damaged by the cold temp.

2) Store it in the cooler. If you put it in your freezer, it will cause the thermostat to shut down - it thinks it's really cold n there.

3) The trash can chiller will be good for a 1250.

4) I've used dry ice before - the fog gets really low to the ground, I mean like crawling-on-the-ground fog. I got the best results with placing about 10 lbs, broken into chunks (not pulverized) on top of the water ice. Keeps things from melting. Even with a GotFog design, where the hot fog directly contacts the ice, almost all of the D.I. and ice cubes were in the chiller after 5 hours of fogging. I split 20 lbs between two large ice chest chillers along with ~25 lbs of cubes in each one.

how fast will the dry ice melt in a styrofoam cooler? it will have to sit for about 26 hours. I think to much will disappear in that length of time

If you were to buy about 15 or 20 lbs, it probably would have quite a bit left by the next day. The styrofoam cooler should keep it from melting too fast. It's used in packing stuff for multi-day transit across the country, so it should be ok for the most part.

You can wrap the dry ice in newspaper to help insulate it. DO NOT put it in anything that will seal completely !!!!! As we all know dry ice turns to a gas when it "melts". this expanding gas WILL cause any sealed containers to blowup. Put some dry ice in a two liter bottle cap it and see, NOT. When i worked at a hospital the blood bank would get stuff in dryice and it would just be in a styrofoam cooler. that is also how most Steak and seafood places ship stuff to your home.

As everyone has said, it does work good for chilling fog but, it will not last long.
You will be very busy replacing dry ice to keep the effect going!

I had thought to maybe use water ice, and dry ice on top to limit the thawing of the water.

As a general rule, a fog chiller has two openings. An inlet and an outlet. Explosion should not be a factor.

Has anyone ever tried using rock salt to create a brine water solution that stays at about 27 degrees, like for making ice cream?
I wonder if you could have a three-layer system of brine water, ice and dry ice. ;-)

Originally Posted by wilbret

As a general rule, a fog chiller has two openings. An inlet and an outlet. Explosion should not be a factor.

Has anyone ever tried using rock salt to create a brine water solution that stays at about 27 degrees, like for making ice cream?
I wonder if you could have a three-layer system of brine water, ice and dry ice. ;-)

lol.

There's an idea for next years chiller...