Water For Fuel

How to Build Your Own HHO Torch by Charles Seiler www.Ritalie.com

HHO gas is real. HHO gas is simply H2O (water) that has covalent bonds that have been weakened, and the atoms are in a different configuration. The atoms are stuck together, but very loosely. HHO is Brown's gas. Brown's gas is not the same as oxygen and hydrogen which are physically mixed together. The difference is extremely important, because Brown's gas produces very unusual characteristics when burned. Brown's gas is only produced via an electrical reaction, with the end gas having a unique electrical charge to it. The electrical charge is what makes HHO/Brown's gas unique and different than a tank of compressed hydrogen. An interesting fact that few people realize: the longer you charge the water in your electrolysis unit, the more powerful the Brown's gas is when it burns. HHO is a real gas, and the reason people say that it doesn't exist, is because the people who have discovered it have went missing, or have literally been murdered. Brown's gas was named by Yull Brown. This gas is only produced by electric current, and when it burns, it has an electrical reaction, which is very unusual. This electrical reaction with the substrate is what makes HHO gas unique. If you are wanting to build an HHO torch, you probably know all about the history of Yull Brown, and many others who have tried studying electrolysis, with the intent of extracting energy from water. These researchers, and inventors, have not fared well, and most are now gone. If you want to learn more, please research the following people: 1.) Yull Brown: Invented Brown's gas, by doing the necessary research which had never been done publicly, on such a large scale. 2.) Stanley Meyer: His motto was to “keep it simple stupid.” But he did exactly the opposite when he explained things to the public. 3.) Joe from Australia: He made the Joe cell, which is an HHO cell which can easily power a car, using only ¼ amp or less of electric current from the battery. He also claimed to have built a torch which used no flame, and harnessed only the invisible, unknown particles of energy released from the electrolysis process. These particles were able to ignite steel spontaneously into flames. His videos are available on YouTube, and all of them defy logic. 4.) Steven Jones – You have to search YouTube on “How a Joe cell works.” This physicist was able to replicate the Joe cell technology, and he ran an engine on invisible particles that are released during long periods of sustained electrolysis between stainless steel electrodes. Jones said that the particles could be deuterium, and they were able to travel through a solid piece of aluminum wire. Brown's gas appears to contain this invisible energy, whatever it may be. Steven Jones has since been silenced, for obvious reasons, and nobody has been able to replicate what he did. 5.) Denny Klein – Created a sensation with a mainstream video of an HHO torch in action, shown on a news channel. Denny was able to melt bricks, and run his car on Brown's gas. Materials Needed for an HHO Torch: 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.)

A water fuel cell with (11) 3” x 6” stainless steel plates A flashback bubbler A flashback check valve AC to DC rectifier, 250 volt, 50 amp rating Pressure Gauge (optional) Brass ball valve

To make an HHO torch, you need to first build a water fuel cell, otherwise known as a hydrogen booster, or a wet cell electrolysis unit. You will take 11 plates, which are 3” wide, and 6” tall, and 1/16” thick. You can use 304L or 316L stainless, or any other non-magnetic stainless steel. In tests using DC voltage, and tap water, 316L stainless steel produces more hydrogen, and consumes less current the longer you use the plates. The 316L metal itself actually produces twice as much hydrogen gas after it is conditioned, thereby doubling, or tripling the efficiency of electrolysis. I have no knowledge of how other types of stainless steel perform, but some might be better or worse. You can try them at your own risk. The plates are separated with nylon washers, 1/16” thick, and then bolted together with nylon bolts. You will need 4 nylon bolts, 1 1/2” long. You will need 40 nylon washers (buy more just in case you lose some.) You can get nylon hardware very cheap through Fastenal. They will send you a catalog if you go on their website. The positive and negative electrical connections to the plates should be under water, for safety reasons. Because you are producing hydrogen gas, you don't want to risk a failed electrical connection and a corresponding spark which might occur if you have exposed electrical connections. You will need to copy the design shown in the pictures, and attach your positive and negative electrodes on the bottom of your water fuel cell. It does not matter where you drill the holes to fasten the plates together, just make a template with the 1st plate, and copy every plate EXACTLY the same thereafter. On my plates, I drilled the holes in different spots, in a non-symmetrical pattern to make it impossible to accidentally reverse the plates. For the cell itself, you will want to use 4” acrylic tubing, or 4” black sewer drain pipe. PVC pipe is temperature sensitive and will not work for extended periods of electrolysis, which often boils the water. Use black sewer pipe caps for the top and bottom of your cell. This plastic holds medium pressure just fine, and will not fail even if the water boils. I did try white PVC caps, and it fails immediately when the water reaches its boiling point. White PVC is NOT safe, do not use PVC pipes, caps or fittings on your HHO electrolysis unit. To make the welder more functional, you will want to build more than 1 water fuel cell, and this will allow you to produce more gas. For the torch tip, you can purchase a pre-made torch tip designed for HHO, or you can build one. I was able to build one cheaply using a MIG welder tip, and fish aquarium air stones, which act as an HHO flashback arrestor. For the torch tip nozzle, you will use a .023 - .035 MIG welding copper tip, designed for wire feed welders. Unfortunately, unless you know how to braze or solder copper, I cannot help you design the torch tip. At the end of this guide, I show you how to do it yourself, if you want to give it a try. I was able to silver braze my .030” copper MIG tip to a brass fitting. If you have never silver brazed, but are willing to try it, then you need a propane/acetylene/mapp gas torch, some white high temperature silver brazing flux, and some silver braze. Silver braze is called “Safety Silv 40.” You can buy it at your local welding shop, and probably only at a welding shop. Silver braze is not solder, and it's not welding rod, it contains silver and copper and melts at 1100F, not 500F like solder. It melts easier than gas brazing rod. Most people have never heard of it.

