Dry ice is not something you usually hear about until this time of year, because many people like to add a fog effect to their Halloween decorations.
“It’s something that’s out of the norm. It’s something that you can play with, and it creates that spooky look,” says Colton Collen, Sales Manager for Reliant Dry Ice. “This time of year, people use it for parties and at their doorsteps on Halloween night. People put it in a witch caldron, if you will, and you can get that to come out nice and pretty. I use it for a pumpkin, where it comes out of the pumpkins mouth.”
Dry ice is just compressed carbon dioxide, which makes it into a solid form.
“To make the fog, you’re going to take the dry ice, and you’re going to make it into two to three pound chunks. The slabs you buy at the store are going to be ten to twelve pounds, so you can use that to kind of measure out the sides of the slabs. Now you’re going to put that in your caldron, or whatever you want to fog up. Then you’re going to put about a cup of hot water on top of the dry ice and that’s going to create the fog,” Collen says.
He says the fog lasts about two to three minutes per pound of dry ice. He says people obviously have a lot of fun with it, but there are some precautions to keep in mind when using it.
“What you wouldn’t realize when you buy dry ice, is that it can burn you…it can burn you bad. It’s negative 109 degrees Fahrenheit,” Collen says.
At that temperatures, he says it can cause frostbite in less than a minute.
“When you’re handling this, you’re always going to want to wear gloves,” he says. “Make sure that your skin exposed to the dry ice is covered. You know, long sleeves are a great idea, and gloves that go over the long sleeves are an even better idea.”
When driving and transporting it, Collen recommends rolling down the windows.
“You do not want the dry ice to stay, because it’s in a confined space and there’s no room for exit and you’re going to run out of oxygen,” he says. “If you’re inhaling it too much, you may not see any of the signs at first. If you start feeling tingly or a dehydrated feeling and you’re kind of shaky, that means you’re in the gas too much and need to get out and get good oxygen.”
When you are storing the dry ice, Collen says the best place to keep it is in a cooler, not in the freezer.
“It has a fan inside the freezer and that fan is going to push air across the dry ice, which is going to make it sublimate faster,” he says.
Collen says to have fun with the dry ice and fog, but keep these safety measures in mind. He recommends reading the warning label on the bag before handling any of the dry ice.
“It’s going to help you out and help keep you safe. You can have your fun and not get burns all over you,” Collen says.
