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.