To silver braze, you will loosely brass, copper, stainless, nickel, steel, or any other common metal (except aluminum) together. Silver braze will not fill large gaps, so you want the parts to fit very snug before you try to braze them. Coat the pieces that are to be brazed with a very light coating of white flux. Heat the pieces until they are orange hot, and then apply the silver braze. You cannot braze the parts until they are orange hot, so don't try, you will just waste the silver and ruin the part. Coat the silver braze wire, or silver braze rod with a light coating of flux as well. The silver braze and all the parts need to be very clean, so use steel wool or a wire brush on everything and clean it before you try to braze it. If done properly, the silver braze will flow into all the crevices, and will form a very strong fitting. With silver braze, you can make any torch tip your heart desires, out of anything that has a .023-.035” hole in it. I've tried to make this guide as easy as possible, however, it will obviously still require you to invent some processes. I cannot show you every single process. You will also need to buy quite a few special tools, unless you already own them. For example, you will need (1) 1/4” NPT pipe thread tap, and (1) 1/8” NPT pipe thread tap. These are expensive, but they are available at any local hardware store. You will also need Cobalt drill bits to drill the 316L stainless, because other drill bits will not work with the very hard 316L stainless. With the pictures and information given, you should be easily be able to build your own HHO torch. If you cannot figure out a specific detail, I will be more than happy to answer any questions. Please contact me through my website, www.Ritalie.com and use the form at the bottom of the page to send your comments and questions. The first step is to purchase all your parts. The stainless steel will have to come from your local metal supplier. They can cut the metal into 3” x 6” pieces for you. You cannot cut this metal yourself, because it is very hard to cut, unless you are equipped to cut hard sheet metal. Tin snips will NOT cut 316L stainless steel. The black sewer pipe is available at the local hardware store. Cut the sewer pipe into 8” long sections. Purchase a female thread 4” drain clean out, which is also black ABS plastic, and purchase the male thread cap to go along with this. You need 2 caps, and 2 drain clean outs for each of your 8” long pieces of pipe (a top and bottom.) You will use Christy's pipe glue, the blue stuff, on all your pipe parts, or any other PVC glue for use with water pipes (some glue requires primer, so be sure to ask before you buy it. I have used Christy's PVC glue and have never had it fail.) Allow the glue to dry for 48 hours before running your unit, because there will be some amount of pressure and heat when the electrolysis is occurring. The pressure occurs because of the very small orifice on your HHO torch tip, along with the bubbler, and flashback check valve. To drill your stainless steel plates, you will need a drill press or a corded drill (not a cordless). You will want to drill at very low speed (less than 2000 rpms.) You should use water on all your holes, while drilling, because the drill bits can and will overheat and burn up. The drill bits won't last unless you spray water continuously as your are drilling the 316L plates. Windex, or soapy water seems to work the best for this. Do NOT use oil for drilling because it will embed into the plates, which may ruin the conditioning process later on.

