Will a $150 hydrogen generator turn a 97 Saturn (Beater) into a miracle water car!?

Myth Busting.  Those of you who read our last post titled Is Hydrogen the Answer to America’s Rising Fuel Costs? know that I am skeptical of the claims found on the Internet, like Run your car on water and Save 57% Fuel & Double Gas Mileage. But after speaking to the aftermarket warranty inspector mentioned in that post, that thought it was plausible and he was willing to install a hydrogen generator on his 08 Civic, I figured I would give it try as well. Although the guys he talked to are sure that their hydrogen generators definitely work, for me seeing is believing. Even Popular Mechanics is also going to be testing a hydrogen generator to see if increased mileage claims can be verified or debunked. Even grown men have to play sometimes, right?

$150 Plus shipping. The kit I ordered from HydrogenGarage.com arrived sooner than expected, it basically consisted of a water filter canister (like for home use), stainless steel plates, threaded rods, nylon washers and steel nuts. The directions, that are available on-line in pdf format, were simple to follow. There were a few typographical errors, but they made up for that with plenty of good pictures that made assembly easy.

Prior to assembly. The instructions said to clean the threaded rods and stainless steel plates to remove any oily residue that may be present and to scuff the stainless steel plates by sanding them with 60 grit sandpaper to create a cross hatch scoring effect. After sanding the plates you clean them again prior to the assembly.

Plates attached. Once the plates were assembled, the next step is to put the plate and rod assembly into the canister and test it, out of the car. The Hydrogen generator is said to produce brown gas, I see why they say brown, the water turned brown within minutes after supplying power to create the electrolysis. 

Finding room. It was a tight fit in this little car. The washer fluid reservoir was removed to make room for the hydrogen generator. Power was supplied from a switched/fused source. The directions say that a spark arrestor or bubbler can be used, however I decided to run the 1/4″ vapor tube directly to the air intake.

Testing the gas mileage. To be honest I thought there would be little difference in mileage with or without the Hydrogen generator, but I couldn’t have predicted the actual results. This is what happened. So, I started my trip-ometer at zero and filled the tank up. After driving 102 miles with the Hydrogen generator on, it took 4.189 gallons to fill the gas tank up. I divided the miles by the gallons it took to fill the tank up and came up with 24.3 miles per gallon. I then reset the trip-ometer and with the Hydrogen generator turned off, drove 100.8 miles. I filled up the fuel tank again, this time it only took 3.28 gallons to fill up. After calculating the mileage, I found that the car got 30.7 miles per gallon. I actually got less miles per gallon with the Hydrogen generator on! Uh, is anyone interested in a slightly used Hydrogen generator? 

The Internet is littered with seemingly unbelievable claims, like “Run your car on water”. What does this mean? Pour water in my fuel tank? I must admit, until recently I’ve been a skeptic and have attributed all this Internet hype as another scam that only the gullible would fall for. After thinking about it though, all major car manufacturers are developing and testing hydrogen cars today. Most talk of the need for infrastructure providing hydrogen filling capabilities at gas stations. At the time of this post there are only a few filling stations that dispense hydrogen in the US.

Yesterday when talking to a car warranty inspector friend of mine, the subject of hydrogen fuel came up. He was very excited at the prospect of adding a hydrogen generator to his 2008 Honda Civic. He recently downsized from a Honda Accord since his job requires him to drive many miles everyday, he’s always looking for ways to save on gas. The Inspector was like me, he never really listened to all the talk about running your car on water.

After-all if it is too good to be true, it usually is. Besides, we are both Master auto technicians and have heard it all throughout the years. He changed his way of thinking and was now open to the idea. He had been doing warranty inspections at a couple of repair shops and found that there are auto technicians that were running hydrogen generators on their personal vehicles. Now this changes everything, no longer only Internet hype he could actually see the hydrogen rise from the clear containers. The process involves putting an electrical charge in the water which creates electrolysis and this act releases hydrogen gas that rises and can be ran by a tube to the engine’s air intake to be burned along with regular gas. One of the guys at a repair shop he was visiting, said he has increased his Mitsubishi Endeavor’s mileage by 10 mpg. So far he has noticed no drive-ability problems, no check engine light, just increased gas mileage. He theorizes he has no computer problems since he still uses gas to run his car and only supplements the fuel supply with hydrogen. The other mechanic drives an old Chevy pick up with a 454, (without a vehicle computer) he’s using a similar hydrogen generator and has plans to go all Hydrogen. Converting to all hydrogen may prove to be much more difficult but if he succeeds the rewards could be great.

To date, there are no hydrogen generators that are pre-assembled that I have found. There are many plans for sale that may or may not work. The success most likely will depend on the plans and the mechanical ability of the person following the directions and performing the assembly and installation. This can be very dangerous since the hydrogen is obviously flammable. To be very clear I am not endorsing or selling any of the hydrogen generator kits that are available. However, I am considering purchasing a hydrogen generator kit for myself, I will keep you posted. Be sure to check out the video below.  

Predicting future oil and gas prices is highly uncertain with the volatile global markets.  The puzzling question today on everyone’s mind is if the time has come to lift the ban on US oil and gas drilling and if the risk is worth the potential reward.

With gas prices currently sitting at $4 a gallon, Congress is again wrestling with proposals to allow drilling in now-restricted portions of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic and Pacific.  President Bush estimates that an extra 18 billion barrels of oil – equivalent to the nation’s current oil production for the next 10 years would be available from drilling in areas currently banned.  Although there’s uncertainty as to how long it would take to begin production, this would allow us to reduce our growing dependence on oil imports.

With today’s technology, the risk of a drilling disaster is greatly decreased, but environmentalists worry that drilling in these areas would pose a threat to beaches, wildlife and coastal-based economy if a spill were to occur.

Is drilling a high-risk?   The first offshore oil production platforms went up off the Louisiana coast in 1947 and over a half century later, with 3,203 offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico studding her coastal waters, the 20,000 miles of pipeline provides a quarter of America’s domestic petroleum, all this without having caused a single major oil spill.  This record stands despite dozens of hurricanes including the two most destructive in North American history, Camille and Katrina. 

A study by LSU’s Sea Grant College shows that 85 percent of Louisiana’s offshore fishing trips involve fishing around these offshore oil rigs.  The same study found 50 times more marine life around an oil production platform than in the surrounding mud bottoms.

So the decision on whether or not to drill offshore in the United States will ultimately come down to whether Congress and the President decide which is more important, environmental endangerment or  the severe economic issues of the day.

Has a slowing economy along with climbing gas prices affected auto repair shops for better or for worse?

As gas prices increase along with almost everything else, most people will inevitably be keeping their cars longer and that means more vehicles with more repair needs.  But, does that mean automotive repair shops will have an influx of work to do?  That depends…

Shops rely on people to bring in their vehicles for oil changes where they hope to find additional auto repairs that will help them turn a profit.  However, with tougher economic times encroaching, many people who would normally bring their vehicle in for a simple oil change will be choosing instead to change the oil themselves and save a few dollars.  People will be more willing to drive their vehicle without air conditioning or take the rise of not getting extensive brake work as long as the vehicle “stops”.  Bare minimum crucial fixes combined with a hope-for-the best mentality will keep many repair shop’s profits down.

On the flip side, because more people are driving older vehicles, many are making repair purchases with more of a preventative mentality by keeping their car in good working order so it will “last”.  So although there might be less work to be had, the shop owner who is able to offer competitive pricing along with having an honest reputation will most likely be the one who drives more people into their shop.