Quote:
Originally Posted by stovie
Right now I'm working on a multiple plate reaction chamber. I bought a roll of 10 inch aluminum(50 feet long $29.95 at Home Depot) cut a bunch of 8x10's and am caulking them in series. From my experience with smaller reaction chambers the more plates in between the positive and negative terminals produced far more hydrogen and oxygen then the two plates alone with maybe a 50% increase in amps used because the power had to travel farther in the water.
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Aluminum reacts with most alkali or acidic electrolytes. Electrolysis occurs to a degree even without an external driving voltage. You will find your aluminum will become pitted and eroded in short order. When you are powering the cell, you will find a white bloom will form on one plate and pits will form on the other. The white bloom is aluminum oxide which will insulate against further current flow though it easily flakes off from the evolution of bubbles. An aluminum electrode is basically a consumable in this application. I had a neighbor in high school who used zinc plates in an early electrolysis cell. It worked great until the zinc was consumed.
I use 16 gauge 304 stainless in my cells only because I have a bunch of it left over in the shop. I like to go to the dollar store and look for stainless cookie sheets in the cooking isle. They are cheap material for experimenting.
Edit:
Now that I think of it. Maybe you should go through the build with the aluminum plates. Just let us know what goes on no matter the gains or losses. There are several patents on techniques to generate hydrogen gas from the reaction of aluminum and water. The reaction is thermodynamically favorable allowing for large amounts of hydrogen production for small energy inputs.