How to build a HHO (brown' s gas) electrolyser

Heard all the buzz about HHO or Brown' s gas, and it's potential to save you big on fuel? It works!! and here's a simple conceptual design that you can safely use to build your own cell for personal use, and experimentation.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A suitable container (glass or plastic with a plastic lid preferably large mouth)
• (2) 1/4" x 1.5" bolts with nuts and washers
• A bubbler valve (a irrigation drip valve from the hardware store works perfect)
• 1/4" OD plastic tubing approx 6-8" (depending on container depth)
• A 1/4" barb elbow fitting
• A small piece of plexiglass or lexan.
• 60"-80" of 316L stainless wire (try welding supply stores)
• Approx. 4' of 1/4" automotive vacuum tubing
• A universal Vacuum "T"
• 4' of red 20G automotive electrical wire and 4' of black 20G wire.
• A fuse holder, and a 10-15 amp fuse
• Butt, eye, and blade connectors. (can find in a kit at Wal-Mart or Autozone etc.)
• A drill with good bits, and a decent set of common hand tools including a wire connector crimper.
• Distilled water, and baking soda
• Super glue, and plumber's GOOP.

1. Start with container selection. The container needs to be at least 1 quart in volume. Other than that it just needs to hold water, not conduct electricity, and have an air tight lid that also doesn't conduct. Wide mouth "ball" or "mason" jars work very nicely.
2. #1 lid, #2 Drip valve hole, #3 Electrode post holes, #4 output elbow hole Next, and probably most crucial is preparing the lid. Measure across the mouth of the jar. The core of the cell that we will be making later will be about 1/2" narrower across than the inner diameter of the mouth of the jar. This distance will be how wide you drill the holes for the electrode posts (the 1/4" bolts). Then drill 2 more holes that will accommodate the size of your elbow and drip valve. Your holes should be JUST big enough for the fitting so it seals air tight when glued in place. Now glue a 1/4" washer top and bottom centered on your post holes, using super glue, to give them strength. Glue in your elbow fitting with the plumber' s GOOP. Put the clear tubing on the drip valve barb and cut it so it hangs about 1" from the bottom of your container with the lid fully screwed on, then glue the valve in place. Remember to allow for the tubing when drilling your valve hole. Let the glue dry overnight before assembling the unit.
3. A & B 1/8 Next build your electrode tower. Cut the plastic sheeting 1/2" narrower than your container, and about 1/4" shorter. Cut a channel the width of the thickness of the sheeting (usually 1/4") exactly in the middle of your sized piece, stop at half the length. make 2 of these and put them together to form an "X" or "+" sign. On 1 of the pieces drill a 1/8" hole on both upper corners. You will thread your electrode wire through these later. Glue the tower together with the GOOP, and let dry overnight.
4. After your tower is dry, start a piece of the 316L stainless wire through the hole and wrap it in about 1/4" coils around the tower. Repeat from other side, wrapping in the SAME direction as first coil. Anode or + side should be doubled, as this side will produce O2 and corrode much faster than the cathode(-) side. The 2 coils have to be evenly spaced apart, 3mm, or 1/8" seems to be the perfect gap between anode, and cathode. Anode CANNOT EVER touch cathode or this will create a direct short, and the unit will not function. Use GOOP to hold the coils in place after they are oriented correctly. Just a little on the Plexiglas edges will do, don't coat the wire, it has to contact the water to work. Then attach the ends of your electrode with single loops to the terminal posts. Put the posts through the washers and lid and use a 1/4" nut to hold it in place. The tower should fit tightly to the lid. The bubbler vent tube should run inside the tower to keep it in place.
5. #1 bubbler vent, #2 bubbler tube Put the lid on the container. Fill it with distilled water, not filtered or bottled, distilled. Leave a 1"-1.5" air gap at the top, and add about 1/2 tsp of baking soda, don't exceed 1.5 tsp or the unit could overheat. Connect the thicker (+) side to fused power to your ignition. Find a wire that only has power with the key on. The (-) side can be grounded to chassis. Connect the 1/4" vacuum tubing to the elbow and use the universal "T" to connect the output to a vacuum line going to the intake manifold of the car. The closer to the throttle body of the intake the better. For safety place a low flow fast closing backflow valve, or bubbler chamber close to the engine, before the "T" to arrest any accidental ignition of the HHO from reaching the cell. Adjust the bubbler valve, with the engine running, so that you can count the bubbles coming out of the tube, or they "chase" each other. Opening the valve any more doesn't help, and can make the engine run poorly due to vacuum leakage.

