I bought this thinking it was just going to be a repurposed smoke machine, but it does appear to be designed with chemical fogging in mind, especially going by the size of the fluid bottle and flushing function.
I thought it might have been operating at a lower temperature, but the thermostat in this unit was a 260C one. A look inside a generic fog machine showed a 245C thermostat.
I did a test in a room in my home and the timer goes up to 5 minutes. The unit uses 15ml per minute, so the 100ml bottle can carry a full length dose with spare. (It would use 75ml for a full time cycle.) During the cycle the unit only cut off to reheat once at the beginning of the fogging and then fogged continuously. The fog takes a LONG time to clear, so have patience and let it all settle out for the strongest effect. I would advise against breathing too much of the fog as I don't know what's in it.
A search online found that in places like the Philippines the use of sterilising fog seemed common, and there were a large number of sellers with large bottles of what appeared to be a dilute fog fluid with benzalkonium chloride in it. I'm not fully sure if that's what's used in these thermal foggers as they could theoretically be operating above the benzalkonium's thermal decomposition threshold, although a lot would probably be carried out intact by the glycols.
Some demonstration videos on YouTube show DIY solutions based on flammable alcohols like isopropanol. I strongly recommend against using flammable chemicals to fog areas as it poses an explosion/fire risk.
The rather cryptic MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) suggests that Fog-It is basically a carrier fluid with ethoxylated alcohols (C16-18?). I'm not sure what those are. A similar datasheet for a rentokil fogging solution mentions propylene glycol and alcohols C12-C15 ethoxylated. These appear to be plant fat derived alcohols. I'm not an expert in chemistry, so I'll let the real experts give their thoughts. Are these an active component? Or just an emulsifier.
I recommend against making DIY stuff as it carries huge liability if someone has an adverse reaction. The Fog-It solution is cheap when you shop about for it.
The Fog-it fluid is sold for car valeting use - an industry that seems to go for strong visual and aroma effects. This "flavour" is citrus and bears an alarming resemblance to a soft drink in terms of colour, aroma and taste. (Yeah I tasted it.) It could really do with a warning label if it has anything toxic in it.
Does it work? Well it puts out a fog and it gets everywhere, so if the precipitate is sterilising then I guess it will. It's hard to say without before and after bacterial analysis. One video on YouTube showed a swab being taken before and after, and analysed in an expensive unit that probably uses fluorescence to detect a bacteria count. I decided to ignore their "test" when the post-treatment swab was taken from an area of the dashboard that had clearly just been wiped clean to get an impressively low result.
If using a fogger in a car I strongly recommend you close the door gently and monitor for any signs of cable damage where it goes through the door frame. In a professional usage I would suggest adding a clear protective sleeve to the cable and making sure doors are pressed closed gently to avoid cable damage.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I thought it might have been operating at a lower temperature, but the thermostat in this unit was a 260C one. A look inside a generic fog machine showed a 245C thermostat.
I did a test in a room in my home and the timer goes up to 5 minutes. The unit uses 15ml per minute, so the 100ml bottle can carry a full length dose with spare. (It would use 75ml for a full time cycle.) During the cycle the unit only cut off to reheat once at the beginning of the fogging and then fogged continuously. The fog takes a LONG time to clear, so have patience and let it all settle out for the strongest effect. I would advise against breathing too much of the fog as I don't know what's in it.
A search online found that in places like the Philippines the use of sterilising fog seemed common, and there were a large number of sellers with large bottles of what appeared to be a dilute fog fluid with benzalkonium chloride in it. I'm not fully sure if that's what's used in these thermal foggers as they could theoretically be operating above the benzalkonium's thermal decomposition threshold, although a lot would probably be carried out intact by the glycols.
Some demonstration videos on YouTube show DIY solutions based on flammable alcohols like isopropanol. I strongly recommend against using flammable chemicals to fog areas as it poses an explosion/fire risk.
The rather cryptic MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) suggests that Fog-It is basically a carrier fluid with ethoxylated alcohols (C16-18?). I'm not sure what those are. A similar datasheet for a rentokil fogging solution mentions propylene glycol and alcohols C12-C15 ethoxylated. These appear to be plant fat derived alcohols. I'm not an expert in chemistry, so I'll let the real experts give their thoughts. Are these an active component? Or just an emulsifier.
I recommend against making DIY stuff as it carries huge liability if someone has an adverse reaction. The Fog-It solution is cheap when you shop about for it.
The Fog-it fluid is sold for car valeting use - an industry that seems to go for strong visual and aroma effects. This "flavour" is citrus and bears an alarming resemblance to a soft drink in terms of colour, aroma and taste. (Yeah I tasted it.) It could really do with a warning label if it has anything toxic in it.
Does it work? Well it puts out a fog and it gets everywhere, so if the precipitate is sterilising then I guess it will. It's hard to say without before and after bacterial analysis. One video on YouTube showed a swab being taken before and after, and analysed in an expensive unit that probably uses fluorescence to detect a bacteria count. I decided to ignore their "test" when the post-treatment swab was taken from an area of the dashboard that had clearly just been wiped clean to get an impressively low result.
If using a fogger in a car I strongly recommend you close the door gently and monitor for any signs of cable damage where it goes through the door frame. In a professional usage I would suggest adding a clear protective sleeve to the cable and making sure doors are pressed closed gently to avoid cable damage.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I'm glad finally you become a legend
I first thought you had a projector to take to bits.
what if you ran it OUTSIDE, in FREEZING temperatures!? ICE GUN
I can watch you all day. Wish I was your neighbor so we could compare beards and products. Keep up the good work!
Clive you should do a bench tour of the stuff you have!
Lol can these chinese really get anything at all right?
It's a pretty disinfecting mother fogger.
Your camera mic. circuit must have a compressor. The volume for the noise, and your voice stayed the same.
Sounded fine.
"Disinfecting Fogger" is my new band name
🔌🔧
Has he died his beard
Man i thought that beard was just a legend!
Do these work in the same way as VHP sterilisation?
Those blocky pixelated random pattern light things up on top of the parts bins behind you, I bet the makers of the original Star Trek series would have loved to have those for a prop.
I thought novel meant new? But foggers are decades old. Just saying.