Thread: Had an Idea, but want more brains working on it...

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Please read explanation of plan, then give me all your thoughts!

Last year I build a boardwalk as part of my yard haunt. I loved it, my family loved it, the many ToTs loved it.


Late October 2009. Boardwalk in the rain.

As a result, I have now removed the wooden boardwalk and am putting in a permanent brick path. This is very exciting, but a lot of work.


Brick path construction underway as of Saturday afternoon, April 10th, 2010.

As I was digging this afternoon I had a thought. What if I laid down a bunch of 1" or 2" PVC pipe in with the pea gravel and had a series of small "vents" that would come up on either side of the brick path every couple of feet. I could run all the PVC pipe to a yard drain box large enough for a fog machine. In a perfect world, the fog machine would shoot into the PVC piping and come out the various vents along the path.


Concept picture of PVC pipe laid in foundation ditch of brick path.

Here are some reference pictures, so you understand my method of construction for the brick pathway.




Example of a yard drain box. These come in many sizes and I can easily find one large enough to fit a 700 or even 1200 watt fogger.

Ok, so, that's my though this afternoon. Please let me know if you think this is a truly inspired notion, or the result of not drinking enough water while digging long ditches all afternoon.

My wife, Endora421, said she likes the idea, but wants to make sure we can cap the vents in the off season so they don't get clogged up.

Not a bad idea.

Looks great. Should run speaker wire and outlets if you need them later.

I am going to run a 20 amp line out to the pumpkin patch in an all-weather box. Hadn't thought about speaker wire -- that's a good idea.

I think this is something we all would love to do in one manor or the other. In theory I see nothing wrong with your plan, I think a lot of unexpected obstacles will come up as they always seem to.

I think you are a seriously demented home haunter
Who else would plan a walk in their yard with thoughts of halloween lol
You rock! Hope it works out for you.

MsM

The first thing that comes to mind is water seepage into the piping, insects, dirt etc. etc.
Why not make a snap together assembly like the one you want to bury except hide it in the tall grass beside your walkway the day before or partially bury it in a shallow groove just under the turf. One year i had a gridwork of black PVC tubing hooked up to my fogger and laid out in my graveyard just on the surface and i raked the grass over it. Noone was the wiser and it was pretty hard to see the "grid" in the dark with dim lighting in the graveyard. Just my thoughts.....I love your ambition and, trust me, it's a really great idea. I would just hate to have to see you dig it all up because some bug crawled into the works and made a nest.

You could run all of your piping in the Pvc. Make sure you glue all of the piping and fittings that will be underground and you will not get water or bug intrusion. For the area where the smoke would come out you could put caps on the ends of the pipes but do not glue them on. When the system is not in use put regular caps on. When the system is in use remove the regular caps and put on caps with a hole drilled in them. You could drill larger holes in the caps for more smoke if needed. But do not glue them on so you can change the caps. We have done something similar but we used air working off of a solenoid. If you were to use air you would have to put a screw into the side of the cap to hold it on or permanantly glue it on due to excessive pressure. or you could put on a male adapter and use a threaded cap. Scares the daylights out of them. On the main connection area where your fog machine would be you could use a Jim cap to cap the line. This is sold a home centers and is a rubber cap with a hose clamp to hold it on. but i think the smallest one they make is for 1 1/2" pipe so it would work for the main fog machine connection cap off.

There was a member on here, or the other forum, who did what you are proposing with great results. His vents came up through the lawn. I think he had a tutorial on it. Come Halloween the fog rose from his yard filled with tombstones.I have to work today, but will search later, unless someone beats me to it.

Nothing wrong with the idea. I added receptacles to my columns out front for that very reason, but only two of the four and I wish I had put them in the others as well...
While it is open add more than you think you will need.
As far keeping it clear just vac the line before you want to use it.