You want to keep the plates clean, and free of any oil, grease or glue, because peak efficiency can only occur if you have clean, bare stainless steel, and pure, clean tap water. Oils and chemicals can completely remove the coating which is deposited on the 316L stainless plates during electrolysis, and this coating INCREASES efficiency. The coating gets stronger the more you run the water fuel cell. Yet another thing they don't teach you in school! For the positive and negative electrical connections to the plates, you will need (2) 1” x 6.5” strips of 316L (or whatever metal you are using for your plates). One strip attaches on one side of your plates, and forms your cathode, the other strip will form your anode. The plates in the middle are neutral, and do NOT have power connected to them. The neutral plates allow you to use 120 volts, because they drop voltage across each plate, which reduces current consumption, and prevents a complete short circuit. If you use 2 plates, and only 2 plates, with no neutral plates, that will work too, but you will need to power the cell with 12 volts, instead of 120 volts. The more plates you have and the more voltage you are using, the more potential you have for increased HHO production. You will need stainless steel bolts that connect the 1” strips to the bottom cap. These stainless steel bolts also form your electrical connections to your voltage input. These bolts are shown in the photos on the bottom of the water fuel cell. It is tricky putting these bolts through the cap. The size of the bolts doesn't matter, but you will need rubber backed washers (I used tin roof washers) on the outside of the bolts, to seal the water in the cell. I have never had a washer fail, and I have never seen water leak past them, when they are tightened properly. It is worth the extra work putting the electrical connections at the bottom, only because there is no chance of accidentally creating sparks above the water line, which might cause the water fuel cell to explode. You will have to put the 1” strips on the bottom cap, and put the stainless steel bolts through the bottom cap, BEFORE you begin assembling your 11 plates. You will need to use teflon tape on everything, including all your water fittings. You can tighten everything by hand, or with a small pipe wrench. You don't need to tighten anything excessively, because you should be using about 3 to 5 wraps of teflon tape on all of your fittings and caps, which will seal quite easily without being overly tight. If you do over tighten your fittings, you could break the plastic sewer pipe. To power your water fuel cell, you will use 120 volts from the wall outlet, converted to DC. To convert to DC, you are going to use a bridge rectifier (which is just 4 diodes put together to create full DC) which you can purchase online. You need a 250 volt, 50 amp bridge rectifier, and a heat sink to mount it to. You can also find a bridge rectifier inside any AC to DC converter. Many old stereos have very large bridge rectifiers in them, but you will have to use these at your own risk. For a heat sink, you can just use a big heavy slab of aluminum, or again, take apart an old stereo and grab a heat sink. You will hook 120 v to your bridge rectifier, and before your cell forms the white coating on the plates, which reduces power consumption by increasing electrical resistance, you will consume a lot of power, and your bridge rectifier will get warm. If it gets hot immediately, you are consuming too much power. You can use distilled water if this is the case. Distilled water will use less power. After many many hours of using regular tap water, you should notice that things cool down. The water will run cooler, the bridge rectifier will run cooler, and if you have clamp on amp meter, you will see a noticeable reduction in current consumption. This is due to the magical effect of stainless steel, which reacts with plain tap water, and forms a resistive white power on the plates.

Current consumption will go down, but magically, you get a great deal more gas the more you condition the plates, all with less power input. It's an inverse relationship that isn't discussed in mainstream science, but it's a real phenomenon. (Stanley Meyer once said that it wasn't possible to run a car on water using electrolysis in the past, only because stainless steel had not been invented yet!) For tubing, you will use clear vinyl water hose which can be purchased at any hardware store. You can use 1/4” or 3/8” tubing. I prefer 1/4” tubing because it looks better, but the tubing size is not important. You could use 1/8” tubing if you wanted to, but fittings would be impossible to find. For fittings you can use nylon, but they will soften up, and get loose once the water warms up. I would recommend only brass, aluminum, or stainless steel fittings. Spend the extra money and use metal fittings. I used nylon in the photos here, but I wouldn't recommend it. To add water to your cell, you will want a fill plug at the top. The best thing to do is drill a 1” hole and insert a rubber compression plug. They sell these at Ace hardware, or you can use a boat plug, which they sell in the sporting goods section at Walmart. A boat plug is a 1” rubber plug which seals the bottom of the hull on a boat. It is removable, and seals very well. Now, to make this water welder produce a powerful flame, you will most likely need to scale it up. What I would recommend is buying enough to build 3 or more water fuel cells. It will not cost much more to build 3, because the most expensive parts are the stainless steel, except you are only using a tiny amount of stainless steel anyway. If your bridge rectifier gets hot, you will need 3 separate bridge rectifiers for each of your 3 water fuel cells. And there is no reason to stop at 3. You could use 2, or you could use 10 water fuel cells, however I chose to use 3 because that is all the supplies I had on hand. The cells will all get coupled together. This HHO torch design could also be used to power an engine, although I have not tested it in that application. However, with the cheap construction and easy scalability, it is something to consider. Note about dry cells: A dry cell (water fuel cell made from stainless plates sandwiched together between plexiglass) can be used for an HHO torch, however I have never used a dry cell electrolysis unit. If after reading all of this, you find it too complicated, then you could purchase a dry cell HHO unit off eBay, and use the principles outlined in this guide to make a working torch. The same process applies, but you may need to adjust your power input to accommodate different plates. 120 volts may not work with some dry cell units. The following pictures show a single cell. This uses plain tap water, with (11) 3” x 6” 316L stainless steel plates, spaced 1/16” apart from each other and fastened together using nylon bolts. There are 9 neutral plates which do not have any power going to them, but these neutral plates produce gas just the same, because voltage is carried through all 11 plates. Power input is 120 volts AC, converted to DC through a bridge rectifier. I am using a heat sink from a stereo for the bridge rectifier. For flashback arrestors, I am using (2) Bruce Energetics plastic arrestors. However, my torch design is also an “air stone” flashback arrestor itself, and no flashback has made it past the air stones inside the torch yet. If the flashback should go past the first air stone, there is a 2nd air stone inside my homeade torch. And if the 2nd air stone doesn't work, there are 2 more flashback arrestors. In total, there are 4 flashback arrestors in my output line. So far, I have not had any explosions using this method. However, many people also recommend a water bubbler.

