Argued with a guy for 20 minutes about fog fluid ingredients

I build my own fog machines for Halloween displays. Been doing it for 5 years. Used propylene glycol and distilled water like everyone says. Mixed it 70/30. Worked ok. Then a buddy who works in theater told me to try a 50/50 mix with glycerin added. Laughed at him at first. Said he was wasting money on glycerin. He bet me $20 to try it. Set up two machines side by side at my haunted house in Cleveland last October. Same temperature, same humidity. His mix produced way thicker fog that hugged the ground longer. Mine just drifted up and disappeared. Had to admit I was wrong right there in front of my whole crew. Who else was stubborn about their fog recipe for way too long before trying something different?

2 comments

2 Comments

miller.jason1mo ago

Wait hold on. That 50/50 mix with glycerin you mentioned is actually a bit off. If you're going 50/50 on the PG and water, then adding glycerin on top of that is gonna make your ratio all weird. What worked for me after a lot of trial and error was doing a 60/40 glycol to water base, then adding about 10% glycerin by volume. The glycerin definitely helps it hang low and thick but too much and you'll get that nasty sweet smell and it'll leave a greasy film on everything. Your buddy might have just gotten lucky with his mix. I wasted a whole season trying to copy what some guy online said before realizing I was reading his recipe wrong.

the_sam1mo ago

Isn't it funny how shortcuts always seem to backfire?