For many years I sold industrial maintenance supplies. My biggest customer was a multi-billion $ outfit, one of the biggest privately owned companies in the world. They have hundreds of production locations all over the world. The location I visited daily included a hydrogen plant and I helped them with supplies for maintenance and repair. I have personally spent untold hours inside that plant and can tell everyone this: The production of hydrogen is expensive, energy intensive, dangerous, and in large quantities, complicated.
I laugh when I see the "miracle" ads and news reports. It's as big a scam as the "climate change" that is supposed to kill us all.
My former customer is on the forefront of technology. Anything that can increase the efficiency or reduce the cost of generating hydrogen, even in tiny percentages, would mean huge $$ for them. Guess what? They make their hydrogen the same way they always have, with the exception of minor refinements to the process.
What gets me the most is when I see the president and other influential people on TV inspecting some whiz-bang hydrogen powered vehicle and then declaring: "This is our future and the answer to our energy problems". That tells me that one of two things are a fact:
1. The dignitary in question is an uninformed idiot.
OR
2. The dignitary in question knows better, but chose to insult my intelligence by spouting BS nonsense that everyone wants to hear.
Either alternative is discouraging.
Hydrogen powered vehicles are a beautiful pipe dream. The logistics and disadvantages overcome the practical in a huge way. Some miracle of science may eventually bring such a thing about- but we are much farther away from it than we are being led to believe.

 

Yes, the DIYs are snake oil. Its a scam on a real technology that is not cheap and does not use water as the hydrogen source. It seems ok, but I couldn't say if we would ever see a product on the market:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/how-a-...gine-works.htm

 

I have a couple of buddies working on this but they have had limited success so far. I am concerned about the merits of this so called technology myself. He wanted to test it on my vette but I said no way. I also work with someone who claims his uncle built a completely hydro engine and can go from coast to coast on 20 ounces of water. Again, very hard to believe.

 

There is a lot of confusion here...just in this thread. The original post was about hydrogen generators, not hydrogen fueled (pipe dream) vehicles. Your engine does not "run on hydrogen" with these devices. They don't make "fuel from water". Basically, they introduce a little more oxygen and hydrogen into your intake charge so you can get a better burn and then lean out your normal mixture a bit. Like I said before, they are not easy to build, they can effect your O2 sensors, etc. But a 10% gain may start
looking pretty good when gas is $7.00 a gallon. It's worth a try right now as I don't have enough to do with work, remodeling the house etc.

 

10% sounds more reasonable. I think most of us were questioning the guy with the avalanche in the video that was claiming a 100% highway mileage increase, and how the reporter should have at least in some way tried to verify that theoretically or actually. Of course a 100% increase would be impossible, but the reporter didn't seem to suspect anything was amiss.

But you're right, the whole bit about a hydrogen infrastructure and soley hydrogen-fueled vehicles was off topic. Sorry for contributing to any confusion.

 

to Black Z06- I completely understand what you are saying about laws of energy, and I was quite a skeptic at first and still am but the way it was explained to me on hhoforums was that most of the work has already been done making the water and you are just releasing it. Take for example the propane tank on your BBQ, the majority of the work has already been done by making the propane and filling the tank. All you have to do is open the valve and light the fire and you have a lot of energy to cook with.

Sure there is no 100% efficient system but there is a possiblity of improving your gas mileage but its not easy especially on computer controlled vehicles. The gain comes from being able to tune correctly and supplement hydrogen for some gasoline. And these systems do take electricity but no more than a good sized stereo system.

I in no way intend to start an arguement over this subject, sure it is a drop in the ocean when it comes to getting away from oil but isn't that how new things are discovered by stepping outside what people think will work and trying something new?

 

There have been gagets/formulas/devices for increase mileage look in the rear pages of pop. science,pop. mechanics, been there for years,scam artists just taking advantage of current hot topic.Reporter should be ashamed of himself, did he check the story,proof read it? "Went from 20 to 40 mpg thats 50% increase" guess not! Any crap to keep you watching.I don't know aything about hydrogen but I do know that if it could save anybody money (10% increase was mentioned as reasonable) that would be big money for large fleets(think UPS would like a 10% mileage increase)and we would certainly have heard about it....... If you you want new fresh ideas that might possibly work look no further than one of our own ,that old cam grinder Bruce Crower he developed a direct port water injection that adds a cycle to the four stroke engine called the "Steam-O-Lene"I didn't get much info.as he's in negotiations with a major corp.But it sounded plausable. Anybody else heard about it?

 

RUN_RUN for your LIFE!

 

well if you are bored do a search on Stanley Meyer he actually got a sand buggy to run completely off of water its pretty interesting and I think there is a video on youtube

 

i disagree, my X's mouth, when she got started..she would never shut it, she kept on going and going....

 

I work for a company that makes oxygen concentrators. Our smallest one can produce high-purity oxygen with just vacuum pressure. Although using one in automotive applications was discussed years ago, our latest unit is much smaller now and this is one project that I'd like to get started........some day.....