Is HHO gas really the solution to our fuel problems?

Question

I say no! Why? Because the problem is fossil fuel dependency in itself. The HHO myth(yes, it is a myth) is that you make the gas from water that fuels your vehicle like a gas, electric hybrid. The myth part? Where did the electricity come from to break the water down into HHO? The fossil fuel!

The simple breakdown of the problem is that you still need electricity to break down water into HHO. The physics of electrolysis dictate that it still takes 6 parts of energy to get 1 part of energy from the process of burning hydrogen or using it in a fuel cell to recoup your energy expenditure. It may be a slightly better ratio if you burn the hydrogen and the oxygen together. How is the use of simple electrolysis a solution? It's not. For those that are interested in changing the world. Please stay tuned. For those who have a different opinion, please(and I do mean please) leave an answer to why you think I am in the wrong.

Answer 1

No it is not the solution, but it does help ease the pain.

The problem is the mass engineering that relies on fossile fuels instead of other available resources.

Any are you really asking a question to get answers? Your post belongs in a forum somewhere. This is yahoo answers, not a forum debate.

I am one of thousands of people already using HHO in union with Gasoline to improve gas mileage. I've tripled mine, and countless others have already past doubled  theirs.

The electricity comes from your alternator (powered by gasoline combustion) and is stored in the battery. HHO will not run a vehicle alone without eventually needing to recharge the battery. However, vehicles can run off Hydrogen and Oxygen - just not indefinietly.

Don't go screaming "Myth", try it out for yourself - then judge. Otherwise you just make an Ar$e out of yourself.

Answer 2

The use of power from the alternator to crack Hydrogen and Oxygen into HHO gas and feed it into the combustion chambers not setup for additional energy from HHO gas.

This makes me believe these claims are false. I could only see this working if you could demonstrate injecting a combination HHO + Gas mix improved gas mileage. If this were confirmed then I would employ a 200 watt 2' x 5' solar panel to generate about 1kw of power during the sunlight hours to generate 1 cubic foot of Hydrogen and 0.5 cubic foot of Oxygen. The big question is can you store the gas or just get better mileage during the 4 to 6 hours of sunlight each day. I don't know how much HHO per mile would be needed to double the gas mileage but I would expect the injector volume or carb jets to be modified to achieve these results. Setup can't be as easy as they say. When I was a kid in the mid 70s they used have a scam to add a water bottle bubbler(atomizer) and the vacuum system was tapped into to draw the water vapor into the carberator which supposedly cooled the fuel and increased the pressure in the chamber. I tried it out but could never verify it made any appreciable difference.

Answer 3

You're right.  But you should look at the various presentations to see why other people believe this.  My observation is that they don't understand that the current through the water cell loads down their alternator, thus requiring the use of more gasoline to keep the engine going.  And the reason they don't understand this is that they don't know enough electrical theory to know how a generator does its job.  Their contention is that the car's alternator somehow has 'excess voltage' that it doesn't use (they usually equate voltage with energy, which is another problem.)  

None of these schemes is ever shown tested with proper instrumentation, or at an independent test lab.  And they lie a good deal, too.  It's pseudoscience, and it's getting exceedingly popular.

Answer 4

The editors of popular science/mechanics outlined a scenario, based on the best info of the day-(mid 80's) , that if the state of arizona was a solar electric producer entirely devoted to elelectric generation that, it could convert enough water to hydrogen to power all the U.S. energy needs! We are so suckered to believe that oil(carbon) is are only hope. Why do you think the OPEC Cartel has ramped-up it's profit margins. They know they are a dying breed. Thier time of thriving is coming to an abrubt end. Unfortunately the american greedy interests have expanded ,thus delaying and prolonging , a natural end to this situation. The rank evil , of this world,  has had time to mature to ,even unexpected heights of maturity, right here in the U.S.A.!