A water bubbler is strongly recommended, however, I have not found a suitable water bubbler that I feel is safe, in the event of an explosion. Any water bubbler that you use should have a rubber lid that is clamped on loosely, just enough to seal, and you could use soapy water on the rubber so it can slide off easily and quickly in the event of an explosion. What I have found is that many people are using sealed water bubblers which are no safer than a water fuel cell. If a water bubbler explodes, it can still cause serious injury. I am not going to tell you how to install a water bubbler, because I have not had success in using one. However, according to the research of others, it is strongly advised that you find a suitable water bubbler, in addition to the plastic flashback arrestors. The common method to prevent flashbacks is to use both, a bubbler and a flashback arrestor in line. In my case I am using mechanical flashback protectors, instead of water. Here is the plate assembly. Two 1/4” nylon bolts hold the plates to the bottom cap. The bottom cap also serves as the electrical connection. You will drill 5/16” holes for the 1/4” bolts. Use a Rigid brand Cobalt drill bit from Home Depot, as they seem to be the hardest, and last the longest. I tried Sear's cobalt bits, but they didn't last. The drill bits are the most important tool for assembly, because 316L stainless simply destroys drill bits, so buy the most expensive 5/16” Cobalt (not titanium coated) drill bit you can get, for drilling hardened metal. Titanium coated drill bits are a waste, since they are coated (they aren't solid titanium) and the coating will wear off in short order when drilling 316L stainless. 316L stainless is like a knife blade, and it does not want to cooperate when you try to drill or cut it.

The 1/4” bolts are 1 1/2” long, nylon. You are using nylon because you don't want the plates to be electrically connected (obviously).

The best place to get these bolts is from Fastenal. Fastenal has a website if you don't have a store in your area. Or you can get the bolts at any common hardware store, but they literally rip you off with the high prices, so check around first. You can use 1/4” for everything, or you can do what I did, and use bolts that are 2 sizes smaller on the outside edge bolts. You will need a 1/16” thick washer per bolt, between each and every plate, so each plate will be separated with a total of 4 washers. Now, you could try to use just 2 bolts on this assembly, but nylon isn't strong enough to do this. You need the support of 4 bolts. If you don't use 4 bolts, what happens is the plates don't have the proper spacing, and they might even touch on the edges and create an electrical short. You could get away with using 2 bolts (just the center ones) if you use nylon “fender washers” which are very large washers. This would work ok, though I haven't tried it.

Note: With 11 plates of 1/16” thick stainless steel, and 1/16” thick nylon washers, the 1 1/2” bolts will be exactly the right size. You won't be able to increase to 12 plates, unless you use 1 3/4” nylon bolts. 11 plates seems to be perfect, when using tap water with no electrolyte, and 120 volts. There is very little unnecessary heat created, although the water will still boil in 20 or 30 minutes, or a lot sooner if you are using city water from the tap. I used well water, and ran it for 20 minutes with no problems. If you are getting excessive heat, switch to distilled water. Keep in mind you won't get as much hydrogen gas until the plates have had many many hours of conditioning, and a white resistive coating forms on the plates. This powdery coating somehow increases HHO output, while decreasing current input, and the resulting heat. Also, the longer you charge water through electrolysis, the more powerful the output gas is. The first bubbles that come off the unit won't explode violently. The bubbles that appear after 10 minutes of charging, when the water turns tan colored, are extremely explosive, to the point of being dangerous to light without hearing protection. Joe, the inventor of the Joe cell, discovered this principle, and was able to run his car on “charged water” which seems to possess a new form of energy. I don't claim to understand why charged water produces stronger bubbles, but it does.

