Alright folks, let's talk about my smoke machine. Yeah, that trusty fog maker that makes my Halloween parties or DJ setups look cool. Surprise surprise, she wasn't putting out much fog anymore. Looked kinda sad. Figured it needed a clean. So, here's exactly what I did yesterday.

First off, I unplugged the darn thing. Safety first, right? Don’t wanna be zapped while messing around inside. Then I grabbed what I had around the house – some distilled water (my buddy told me regular tap water leaves nasty stuff inside), white vinegar from the kitchen cabinet, an old toothbrush, and some paper towels.

The Initial Mess

I flipped the machine upside down over the sink. Oh boy, a bunch of gross, sticky, dark gunk dripped out. Smelled like burned toast mixed with old chemicals. Not pleasant. That's the leftover fog juice junk. Figured I should empty whatever was still inside the tank too – poured the old, cloudy fluid into a jar for disposal later.

The Cleaning Cocktail

Mixed up my cleaning brew in a big measuring cup:

• Half distilled water
• Half white vinegar

Filled the machine’s tank all the way up with this mixture. Plugged it back in, turned it on full blast, and let it just pump out the vinegar mix for a solid five minutes. Huge clouds of steam smelling like a salad dressing shop filled the garage. Important: did this OUTSIDE. Couldn’t see my toolbox for a minute! Let it run until the tank was pretty much empty.

Scrubbing Time

Unplugged again. Got brave and opened up the front panel where the nozzle is. More sticky crud hiding there. Dabbed paper towels in the vinegar mix and went to town scrubbing around the nozzle hole and the little metal bits inside. Used the toothbrush for corners. I screwed up here – accidentally jabbed the toothbrush bristles into the heating element. Took me a bit to pull them out. Careful with that!

Final Rinse

Dumped some fresh distilled water into the tank. Ran the machine again for another few minutes just to flush any leftover vinegar out. Honestly, I was impatient and probably didn’t rinse long enough.

The Big Test

Finally, filled the tank with new, proper fog juice. Said a little prayer and hit the power button. A thick, dense cloud of fog shot out faster and cleaner than it had in months! Tried it again later that night during a test run – still kicking like a beast. Took maybe 20 minutes tops, and basically used stuff from around the house. Pretty happy with how it turned out.

Main lesson? Clean that junk regularly. And seriously, do the steam part outside.