Comments on: The latest “scientific breakthrough” scam — water gas

By: Einstein

Einstein — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:36:25 +0000

Ok, I have to post here, to many people posting opinion and not facts. If you want to have facts you have to try it. Experiment.

My friend and created a simple HHO generator, by connecting it to the intake manifold on his fuel injected blazer his gas mileage went from 18 mpg to 74 mpg. Monitoring the engine with a OBD we found that the computer automatically compensated the air / fuel mix to adjust for the more flammable (rich) HHO gas being sucked into the manifold.

If you do not believe me that is you prerogative, however do not preach this can never work if you have never actually done the work.

By: Joe Average

Joe Average — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:22:40 +0000

1 liter per min? A performance four cylinder car can flow up to ~285 CFM at wide open throttle. That means even a grocery getter might flow 150 CFM. What does that mean? 1 liter per min is about 0.035 CFM. Not exactly alot of hydrogen in the mix.

I suggest that someone measure how much energy it requires to produce the 1 liter per min and then try to figure out how much HP that requires of the engine to spin the alternator and make that much electricity. Another test worth doing – see if you can get an old lawn mower engine to spin an alternator and produce hydrogen enough to run the lawn mower. Start it on gasoline and once warmed up, turn the gasoline off and allow it to run on hydrogen only. How long does it run?

I want this to work but i’m not seeing it yet.

By: eljefe

eljefe — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:33:09 +0000

@Wayne:

It can’t possibly run away. You’re assuming some kind of perpetual motion will happen, but physically it’s impossible. There are always energy losses, mostly because of heat and friction.

@Spirit76:
My thought exactly. If HHO really is the next wonder fuel system, and if it’s really so easy to implement, why aren’t more people using it? If the MPG gains really were that stupendous, and someone could document them accurately, it seems people would be beating a path to his or her door.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:10:08 +0000

The thinking is that you will:

1) Use the output from the vehicle’s battery charging system (the alternator) to crack water into hho.

2) Burn the hho in the engine driving the alternator and…

3) Produce enough power (from the alternator) to not only replace the hho consumed, but to propel the vehicle with the crankshaft output??

Folks, you better be careful that you don’t get this thing started and have a run-away situation that you just won’t be able to stop.

By: Spirit76

Spirit76 — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:37:06 +0000

I like everyone else would love to save money and the environment so I’ve been doing research on these HHO system. There are more than a few testimonials out there stating improved mileage and the theory of adding fuel (Hydrogen and Oxygen) to the mixture makes sense. However,I wanted to see a demonstration of the flammability of the output of these HHO’s…and I found one. The gases produced definitely had the explosive characteristics of hydrogen. All of the systems I saw pro ported to produce 1 liter of gas/min. Is that a significant amount of fuel? I don’t know. Then I wondered if that would affect the programming of the vehicles standard chip…and from what I’ve found it does. These HHO systems require a new chip. There are many performance enhancing chips out there that increase HP and mileage, but their affect on the engine is in question. To satisfy my skepticism I’d like to see if the HHO system will significantly increase the mpg on a vehicle that is already using a performance enhancing chip. You can purchase the chips for usually under $100 so how much improvement does adding HHO give you? Most of these systems installed are over $1000. And will you have the engine stressing characteristics the performance chips supposively have? I like everything else I ask, “If its that great why isn’t everyone using it?”

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:17:18 +0000

I used two 11 plate cells, 2.5″ in diameter of exposed surface area, and 3/16″ apart. I had to use about a tablespoon of gasoline to get it started. 12Vdc, I did have a crude PWM but it didnt produce enough hydrogen. The generator is a honda 600W 1-cylinder generator that I pulled the gas tank off of.
I am making another cell that will be bigger and more condensed. I will also be making an automated pwm, so it will be producing the optimum amount of hydrogen under any load. The problem I have is I have no way of determining how much is too much or too little if I run off of HHO alone. Any ideas? and if any who read this knows what a good frequency is I would appreciate the info and where you got it.

I guess I didnt read that part of people having tried it. I just now see where it says ‘older comments’

By: eljefe

eljefe — Fri, 13 May 2011 06:41:52 +0000

Actually, Jeff, several commenters here have tried it, with varying results. It seems gasoline and diesel fuel consumption is reduced, giving better gas mileage, but as James Robbins notes, those figures don’t typically include the amount of hydrogen used.

Jeff, what scale cell and generator did you have? I think it would be tough for a DIYer to (for example) produce enough hydrogen to run a portable 5kW generator for very long.

And back to my original point, which was TANSTAAFL. There ain’t no such thing as free lunch. Hydrogen is not a miracle fuel. It’s just very plentiful as a component of water. Separating it from oxygen requires an energy expenditure, and that energy has to come from somewhere: either your car’s engine or from an electric utility. And safe storage is another critical issue. Electrolysis makes it easy to produce hydrogen, but what do you with the surplus? One static spark (scuffing your feet on the floor or taking off a sweater on a dry day) or an open flame (a pilot or a lighter) and BOOM! All the hard work for nothing.