That's probably it.

A local Community College 'Professor' teamed up with the local TV Station's Hoax/No Hoax reporter. They built one of these battery hydrogen contraptions and ran some sort of measuring devices to determine improvement, etc. From what I recall, they said it worked. But I don't recall the specifics of their definition of 'worked'. Bottom line, not a hoax per se, but maybe not worth the effort?

Edit, I found the link from their archives.


http://www.wyff4.com/money/16842225/detail.html


and the text ...


GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Imagine being able to double your gas mileage by connecting a jar of water to your engine!

A device being sold on the Internet claims to do just that and we wanted to know: Does it really work?

WYFF News 4's Tim Waller purchased a system called "water4gas" for $97.

The purchase included a 183-page manual on how to build a device that it claim will turn water into a form of hydrogen gas it calls HHO.

According to the website's sales pitch, HHO gas can "double the mileage" of most cars.

"Hydrogen is a free fuel. It's in the air. It's all around us. It's in the water we drink, and it's a renewable source," said Sumner Huckaby, Dean of Greenville Tech's McKinney Regional Automotive Technology Center.

Huckaby said devices that convert water into hydrogen have been a topic of discussion at Greenville Tech for quite some time. He agreed to build one and install it on a car.

It took his staff two days to acquire the parts and build it.

"Just a few trips to a few stores and we were done," said Preston Howard, Automotive Department Head. "We made all the purchases at a local auto parts store and a home improvement store."

Assembling the device was easy enough for Howard, but could prove difficult to those with little or no mechanical experience.

"I think it's definitely an intermediate-level project," said Howard. "If you have good reading comprehension and you have enough mechanical aptitude to remove and replace components, I think you could probably do this."

Once assembled, Howard connected the water4gas device to the engine of a 1990 Buick Century. The device consists of a Mason jar (filled with distilled water and baking soda) and a series of tubes and connectors.

Before powering the device with the car's battery, Howard and Huckaby ran a series of diagnostic tests to see how the car performed without it.

Then came the moment of truth. With the turn of a key, the water in the jar began to bubble, producing a milky gas, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen the water4gas makers call HHO.

"Wow! One more polar bear is saved! I am ecstatic," said Howard. "It works! We saw an instant change in how the car was running. The sensor values changed. I know for a fact fuel is being produced in this bottle."

"It's not a scam. It's the truth," said Huckaby. "I thought the same thing the first time I saw it. A glass jar with a plastic lid and a bunch of wires shoved down in it, there's no way it can work. But it does work!"

Using high-tech sensors, the Greenville Tech crew said that they determined the device produced hydrogen as promised. Early test results also indicated that the HHO made the fuel-mixture richer, causing 87 octane unleaded gas to perform more like high test.

But will the device double a car's gas mileage, like the makers of water4gas claim? For that answer, the Greenville Tech crew must perform extensive road tests, which will take 2-3 weeks or longer.

"Without doubt, I do think it will increase mileage," said Howard. "I don't see anything that's going to hurt mileage. It can only help."

"I'm saying a five to 10, maybe even 20-percent increase (in mileage)," said Huckaby. "I'm reserved about it, but I think it works."

Not everyone is convinced.

The Better Business Bureau recently issued a warning to drivers to be wary of gas-saving gadgets and additives.

"With the cost of oil nearing $150 a barrel, additives and gadgets to help conserve fuel are very tempting for cash-strapped consumers," said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson. "Unfortunately, these devices and additives will only end up draining the driver's wallet without adding the much needed boost to their gas tank."

The Environmental Protection Agency has tested hundreds of gas-saving devices, and found that none significantly improved gas mileage. The EPA said some even damaged car engines or caused substantial increases in exhaust emissions.

Recently, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett warned that such devices may damage your car or void your warranty.

However, officials at Greenville Tech's Automotive Department say devices like these may be a step in the right direction.

"They're talking in another year about gas being $8 a gallon," said Huckaby. "And the American people just can't afford that."

The same reason why hydrogen fuel cells are worthless. Obtaining hydrogen and oxygen in pure form takes more energy and creates more pollution that it's worth.

Well... It's complicated. Nuclear powerplants like to run at full capacity 24/7 regardless of demand. Using nuclear electricity during off-peak hours to generate hydrogen fuel cells is a cost effective solution. BUT... We need more nukes.

Most of this hype stems from a guy Stanley Meyer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer

He claims to have found a more efficient way to crack the water. He never explained exactly how but all his little followers have their own (different) explainations. Resonant frequency of water, Zero point energy, capacitor dielectric (water) breakdown, ect.

Cliff notes: He got sued by his investors, lost, died. Never proved his so-called invention. He would NOT let his demo out for independant testing.

My dad bought one of those $50 instructions. I keep telling him it is crap. But then again he believes that the ________ surpressed 100mpg carbs.

