How Much HHO Should I Use?

I frequently get asked about how much HHO will yield the best mileage gains for a particular car or truck. I would like to be able to give a good quantitative answer to that, but for now, I just can't. I don't have enough statistical data for different cars and trucks to be able to do that for you. But I can tell you some information that will help you finding the optimum amount of gas to use for your engine.

People new to this subject think that if some HHO is good, more is always going to be better. Others believe that the electricity used to make the HHO is actually "free energy" since the engine is turning anyway. Both of these statements are false, as I will describe below.

First lets look at the alternator. When the engine is running it transfers rotational energy, via a belt to the alternator, which then generates electricity. This energy is actually a measureable drag on the rotational energy of the engine, and it costs fuel to counter this drag. Even if you're coasting down hill, the distance you will coast will be less before you have to add gas again to maintain your speed. The bottom line? The electrical energy from your alternator costs you gas to create.

Now lets look at the gas. HHO, when burned, does not give back as much energy as the energy that was used to create it. There are several energy conversions involved. Since there is no such thing as 100% efficiency, energy is lost at each conversion. The conversions are: mechanical to electrical (alternator), electrical to chemical (electrolyser), and chemical to mechanical (burning the HHO). By the time all 3 of these conversions have taken place, when the HHO burns you'll get back about 20-25% of the energy used to create it. But don't despair just yet. Awesome gains in mpg are still acheivable using this technology.

Where we get our gains is the fact that the HHO catalyzes the gas and causes it to burn more efficiently. We pour the majority of our gas out the exhaust pipe. The HHO causes some of this waste to be used in the combustion process. It's actually a small percentage of the waste that we're getting back too. It's just that there's so much waste, that even a small percentage recovered makes a huge change in our mileage. This is what makes HHO so valuable in our engines.

However, only so much HHO will give us more efficiency in this way. If you add more HHO after that, you'll then start to lose mileage because of the efficiency losses described above. I wish I knew how to tell you the exact number of liters/min is the correct amount for your car, but I can't. The only way I know of to find the exact amount that is correct is by trial and error. As you add more gas, at some point you'll hit a peak, and then your mileage will start to decline. The correct amount is the amount you were using at your peak mileage.

If you actually go through this process, of figuring out the correct amount of gas for your car, please post your findings in our results section of our forums at www.fuel-saver.org. I would like to get some good quantitative data on amounts of HHO for various engine sizes and types, so that we can get a better idea of the amount of gas that is best for guys starting out. Please post car make/model/year, and also the electrolyser manufacturer, or if homemade, the plans used, and the specifics of electrolyte used, amp draw etc. The volume of gas produced per minute would be great.

I hope I have helped you in your quest to get the best mileage from your vehicle. If you have more questions on this subject, please post them at www.fuel-saver.org. It will help me to update this article so it is as informative as possible.