Q. How is smoke / fog / aerosol produced?

A. The fog fluid is based through a heating element inside the fog machine. This element will heat the fog fluid above its boiling point and transform it into vapour. When the vapour leaves the fog machine heat exchanger and mixes with the cooler atmospheric environment, it cools rapidly, expands / condenses to produce the fog effect.

Q. Is there any difference between a smoke machine and a fog machine?

A. No. All fog machines having a heating element which is designed to operate at a specific temperature. All fog fluids have different characteristics (long lasting or quickly dispersing) and to get these characteristics different mixtures of fog chemicals are used. Every mixture will have its own specific vaporising temperature. If the wrong fluid is put through a fog machine it has the potential to either under heat the fog fluid or over heat the fluid. If fog fluid is under heated you are likely to create a wet fog, leaving a residue etc. If you over heat the fog fluid you can create a potentially toxic fog. In either case the fog effect will be poor and will void any manufacturer’s warranty.

Q. Will a fog machine set off my smoke alarm?

A. Yes. Artificial smoke can still trigger smoke detectors, if the smoke is dense enough. We manufacture specialist smoke systems for professional smoke detector testing.

Q. What is fog?

A. The fog produced by all of Concept’s fog generators is in basic form fog or an aerosol, consisting of millions of tiny liquid spheres. It is diffraction / refraction of light through the particles that creates the effect.

Q. Is a smaller smoke / fog particle size important?

A. Yes. Smaller fog particles will mean that your chemical usage is reduced (and therefore your running costs). Also the chances of deposition occurring are dramatically reduced, for example most entertainment fog machines will create a particle size of approx. 2 micron mmd which (assuming unit density) settles at a rate of 18.5”/ hour whereas a 0.2 micron mmd particle (created by the ViCount, Vulcan, Spirit 900, Colt 4) on se􀆩les 0.315”/hour.

Q. Can you create coloured fog?

A. The most effective way to create coloured fog is to use coloured lights. Alternatively pyrotechnics fog bombs can be used but these are often considered to be toxic, messy and hazardous from a shipping perspective.

Q. Is artificial smoke / fog safe?

A. Concept have available on requested a comprehensive MSDS which includes multiple independent reports from analytical laboratories, government authorities and research organisations. These independent reports demonstrate that Concept are producing the safest artificial fog available.