Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Taking science class into the garage

Hailey shop hopes baking soda will improve gas mileage


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Mechanic Alex Dunn readies the most important piece of equipment for the hydrogen conversion he performed on a 1995 Chevrolet 1500 pick up truck. The hydrogen gas combines with regular gasoline to improve an engine’s fuel efficiency. Photo by Willy Cook

Driving down the highway, Mark Francis' Chevrolet 1500 Cheyenne is hardly distinguishable from the fleet of work vehicles that roam the Wood River Valley every day.

But that plain-looking, 13-year-old white pickup truck just became an anomaly.

The truck, one of over a dozen used by the employees of Hailey-based Archive Decorative Finishing Co., became a guinea pig in the search for greater fuel economy.

Looking to assuage the wallop that fuel prices have on the company's pocket book, amounting to about $8,000 per month, Purchasing Manager Pete Delsignore began scouring the Internet for a cost-effective alternative to gasoline.

With a suggestion from Francis, Delsignore decided upon a method of combining hydrogen gas with regular gasoline, a solution that proponents claim increases fuel efficiency by up to 50 percent.

While easily found on the Web, the method is a novelty in auto shops. It's also a controversy online, where doubters and believers argue over whether the system is a viable alternative to gasoline-powered engines.

Fast-forward three weeks and into Hailey Auto Clinic, where owner Alex Dunn had the big Chevy's hood open, displaying additions to the engine compartment that, at first glance, would be more at home in a High School chemistry class.

With instructions gleaned from the Internet, the 24-year-old mechanic had retrofitted the truck with a small, cylindrical mesh cage bolted to the inside of the front left quarter-panel. From this, Dunn produced a quart-sized, glass Mason jar, which, in its proximity to the engine block, looked more out of place than a vegetarian in the Pioneer Saloon.

Attached to the underside of the lid and hanging down into the jar was a cross-shaped piece of Plexiglas, with fine wire spiraling down along the edges. On top of the lid were connection points for two electric leads, as well as a pair of thin rubber hoses.

This is known as an electrolyzer, not to be confused with the flux capacitor in the movie "Back to the Future." But like the latter fictional apparatus, the electrolyzer is where the magic happens, and with nothing more mysterious than the combination of distilled water and baking soda.

These two simple and inexpensive ingredients, when combined and run through with a low-amperage electric current, which Dunn wired in from the windshield wiper motor, produce hydrogen gas.

This highly flammable vaporous gas is then vacuumed through the rubber hoses into the engine where it mixes with regular gasoline to produce a more efficient fuel.

Or so Dunn hopes.

Like his co-worker Don Toussaint, from whom Dunn purchased the garage earlier this year, and Archive owner Robert Delsignore, Dunn resists the urge to become overly optimistic.

This kind of backyard technology has its detractors, many of whom claim that such a system could not possibly create enough hydrogen to help power a car.

And there appears to be little or no scientific proof that significant improvements in gas mileage are possible through this kind of homemade hydrogen production. The Honda car company spent millions of dollar, rather than thousands, producing a hydrogen fuel cell car.

But that isn't keeping Dunn and Delsignore from trying.

"If we can get a 25 percent improvement in our miles per gallon, it will be worth it," Pete Delsignore said.

That's not surprising, considering the Chevy got around 12 miles per gallon before the conversion.

Dunn said the Mason jar unit, which he purchased for $175 from a supplier in Boise, along with other assorted parts and labor, could be made for around $1,000 to $1,200 after working out the kinks on this first installation.

"It's been a learning process," Dunn said. "I can't bill Pete for ignorance, but on the next one I won't lose money on it as I have figuring this one out."

Despite the seeming simplicity of the water, baking soda and Mason jar mechanism, the entire assembly is complex enough to keep average car owners from attempting the conversion on their own.

To help the two fuels combine, the gasoline is run through another hose out of the engine and along the radiator hose to raise the temperature significantly before being returned to the engine.

As well, vehicles with fuel injection require a new sensor to properly adjust the amount of gasoline necessary once the conversion is complete.

After Dunn's work, there was a noticeable nervous anticipation before turning the ignition for the first time.

Adding a quarter teaspoon of baking soda to the water, Dunn made the necessary attachments, then got behind the wheel.

Word of Dunn's enterprise had spread . A curious audience gathered for the initial firing, including the brothers Delsignore, one of their employees, Francis, and a few mechanics from nearby auto shops.

With nervous laughter they stood back slightly as the engine turned over, then inched closer to get a better look as the solution began to bubble furiously.

After a minute or so, the Chevy's rumbling engine took on a subtle, yet noticeably quieter and smoother tone, which was noted by Francis, who drives the truck about 70 miles a day.

"If it ends up working the way it's supposed to, I would like to bring it to the valley," Dunn said, though he admits he's more intrigued by complex diagnostics than this scientific aspect. "I've commuted from Twin Falls before and know the hurt, which is even worse now as gas prices have skyrocketed."

Standing next to the truck as its latest upgrade percolated, Pete Delsignore said that if it indeed increased the gas mileage to around 18 miles per gallon, than he would put them in the remainder of the fleet, including his own 2007 pickup.

"I think we'd better let that one get out of warranty first," joked Dunn, adding that the system had yet to be tested.

To do so, Dunn drove the truck 100 miles, registering 16.2 miles per gallon, a 35 percent increase in fuel efficiency.

In addition, Dunn said there's still a lot of fine tuning that remains to be done on the engine, and he expects that to provide even better performance.

However, with the success he's accomplished already, Dunn will likely be stuck on the science side of the job for a while longer.

"We've just scratched the surface," Dunn said. "Right now, the sky's the limit."




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