Thread: Build Your Own "Vortex Fusion" Chiller

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Originally Posted by scatter5

ok so I was building my chiller with a 30 gal trash can and had an idea. is there any reason the fogger cannot be in side a 3 shelved chiller?

like this: put the h t t p collen slash slash in
gallery.me.com/seankatz/100103/allinone/web.jpg?ver=12561352420001

The problem is the fog needs to go though the ice to chill and if the fogger is on top then the fog will just stay up there.

I had a problem with my chiller with the fog not wanting to settle down to the bottom and exit out of the pipe at the end so I added a cheap inline exhaust fan. Works great now and helps push the fog through the 20' of pipe I have on the end of my chiller going out into the cemetary.

I built two of these for our Halloween party and they worked great. And much better than spending $125.00 which is what I saw them being sold for. Thanks

very cool how to. it looks like it will work like a champ.

Another thing you can do if you are running short on time and don't have access to dry ice is to take the 3" PVC pipe and fill it with frozen 20 oz plastic bottles. I had to do this a couple of years ago when I realized too late that I needed another chiller. Works decent and is easy to replace through the night if they melt. Just have a few spares in the freezer.

Originally Posted by matthewthemanparker

Another thing you can do if you are running short on time and don't have access to dry ice is to take the 3" PVC pipe and fill it with frozen 20 oz plastic bottles. I had to do this a couple of years ago when I realized too late that I needed another chiller. Works decent and is easy to replace through the night if they melt. Just have a few spares in the freezer.

I actually did a combination of this and a vortex chiller. I ran the fog through a bucket vortex style chiller filled with ice. Then through about 6 feet of tubing filled with frozen water bottles. I reused the water bottles for my party night and then Halloween night than drank them later. The bucket I just filled with the automatic ice bin ice from my fridge so my overall cost was minimized.

During halloween night I got really cool low fog for about a half hour then the wind picked up and killed it but it was cool while it lasted.

I cant wait to build one of these but my only question is can you use the same design concept and make it bigger or should I just make a trash can chiller with the dryer vent hose?

Hey I see you're just as new to the forum as I.....

I know this design can be increased to trash can and alum. vent hose but I've read somewhere that big of can uses too much ICE and for no great increase of fog OR chilling.

I found this design great, and had mine up and running in an hour !!

http://www.yokossushi.com/fogger/index.html

Originally Posted by bullseye bill

I cant wait to build one of these but my only question is can you use the same design concept and make it bigger or should I just make a trash can chiller with the dryer vent hose?

If you want something as big as the trash can chiller, I would just apply the same vortex design to a large trash can. It would be perfect.
I've built the trash can chiller with dryer house and good results although you are right about using that much ice. Not really mobile when filled. Here are the videos of my trash can chiller build. I wouldn't build it again.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfEAPWhCZ5w"]YouTube- Garbage Can Fog Chiller[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv9A47tYkwU"]YouTube- Garbage Can Fog Chiller (outside view)[/ame]

Stick with the vortex design and I think your be happy with the results.

It's been a while since I read through this thread and it seems that people have different opinions on which opening to place the fogger at. So I decided to experiment myself. I took a rectangular ice chest chiller I made a long time ago and redid it. I shaped a 1" piece of pink foam to divide the chest into two compartments. The foam stands vertically in the chest and is about 2" short of the lid. Over one chamber, I used some wire grating to make a shelf for ice. Each end of the ice chest has openings with 2 1/2" tubing and both openings are at the right height for the fogger.

What I wanted to test is, was there a difference between setting the fogger at one end or the other. At one end, the fog shoots into the right side chamber of the cooler, rises above the foam divider and over the ice. The ice then chills the fog and it falls down into the chamber on the left and exits the left side of the cooler.

When I put the fogger on the left side the fog enters the cooler under the ice, rises through the ice and goes over the foam wall and drops down and exits the right side.

Here is what I noticed when switching from one side to the other. They both worked, however, when the fog entered under the ice, it seemed to encounter a back flow. While fog was shooting in, it also escaped back out of the entry port. When the fogger was placed opposite the chamber with the ice, it flowed backwards only when the fogger stopped. And even then, with the fogger off, much more fog continued to flow from the exit than escaped from the entry opening

It made sense to me that the fog was hot and would rise when entering warm side of the cooler. The cool side with the ice would cause the fog to sink and create that flow that I saw that continued for a bit after the fogger shut off.