HHO on a V40
 

Has anyone tried the HHO conversion on a V40 yet?

I have been reading all over the place that a HHO conversion will improvice my MPG by upto 40% (or about 15% being realistic) but before I jumped in I thought I would ask here if anyone else has had any experience with HHO conversions or any advise.

The company I think I will be going with is http://www.hydrocharge.me/ but there is very little information about the actual technical effects on your car. I have also been reading www.water4gasuk.com, www.water4gas.com and http://www.savefuel.ca/hydrogen for the technical blurb.


Any comments, recomendations or advise is greatly appreciated.

The fundamental problem is that electrolysis (which is what we're talking about, using electricity to break H20/water down into HHO) takes a lot of energy and surface area on the electrodes to create a significant amount of gas.

You can make it more effecient by using some chemicals, but the problem is most of them are harmful/corrosive in some way. IMO there are serious safety issues about having a hydrogen generator using corrosive chemicals sat under the bonnet of your car.

Most of the links on the web sell you an expensive book on how to do it rather than an actual product.

The volume of gas the products I've seen would produce will be pretty tiny compared to the staggering amount of air an engine consumes. Plus if you're running this off your alternator you're looking at pulling a lot of amps and that will reduce your fuel economy. The only way I can see it possibly working is if you use an external renewable e.g. solar source of energy to charge a battery to then make the HHO.

The hydrocharge.me site says they can install the HHO generators in the boot of your car.... well personally that worries the hell out of me. I wouldn't want something generating hydrogen in the boot of my car as it's an enclosed space. What if there is a leak? OK even if they don't produce that much gas over a few hours it could still add up to a nasty bang.

Personally I'm also dubious about the underlying technology. These devices have been around since at least the 70's (oddly enough when the last fuel price crisis happened) and they haven't caught on. If they were that good I'd expect them to be widely used already.

Have you got a quote from anyone? How much do they want to fit a system for you? Even if you believe in the tech and the figures it's all going to come down to the maths. I'd really like to see some hard numbers from an installer.

Cheers,
John

Hi John_C

Thanks for responding. I have a quote for the fitting of this unit. I have been quoted £415 including the two oxyisolators needed to stop the engine managment just pumping more petrol into the engine to get the levels in the exhaust right again. As for exact return, well this is a lot harded to calculate because by burning the petrol more effeciently you do not use let pertol. What you do it utilise what you do use much better which in turn means you can lift on with the right foot a lot more so trying to give an exact return will depend on how heavy you are with the right boot. What IO have been told is that whilst most are advertising 40% improvments, in actual terms I would be looking at between 15 - 20% for my vehicle and the milage and my style of driving. Personally, I am happy with this.

As for the amount of gas produced. Whilst I do not know how much air my car breaths, the unit for my car will produce around 20 litres of oxy-hydrogen per hour but I could fit the next size up which produces 30 litres per hour. As for current drain. The smaller unit draws between 7 to 8 amps and the larger between 8 to 10 amps. I do not think this will cause too much problem for the battery or the alternator (but please correct me if I am wrong)

As for installing in the boot... As mine is an estate, I totally agree, its a no brainer for me... in the engine bay or not at all. I guess, if I had a saloon, it could be fitted, but personally, I would also ensure enough vent hold around the boot to stop the buildup of gas incase of a leak but I also dont like the thought of the gas running though (or under) the car in order to get into the engine in the first palce.

My post here was mainly to see if anyone had already had one of these fitted and if so, what they thought of them but secondly to get second (or third) opinions as to if its a good idea or not. If I do go ahead with this, I will be posting pictures and reviews for you all but at the moment, I havent decided either way.

Thanks
Darren

i had one fitted to my old 318i and did notice a slight improvement in MPG. considering the size of the jar used and what was used as the anode/cathode id say a well designed setup would give better results. only thing is if u build a system that makes alot of HHO u will probably need something to fool the ECU into using less fuel in order to see the most benefit from the HHO booster. the big boys so to speak use neutral plates in the jar and also use a PWM to limit the current drain as the system heats up so it the current will not run away so to speak when the system heats up.

what i didnt like about the kit i bought was it did not come with a bubbler so if the engine happened to backfire thru the intake for whatever reason it would light the hydrogen and blow the jar up. the bubbler acts to stop the backfire and only destroys the bubbler and also prevents water from the booster getting into the engine.