P.S. Some of the claims of better mileage are true. They are getting if from secondary effects IMO. You have to fool the O2 sensor because the car does not know that all this extra gas is being added don't ya know. :rolleyes:

Watch for a bunch of broken cars in a little while.

Methanol
 

Not to hijack this thread but why did the Gov. mandate the use of ethanol rather than methanol? Ethanol is C2H6O and Methanol is CH3OH, methanol has more hydorgen/ carbon /molecule than Ethanol. Could it be the corn lobby? I think Methanol is cheaper to make and it doesn't use a food product.

The guys who sell the "water for fuel" kits sure do benefit from sloppy journalism.

Of course it works... you apply a current to water and you get hydrogen. But do you get enough to justify burning the gasoline it took to produce it?

"I do think"
"I don't see"
"I'm saying
"maybe"
"I think"

I'm going to call the local news about an amazing discovery I recently made. I can run my car on free power, by turning it off, putting it in gear and using the starter. It's not fast, but I literally drove almost a mile that way last weekend, without using ANY gas (because it wouldn't start). Free power!

Simple, farm lobbyists.

Isn't methanol high poisonous? Whenever anyone has made liquor using methanol, they died. Whenever anyone made liquor from ethanol they lived.

Methanol is dangerous to human life.

Now we know why he's a community college "professor".
That first paragraph about turning water into HHO is almost word for word what my co-worker said to me when he was explaining it.
It didn't work. It is BS. It might produce a little hydrogen through electrolosis but would drain the battery down in no time or over-load the alternator. the amount of power you would gain would be far out-weighed by the extra load generating the electricy to make the hydrogen.
You just can't change the laws of physics no matter how hard to want to.

BTW, my co-worker who was positive this was going to work on his chevy truck has been driving his wife's car to work lately. He won't say why.
He also believes that UFOs are watching us all the time and everything on monster quest is real (including bigfoot) and that the world will come to an end on december 21st, 2012.
i'm just sayin ......

An E-ram would be better

It floats when you turn it on!

Well, the person who sent him the plans discovered the source of free money! Stupid people.

Tell him he needs to buy a lottery ticket too!

Methanol is made by "cooking" wood or other wood-like products in an oxygen-free environment. The vapors are collected and condensed, then filtered and distilled to seperate it from the water and heavier tars etc.
Another by-product left is charcoal.
It takes more energy to cook the wood than you get out of the methanol.

EDIT, that's how we used to make methanol but a little reading showed me that there are more modern ways to make it now out of natural gas. never mind.

I'm pretty sure he's right about the Ufo's... (shhhhhh!)

I asked the same question and was given the same answer

Of course, drinking gasoline is poisonous as well.

Back in the 1970's, some of the gas stations mixed methanol into the gas, at around 10%. They called it Gasahol. Crap mileage, and it ate the fuel lines on many cars. It went away when gas prices returned to normal.

You know, if Methanol were so dangerous to use as a motor fuel, why was it used instead of Gasoline on the Indy circuit for so many years? I think it is safer than gasoline, except for the nearly invisible fire!

That is actually the most effective way to turn natural gas into a motor fuel. It would be a lot easier to reprogram a car for methanol, than to convert a car to CNG. The emmisions and the ability to crank the compression ratio way up also help.

The biggest with any alcohol is that it is going to absorb water. You almost need a tank that will have no headspace, like a wine bag.

good primer on methanol

http://www.ethanol-gec.org/clean/cf05.htm

I expect it is out of date. The price of Natural Gas is now 4 times what it was less than 10 years ago. Coal Gasification is definitely being used commercially on power generation. If what is said here is true, we could use our coal reserves to make liquid methanol fuel. It would be very clean use of coal and has the scale and reserves to actually make a dent in our oil usage and reduce importation.

Freakin wow! This forum is fantastic to synthsize ideas!

I did some more reading about methanol.
The poison thing isn't an issue, because gasoline is toxic and all ethanol that is not destined for drinking contains a poison to make it toxic to avoid having to pay liquor taxes, but methanol is slightly acidic and corrosive. I kind of remember my drag racing friends telling me something about that. They had to drain the fuel out of the carb and drain the oil out of the engine after every pass even if they weren't going to work on the engine. Guess some of the methanol got into the oil?

I have sprayed 'misted water' (think Windex bottle) in all my cars/trucks for over 40 years. Every time I am tuning them up or have the air cleaner off.

Engine to operating temp.
Open throttle/rev. by hand and spray several bursts ...several times.

The vaporization within the cylinders assists in blasting away deposits that may form on piston domes or the chamber head and cause pre-ignition.

...at least that's my story ...and I'm stickin' to it!

Things like that can be overcome.

That is what engineers are for. Well, that and eating all of the donuts at meetings. And making meetings very long by talking to much about subjects that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. Sometimes even taking random directions - aren't we talking about hot dogs? I love hots dogs.