First timer

[andyb798]

Hey All

Well, what a great site this is!!
I first heard of HHO only a few months ago and was intrigued, naturally, being a tinkerer and an electrician I though I'd give it a go.

I work for a company that builds and installs power transformers for the power grid and so have access to lots of materials that would normally go in the rubbish bin, which includes copious amounts of 316 stainless sheets,threaded rod/nuts/washers.

I have collected together enough to start my new project now and have just finished manufacturing my plates, all I need to do is sand them down and clean them.

Tomorrow I will be putting them together and mounting them in an old transformer breather that looks pretty cool and should do the job well with a bit of sealing.

I have posted a photo of my materials, and would appreciate any info/corrections if you see any thing I maybe doing wrong.

Andy

[lhazleton]

Andy,
First off, welcome to the Forum!
Having access to free materials is a real plus. From your photo, it looks like you're building an "open bath" design reactor. This is fine for a first attempt, but don't get discouraged when it doesn't do much. Wet cells are inefficient to say the least, but are a good starting point in understanding this technology. It's where most of us started.
When you get this up & running, you'll notice that most of the bubbles will be forming around the edges of the plates, rather than on the flats. This is due to the high amount of volt leakage that occurs with this design.
After tinkering for a while, do research on "Drycell" reactors and build one. There's really no comparison.
Good luck & keep a positive attitude.
Lee

[Madsceintist]

I know a lot of people say they don't do as well, but I have to disagree as I use a flowing open bath type. I have the ends of all tubes sealed with windshield buttle, however.
Give the water a direction to flow and where you want it to flow and it helps to increase the production as well.

[andyb798]

I Have heard about the dry cell units, but have not really studied that design as yet. As you say, I am trying this out first as its relatively simple to build, I am the kind of person that learns quickly but trial and error and understand the principles alot better by starting simple and improving on design.

Any way, progress so far: Have cleaned and sanded the plates, drilled out the holes for the + and - threaded rod, as you can see its a little over size, but its made with scraps, (recycle = spend no cash) but will easily cope with the high current. My design is + N N N N N - and should hopefully work out at 2V per plate, which I understand is the best voltage to avoid over heating and creating steam. Will be hooking up the supply later today to test the voltages (gotta take the wife and girls shopping first lol)

Will post my progress later on.

Thanks all for the posts.

Andy

[andyb798]

OK, just checked out dry cells on youtube.... WOW

The design looks so simple. The seals used between the plates, are these just your average rubber seals?? if so I can get heaps of those things from work, I know of at least a hundred that have been lying on a parts shelf for the last 3 yrs, was gonna throw em out - but not now.

First things first, gonna finish my first cell and then move on, I already have several projects on the go and cant really do with another one half finished lol.

[D.O.G]

Hi Andy,
Your starting point sounds a lot like mine (some years ago), an electrician, who's building a "wet" cell out of left-overs.

I'll share the reason behind one of my failures with you ... chemical compatibility (or lack thereof).
I built an open bath type cell using polycarbonate sheet for the housing. It failed during the running in period. Then I built another ... that failed.

That's when I came across the need to check that the materials we use are suitable for use with hydrogen and whichever electrolyte you choose to use.

I mention this with your transformer dryer in mind. If it's acrylic, it'll probably be fine. If it's polycarbonate, probably not.

I'm all for recycling used bits and pieces, but it can be a mine field of unknowns when you're uncertain of what those bits were constructed from.

Pete.

[andyb798]

Hey Pete, nice to meet a fellow sparky on here!! I agree absolutely what you are saying, but as this was my first attempt, I'm not yet prepared to go out and spend cash on this just yet, I have plenty of good quality materials at my disposal, just to get some proof models up and running, its more about understanding the basics at the moment. But I definitely will be spending the cash once I get more knowledgeable at making these suckers!!! Thanks for the tips mate.

Anyways, I know I've only spent 2 and a half days at this, and have rushed a few bits here and there, but I got it up and running today!!!. I hooked it up to the ute's battery through a 30A fuse, and it burst into life, giving those luverly bubbles instantly.

After 10mins of running the water turned a rusty looking color?? Why is this? I sanded and cleaned the plates with metho, thoroughly dried them and was careful how I handled them.

With that and a few small leaks here and there, to my surprise it work very well, the container with the plates in barely got warm after 20 or 30 mins, so I reckon I could have put more bicarb in.

All in all, I am very pleased with my self. And lighting the bubbles was the best part The wife had to tell to stop it, I could have done it all afternoon lol.

You can see my video at: http://youtu.be/WjoimID8fI8

Next....... DRY CELL

Any hints and tips are more than welcome. And thanks to those of you that have helped me so far.

Andy

[lhazleton]

Nice job, Andy!
I think we can all relate to your excitement, watching all of the little bubbles.
This is an old video of one of my first Drycell reactor setups. Rather than getting a bubble out of the tube every second or so, it would put out 2.4 Liters of HHO per minute drawing 30 amps. I'd made many improvements since then, but can't seem to find where I stored the damn videos!
Keep up the good work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zea_R3BByb8&feature=plcp

[andyb798]

Thanx for the encouragement Lee

I know by your standards, that my reactor is just a dribbler, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting anything major, and it actually worked better than I thought it would.

When I get round to building the dry cell (which wont be till around Feb as I am moving soon) I will spend alot more time on the research/construction and finishing. My aim is to get around 2L p/m, but im sure that will take a little trial and error to begin with.

I noticed at the bottom of your last post you have a web address for another HHO site, is that a more recent site, as Ive noticed alot of posts here are quite old.

Well, gonna sign off for a little while, but once I make a start on the next reactor, I will say g'day.

Cheers

Andy

[lhazleton]

I noticed at the bottom of your last post you have a web address for another HHO site, is that a more recent site, as Ive noticed alot of posts here are quite old.

Andy,
The other site isn't new, but it's right in your hometown.