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What can I say mate. Thought it was about time we had another of your rants. 
Just seen this on another site.
Just seen this on another site.
Got this off a new zealand site:
A Reply to the HHO Scammers
June 2008
Since I wrote the original article pointing out how the claims that by creating HHO gas, you could "run your car on water" were a clear violation of the laws of thermodynamics, I've had a lot of correspondence from people who say "that's not how it works".
They claim that these HHO schemes don't violate the laws of thermodynamics because the extra fuel savings gained comes from the way HHO gas improves the thermal efficiency of your car's engine by altering the way regular gasoline and diesel is burnt.
They claim that the injection of HHO into your vehicle's air intake significantly increases the speed with which the air/gasoline mix inside the cylinder burns and therefore more of the fuel is burnt than in an unmodified engine. That extra fuel-burn means extra power or lower fuel consumption.
Well I always try to keep an open mind about these things so I thought I'd do some research to see if this was really true.
I Googled the web to try and find some sound-science that supported the claims of the pro-HHO community and I found an interesting paper (PDF) published at the 2004 FISITA world automotive congress in Barcelona.
The testing methods seem sound and the results/conclusions presented in this paper are indeed very interesting. They seem to lend credibility to the claims of those pushing HHO systems.
However, on closer inspection it all falls apart.
Yes, the addition of H2 and O2 the intake of an engine does appear to improve the thermal efficiency by (in the case of the tests cited) an astonishing 15%.
However, the following destroys the claims of the HHO fans.
The amount of HHO gas required is far, far greater than any of the commercially available or DIY electrolysis cells on the market can produce. Indeed, the amount of electricity required to create these gas volumes is once again beyond the ability of any conventional car's electrical system.
The particulate output of the engine being tested actually *increased* significantly, whereas the HHO proponents are claiming lower emissions. In fact, particulate emissions are now being cited as a major health risk and cause of premature death
So, as is so often the case with these scams, this one does have some very tenuous link to scientific principle. Unfortunately, what they don't tell you (or probably don't even understand) is that the very tiny amounts of this gas they're injecting into their engines will have almost no effect whatsoever on the combustion efficiency of their engines -- and what improvement there is will be more than lost to the extra load put on their alternators.
One thing that should be noted however, is that vehicles with an electronic engine-management system and computer that displays fuel use in MPG can become confused when even trace amounts of H2/O2 are injected in the manner the HHO proponents suggest.
This can cause erroneously high MPG figures to be displayed, even though they're not actually being attained and (even worse) they can cause your engine to run very lean -- effectively risking damage and creating increased emission of nitrous oxides.
And if you're someone who's certain that you're getting improved mileage from your HHO system, here's an experiment for you to try...
First, make sure you can turn your electrolysis cell off and on while driving.
Now with the cell turned off, drive at a constant 60mph for a minute or two, so that the engine reaches a steady temperature. Don't use cruise-control, just use your foot to position the gas-pedal so your speed remains constant.
Without moving your foot (the one on the gas pedal), turn on your electrolysis cell.
Now if all the claims for HHO are true, your engine will be developing 20%-30% *more* power than it did with the electrolysis cell turned off -- so you should notice your speed increase to around 70-75mph as the HHO gas starts flowing.
If you don't get this increase, then it's *not* working.
Or you could do this the other way...
Ensure your electrolysis cell is energized and drive along at a steady 60mph.
Now turn off the cell without moving the gas pedal up or down.
Your engine's power should drop noticeably -- since the combustion efficiency will (according to the pro-HHO people) now be much lower than before. THis means your car or truck should slow down quite noticeably -- perhaps to as little as 45mph.
If you try these experiments and don't see the changes you should then you can be pretty sure that the fuel-efficiency you think your seeing is just the placebo effect or your engine's electronic management system being fooled into running your vehicle dangerously lean (with a high risk of damage).
Here's another question -- does your engine's idle increase by 40% as the HHO gas starts being generated after you start it? If not -- why not?
If the fuel is burnt 40% more efficiently then the amount of fuel that produces an idle of (say) 1,000 RPMs should produce an idle of 1,400 RPMs when the gas kits in. If it doesn't then there's your proof that this system doesn't work.
Please contact me with the results of these experiments, or post your findings in the forums.
OTHER FUEL-SAVER SCAMS
Please spread the word to save people from wasting their cash and help put these scammers out of business. Link to the first page of this feature and tell your friends about it.
