Getting FED UP with KOH yet??

[Hans H]

Howdy Folks: this hho experimenter has been running KOH for maybe a month now and I'm still getting the dang brown bloom that I had with NaOH. I can drain off to a degree, but I don't like it at all for show and tell...
and when time comes for cleaning my neutral plates, it will be a pain. I've used vinegar... anybody out there using citric acid, or maybe potassium citrate??

[IronBear]

What grade SS are using and what are you using for water? If you are using pure distilled water and plain KOH, you should see no gunk after the intial plate conditioning. Gunks ( of various colors) are caused by impurities in the metals or the water itself.

I use 304SS Wall plates and KOH and I get no gunk whatsoever.

[hg2]

Howdy Folks: this hho experimenter has been running KOH for maybe a month now and I'm still getting the dang brown bloom that I had with NaOH. I can drain off to a degree, but I don't like it at all for show and tell...
and when time comes for cleaning my neutral plates, it will be a pain. I've used vinegar... anybody out there using citric acid, or maybe potassium citrate??

muraitic acid works great for cleaning plates.

[coffeeachiever]

Where are you getting your wall plates? Some people have had complaints with the Home Depot plates. They've said that they've had more success and cleaner electrolyte with the Lowes plates. I've never tried the Home Depot plates so I am not speaking from personal experience, it's just what I've read here.

[geezer]

The acid works great BUT do not use straight out of the jug!!! maybe 20% with water watch it close 10 to 20 min. then flush well with water 2 or 4 times if not clean do it again.

[Q-Hack!]

I read some place that you get the brown gunk any time you have too much voltage per plate gap. The guy was testing all sorts of electrolytes and was using a +-+-+- configuration (if I recall correctly). Wish I could remember where, may have been youtube, but I just don't remember.

[spicerman]

Hi guys! I just signed on.......
I too am looking for an answer to the brown GOOO. I've built 7 different generators over the last year. I started with wet cells, then brick, then dry cells. I made one dry cell where I used the 304ss cover plates. (16 plates. They had 304 printed on the back side. ) My latest one is a 16 plate, 6 X 6 dry cell. I've used Baking soda, lye, KOH...... I even put in a cooling coil just before the water entered the generator. No matter what I run or how I run it, as soon as it worms up (85-90 Deg. F) the brown goop starts to slowly show up. I've used tap, condensate, distilled. Distilled takes longer but the brown snow eventually forms. I'm starting to think its a voltage thing. What do you say????

[hydrotinkerer]

I have 4 dry cells 3 with 304ss and one with 302. None of them have ever had any bloom form in them. I run a 5n setup so the voltage per plate is lower. Maybe the 5 neutrals is the reason I haven't had a problem. I was surprised the 302 cell didn't form anything so far. The 302 cell has only been operating a month so we will see.

This is one of the best setups I have and it has been operating for 2 months now with no bloom what so ever.Here is a link to one of my setups.
http://pmgen.com/hhoscambusters/index.php?topic=52.0

[Randohr]

I run low voltage and get little to no brown sludge. When I was running 12vdc across the cells, the sludge appeared very quickly. I use a palm sander with 80 grit on the plates, then while wearing rubber gloves, I completely clean the plates with isopropyle alcohol and then put the cell stack together. (+-+-+-+-) I then test fire them for about an hour to observe and make any needed changes. I like to use a clear container for testing so I can see what's going on. This seems to work. It has reduced having to flush the installed cells dramatically.

[spicerman]

I've been running my cells at a 1/16th gap with a setup -nn+nn-nn+nn-nn+ at 12 VDC. When I went to more then 2 neutrals, the hho production dropped off dramaticly. I didnt try using more KOH to get more amps. (maybe I should)
I used rubber roof membrane to make my gaskets.
I wanted to try to supplement the natural gas in my furnace with hho and see how it would work. So I set up my 6X6 (16 plate) dry cell with 14 neutrals, and run it with 120VDC. With a teaspoon of KOH per gal. She was really hot!!... 20 Amps. My bubbler was dancing the jig!!! At about 15 sec. it popped the beraker. I then deluted it down to approx. 1/4 TS. per gal. I'm running at a steady 10 Amps. (Haven't measured the production yet) But the brown bloom still slowly shows up. I did pull the cell apart to have a look and I did find some pitting. but not bad. Some plates were brownish, some were rain bow looking. So I sanded them all down and washed them off with distilled vinegar and reassembled the cell. I still got the bloom! Do you think I should pull it apart and clean it again??