hot terminals

[SeaMonkey]

Mrgalleria,

Your commentary is very thought provoking and you raise some very good questions/points.

The use of ordinary "tap water" or "well water" in your electrolyzers will in time contaminate both the electrolyte and the plates. The use of distilled water will greatly prolong the useful life of your electrolyzer and will minimize the "preventive maintenance" requirement to keep it in top condition.

The exception would be Stan's Water Fuel Cell which was "designed" to use ordinary water and may have even benefited from the mineral content.

Commercial electrolyzers use Anodes of Nickel Plated Steel and Cathodes of Steel. These same plate materials may also be used in automotive HydrOxy boosters if you desire.

The use of Graphite sheet (without the powdered copper additive) plates offers some unique advantages, however, it is more difficult to make the electrical connections to the graphite. Graphite is more effective in an acidic electrolyte solution, such as Sulfuric Acid.

The brownish red deposits that form in the electrolyte solution are iron oxides. So long as they settle to the bottom of the cell they are harmless but may easily be filtered out to clarify the solution.

Regarding the number of plates in the Low Voltage Cell arrangement, the objective is to keep the current density (Amperes per square inch of surface area) as low as possible. This will avoid "stressing" the surfaces of the plates and greatly prolong their lives.

Another advantage of "as many plates as is practicable" in the Low Voltage cells is to lower the voltage required to obtain the desired current flow. The lower the voltage across the cell the greater its efficiency.

There isn't any need to resort to exotic metals for the plates of the electrolyzer. Some of the best results recorded have been with the use of High Carbon Steel plates. The Caustic electrolyte solution actually functions as a preservative for certain steels.

Use your favorite search engine (or ) to research Low Voltage Electrolysis. You'll find several very interesting links to research papers which will shed much light on some of the most efficient proven processes.

[hydroxrox]

well i am so dead set on tap water because some of my family does not have access to filtered water, and lye very easily, but with regular tap water i don't have to use ANY elyte a all.

the brown cap i don't get at all anymore by using dissolved citirc acid in the water, it turns piss yellow but never makes brown goo. i don't like all the caustic elyte either because they make hex chromium, and thats horrid.

[hydroxrox]

solved the issue, the connection was thick enough going from the electrolyzer to the terminals themselves...... it was also limiting the production in my cell when i added more plates.

issue resolved