Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
NachtRitter: that's the one!
zoltanbod: thanks for that link. I love the concept. Put up (scientifically verifiable by a 3rd party), or shut up!  |
I've done a lot of research on this topic, and I'm a regular at HHOforums.com (where water-for-gas is a running joke). I see a potential for HHO to work (in the 10-20% FE improvement range). It really has had a bad name, as so many people are trying to sell crap cells. I have to say water for gas is the worst one i've seen. I really can't see that system doing anything but killing FE, and then they will sell you a kit to lean out your fuel mix so it looks like it did something, until you burn out your valves.
Any HHO system waists energy, anyone who with a high school diploma
should recognize this right off. The way it helps is by improving the burn of fuel mist, the same way supplemental propane injection works.
In fact supplemental propane injection (SPI) is a excellent example for this. With SPI you use you're normal fuel, you just add a little propane. This improves FE even if you factor in the BTU's of the propane you use. The idea is to burn more fuel in the cylinder, and send less of it to the cat.
With HHO you make the supplemental fuel. So, with a typical set up on a small to mid sized car you'll be using about 1/2hp off your alternator. The alternator has about a 15% loss, a really good HHO cell has a loss of about 20% (i would guess a water for gas cell has about a 90% loss), and then you put it into an engine that has a loss of about 80%. So the aim to make your own fuel dumb, it's just to improve the burn.
People have found that with HHO they can get away with a leaner mix, which is where some improvements come from. Though a water mister may work just as well.
I don't use HHO on my car, yet. I use acetone as a fuel additive which gives similar gains (very minimal 3-6%) from the same inefficiency.