I am building a cell and have read that you can have heat problems sometimes. Here in South Florida, we always have heat. So I thought that if I were to put some tubing in the cell that would circulate some water through the cell and out to a small cooler. It would be its own sealed system. It would not use the water in the cell, it would have its own water. Like a radiator on a car. Has any one tried something like this?

Sharkdive

Hi Sharkdive,

Generally speaking, the optimal heat range for electrolyzers is at the point where you get the most HHO output for the current applied. Applying more current, above that point, does not increase HHO production any appreciable amount, but it does raise the temperature of the water/electrolyte solution. Heat problems are most likely to occur if you are using a solution with too much electrolyte, as this raises your amperage draw. Amperage draw is dependent upon the booster design and number of plates used, but on a typical HHO booster unit, such as the Smack Booster, you want to be at about 20 amps draw when the water/electrolyte solution reaches maximum operating temperature at somewhere around 140F degrees. Living in a warm climate, as you do, is advantageous in that your booster will start at around 80 to 90F degrees, so will already be churning out some half way decent HHO production, whereas those who live in colder climates will have to wait longer for their booster to reach optimum temperature. If you use a device to cool your water/electrolyte solution below 140 degrees, this will result in lower HHO output. So first test your booster's amperage draw when fully heated (after about 20 to 30 minutes driving). Then switch your circuit off, unscrew the booster top, and check the actual solution temperature (a kitchen meat thermometer works nicely for this). Now wait for the booster solution to cool down to air temperature. Place the lid on the booster, but don't screw it on yet. Briefly turn on your circuit so that you can see the amp draw, then shut the circuit off again. When cooled down to equal the air temperature (let's say 75 degrees), your booster should draw about 5 or 6 less amperes when you turn it on than it did when fully heated. If you find you are drawing too many amperes (heated or cooled), take out some solution and add distilled water to dilute the remaining solution. Then repeat the cooled amp draw test again until you are 5 or 6 amps below the normal optimal level for a heated unit. When corrected, tighten down your booster cap and run the booster until fully heated again and recheck your amp draw and solution temperature. If the amp draw looks good, you will only need to consider adding a solution cooling device if the solution is well above 140 degrees. If the solution temperature is in fact too high, try mounting the booster away from the engine compartment - like in front of the radiator, but not right up against it. If you do that, and your length of HHO tubing to the engine is more than 3 feet, you should add a second bubbler unit near the engine. Also check your booster solution level, and bubbler level frequently, and repeat the cooled amp draw test whenever you add water to the booster. For ease of maintaining proper booster solution and level, and checking solution temperature, consider adding a short piece of 1" or 1 1/4" pvc pipe with a slip cap at the center of your booster cover. If you cut the closed end of the slip cap off to leave an open ring, and place a piece of clear sandwich bag material over the short pvc pipe, this will create a nice seal when the slip ring is pushed onto the pvc tube. This greatly improves booster maintenance, and it also acts as a failsafe device in the worst-case scenario of an explosion occuring inside the booster. The plastic bag material will immediately blow out of the slip ring and safely release the pressure of the explosion. If you left the closed end of the slip cap on, it would become a hig speed projectile that would still release the pressure, but would also put an unwanted dent in the hood of your car. To see the construction method for adding this maintenance and safety device, go to this link, and start watching from the 2 minute mark in the video:
YouTube - #76 - VSPB cell chamber construction part 4

To see an actual test demonstration proving the effectiveness of this safety device while igniting the HHO within the booster, go to the following link:
YouTube - #81 - VSPB Cell blowout test 1

Thanks to ZeroFossilFuel for the above videos.

Best wishes, Rickoff

Hey Rick,

Thank you very much for the info. That helps alot. As soon as we get the cells done, I will test them to see what we get.

Sharkdive

Shark- Hello from another Floridian(Orlando)
Another way to eliminate most of the heat problem is to power your cell with a PWM instead of raw battery power. There are schematics for making your own posted on this forum or you can get a great kit from Red Meanie that he has made so easy to assemble anyone can put it together. See his posting on the "Sales Info." thread. Al.

Hi! again Shark.
There is a vendor on E-bay Motors selling a unit with a cooling system as you describe. The vendor is H20-2-HHO from Coral Gables. His picture of the unit dissassembled shows a small radiator that would fit in a 4" pvc. pipe. If you want to check him out look for the listing pic. showing 3 pvc units; one blue, one red & one yellow in the same pic.
I also read somewhere this is used in a system to cool computers. Hope this helps. Al.

Hey Al, Thank you for the info. I just order a PWM from some were else befor I saw Red's and like that he has a heavy duty one so I am going to place an order from him. Once that I get one done for my truck, I will build one for my wife's car. So I still need two.

A friend and I are working on them together and we where talking about the heat of the cell and came up with this idea. We did not know how hot the cell sould get. So we tried some plates from Lowes in a PVC tube just to see what it would do. We learned that it gets real hot fast. We are using tube's on the cell's that where building now. I am going to post pictures of it once it is done.

Joey