I had just got done putting fresh well water into this cell, that's why there is water on the bench below it. It's not leaking. I took this picture to show the bottom rubber plug that seals the 3/8” hose barb fitting. The hose barb fitting is there for expansion purposes, if you want to scale up the system, and hook up multiple cells in series (not shown). The hardware store sells these 3/8” rubber plugs. I would advise drilling and tapping the bottom cap. Use a 1/8” NPT male thread x 3/8” brass hose barb fitting, and coat it with 3 wraps of teflon tape and then screw it in. Plug the 3/8” hose barb if you aren't going to use it. You might need to use it in the future, and it's easy to have it ready rather than trying to add it later. Plus it cost practically nothing to put it on there.

Here are 3 identical 4” diameter water fuel cells. They are made from semi-clear PVC pipe, with black ABS sewer caps, glued with Christy's hot pipe glue, no primer needed. The PVC pipe sections are 8” long. I would not advise using PVC, because it deforms easily when water reaches 212F, the boiling temperature of water. PVC will work ok for the center section, but clear acrylic tubing is totally transparent. Or you can use black ABS sewer pipe which seems to resist heat just fine as well, although you won't be able to see inside. The PVC on the far left has seen boiling water, and now it's no longer clear. The heat obviously damaged the PVC. Do not use PVC caps, or fittings, as I tried this several times, and the parts will deform severely, and cause a safety issue when they get hot. The pipe in this picture is called Excelon PVC. It is not crystal clear, but it is transparent enough to see what's going on. All the hose barbs are 3/8 inch. The black nylon barbs have 1/8” NPT threads. The white 90 degree hose barbs on the top have 1/4” thread, but 1/8” NPT would work just as well. (Use brass fittings, not nylon, because nylon can fail if it gets too hot). You can use 1/8” NPT fittings on everything to save money, because you will most likely need to purchase a pipe thread tap, if you don't already own one.

There are some strange cuts, and unnecessary holes in the metal in these photos. Don't mind this. I am using old left over pieces, so ignore the extra holes or grinding marks. However, after you drill your stainless plates, you will need to “debur” all the holes using a small grinding wheel, or a drill bit that is larger than the hole. You don't want sharp edges and burs on the holes, because it can drastically change the spacing between the plates.

Now, you don't need an air pressure gauge, but if you want to monitor the structural integrity of your water fuel cells, you will need a way of performing a pressure test. To do a pressure test, you can simply cap your output hose (turn off the output ball valve) and let the pressure build. When the pressure builds, let the cell sit for 15 minutes. There should be no excessive pressure drop, or hissing sounds. If you did a poor job gluing your joints, you will see water dripping out after pressure builds. This is ok, and the HHO torch will still work, but if you lose too much pressure too quickly, it will affect the operation of your torch. We need to get every bit of gas we can to the torch, without losing some on the way. Ideally you should use a much larger fill plug on top. My 1/4” fill plug is difficult to use.

When breaking in the cell, you won't want to put the top cap on, because you will want to change the water several times. Shown in the picture above is 6” long piece of 3/8” high pressure water hose. You should heat the hose with a hair dryer or heat gun, before trying to put the hose on, because it is very difficult to work with. At the end of the hose, we have a Bruce Energetics plastic flashback arrestor. This is my first time using these flashback arrestors from Bruce Energetics, however from the reviews I've seen from others, they are very reliable, and don't fail like “bronze filled” flashback arrestors, which can catch fire. I tested these Bruce Energetics flashback arrestors, and they do work perfectly. I'm not sure how they work as well as they do, but so far, so good. Just to be safe, I use 2 of them, in addition to my “air stone” flashback arrestor built into my torch tip. The air stones completely stop flashbacks as well.

You will need to decide the safest way to prevent flashbacks. HHO is very dangerous and extremely explosive. If you build this device you do so at your own risk. I cannot guarantee that any of the things shown in the photos will be safe. This method of flashback protection has worked very well for me, but that is not a guarantee of safety. Please be careful. Always wear eye protection when working on these devices, preferably a plastic face shield.