Tips & Warnings

• To optimize performance on a fuel injected car, a fuel controller is really needed to get fantastic gains. In fact most fuel injected cars will lose economy wihout ECU control, but gain significantly with proper control.
• On carbureted cars re-jetting and tuning the carb will usually get great results. I personally own a Jeep that only got 11 MPG HWY and 7-8 MPG town, it now gets 13.3 town and 16.1 HWY!! Update: We recently converted a 2001 Saturn SL, and went from 24 MPG city/33 HWY to 43 city, and 52 HWY with a professional system. Just for perspective that is better than any hybrid for about $1500. Hybrids are usually $5000 or more higher in price than their straight petrol counterparts.
• If you need help installing the unit consult a good mechanic before cutting vacuum lines. (don't be surprised though if some doubt the efficacy of your contraption, but believe me it works. I got into this trying to prove it didn't work)We are working diligently to get a nationwide network of professional mechanics to do HHO conversion.
• Add distilled water about every 300 miles, or at fill ups.
• Change out your electrolyte, and clean the unit with tap water and a scrubber about once every 6 months. It doesn't have to be perfectly clean.
• If you want one ready to install, I have professional systems available. Email me at [e-mail]. I can also make the fuel controllers,and host classes on conversion, and ECU tuning in Texas both with, and without professional certification. Email me for details.
• Baking soda is not the preferred catalyst for HHO production, but it is cheap, and readily available for the do-it-yourselfer. However it does produce unwanted gas byproducts that can be dangerous, mainly CO and CO2. KOH(potassium hydroxide) is more efficient, and if properly filtered makes no harmful gas byproducts, but has it's own inherent dangers.(see warning below)
• Make sure there are no leaks in your system before installing by blowing into the output tube with the bubbler valve close, you shouldn't be able to make it leak with mouth pressure.
• Too much baking soda = too much heat. Not enough baking soda = very little gas production. Never use more than 1/2 tsp baking soda per US quart of distilled water. Find a balance, it really doesn't take much to work.
• Do not put this system on your car's electrical system without fuse protection. If your electrolyte mix is too "hot" or the wires short you're in trouble. The system should pull no more than 10-12 amps max, usually less.
• Do not use tap water, It will work for a short time, but will muddy your cell quickly, and poison the electrodes, and gas produces with chlorine, and salts.
• If you decide to use Potassium Hydroxide(KOH) for your electrolyte. As this is the most efficient electrolyte for direct DC electrolysis. You need to know it is VERY dangerous. KOH dissolves flesh, eats glass, and is extremely exothermic when mixed with water.
• Don't expect professional results from do-it-yourself systems, these are mainly for proof of concept to convince yourself that the technology really works before you spend the bucks for a high end system. A professional grade system with computer control properly addressed costs about $1100-$2500, but they are worth every penny. A good system will always address MAP/MAF, upstream, and downstream O2, and air/coolant temp control. If they do not, they are inadequate, and you will need to find better engine controls if you buy their generators, or controllers. Making the gas is easier than tuning the engine to use it, so a lot of marketers just ignore engine control for the most part to make a quick buck. BEWARE!!
• Proper engine tuning on a computer controlled car CANNOT be accomplished without the correct diagnostic equipment. The MAP controller described in another of my articles is only 1 simple control on 1 simple sensor to try to help do-it-yourselfers see decent results from a homemade HHO generator.