Hazers - yes or no?

[redbandit599]

Hi all

Having set off more than a few smoke alarms in the distant past with my venerable smoke machine, I've not taken it out gigging for some time.

Popped out to see a mates band who made good (sparing) use of a Hazer this weekend. They said they didn't experience issues.

Not looking for anything more than just a little bit of atmosphere for the lights. 

Interested to know if anyone else uses one and any issues?

 

[BigRedX]

IME you need to check with each venue that you play.

 

We were told no smoke machines at the gig we did on Saturday and turned up to find that venue had one permanently installed. 

[mike257]

You can get water based or oil based haze, both of which behave differently with different types of smoke detectors. 

 

In touring venues, it's normal practice to isolate the smoke alarms in the room during the show, so that haze/smoke can't trip them, and that's written in to risk assessments and safety plans. 

 

If you're going in to function rooms, pubs, whatever else, they may not be set up to do that and you'll likely meet some resistance. 

[redbandit599]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IME you need to check with each venue that you play.

 

Yep, always would. Just wondering if anyone has had issues with sparing use of a hazer triggering alarms, or not 🙂

[redbandit599]

14 minutes ago, mike257 said:

You can get water based or oil based haze, both of which behave differently with different types of smoke detectors. 

 

Thanks, that's interesting about the different alarm types.

We have used smoke before in a bigger venue and they switched from smoke to heat alarms for us. But, not likely down the Pie & Ferret!

Edited November 11, 2024 by redbandit599

[Mudpup]

We've been using a water based Beamz Hazer for years now. It has a remote that can vary the intensity of the haze, the duration and the interval. You just need to be sensible with it. If you have smoke detectors over the stage don't use it or just have the odd tiny squirt. Use proper haze fluid and not general smoke fluid, it seems to produce a thinner but longer 'hanging' haze.