There are 2 distinctly different types of fogging machine. A “cold fogger” works by pumping a liquid through a high-pressure nozzle so it is emitted as a colourless fine mist (it's more like a fine mist than a fog, despite being called a fogger). It is also called an Ultra-Low Volume Fogger, ULV Fogger or Ultra Low Capacity Fogger – they do not spray large volumes of fluid and they do not spray at high pressure. Because a cold fogger does not heat the liquid it does not change the chemical composition of the cleaning agent used and therefore any cleaning agent that can be used in a pump spray bottle can be used in a ULV Fogger

No, fogging is additional to cleaning but it delivers a wider scope of additional disinfection that manual cleaning alone cannot achieve. Cleaning in this sense basically means spraying and wiping surfaces, particularly hard surfaces and especially frequently touched surfaces such as door handles, hand rails, remote controls, toilet flush handles, light switches, work surfaces etc. That needs to keep happening. However fogging will allow you to also disinfect all the places that are not possible to manually clean including soft surfaces (such as curtains, carpets, headboards, cushions, chairs and sofas) as well as “wide-area hard surfaces” that would take far too long to manually clean with spraying and wiping, such as gym/sports equipment, walls, ceilings, cupboards, and doors, undersides of desks and other furniture. Foggers are also excellent at blasting those often darker, damper and less well-ventilated bathroom and shower areas that bacteria and viruses like to inhabit.

It depends on the size of the room and the amount of clutter that needs to be surface-disinfected. But as a rule of thumb a 200 sq/ft room will take approximately 1 minute. A 500 sq/ft open aspect room with minimal clutter will take about 2 minutes. These machines are extremely efficient.

Yes, it will work outside and will surface-disinfect whatever you spray it at (outdoor seating areas are a good example) but please take into account electrical safety, the impact of wind and the risk of spraying onto people or animals, which should never be done.