Re: How to Make Fog Without a Fog Machine For better beam viewing. "Cheap & Easy for
You really need to look into the dangers[...]
I do my research when it comes to dealing with chemicals. Do you?
Even slightly overheating the product will cause in to break down into toxic chemicals.
No, actually, it won't. The toxic substance you might be thinking of is Diethylene Glycol, formed when Glycerol/Glycerin/Glycerine is not created correctly and the D-G is released at high temperatures. However, that is when the Glycerine is being
made, not when it is being
used. Big difference.
Ethylene Glycol, on the other hand, is quite toxic. Glycol used to be used for anti-freeze, but now E-G is; perhaps that is what you were thinking of?
Also, glycerine/glycol is safe for human consumption, having multiple pharmaceutical and dietary uses, amongst other things.
Also: I do not mean to attack or harass "ShortyInCanada"; I just need to clear a few things up.
Multiple users on here seem to think that there is some unsafe-factor when working with glycerin. People, it is almost exactly like working with water. No, glycerine will NOT form molecules that are too small to breathe that will clog your lung tissues. That's not how vapors work. (Seriously, who taught you that? :wtf: ) Paint is a solid suspended in a liquid that does not vaporize, it atomizes (forms small particles, not molecules). Glycerine is a liquid that evaporates into a gas or vaporizes and condenses into molecules. Aside from the fact that glycerine acts like a carbohydrate, and consuming large quantities (like liters, not a few drops that have evaporated) is equal to consuming a small amount of sugar, glycerine has almost no negative effects on you. It's like water; put it in a vaporizer, breathe it, your body absorbs it and it has no negative effect. Like everything non-toxic, it can kill you if you absorb too much of it, but that's on the scale of liters upon liters. Imagine, if just a milliliter or two is enough to fog up a whole room, what business would you have fogging, say, 10L of glycerin?? Yes, at that point, it will probably coat your lungs and you will, to say the least, have breathing issues. But if you do that with
anything you will have issues. We're not talking about that. We're talking about a few little drops.
Smoke alarms/detectors work in one of three different ways:
1. How much light passes through a small gap exposed to the ambient air(the more smoke in the air, the less light gets through. Powder, smoke, fog, etc. will set these off.)
2. A chemical sensor checks for a reaction caused by certain chemicals in smoke.
3. How hot the air is.
Glycerine vapors may set off the first kind, but those are old and most commercial modern ones use the second method. (Many industrial kinds use methods #2 and #3 in conjunction.)
Many people mentioned leaving a sticky residue. If you boil water, it does create steam which then condenses back into water on surfaces. However, glycerine is not water; in fact, it is what's called a humectant or desiccant: it absorbs water, to a small degree. So if you vaporize it and it gets all over your precious leather couches, or your laminate wood floors, or you child's paper-mâché sculpture of the Lincoln Memorial that looks suspiciously like a mausoleum: fret not. It will not ruin things like water will. (Now, if you were to go around pouring glycerine on said things, that might be different, but again we're talking liters not milliliters.)
On the topic of a smell: I can't say anything here with surety, because many things that people say are
odorless do have a smell, even if it's a bland one. However, it will not leave a residue and thus a lingering odor. It may have a slightly odd smell, especially when you heat it up (because when you add energy to something it absorbs that energy and releases it, and in the case of a liquid, the molecules move faster and spread apart more and turn into gas) it spreads and you will smell any scent stronger.
All that to say, glycerine is not toxic for this use. In fact, on stage and in movies, glycerine is used to make hazes when fog is deemed too much. (Fog is thicker and has a tendency to 'hang' in the air, whereas the glycerine is thinner and isn't as annoying.)
I would like it if people were to stop spreading the mistruths that glycerine is dangerous, but I cannot change people's actions, only inform them of realities that would effect their actions. Whether they choose to listen is up to them.
As with all chemicals and substances, it is wise indeed to treat them with caution until you know whether they are safe, and under what conditions. But it is not wise to monger rumors and fear about things, especially when five minutes of research will clearly prove such rumors false.
I would think you should never have to turn the stove up past it's lowest setting 
