Plate gap

[DrBrown]

I have searched and couldn't find the reasons... I am building a smacks style cell for learning but I don't understand why the smacks design has a large gap and then the neutral plates are stacked just 1/16" apart then another 7/32" gap between those. I wouldn't think that having a small gap in between each large gap would help HHO production anymore than just have the neutral plates all equally spaced in between the + and - plates. I don't know if anyone else has wondered about why they used the stepped gaps in the smack design but I'm curious on others' thoughts. I've considered using the same 16 plate design but having something like a 1/4" space between all the plates. I guess its all trial and error to prove anything but Im a while away from that so I just wanted ideas and opinions on the plate gapping. I know most say less gap is always better.

[Painless]

I can contribute the following from my own research and others input:

The closer the gap, the less catalyst you will need in your electrolyte to produce HHO. Production can also be increased by increasing voltage per cell, although this will also introduce heat.

Larger gaps in an open bath design are more likely (unwrapped) to introduce current leakage (more resistance between plates).

When still using open bath designs, I found the width of a zip tie strap to be ideal. Now that I'm onto dry cells (and not looking back) I use 0.040" and have no problems with overheating as long as the voltage per cell does not exceed approx. 2.3v.

The way I look at it, you need to view the plate gap and catalyst concentration as a resistor of sorts. More catalyst equals less resistance between plates, smaller gap means the same and vice versa.

If you are going towards an open bath smacks type design using switch plate covers, then I would recommend considering my own dry cell design too (see my thread). It's very easy to build and results in good MMW with controlled heat.

[DrBrown]

I looked at the first 6-7 pages of your thread, will read more later. I really don't understand dry cells yet so I will have to do more reading.

But I am definitely NOT using an open bath. I will be wrapping the cell for sure with either rubber tape or heat shrink tubing. As mentioned, I dont want to overload my alternator or run the cell too hot. So my intentions are to just put the plates closer together and use only as much catalyst as necessary to get the amps up. Having a FWD V6 also limits the amount of space available for a PVC cell so I dont know if I will be able to get enough HHO production from this style unit, probably not!

[mytoyotasucks]

I looked at the first 6-7 pages of your thread, will read more later. I really don't understand dry cells yet so I will have to do more reading.

But I am definitely NOT using an open bath. I will be wrapping the cell for sure with either rubber tape or heat shrink tubing. As mentioned, I don't want to overload my alternator or run the cell too hot. So my intentions are to just put the plates closer together and use only as much catalyst as necessary to get the amps up. Having a FWD V6 also limits the amount of space available for a PVC cell so I don't know if I will be able to get enough HHO production from this style unit, probably not!.

even a wrapped cell is classified as a bath type.

and a dry cell is plates with gaskets around the edges to seal so the water doesn't leak out, and than u have a reservoir that feeds it to keep the water level up, and most use the reservoir as a bubbler also.

[HHOhoper]

My brother, best friend, and I have done a lot of experimenting with plate configs and spacing. Like Painless was talking about, the closer the plates are, the less electrolyte you need to produce. I've also seen that you can produce a heck of a lot of HHO with really close plates.

I'm including a picture of a cell I made that has about 1/8" gaps. The config went like this:

+-+- +-+-

It produces a lot of HHO, but it got HOT very quickly. Plumbabob (I believe this was his design) came up with a config that I swear by.

+N NN NN NN N-

Each pair is only the thickness of a nylon washer apart (about 1/16" - 1/8") and each pair has about 1" between them. From my understanding, this 1" gap compensates for the voltage build-up and prevents a large heat build-up while the pairs still provide you with outstanding HHO production. I'll include a picture of that as well. I'm sure there may be other ones out there than can beat it, but from what I've seen, I've never gone over a 15 amp draw to produce excellent results in terms of output and low heat generation. I don't have specific measurements on LPM or degrees reached because once I saw what it could do I didn't really care, but for the science of it all, I suppose I could measure for conversation's sake.

From my reading, I really believe that you can take what others have done and always find a way to do it better, so have at it. This design is more than enough for me.

If you want to read more on this design, read here:

http://hhoforums.com/showthread.php?t=1180

http://hhoforums.com/showthread.php?t=61

[DrBrown]

I may just have to try that setup to start out HHOhoper. That is a little easier to assemble than what I was planning to do and requires less custom ordered stainless nuts. I won't be using as large of plates (light switches) but I could adjust the gaps between the pairs with different sized nuts if need be. I'm going to wrap the cell still and hope that reduces current leak and drops the temps even more. Thanks for the suggestions!