The torch is the easiest part to build, however the nozzle can be difficult to solder, if you have no soldering or brazing ability. This is a 1/2” diameter brass nipple, 2” long. Inside, there are 2 air stones for a fish aquarium. The air stones are 1/2” in diameter, and can purchased at any pet store. The ones I used are blue, and they came in a package of 4 for $1.75 at “Northwest Seed and Pet”. The ends are 1/2” female NPT x 1/4” female NPT.

The air stones are installed into the end caps using black, grey or red high temperature automotive silicone. Coat the outside edges of the air stones in silicone, then push the air stones all the way down into the 1/2” threaded end caps. You don't need a lot of silicone, just enough to seal the outside perimeter of the air stone to the threaded 1/2” cap. The idea is, you are forcing the HHO gas to travel through the air stone, not around it. This will prevent flashbacks. There is more information on how to build the air stone flashback arrestor in the last section of this document.

You will need a 1/4” NPT brass ball valve. This shuts the gas off, and prevents a flashback from occurring when you are done using your HHO torch. If you are not using a ball valve, something interesting and dangerous can happen. When you shut off the electrical power to the water fuel cell, the hydrogen and oxygen gas pressure is reduced. When the pressure is reduced, the gas speed through the nozzle is too slow, and the flame will initiate a flashback. The flashback protectors, if working, will prevent a flashback, but the ball valve adds a margin of safety. When you shut the ball valve off quickly, the gas flow is completely stopped. The flame will still try to flashback into the hose, but it has nowhere to go, since you've completely stopped the gas flow, which is much safer than depending on the flashback valves to stop the gas flow. With the ball valve off, the flashback cannot travel into the water fuel cell. You should always use a ball valve, or similar high quality metal gas valve. Now, the Bruce Energetics flashback valves I had, were 3/8” in diameter, and I didn't want to use 3/8” hose, so I had to use 1/4” x 3/8” barbed nylon couplers, in order to place my 2nd redundant check valve inline. For the torch tip you can use a MIG welder tip, as it works the best. However, in the photos below I am testing a motorcycle carburetor jet, which is approximately 0.025 or smaller. The brass jet does not appear to work as well as a MIG welder copper tip, which seems to work better for some reason. It could be that copper, being a unique metal, with good heat transfer and good electrical conductivity, is better suited for HHO gas.

If you want to experiment with nozzles you can. Use whatever you have available, as long as it has a very small orifice in it. You can purchase silver braze, and throw something together. Use a propane torch. Clamp your fittings in a metal vice, and heat them orange hot, then apply your silver braze. Check the structural integrity by cooling the parts, and then pushing air through the parts you have brazed to check for leaks. There is no right or wrong way to braze a nozzle, because there are an infinite number of ways you can braze things, it is similar to welding. The easiest thing to do however, is use a 0.030” copper MIG welding tip. Then, purchase a 1/4” NPT pipe plug. Drill a small hole in the top center of the 1/4” pipe plug. Insert your copper MIG tip and braze it to the plug. (This is shown at the end of this document).

Here is a bridge rectifier. It has 4 prongs. It hooks to your 120 volt AC power outlet. You will now have 120 volts DC. You will not have a full 120 volts DC, because AC power pulses at 60 cycles per second (60 hz). The pulses will still occur, even after you pass the AC power through the bridge rectifier. What this means is you are not getting true DC power, you are getting 60hz pulsed DC. If you need more power, you can get a high voltage capacitor, and hook up a capacitor on the DC side of the bridge rectifier. This will smooth the pulses, to create true DC, which will send more energy into the water fuel cell. You should be able to create slightly more gas this way, although you will also get more heat, and draw more current. I do not have tests comparing the pulsed DC to the straight 120 volt DC power, so I cannot tell you what the real difference is in efficiency. In my setup I just used pulsed DC straight through a bridge rectifier, straight into the water fuel cell. It seems to work well. What I have noticed is that by using 60hz pulsed DC, the resulting gas output is extremely powerful. The bubbles, when ignited, are always the Brown's gas bubbles, which are extremely loud, similar to a gunshot, when you ignite them. It could be that pulsed DC helps to facilitate the production of Brown's gas, which is gas that has a specific molecular configuration. More testing is needed in this regard. During testing, while using 3 cells hooked parallel (not in series), with tap water, with 1 output hose coming from the top of the main cell, I produced the most explosive bubbles I've ever heard. I had to wear hearing protection just to light the bubbles, because even a few of them on the surface were deafening. I've tested a single cell extensively, and was never able to produce bubbles that were this loud. It would appear that having 3 cells all running together at the same time, sharing the same water, produces more powerful gas than a single cell, although this is just speculation.

