HHO Generator (Gas mileage thread)

[Hotsauce]

I do not believe that you can use mechanical energy to create electricity(the alternator) use that electricity to split water into its base components, and then burn that to achieve a net gain of energy.

You have much energy lost as heat at every conversion for starters.

John C.

[twistedsymphony]

I do not believe that you can use mechanical energy to create electricity(the alternator) use that electricity to split water into its base components, and then burn that to achieve a net gain of energy.

You have much energy lost as heat at every conversion for starters.

John C.

That's absolutely correct. From a purely mathematical standpoint the concept of an HHO generator is bankrupt because you waste more energy generating it than you put back into the system, plus, as you stated, there are losses at every step.

Sport Compact Car last month had a really good analysis of these system and the basic math behind it in layman's terms.

I've not tested it myself but I know people I trust that have. So far the sources I personally consider to be reputable that have tested it have all come to the conclusion that it's snake oil. And the only ones that saw a reduction in fuel consumption were able to attribute it to the system simply leaning out the A/F ratio which could be easily done without the HHO generator, but most people don't do that because it's quite bad for your engine.

They lean out the mixture because most of them pipe in the HHO after the MAF sensor so the engine computer doesn't realize there is more air in the mixture... other "systems" play with the MAF sensor readings to again fool the ECU into thinking there is less air than there actually is. Since the engine thinks there is less air it injects less gas which means you're using less gas, but it also means you've got less power and the Air to fuel ratio is way out of spec for what the engine was designed for.

As for the HHO itself no only do the pocket generators not produce anywhere near enough of the stuff to make a measurable difference the electrical energy required to produce it is significantly more than the energy you get out of it in your engine, even if you assumed that there were no additional losses in the system (which there are).

I didn't pay these systems any mind for a while, but I had a bunch of people I know keep pestering me to look into them, so I did, and this is the impression I walked away with.

I encourage people to do their own testing and research and come to their own conclusions. I even encourage people to try to change my mind, but I will say if you hope to have any success at that you'll need provide me with the math as to why it supposedly works. For what it's worth I'm a Mechanical Engineer in the Aerospace Industry.