Will a fog machine set off smoke alarms?

Tamron 16-300mm Di II VC PZD MACRO w/Canon Nikon mount

04/20/2009 03:08:24 PM · #1

???

JulietNN

Canon EOS-7D

04/20/2009 03:08:49 PM · #2

mine hasnt and it produces a lot of fog

yet

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

04/20/2009 03:09:30 PM · #3

A resounding YES. They will. And I know this from experience.

JulietNN

Canon EOS-7D

Tamron 16-300mm Di II VC PZD MACRO w/Canon Nikon mount

04/20/2009 03:10:00 PM · #4

So we have a yes and no

lol, gotta love DPC

04/20/2009 03:11:23 PM · #5

I plan to use it in a school but I don't want to set off the water sprinklers and mess up everything in the school, man would I feel stupid then...

AmeedEl-Ghoul

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

04/20/2009 03:11:24 PM · #6

I think I can help in here ..
Maybe ..
Like this you have 3 answers :P

PhotoDave

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

04/20/2009 03:11:45 PM · #7

Originally posted by JulietNN:

So we have a yes and no

lol, gotta love DPC

yea but

Melethia sounded more convincing ;)

PhotoDave

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

04/20/2009 03:13:31 PM · #8

Originally posted by Dirt_Diver:

I plan to use it in a school but I don't want to set off the water sprinklers and mess up everything in the school, man would I feel stupid then...

Judgeing from the answers above if there are smoke detectors then you have a good chance of setting alarms off, BUT as far as the sprinklers go they should only be triggered by heat...

Pipe_Dream

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR DG IF-ED

04/20/2009 03:14:18 PM · #9

I used mine once in a tight attic, and it didnt set anything off. Even if it did set off an alarm, it shouldnt trip a sprinkler head, as those usually trigger based on heat.

^^^ beat me to it...

Message edited by author 2009-04-20 15:15:05.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

04/20/2009 03:16:33 PM · #10

I thought they were but I also thought that smoke alarms are triggered by slight amounts of carbon dioxide.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

04/20/2009 03:19:53 PM · #11

OK, here's what happened: I had a very fun boss at one time. He was always thinking of fun things for us to do, like set up and perform a live show at a military dinner. This particular live show involved Elvis (or a reasonable fascimile thereof) singing a song called California Fog (instead of rain) because where we lived and worked had LOTS of fog. So of course there had to be a fog machine. We were practicing with the fog machine in the conference room of our building. It set off the building alarm. The whole building. Which of course immediate triggered the base fire department to respond.... It really was very funny, except for the whole explaining it to the Fire Marshall of course.

I'd be VERY careful in a school setting....

P.S. When the show was actually performed, it was in a large tent - no fire alarms (though the Marshall was present). It also involved taking batteries out of cars and placing them under the stage to power stuff. Then we had to put the batteries back into the cars so we could drive them back to the office. Did I mention he was a fun boss?

Message edited by author 2009-04-20 15:24:37.

RayEthier

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

04/20/2009 03:20:05 PM · #12

Another issue to consider is that in some specialized environments, the activation of an alarm will immediately cut off the power supply to say the IT equipment and that the "Dry Pipe" sprinkler systems will then be activated by a "Shunt" switch... albeit I seriously doubt that this is the case in the present scenario.

Ray

amathiasphoto

Nikon D300

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF for Nikon

04/20/2009 03:20:51 PM · #13

I have definately set of smoke detectors with fog machines. Another yes from experience (and it didnt even seem like that much fog)

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM

04/20/2009 03:25:40 PM · #14

Originally posted by amathiasphoto:

I have definately set of smoke detectors with fog machines. Another yes from experience (and it didnt even seem like that much fog)

How did you set yours off and what were you using or how were you using the fog machine?

Refracted

Canon EOS-50D

04/20/2009 03:41:48 PM · #15

definatly

way back, when i was starting university, we had an initiation in engineering... and one part was to walk through a hallway that was all fogged up .. well, it wasn't 20 minutes before the alarm went off and the whole campus was full of firefighters...

best not to :)

mgsmith53

Pentax K-R

Pentax DA L 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL

04/20/2009 04:01:59 PM · #16

There are two types of smoke detectors - ionization and photoelectric.

Ionization types check the actual chemical makeup of the air, i.e. ions that might be due to fire. Water vapor in the air from a fog generator generally would not trip this type.

Photoelectric sensors detect scattering of a small light beam contained in the detector. Fog scatters light, fog sets off smoke detector.

Check which type are in use, maybe. Some use BOTH technologies, particularly in public building.

Hye5

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

04/20/2009 04:33:16 PM · #17

Originally posted by Melethia:

A resounding YES. They will. And I know this from experience.

Ditto... also speaking from experience.

amathiasphoto

Nikon D300

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF for Nikon

04/20/2009 04:57:16 PM · #18

I was using a fog machine from halloween- one that produces bubbles filled with fog actually. The fire alarm was a standard monitored fire alarm, nothing fancy. The machine ran for maybe 15 minutes, and we had the door open too! I honestly doubt it would set the sprinklers off, but you may want to notify the school office and the fire department that you are using a fog machine in the school at a certain time, so that they do not immediately respond with sirens blazing. Good luck on your shoot! I wanna see these pictures :), especially if the sprinklers do go off!

kenskid

Nikon D700

I guess it will set it off.

04/20/2009 06:09:30 PM · #19

BJokerud

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

04/20/2009 06:16:43 PM · #20

A few months ago I was photographin in a disco (that must've been my most challenging photography job yet... geez...) which was in the assemblyroom (or what I should call it) in a school. And we had no issues with the alarm or anything like that. But... I think we turned them off :-/

MAK

Leica M Monochrom

Voigtlander Ultron 21mm f1.8

04/20/2009 07:14:14 PM · #21

Well it sent mine into overdrive...

delin

Canon EOS-40D

04/20/2009 07:41:46 PM · #22

Originally posted by farfel53:

There are also beam detectors, a form of photoelectric that shoots light the length of the room and has a sensor at the other end to pick it up. These go off if anything breaks the beam, like a basketball or smoke machine. They are real popular in newer schools, they cover a lot of area cheap. I've been on many thousands of fire alarms in 18 years of firefighting,including smoke machines. I'd say you would have a real good chance of setting it off.