Reducing Foam

Anyone have a good way of reducing the amount of foam in an HHO Cell? As many of us know, this can be a problem if the foam gets into the exhaust port of the cell, and into the bubbler. I have an idea, but have not tried it yet.

Basically, you have two wire mesh screens, spaced about 1/8" apart with a good way of seperating them so they NEVER touch(spark, BOOM). These screens are positioned above the water level, but below the exhaust port. These screens have battery voltage applied directly to them(~13V). My "theory" is that as the foam from the plates starts to rise, the bubbles will start touching the first plate... rise a little, then touch the second plate too. This "high" should allow large amounts of current to flow through the bubbles, and pop them as the come in contact with the second plate. The result, is limiting the foam to the second plate, ensuring that no foam gets into the exhaust port, and into your bubbler. This is assuming that you never hit any bumps in the road and slosh the electrolyte! There are ways to minimize sloshing, however.

I would try this, but it's about 105°F outside, and I sure don't want to mess with it. How about some of our friends in the more northern(cooler) latitudes try this? ;)

I use a hot tub/ spa anti foaming agent. Got it at local hardware super giant, "Menards" It comes in crystal form and only takes about a teaspoon. I have a 2 gallon reservoir so that little should not hurt anything.

try a few drops of diesel

I tried to mix a bit of diesel with my electrolyte ( 3 tbsp lye/gal of distilled water ) today, and it did help some, but not enough. I started with 5-6 drops per gallon, which did make a difference, but I went all the way up to about a tablespoon/gallon and it still didn't make a huge diff for me. It did seem to lower my draw, though. I used .

What is the stuff on ebay made of?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=160345126320

Also - what is the standard gap between cells? Mine is 1/8 in...

Thanks

I have posted this several times, trust me on this one - HOT TUB FOAM DISPERSER! Just a tiny amount will kill all the foam in your reservoir. It's probably what they guys on Ebay are putting in that tiny bottle. Try it!

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Originally Posted by hhoconnection

I have posted this several times, trust me on this one - HOT TUB FOAM DISPERSER! Just a tiny amount will kill all the foam in your reservoir. It's probably what they guys on Ebay are putting in that tiny bottle. Try it!

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someone i know tried that and reduced the production.

I am going to pick some up today and give it a go.

Any idea on how much to use per gallon?

your idea seams like it might work however I would try using instead of a wire mesh. Simple window screening may be a better idea. You would beable to place more then two. Not have to worry about the big boom from using wire. House screening comes in all types. By being able to place more may reduce the ammount of production you would normally get. Some of the products on my main page do go to into detail as to fix this problem.

Also depending on the temp you are producing some of the screens would not work. One very effictive way I could think of along this same concept although again it may cut down on your production out put. Depending on the amount of space you have available to work with. If you where able to place in 4 half plates stagered this would cut down on the foam drasticly. Each tier would be able to cut the reduction of the rising foam drasticly. Another way would be if you could place in a coil to spin inside the cylinder kind of like a fan blowing backwards. Take a glass of beer pour it in as fast as you can then with your finger when the foam is rising swirl it with your finger the foam gets reduced. Same as the half plates the foam would break itself down 4 times before it reaches exahaust point

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Originally Posted by drumacc

I am going to pick some up today and give it a go.

Any idea on how much to use per gallon?

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I have never measured, I just squirt a tiny amount in when I first mix my electrolyte. It does not take much. As for reducing production, I have never experienced any drop, neither has anyone else that I know who uses it.

I use spa defoamer and did not see a reduction of HHO gas being made. If you mix a gallon of electrolyte add 1/4 teaspoon of the defoamer and shake it up. Works great...

What is the effect on the plates themself? How about the internal components in the engine? I don't like having KOH fumes getting in there, let alone something made for a spa, getting in my engine...

The question was, has anyone done the electrified screen method? Window screen may be too small in hole size to help this as alot of liquid will collect on the top of it. As gas passes through the screening, it will only produce more foam on the TOP of the screen, making the thing useless. The holes would need to be around 1/8" in diameter, MAYBE 1/16".

I dont know I will ask around to a few I know that had this problem. I will then report back on my blog about it which can be found in my sig. As soon as I have a legitimate answer I will be posting it no more then 3 days from now should work.

DuPont Spa Defoamer. Bought it at Lowes. It did work it seemed at first, but there was still foam in the cell itself. I did not, however, have a problem with it building up in the reserve.

I also did not notice a drop in production.

I would like to know if we are inadvertently creating some nasty by-product, such as when guys used salt as a seemingly safe electrolyte, and found out later that they were making chlorine gas...

I have posted links to my reducing foam video several times so I won't bother again. Like I say in the video, the spa de-foamer will kill the foam at the reservoir just as you noticed, but not at the cell itself. What I have found is that when I put together a new cell and run it for a while I get a LOT of foam. I will run it for weeks and then drain it, flush it out with more distilled water, clean the scum ring in the reservoir that has built up, and then flush the reservoir with distilled water. After that I refill everything including a squirt or two of spa de-foamer and I get very little foam after that. Someone pointed out to me that new plates, gaskets, end plates, reservoirs, and even hoses have oil and other impurities on them and that is the cause of a lot of the foam. Over-driving the cell can also add to it, but a clean system should help reduce it.

I would recommend if not a tear down and cleaning of all plates and gaskets, then at least a good flushing. If you do tear it down use rubber gloves and try not to get any dirt or other contaminates in the cell when re-building. I just did the flushing trick two days ago on a 8 inch 37 plate dry cell that I had running for about a month. There was a TON of foam at just 20 amps. After flushing it out real good I got no foam at all at 50 amps!

Give it a try!