Any suggestions to simulate industrial steam?

[Johnnny_reb]

This may meet your needs Fake fog or give you a idea.

[Courage8]

BlueHillsCPR:

Holy smokes (so to speak!)  What a great idea!  If the fog machine creates clouds that are non-irritating and don't leave a film of atomized "juice" on things, this would appear to be the perfect solution (testing notwithstanding).  But for a $24 investment, it would be great to have simulated steam and smoke that could be turned on and of with the flip of a switch (as opposed to using dry ice, which will do whatever it's going to do in its own time).  I'd like to get something like this and run some trials with the fans you refer to - it's possible one forced draft fan could feed them all, or, as you note, a micro fan (such as those for cooling computer hard drives) could be placed into the base of each stack or vent to force the fog out.  It will be fun to find out! 

[Courage8]

Hi, CACOLE:

 Thanks for the comments!  Yes, I know dry ice is pretty darned cold -  it will disappear even if it is kept in a normal home freezer, which is much too WARM to store it!  So I know if I went that route, I would have to buy a piece before any operating session featuring a steaming factory or mill.  (Maybe that would be a good indication of when my operating session was over . . .)  Or maybe I would have to keep a sign handy for the entrance to my mill:  "CAUTION - MAINTENANCE SHUTDOWN IN PROGRESS" so the mill would still look realistic even when the dry ice had run out and the steam stopped!

I appreciate the warning on dry ice - it would have to be handled with heavy gloves or tongs, or I might find myself suffering a serious industrial injury for hanging around an HO scale pulp mill! 

[BlueHillsCPR]

Question:  Have you ever handled dry ice?  Your idea sounds workable, but you need to be aware that dry ice must be handled very carefully, wearing heavy gloves.  If it ever touches bare skin it causes instant frostbite, and it will require a special storage container to prevent evaporation.

I think dry ice is still used in theatrical productions to generate fog.  One of the local supermarkets has a freezer full of dry ice, but I have never seen anyone purchasing it.

 

Yes dry ice is more trouble than its worth, IMO.  What about a fog machine expelling into a "chamber" with micro fans driving the fog out the steam vents...?maybe the fans would even be redundant as the unit puts out 1500 cubic feet per minuite!

If that's too much fog, then how does one control the fog? 

Alternately why not make steam?  Here's a cheap example of a steam engine.  

Ok maybe not.

[cacole]

Question:  Have you ever handled dry ice?  Your idea sounds workable, but you need to be aware that dry ice must be handled very carefully, wearing heavy gloves.  If it ever touches bare skin it causes instant frostbite, and it will require a special storage container to prevent evaporation.

I think dry ice is still used in theatrical productions to generate fog.  One of the local supermarkets has a freezer full of dry ice, but I have never seen anyone purchasing it.

 

[Courage8]

I mentioned this in another post, but would like to throw it out to see if I can pick everyone's brain:  Does anyone have a good system for simulating industrial steam escaping from stacks, steam vents, and that sort of thing?  I have used electric smoke generators, but they require frequent "restoking" with oil, and the lazy drifting of smoke from the top of a stack doesn't really represent the industrial muscle I'd like to see.  I've been toying with plans for a reservoir that will hold warm water into which I can drop a piece of dry ice.  A force draft fan will then blow air across the dry ice and then into a manifold from which flexible ducts can take it to hollow smokestacks and other building vents so it can boil out with some enthusiasm.  I'm probably dating myself, but I recall going to dances years ago where a large system that worked this way was used to blow "fog" across the dance floor.  Does anyone have any ideas?  Thanks!