A Reply to the HHO Scammers
June 2008
Since I wrote the original article pointing out how the claims that by creating HHO gas, you could "run your car on water" were a clear violation of the laws of thermodynamics, I've had a lot of correspondence from people who say "that's not how it works".
They claim that these HHO schemes don't violate the laws of thermodynamics because the extra fuel savings gained comes from the way HHO gas improves the thermal efficiency of your car's engine by altering the way regular gasoline and diesel is burnt.
They claim that the injection of HHO into your vehicle's air intake significantly increases the speed with which the air/gasoline mix inside the cylinder burns and therefore more of the fuel is burnt than in an unmodified engine. That extra fuel-burn means extra power or lower fuel consumption.
Well I always try to keep an open mind about these things so I thought I'd do some research to see if this was really true.
I Googled the web to try and find some sound-science that supported the claims of the pro-HHO community and I found an interesting paper (PDF) published at the 2004 FISITA world automotive congress in Barcelona.
The testing methods seem sound and the results/conclusions presented in this paper are indeed very interesting. They seem to lend credibility to the claims of those pushing HHO systems.
However, on closer inspection it all falls apart.
Yes, the addition of H2 and O2 the intake of an engine does appear to improve the thermal efficiency by (in the case of the tests cited) an astonishing 15%.
However, the following destroys the claims of the HHO fans.
The amount of HHO gas required is far, far greater than any of the commercially available or DIY electrolysis cells on the market can produce. Indeed, the amount of electricity required to create these gas volumes is once again beyond the ability of any conventional car's electrical system.
The particulate output of the engine being tested actually *increased* significantly, whereas the HHO proponents are claiming lower emissions. In fact, particulate emissions are now being cited as a major health risk and cause of premature death
So, as is so often the case with these scams, this one does have some very tenuous link to scientific principle. Unfortunately, what they don't tell you (or probably don't even understand) is that the very tiny amounts of this gas they're injecting into their engines will have almost no effect whatsoever on the combustion efficiency of their engines -- and what improvement there is will be more than lost to the extra load put on their alternators.
One thing that should be noted however, is that vehicles with an electronic engine-management system and computer that displays fuel use in MPG can become confused when even trace amounts of H2/O2 are injected in the manner the HHO proponents suggest.
This can cause erroneously high MPG figures to be displayed, even though they're not actually being attained and (even worse) they can cause your engine to run very lean -- effectively risking damage and creating increased emission of nitrous oxides.
And if you're someone who's certain that you're getting improved mileage from your HHO system, here's an experiment for you to try...
First, make sure you can turn your electrolysis cell off and on while driving.
Now with the cell turned off, drive at a constant 60mph for a minute or two, so that the engine reaches a steady temperature. Don't use cruise-control, just use your foot to position the gas-pedal so your speed remains constant.
Without moving your foot (the one on the gas pedal), turn on your electrolysis cell.
Now if all the claims for HHO are true, your engine will be developing 20%-30% *more* power than it did with the electrolysis cell turned off -- so you should notice your speed increase to around 70-75mph as the HHO gas starts flowing.
If you don't get this increase, then it's *not* working.
Or you could do this the other way...
Ensure your electrolysis cell is energized and drive along at a steady 60mph.
Now turn off the cell without moving the gas pedal up or down.
Your engine's power should drop noticeably -- since the combustion efficiency will (according to the pro-HHO people) now be much lower than before. THis means your car or truck should slow down quite noticeably -- perhaps to as little as 45mph.
If you try these experiments and don't see the changes you should then you can be pretty sure that the fuel-efficiency you think your seeing is just the placebo effect or your engine's electronic management system being fooled into running your vehicle dangerously lean (with a high risk of damage).
Here's another question -- does your engine's idle increase by 40% as the HHO gas starts being generated after you start it? If not -- why not?
If the fuel is burnt 40% more efficiently then the amount of fuel that produces an idle of (say) 1,000 RPMs should produce an idle of 1,400 RPMs when the gas kits in. If it doesn't then there's your proof that this system doesn't work.
Please contact me with the results of these experiments, or post your findings in the forums.
OTHER FUEL-SAVER SCAMS
Please spread the word to save people from wasting their cash and help put these scammers out of business. Link to the first page of this feature and tell your friends about it.
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