Sunday, January 06, 2008

Dismantled the Hydrogen Generator...


The photo above shows what was left of the hydrogen generator. The stainless steel 1/4 " threaded rod 7 " long that is attached to the circular SS piece 2 13/16" in diameter was the cathode and is electrically connected to the circular piece.
The anode is missing 1 1/4 " of material due to corrosion, etc. Checking with an ohmeter, there is about 1.6 megs resistance between the circular plate and what remains of the bottom portion of the threaded rod. Have not figured out how this really worked, but it did create lots of gas.



Curious to see what the Hydrogen generator looked like on the inside, I sawed it in half after I had flushed out about 4 cups of brown sludge and was shocked to see a coating of the same sludge about an inch thick all over the inside of the unit. The positive electrode had corroded and disintegrated so that there was a gap of 1 1/4 inches betwween the top and bottom. The electrodes appear to be just ordinary 1/4 inch stainless steel threaded rod.


As you can see on the left, there is not much in the device to demand a price of nearly 3 C notes! I understand that the positive electrode will take a beating, but no way was I prepared to see things corroded this badly in the short while I used it. Whether this was due to the lye solution I was using and possibly excessive current being drawn by the device, I can't tell.


Another thing that I have noticed is that anytime I have used a gas with ethanol, my mileage takes a beating. I gassed up one day on cheap ethanol and was really surprised at the poor mileage I got. Now I see that there is varying amounts of ethanol in most gasolines and that really tees me off because we are getting screwed on the price of gas in more ways than one. There are the do gooders that praise the use of ethanol, but I do not see the benefits due to having to use more fuel to get to where you are going. My overall records for gas purchases show that my mileage is decreasing constantly and it is not because of my vehicle not being kept tuned up, etc.


I am going to give hydrogen another go, hopefully by building my own unit in the next month or so. Sort of hard to do when living in an apartment. Cheers for now......


For info on Hydrogen generation , etc check out http://tinyurl.com/33kt57