Now, as you can see, with tap water, 120 volts, and 11 plates, we are only producing about 0.40 liters of gas per minute. This isn't enough for a strong flame, although it will maintain a very tiny sustained flame. The HHO flame is nearly invisible, because it is so clean. To get more gas we can: 1.) Add a teaspoon or more of Lye (sodium hydroxide) NaOH. 2.) Apply higher voltage from a step up transformer, or use 220 volts from the mains supply. 3.) Build more cells and run them in parallel (most reliable method).

Cell Break In and Conditioning For the very 1st time you operate your cell, you need to apply forwards and backwards current to the plates. This will clean the plates, through electrolysis. Run DC power in one direction for 5 minutes. Now pour out the water and start with fresh water. Now reverse the polarity of your input power, and run the cell for 5 minutes. Repeat this process a total of 3 times, so you will be running forwards for 15 minutes, and backwards for 15 minutes. This will remove iron and other small metal particles on the surface of the plates which interfere with the formation of a white resistive coating. Once you have done that, using electrical tape, a marker or label, mark one of the electrode bolts on the bottom as “negative.” Now, never switch polarities again, because the proper conditioning can only occur if you apply straight DC, in one direction, and maintain that polarity for the life of the cell (never reverse the polarity after conditioning, it will reverse the conditioning!) Now, using fresh clean water, without chemicals apply DC power in one direction until the water is hot. Pour the water out and start with fresh water, and charge it again until the water gets hot. Do not switch polarities. Repeat this process 5 times. It should take about 1 hour, or more depending on how quickly your cell heats up. After this you will see a white coating beginning to form on the plates. The more white coating you get, the better the water cell will function. Some chemicals can prevent the formation of this white coating. You do not want to use any chemicals, if possible, because the white coating is what gives us peak efficiency, and decreased current consumption (less heat). Now, after you have conditioned the final 5 times, you are ready to use your HHO welder. As you use the water, it will become “charged” and it will turn brown. That is ok. It actually produces more powerful gas, the longer you charge the water. When the cell gets hot, either allow it too cool down, or replace the water. Plain drinking water or distilled water will always produce unusual brown particles in the water, even though the water starts out very clean. It is not necessary to clean this brown residue out of the water. When using the welder you need to monitor the temperature of the water. If it boils, immediately shut it off, and leave the ball valve OPEN to relieve the pressure. Stand clear of the cell and let it cool down. After it is cool, check for leaks or damage to the water fuel cell. PVC can be destroyed from excessive heat, that's why I advocate not using PVC. To use your HHO torch, you want to find specific applications. Testing on different metals and materials will be necessary. Because HHO gas reacts electrically with most materials, some materials will heat very quickly, while other materials (like water) won't heat at all. I have not welded, or brazed using HHO, so I cannot offer advice in this regard.

Additional Pictures and Information

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For the water fill plug on top, you can use a rubber compression plug, one that has a screw in the middle. They sell 1” plugs for boats at Walmart, or any boat shop. Rubber plugs for boats are designed to be re-tightened over and over, they are about 1” in diameter, and have a lever to tighten them. This would work perfect on your HHO water fuel cells. Just drill a 1” hole with a hole saw (not a spade bit because spade bit will chew up the material, and it won't seal). Having a 1” fill hole is a lot easier than the 1/4” plug that I've used.

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If you are using more than 1 cell, you will need to hook the cells together as shown in the image below.

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When putting the 4” caps on, you will have leaks, unless you use 5 wraps of teflon tape, wound clockwise over the threads. If you are facing the inside of a pipe, or a cap, you will always wind teflon in the clockwise direction, otherwise it usually comes off as you tighten the threads.

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Wash all your stainless steel in hot soapy water and use a scrub brush to clean them the best you can before assembly. Use rubber gloves when assembling to avoid getting unknown oils and chemicals on the metal.

