HHO (or hydrogen gas from water)

The current fuel prices are down compated to last summer, but since the first of the year (01/01/09) we have watched a steady march of the prices upward. This has been a standard ploy for the players in the oil market since around 1974-75. Drive the price as high as the market place can stand, let it drift back some, then drive it back to above the previous level. In this latest round, most of us have already forgotten that a regular gallon of fuel was running in the area of $1.50 - $1.75. This was driven up towards the $4.00-$5.00 area last summer, with the plan to let it drift back to $2.50 - 3.00 area at which time everyone would say, "well at least it came down some". But the economy got in the way this time and prices dropped much further than the plan called for, so today you are seeing the push to get the price back up to the $2.50 - $3.00 area for a period of time and then we'll start the entire process again at some future date.

Okay, you and I don't have much chance of controlling the cost of fuel. Period, end of story. However, during the last huge push to 5.00 gasoline, a lot of people starting looking at the HHO idea of supplementing your gasoline with hydrogen. This is not a new idea, as it has been used some in the past, but the recent fuel costs had pushed it front and center. With the decline in fuel during the later part of 2008, HHO lost some of its luster but now with fuel again approaching $2 per gallon, HHO will again become something to think about.

Last year we purchased a few different kits with the intention of installing them and seeing what needed to be done to make them operational. We did a lot of research on the subject and it seems that for every post or webpage that you read about it, you also ended up with a different opinion on it.

Out intention here is to start with the 2000 F-350 Ford truck that uses a 7.3 turbo diesel engine. The engine is in good shape as the truck was purchased new and has about 65k miles on it at this time. Our current mileage ranges from just under 15 in town to just over 16 on the highway. This truck is a crewcab unit with the 8 foot bed, in 2000 it was the largest "small" truck that Ford built. Modifications to the truck have been minor. We use a Hypertech reprogrammer to set the ECU mode to towing, it has an aftermarket coolant filtration system, a K&N air filter and aftermarket transmission filtration system. We also use Amsoil Diesel Oil, 15w40 and change oil and filter at 10,000 mile intervals. We monitor fuel mileage using a Scan Gauge unit. And if you are really serious about changing the mileage you get on your vehicle, a Scan Gauge is the first item you should purchase. Just watching the gauge readouts and modifying your driving habits will have a significant impact on the mileage you achieve.

Installing a HHO unit is actually quite simple, the main thing to look out for is finding one that will fit the space that you have available under the hood or at least behind the grill. This is going to be a real challenge on one of the other vehicles that I have in mind, but the truck and also a 2003 Mercury Mountaineer have plenty of space for the conversion. HHO units can also be contructed at home with simple items, most of which you can find in a hardware store. For those of you that are interested in doing your own conversion, we plan to sell a kit ourselves that we think will fit most cars and give you results that will pay for the kit very quickly. We will also post plans for a HHO kit in our downloads section.

F-350 Ford Truck Diesel HHO/Hybrid Conversion Project