With our Halloween Contest well under way, I just had to choose a quick and dirty flashback from our Halloween issue, which came out in August of 2007. Bump up the creepiness in a hurry with some thick fog to get the mood set just right. Here’s the how-to:
Ultimate Fog Chiller
Build the chiller that won the 2004 HauntCon Chill-Off competition.
By Adam Tourkow
Chilled fog creates an appealingly eerie blanket on the ground. Most homemade fog chillers use a drink cooler and PVC tubing, but that design doesn’t keep the fog in the holding area long enough to chill it properly. Our fog chiller is very easy to build and does a great job of cooling the fog.
MATERIALS
¾-size trash can or bigger
18′ (approx.) of aluminum duct (dryer hose)
Lots of dry ice or water ice
Water-resistant duct tape
Drill with 4″ hole saw or a utility knife
DIRECTIONS
Step 1: Cut 2 holes in the trash can, on opposite sides, with the hole saw or knife. The holes should be sized so that the dryer hose fits snugly into them. The exit hole goes at the bottom, and the hole for the fogger nozzle goes about 2″ higher on the other side.
Step 2: The aluminum dryer hose comes in 6′ pieces, so attach the 3 sections together using water-resistant duct tape.
Step 3: From the inside of the can, feed one end of the tubing out of the lower (exit) hole, and coil the rest of the hose around the inside of the can. Once you get to the top, feed the tube back down and out
the upper (fogger nozzle) hole.
Step 4: That’s it for construction! Now, just fill the trash can with ice, attach the fogger, and let’ er rip.
Note: If you’ve got a powerful fogger, you can cover more area by using a cardboard box with a hole for the output tube and a slit at the bottom for the fog to come out in a wider pattern.
Addendum: (From Adam’s site) I have recently been enlightened by other haunters that using a leaf sized garbage bag at the output of the chiller helps keep the fog denser and closer to the ground. Cut a hole on the closed side of the bag, attach that end to the output, and the fog will creep out slower from the large end. Here’s a pic of it in action from Count Zero:
About the Author:
Adam Tourkow (ghostsofhalloween.com) lives in Santa Monica, Calif., and is a full-time web developer. He has to borrow his in-laws’ house to run his annual haunted house.
For tons more maker-style Halloween fun, you can still pick up a back issue of Make: Halloween over in the Maker Shed.
ADVERTISEMENT
