Snake Oil or not?????

[rohrt]

http://www.hydrogen-boost.com/savings.html

One of my co-workers friends is putting one of these together on his car. I will watching closely to see how it fairs. The principle seems sound at first but I just don't see it.

Watch the video and read the FAQ.

[bigvegan]

Of course it's a scam. Your coworker's friend is a gullible idiot who just lost a grand.

Have him send me a message, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell him.

If Brown's Gas was such an effective fuel, why wouldn't you just skip the gasoline and run your car on water directly?

There used to be talk about how there was a conspiracy between the oil companies and the car manufacturers to keep the 50mpg carburetor and similar products off the market.

This time it's just the laws of physics, reality, and basic common sense conspiring against this product.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/1802932.html - (Check out the Aqua Tune product on page 4 of the article, another product that turns water into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. It provided 20 fewer HP, and 20% WORSE fuel economy. On the plus side, it was $600 cheaper than the product your colleague's friend bought.)

[Damn True]

"A liquid engine treatment that makes the metal harder and slipperier and reduces friction."

Yup. A bunch of hooey.

[funbnme]

The PM article was interesting.

In the article, it says "We ordered an AquaTune from a classified ad in the back pages of PM."

I wonder if they've pulled that ad from the back of their magazine or are they allowing someone to still promote a snake oil product to their readers?

[DJW32]

The guy in the video looks like he can not get out of the late 80's...Miami vice called..

[2Bad4Ya]

A similar topic came up just a few days ago over on the team camaro site. Browns gas/hho/etc... It can not be bottles/sold because it is highly unstable/combustible (big boom!).


Ever hear of a water welder or water torch? Google em.

HHO is an oxyhydrogen mixture made by water electrolysis. The whole theory behind these kits used on cars though have been discredited. The Magnecule theory or magnagases. I think the gas has a flashpoint around 570c.

There were valid uses for this technology back in the day, but I do not see generation of enough gas w/o greater drain on the electrical system to make it work for a sustained period, if any at all.

These kits are a scam, you will get better results tuning your car, new plugs, and driving sensibly.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

I saw that HHO video earlier today, hard to believe how well it works, but it obviously does, and is in production. It said that it only costs 70 cents an hour to operate. If you google search HHO a video of a company in Clearwater, Fl comes up. Apparently its a local news channel that recorded the companies car, a car that runs off of this HHO gas, that it generates, and fossil fuel, improving gas milage by nearly 50%. i dont know whether i can believe this or not - you know that really important physics law..."preservation of energy"

[bigvegan]

Just because something is in production does not mean it works.

As for the "conservation of energy" argument, please explain how the additional load on the alternator due to the electricity needed to create the HHO gas, which is then burnt by the engine, which is designed and calibrated to run on gasoline and not hydrogen, CONSERVES energy?

It's a scam, it doesn't work, and the people who pay money for nonsense like this are idiots.

I mean, if it was this easy to produce a hydrogen based fuel, why would the auto manufacturers have spent billions on fuel-cell technology?

These snake oil salesmen are misleading people using reasonable sounding facts.

It would be like me telling you that since sodium is a poisonous metal that explodes in water, and chlorine is a toxic chemical you use to clean your pools with, that the combination of the two in the form of sodium chloride is also highly toxic.

Sounds reasonable enough right?

Nope, sodium chloride's another word for table salt. You don't want to have too much of it if you've got high blood pressure, but it's hardly toxic.

Sorry for the rant, but come on. (If you want more on critical thinking and not getting sucked in by nonsense, check out www.randi.org)

[ALLstrokedOUT]

As for the "conservation of energy" argument, please explain how the additional load on the alternator due to the electricity needed to create the HHO gas, which is then burnt by the engine, which is designed and calibrated to run on gasoline and not hydrogen, CONSERVES energy? I cant explain that; that was kind of my point: that it doesnt work, it would be using more energy to produce the gas than it could save you.

[Beige]

Why are your arguments any different than theirs?

If salt is so non toxic, why do desert countries spend billions on desalination plants? They can't be that worried about high blood pressure.

Why does an engine that's "designed and calibrated" to burn gasoline, only harness 1/3 of the heat generated by the gasoline burning?

The reason the Hydro-Boost.com setup is a scam, is that it's not worth $1000 even if it does work as advertised.

[bigvegan]

No Beige, the reason it's a scam is because it DOESN'T WORK PERIOD, if it worked as advertised, it would just be overpriced.

Man, I am all for people creating new products to make our cars more fuel efficient/powerful/safer/etc., but people like this ruin it for everyone else that's trying to make a quality product that WORKS.

Even Mythbusters busted this concept (Episode 53). See the rather sad defense at http://www.hydrogen-boost.com/september2006.html .

[shmoov69]

All I can think of from this title is the Andy Griffith show (that was actually on today) that was aobut the "Indian Elixer" that heals all that ails you! And Aunt Bee singing "too, too tootsie goodbye!!" While she was "gassed"!




Sorry, I need to get out more! LOL!