Bubbler vs inline flash suppressor

[Haywire Haywood]

I see a lot of people using bubblers as a way of isolating the generator from the intake. I also have seen an inline flash suppressor in the form of a short piece of pipe stuffed full of stainless or bronze wool, the intent of which is to stop any flash fire from traveling further down the line.

Anyone using the inline flash suppressor?

Ian

[Q-Hack!]

I have seen people make a successful flash suppressor using Brass wool in a small tube. However the bubbler is more than just a flash suppressor. It also filters out any impurities in the HHO gas. If you are using a caustic soda of some form as an electrolyte, then your HHO gas is acidic. In other words, you don't want to breath it. :D Filtering it through water removes the acid and better protects your engine components. It is also where I locate my blowout valve so that if I do have a flashback it blows out a small piece of sandwich baggie instead of being a grenade.

[Haywire Haywood]

SOH and POH aren't acidic, they are alkaline... other end of the PH scale. In any case, I thought the advantage of using SOH or POH was that it wasn't used up in the process of electrolysis and didn't put byproducts in the gas like baking soda does?

Maybe it's the incidental water vapor containing the lye that is the problem. I see. Bubbler it is then. Maybe I'll put a wool type suppressor at the engine for extra fire protection. They're compact enough.

thanks,
Ian

[Farmercal]

SOH and POH aren't acidic, they are alkaline... other end of the PH scale. In any case, I thought the advantage of using SOH or POH was that it wasn't used up in the process of electrolysis and didn't put byproducts in the gas like baking soda does?

Maybe it's the incidental water vapor containing the lye that is the problem. I see. Bubbler it is then. Maybe I'll put a wool type suppressor at the engine for extra fire protection. They're compact enough.

thanks,
IanIon, the acronyms are KOH (Potassium Hydroxide) and NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide). They do seem to be considered a base or alkaline which makes me wonder how they could become acid. Perhaps this happens when mixing with water? I am not a chemist, just an avid reader of these forums.

[jtmarten]

Ion, the acronyms are KOH (Potassium Hydroxide) and NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide). They do seem to be considered a base or alkaline which makes me wonder how they could become acid. Perhaps this happens when mixing with water? I am not a chemist, just an avid reader of these forums.

They are both strong alkalines, mixing with water cannot make them an acid. The more water you mix them with, the weaker they become. The def of an acid is a substance that can give up at least one H+; HCl, HBr, H2SO4, etc. If the gas produced is H2 it is not acidic, but some would be H+, which is. So maybe running it through a bubbler removes the H+ ions, removing/reducing the acidity.

[ridelong]

Haywire Haywood,

Potassium hydroxide does not put alkaline gasses into the hho gas. I don't use a bubbler. I use a flash supressor, and I'll tell you why.

My first gens were very small (.1 lpm), but I was getting around 20% increase. Put on a bubbler, went down to 8%. Took the bubbler off, went back up to 20%. The water vapor was adding to the gains.

So, I ran a gen in the basement until it was very warm (didn't have a thermometer on it), opened it up while running and deeply inhaled the gasses. It was fine. I also tasted condensation from the output, fine also.
I figured my senses were the most sensitive sensors I had.

[Genchaos]

I am curious as to what makes a good flash suppressor. I use a laboratory gas flowmeter and you get a pulsed output with a bubbler instead of a steady flow, it drives me crazy trying to get readings while the bubbler is inline!

By the way I've noticed the average mix in my HHO generator is so weak that today I spilled it on my hands and it didn't even sting a fresh cut on my finger. Most bath soap contains sodium hydroxide, it has been used to make soap for hundreds of years. Also the other night I was taking Zicam for my cold and happened to read the ingredients. You guessed it! One of them is sodium hydroxide! Can't really say much about Potassium Hydroxide but I am sure Sodium hydroxide has been part of our daily lives since birth.

[BoyntonStu]

A pretzel is a bread pastry of German origin, that has the shape of a three looped knot or twisted braid. Pretzels are either soft or hard. Hard pretzels have evolved into a variety of shapes from knotted loops to straight "pretzel sticks" (called "Salzstangen" in German, Ropi in Hungarian). The pretzel dough is made from wheat flour, water, sugar and yeast, sprinkled with coarse salt. Pretzels are typically salted and glazed with lye[1].

Yep NaOH is used to make pretzels.

BoyntonStu