Spring! A time of new beginnings ... I hope

Where to begin again?

First, I must confess that I was a bit discouraged by the results my hydrogen cell was yielding. It seemed that no matter how high the current draw, my fuel economy remained the same. I suppose that should be something worth cheering since a continual 30A load on my alternator was not costing me a dime .... other than parts.

Secondly, the parts ... PVC pipe does not want to weld very well to different plastic formulated fittings. Before winter set on, I was seeing healthy deposits of KOH (Potassium Hydroxide) forming around those joints.

Oh well. Lessons learned.

So as winter set on, I resigned myself to turning off a water-based system in freezing weather that wasn't making any gains and might likely go solid anyway. But what I have done is read ... a lot.

I am now thinking that vaporized water (read steam) passed over a catalyst may be simultaneously less caustic and an easier system to design since there will be no electrical circuit, nor electronics, with the possible exception of a level sensor down the line somewhere. The down side is that of the two catalysts I know of, Zinc is the least expensive, but likely requires the higher heat. The other catalyst I am still researching, so I'll save that for a future post. Nevertheless, I haven't totally given up on hydrolysis. I still have some materials left over from when I purchased the original stuff ... and I have an electronic device partially built which may aid in reducing and controlling current flow while maintaining a high level of hydrogen/oxygen generation.

I hope you will stay tuned.