"Owner's Report" On Hydrogen Boosters

Owner s Report On Hydrogen Boosters ENERGY Alternative Fuels Business is booming for inventors and manufacturers of hydrogen boosters for cars trucks and tractors The basic idea is simple: Electricity generated by the engine is run through metal plates that split water into hydrogen and oxygen which is then sucked into the engine to provide a power boost
    Several units are on the market Some are more complicated with electronics that tie into a vehicle s computer Others are pretty basic
    FARM SHOW obtained a unit from George Wiseman at Eagle Research in Oroville Wash It had been featured in FARM SHOW earlier this year Vol 32 No 2 Our report is below along with reports from other FARM SHOW readers who have used hydrogen boosters If you ve had personal experience good or bad let us know


Jim Ruen Contributing Editor FARM SHOW: Eagle Research provided a HyZor hydrogen kit to us free of charge In June we took the unit to three different professional mechanics seeking expert assistance at installation After reviewing information on the product all three mechanics turned us down They were spooked by the unusual nature of the product and the fact that it tied into the vehicle s electronics We finally found Matt Huenink a senior in Mechanical Arts Education at Viterbo College LaCrosse Wis He agreed to assemble the product and install it in a 2001 Dodge Caravan
Assembly was relatively easy although the prototype unit varied slightly from the instructions Huenink and I tested the unit by releasing the hydrogen under water and holding a lighter close by as hydrogen bubbles broke the surface The pops of the gas igniting assured us that the unit was producing
Installation proved impossible on the van as there was literally no room beneath the hood Instead we installed it in a 1995 Ford Escort because Huenink had very detailed mileage logs on the vehicle We knew we would be able to easily detect any impact the HyZor unit would have
Upon completion of installation - including an oxygen sensor bypass circuit suggested by Wiseman - Huenink took the car on a 600-mile road trip There was no positive impact from the hydrogen unit that he could detect For the past month we ve continued testing and adjusting the unit with virtually no change in miles per gallon or effect on power
When contacted Wiseman suggested that the car s anti-knock sensor might be interfering with mileage gains As Huenink pointed out however to be successfully adopted on a wide scale a hydrogen system must be easy to install If a sensor requires a customized interface it s not going to be feasible for the mechanically inclined much less the average motorist
FARM SHOW intends to transfer the unit to another vehicle and install the anti-knock interface to see if we can find a way to get a mileage boost To date the unit has been a disappointment and we could not recommend it When we reported that to George Wiseman he responded that many FARM SHOW readers have also installed units on a variety of vehicles and that we should ask them to contact us about their results
Arvene Doering Hubbard Iowa: Doering installed a HyZor unit from Eagle Research in a Dodge Dakota pickup Not only did he not gain mileage he figures he actually lost about 1/2 mpg He has exchanged multiple emails with Eagle Research looking for advice but has seen no real improvement in mileage Arvene is still working with Wiseman in hopes of better results
JH Minnesota name withheld by request : JH bought a HyZor kit from Eagle Research He also bought a unit from Stan McDonald in Ontario He found the HyZor unit to be too complicated to install and returned it for his money back
As for the McDonald unit after ordering last April the kit was not shipped as promised He began calling three to four times each day asking for his money back McDonald finally responded with a check August 2 A number of other FARM SHOW readers ordered units from McDonald last spring and didn t receive them until August
Meanwhile JH ordered plans from www waterforgas com and built his own unit to install in a 2003 Chrysler minivan He claims about a 5 1/2 mpg increase but admits that he s trying to keep his rpm s under 2 000 and that may also be impacting mileage
To install the unit he placed it next to his seat inside the van instead of under the hood He uses a 5-gal air tank to pressurize the system A hose conducts the hydrogen gas to a butterfly valve on the fuel injection system He tried other input locations with little if any response Now that he s getting at least some improvement JH plans to add a second unit in hopes of getting even better mileage
Bob Huebner Karniah Idaho: Huebner ordered plans from Draper Custom Fabricators in Ephraim Utah ph 435 340-0387 He claims a 28 6 percent mileage increase 14 to 18 mpg on his 1984 Chevy 350 pickup His unit consists of a 3-in pvc pipe with holes drilled through it wrapped in stainless steel screening and inserted inside a 4-in dia piece of pvc Another length of steel screening is coiled and inserted inside the 3-in pvc pipe The screening forms the positive and negative electrodes Huebner says the two pipes hold about 1 1/2 gal of water which is mixed with baking soda A toggle switch on the dash turns the unit on and off The gas is fed into the air cleaner
Huebner says the plans didn t say whether baking soda should also be added when refilling the unit He did and the unit over-heated Now he only adds distilled water
I ve been through one winter with it and though it does get slushy it hasn t frozen enough to cause problems says Huebner Once the engine has warmed up I turn it on
David Scheiding Troy Ohio: Scheiding ordered a unit from an Illinois firm that he declined to name because he s hoping to put his own booster on the market He claims a 5 mpg increase in his Dodge Stratus around town and 7 to 8 mpg increase on the highway They system consists of a large canning jar filled with distilled water using baking soda as a catalyst Two stainless steel posts serve as positive and negative poles A small air pump bubbles air into the jar creating a positive pressure within the jar
The mix of hydrogen and oxygen gas is fed into the engine at the level of the PCV valve Scheiding avoids the need for a sensor interface by simply covering the oxygen sensors with aluminum foil That keeps them cool and fools he car s computer he says
He has begun building similar but smaller units and placing them with friiends One 2004 Ford Taurus owner claimed a 4 1/2 mpg increase after two weeks 6 1/2 after four weeks and 12 mpg increase after 10 weeks
Scheiding credits the increases over time to gradually increasing the baking soda-to-distilled water ratio He also claims the system gradually cleans out the engine increasing efficiency Although the mileage increase in his own car has not been what he hoped he s pleased with what he has seen
My car runs quieter and is peppier and accelerates quicker with a better response says Scheiding There s less smoke out the tailpipe too
Scheiding believes the units he s making get better mileage than the original unit he bought because of their smaller size once he gets at least 10 satisfied users of his system he plans to begin making them for sale Currently he s offering them at cost in an effort to gather feedback
Richard Dunn Wheatland Ind : Two years ago I bough a hydrogen kit for my Freightliner semi with a 475 hp diesel engine It cost $10 000 and was manufactured by the Canadian Hydrogen Energy Company Ltd Unfortunately I was never able to get it to work properly In fact I went through six different units and could never get any of them to work longer than about 10 days After the company stopped taking my calls I finally gave u p
When I read about the hydrogen drip system from Advanced Energy Technology in FARM SHOW Vol 31 No 6 I contacted the company The inventor wanted to get a close look at the Canadian unit I already owned so we made an even-up swap - my used hydrogen unit for one of his new units That was in February 2008
It s fairly simple I had a mechanic install it for a fee of about $250 so I know it was installed correctly It just required some wiring and installation of a gauge in the dash
I drive 3 720 miles every week over the same route with relatively light loads Right now after six months I figure I ve saved 8 percent on diesel fuel or about 50 gallons of fuel a week It helps but is a far cry from 15 to 30 percent increase in mileage promised by the inventor

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