Electrolyte Formula Instructions

The electrolyte formula used by our members was provided by someone that requested this remain with the club and not shared across the Internet. For this reason the information contained on this page should remain with the membership of this club.

The best formula for electrolyte begins with good quality water. Distilled water is preferred or filtered rain water. By filtered I mean that it has been poured through a coffee filter. Don't buy or use the "Distilled Quality" bottled Distilled water you see for sale in stores showing "reverse osmosis" as the process. Use only Steam Distilled as shown on the label. If you can't find this, save some rain water. If you do save rain water, wait until it has rained for about 30 minutes or so to be sure every bit of trash or pollution has been rinsed away first. Then pour this through a water filter & save. Using the wrong water, such as tap water, can cause mineral deposits to be deposited on the plates which will reduce conductivity and reduce HHO production. This can shorten the service life of your plates requiring the cell to be disassembled for plate resurfacing. Better to use water without minerals such as steam distilled or rain water.

The electrolyte we use is phosphoric acid sold as "Metal Prep" in hardware stores or paint stores such as Sherwin Williams. Home Depot has this:

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This costs just under $15.00 per gallon and works perfect for use as an electrolyte. To every one liter of water (approximately one quart) add one teaspoonful of this. Before adding any more phosphoric acid check to see how many amps you are pulling. If you run this for about 5 minutes and amperage and HHO production still low, add another teaspoonful. Continue until you get to the desired level. Don't forget, you need to watch two things here, don't over run your system and burn up your alternator. The rule is never pull more amps than 20-25% of the rated output of the alternator. In other words, if your alternator is rated for 100 amps, don't pull more than 20 or 25 amps for HHO use. Also watch for over running the flywheel effect or free zone of your engine. Engines under 2.0 liters capacity should not have HHO generators pulling more than 8 amps probably. Of course, the more efficient the HHO generator, the higher you can run up the amperage before mileage begins to drop off. You'll be advised to start off conservative, the increase slightly later and watch the effect on mileage. If increasing amperage causes mileage to drop, then dilute the electrolyte to drop amperage a small amount and then test mileage again.

So far using this electrolyte we've seen no problems with degradation. To top off unit as water is consumed use steam distilled or filtered rain water. As long as amperage and production remain where you like and fluid appears clean, no need to drain or modify the electrolyte levels.

To make electrolyte that will tolerate cold weather without freezing you need to buy some propylene glycol antifreeze to add to the steam distilled or filtered rain water. You can buy this at the RV section in the automotive department of many stores sold as RV Antifreeze for the RV fresh water system. I bought this one at Wal-Mart:

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The antifreeze in this is propylene glycol which should work great with our phosphoric acid electrolyte and not harm our stainless steel plates of PVC gaskets. For East Texas winters we can add this to our steam distilled or filtered rain water at a ratio of 5 parts water to one part RV antifreeze. For a one liter bottle or approximately one quart you would add .2 liter of antifreeze. If using a 2 liter bottle, like the plastic soft drink bottles, just add .4 liter then fill with distilled or rain water. You can add your phosphoric acid as per the instructions above to get the concentration you need.

One consideration of the use of an antifreeze and the reason I did not go with ethylene glycol is the potential for engine damage should trace amounts of this get into the engine oil. Also ethylene glycol can be corrosive to our plates and will definitely reduce the effectiveness of our electrolyte. Alcohol would work, but too volatile to be relied upon since it will evaporate right out of the electrolyte.

Probably not a good idea to use the propylene glycol (RV Antifreeze) in the bubbler since trace amounts can be pulled into the intake. Even if this is harmless to the engine, trace amounts showing up in the engine oil can cause red flags to go up if you happen to do an oil analysis. Generally, trace amounts of coolant additives showing up in engine oil will cause the oil lab to assume the engine has a coolant leak such as a leaking cylinder head gasket. For this reason I use Isopropyl Alcohol, or rubbing alcohol in my bubbler. I buy the 91% strength since the extra alcohol will increase resistance to freezing and further boost mileage while driving, but the 70% will work fine too. Just add before cold weather, such as before putting the car away for the evening. This not only will prevent freezing, but as you run the engine later the alcohol should help boost mileage slightly. There will be no ill effects on any oil analysis you may have done and just remember to add a small amount again if you drive the car as the isopropyl alcohol may dissipate during HHO operation.

Another good source of bubbler antifreeze would be the windshield washer fluids for winter use having the blue color. Don't use the ones marketed by RainX or Prestone, for just two examples, that contain other additives to coat or treat windshields to repel water and dirt. These additives can reduce the conductivity of the electrolyte and introduce chemicals into the mix that may negatively affect our stainless plates. The blue winter windshield washer formula, one sold at Wal-Mart made by Peak, have only water, alcohol, and blue dye. Pretty much a stronger version of Windex at a better price, less than 2 dollars for a gallon. This will protect the bubbler from freezing to 0 degrees if the label is to be believed. The alcohol will also slightly boost mileage while you drive with no ill effects on lube analysis. Just remember to freshen it up if you drive the car and freezing weather is in the forecast.

More links to projects by some of our members related to making hydrogen to save fuel:

Art Nesmith's hydrogen projects