Answer 5

You are correct in stating that it is not the solution.  Just ask yourself why all these alternatives are not used.  Some will say "corporate greed" and they are on the right track.  Corporate earnings will drive the answer.  HHO does work to increase fuel economy but it is beyond what most people will accept.  For all of you anti oil people, how far are you willing to go to get from point A to point B.  There are TRILLIONS of dollars invested in the current energy distribution network.  Nobody is going to change everything overnight.  It will have to come in steps.  Reducing consumption while transitioning to a new product is how it will happen.  When will it happen?  When the price is right.

As far as the original question.  The last few posts were spot on.  Your engine is producing more power than it needs.  Converting some of that to electricity and then to HHO will have very little effect on MPG (less than running your A/C).  Introducing the HHO into your fuel/air mixture can increase performance = reducing fossil fuel use.  There are many variables and it is made even more difficult with computerized controls (illegal to tamper with).  For you scoffers out there, look up wood gas. It was used extensively during WWII.  It works but is not something someone in a suit and tie on his way to the office will deal with.

Answer 6

you need to spend more time in the garage tinkering and less time on the couch watching myth-busters. this does work in improving gas mileage. i've doubled mine.  no, it's not an answer to our energy-crisis; but it's a huge help until we figure out the solution.

Answer 7

I agree , it is not the solution BUT IT DOES DESERVE CONSIDERATION FOR A SLICE OF THE PIE !!!

You must look at the whole picture!

Alternators on  late model cars can easily produce high amounts of Amperage to charge the battery, run accessories, and convert some H2O - to - HHO.  

Also the fuel system , O2 sensor(located in the exhaust) and the on board computer must work in harmony along with the HHO or satisfactory  results may not follow and thus will lead some to believe it does not work....

Think about this for a moment, a supercharger would be a perfect example of a device that through mechicanal process increases the power output of an engine. It does however have its limits and will reach a point of diminishing return at high RPMs. It is a "supplement" to an engine mainly  for increased power or torque, just the same as a turbo charger, however, turbos perform better at High RPMs.

Now, i see no reason why HHO cant "supplement" an engine to improve MPG and it is driven off of the alternator and the battery via the engine , just as the supercharger is driven off of the engine directly via mechicanal means or just as turbocharger is indirectly via the exhaust gasses exiting the engine.

An aspest of HHO that seems to get overlooked is that it can use both pre combustion and post combustion energy to do the work of converting H2O to HHO. To explain; superchargers use pre combustion energy and turbos use post combustion energy ,( im sure some will break my idea here but thats ok for now). In an HHO system the two sources are the Battery and the Alternator which are powered by the engine and the fossil fuel.

Now one more aspect that I havent seen addressed is this : Air we breath is 21 % Oxygen, if we inject/insert that additional oxygen molecule that we seperated from the two Hydrogen molecules (thus H+H+O), how much of a rise in the percent of Oxygen could be created ?

Nitrous Oxide Systems or NOS(actuallyN20) kits increase the Oxygen to around 30% buy adding one extra Oxygen molecule.

Answer 8

My understanding is that the addition of hydrogen into the combustion air of an engine does indeed improve fuel efficiency somewhat, but only when the vehicle is idling.   And it requires some more fundamental changes to the engine than just dumping some hydrogen, or HHO, into the system.

Clearly, if this system actually improved the mileage of typical personal vehicles, the automakers would be factory-installing them.  

So I'm afraid that I fall somewhere in between the "This is GREAT!" crowd and the "It's a total crock!" crowd.  

I'll put my links below, in case you are interested in where I got my opinions.  

In the first link, be sure to read down to where s/he discusses hydrogen as a fuel enhancer, not just as a replacement fuel.  

The second one is the ONLY article about hydrogen injection that I've found in the press that wasn't an obvious press release by some aftermarket hydrogen conversion kit company.

Answer 9

HHO for cars is a scam. Nothing more. HHO welders use a lot of electricity to do the job. The only problem it solves is certain welding situations. Our fuel problems can be solved with cellulosic ethanol, algae, and zero point energy.