Issue of Frozen Water in HHO Generators in Winter

If you live in Calgary you would remember the terrible weather on Friday (December 12, 2008) when heavy snow hit Calgary around two o’clock in the afternoon before everybody heading for home. Stand still everywhere! I waited until 6:30pm when my wife Margaret called me several times. So I hit the road. It took me almost an hour to get home for a distance that usually takes 15 minutes!

So the issue of how to deal with the fact that the water in my HHO generator in the vehicle pops up every time when the outside temperature goes below zero. So let’s face the issue as we have to.

Everyone knows that water expands when the temperature goes below its freezing point. However, this is not a big issue as long as you meet the following conditions…

1. Your HHO generator casing is made of stainless steel or other strong materials;
2. You leave enough expansion room in the container;
3. You place your HHO generator inside the engine compartment;
4. You do not use a bubbler or if you do use the bubbler its shell is also made of stainless steel or other strong materials.

We know that  when your engine warms up, the temperature of your engine compartment is warm too – if not too hot in some area. So placing your HHO generator inside the engine compartment allows you warm it up along with the hose, backfire arrestor and connectors, etc. Most importantly, when the HHO is turned on, the heat generated will melt the solution inside more quickly than the heat in the engine compartment. So it is better not turn on your HHO generator right away. Wait till the engine is fully warms up.

I simply install a simple ON-OFF switch to the electrical wiring and place the switch in front of me so that I can easily turn on the cell when the engine is fully warmed up.

If your HHO generator casing is not made of stainless steel, then you can consider using the “battery warmer” or even “coffee mug warmer” to keep your cell warm when you need it.

According to my experience, the real concern is not the water inside the HHO generator but the water trapped inside the hose, backfire arrestor, valves and connectors. That is why you must use a water bubbler in winter time as the bubbler can keep the water vapor in the line to a minimum level so that hardly any vapor can condense and get trapped in the plumbing line for freezing.

What about adding salt, vinegar, rubbing alcohol or even windshield washer fluid to the electrolyte?

I am very hesitant to do any of this as it will create other issues. Until someone comes up with a real better solution to the issue based on solid research and testing, I would not add anything to my KOH/distilled water solution.

Monitor the cell temperature and do not allow the generator cell overheat. Overheated cell will produce a lot of water vapor along with the HHO gas. And this is bad for the HHO injection line in winter. You can buy a simple temperature gauge from your local aquarium store or automotive store. I personally like the one I bought from Canadian Tire which is designed to monitor vehicle’s inside and outside temperatures. I simply tape the outside temperature probe to the cell body and place the temperature gauge inside the driver’s compartment. When I see the cell temperature reaches 50 degree celsius, I just turn OFF the HHO production to let it cool.

I find that If I install my HHO generator in a cooler area of the engine compartment, it cools better when my driving speed is higher. So I tend to turn ON the cell when my vehicle is moving and moving fast and turn OFF the cell when it is slow and stops.

One last thing I do… I always turn the cell OFF 20 minutes ahead of time when I know I will park my vehicle in winter for long hours, e.g. more than two hours. I do this to ensure the water trapped inside the injection line is kept minimal so that line is not plugged anywhere.

To recap, this is what I recommend…

1. Do use a bubbler for the HHO gas, do not feed HHO to the air intake directly from the HHO producing cell;
2. Monitor your cell temperature if possible;
3. Install a ON-OFF switch and place it beside the steering wheel;
4. Turn your HHO generator ON only after the engine fully warms up and when your car is moving;
5. Remember to turn the generator OFF at least 15 minutes before you park your vehicle for long hours in a freezing weather.

Do you need to add or comment something? Please use the comment form below…

Update (March 28, 2009): We tested adding windshield washer fluid and rubbing alcohol to the KOH solution. It turns out that the rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol, C3H7OH) works much much better than the windshield washer fluid in both the anti-freezing and the matching of pure KOH solution performance. Windshield washer fluid works in preventing the solution from freezing but HHO production is retarded with time – we watched the cell current dropped from 10A to something around 3A in a matter of few hours of operation. In the case of using the windshield washer liquid, KOH is either neutralized with time or some components in it attach to the electrode surface more readily than water molecules, slowing down the electrolysis reaction. So USE the rubbing alcohol which you can get from any drug store under $3 for a 1L bottle. DO NOT USE windshield washer fluid.

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