This is a small acetylene torch. The flame is deep blue. This works better for silver brazing than propane, because it is very fast. You don't see many people using torches like this. I bought it because it had a nice single nozzle torch tip on it. The torch and regulator are still for sale, new online. They are made by Uniweld. If you can produce enough HHO gas, you might be able to use this single nozzle torch. This would be perfect for HHO, as long as the flame comes out properly. I've seen people using a torch similar to this, although I don't know if they had to modify it to work with HHO. The disadvantage to this torch design, is that it mixes air with the fuel gas. That's fine if you are using a fuel gas. If you are using HHO, then you don't need to mix the flame with the outside air, because the oxygen is already premixed. So I don't know if this torch would work as it is, without some modifications, but it would be very easy to modify, by plugging the open air holes at the base of the nozzle. Then you would have to insert a very small 0.030” copper MIG tip on the end. The main benefit is that it would be easier to hold, and better looking than a homemade brass torch. That's really the only reason I purchased this torch.

When putting together your plates, you need to attach the side electrodes to the bottom cap FIRST, otherwise you won't be able to access the bolts. Once the side electrodes are in position, then you can begin putting your 11 plates on, 1 at a time, and don't forget the 1/16” nylon washers for spacing. The following pictures will show you how to make a reliable flashback arrestor, that works even if it gets dirty, unlike a check valve, which could potentially fail if any debris gets caught in it. You need the following parts to make your own “air stone” flashback arrestor. - (1) 2” long 1/2” brass nipple - (2) 1/2” fine air stones from the pet store for a fish aquarium - (2) 1/2” NPT x 1/4” NPT coupler - (1) Tube of high temperature automotive grade black silicone (or grey or red). You will begin by removing the plastic barb from the air stones with a pair of pliers. You remove the plastic, because it isn't necessary. Plastic can catch fire if you have a flashback, so you should remove the plastic, just for safety. My air stones do not look normal because I accidentally broke them in a previous installation using hot glue instead of silicone. Do not use hot glue, because it doesn't bond well to brass. I had to grind my air stones down on my bench grinder to get them into useable condition again. Your air stones should look better than the ones in the picture. You will put silicone around the outside of the air stones. Push the air stones slowly into the 1/2” coupler, trying to get as close to centered as possible. Twist the air stone slightly to distribute the silicone evenly. Now, take the silicone and fill the remaining air gap around the air stone. Now, screw in your 1/2” brass pipe. The brass pipe will push the silicone down, and that's what we want. By having a little extra silicone, you can be sure that there is not going to be any HHO gas leaking past the sides of the air stones. You want the HHO gas to be forced through the air stones which stops flashbacks.

After assembling, immediately tighten the brass fittings, before the silicone begins to cure. Do not shake the assembly, or drop it, as the air stones are only being held in place with silicone. Set it on its side and allow it to cure for at least 24 hours before you use it. The silicone reaches full strength in 24 hours, even though it will appear to be cured much sooner than that. It isn't worth the risk of using it prematurely, since we are dealing with the possibility of an explosion. It's worth the wait!

Here is one method we can use to make an HHO torch tip. Start with a 1/8” NPT pipe plug. This one is made from steel, but a brass pipe plug would work fine too. Next we will drill the center of the pipe plug with a 7/32” drill bit. Coat the MIG tip with some white silver brazing flux on the threads. You might be able to use plumbing solder from the local hardware store, and do this same process with solder, however, it would be slightly less reliable, as solder has a melting temperature which is about 500F, compared to 1100F for silver braze.

After you have pushed the MIG tip into the 1/8” pipe plug, you will want to wipe off any excess flux. The braze will travel wherever there is flux, and it will look unsightly. Now, heat the fitting until it is orange hot. It will take a minute or 2 to get the fitting up to that temperature. When the fitting is glowing orange, apply your silver braze wire. (This process was impossible to document in its entirety so I am showing you the finished product here). You should be using clean silver braze wire with a thin coating of white flux on the brazing wire itself. When the fitting is orange hot, touch the fitting with one small dab of silver braze, and it will flow into the crevices and make a solid joint. You don't have to manually go around the fitting to cover the whole thing, as silver braze flows like water into all the cracks, and forms a perfect seal, every time, as long as your parts don't have oil or grease on them.

The End

Thanks for reading this guide, and I hope the pictures and descriptions have provided a bit of help. I made this guide because I found it difficult to find any information on building an HHO torch. There are many different ways to build water fuel cells, and HHO torches. This is obviously not the only way to do it, but I wanted to keep it simple so anyone could figure out how to do it. Keep in mind that you don't have to use this only for a torch, you could use it for an engine fuel booster. I have a separate guide called “The Complete Guide to Water Fuel” which describes this in more detail. As with any set of instructions, I'm sure there is going to be something that isn't clear. I tried to include all the pertinent details, and if I forgot to explain something, I am truly sorry. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me through my website at www.Ritalie.com Sincerely, Charles Seiler Ritalie.com