Sunday, April 05, 2009
Chris Hansen goes after HHO scammer
Tonight's episode of Dateline caught my attention. This time, they were going after something I've often gone after on this blog, the claim that putting a hydrogen generator on a car can boost its gas mileage. Their target was the HAFC system, peddled by convicted felon Dennis Lee. His system sells for around $1,000, with installation being equally pricey - or even more expensive. That's a pretty high price for an HHO generator - someone like Ozzy Freedom can get you the same whole lot of nothing for a whole lot less something.
You can read the whole episode write-up here. What I found especially interesting was that they tested the system at an EPA certified lab using the federal mileage tests. This is the very first time I've seen anyone do this, and as far as I've been able to tell, it may even be the first time anyone's ever subject an HHO generator system to one of these, with surprisng results. No, the surprise wasn't that the generator improved things. It got the exact same results before and after the installation. But then they turned the system off and retested the car - and it got better mileage than before. It sounds like the guys who did the installation also made some sort of tweak to the car, most likely running a thinner grade of oil, that produced a real improvement. And then the hydrogen generator caused the car to run less efficiently and canceled out their real gains. Although I'm not sure if the gains were more than the test device's margin of error.
Their "What's in the kit?" video, which wasn't shown on the air, is one I found particularly interesting. One, he's combined the hydrogen generator with a gas mileage magnet - I doubt that would be any more effective than the one the EPA tested in that link. The electronic box caught my eye, since it's very similar looking to a MegaSquirt, but a closer look showed it seemed to just be something else that used an off the shelf aluminum case. One other thing about the kit seemed pretty telling - that appears to be a sort of cheap PVC-based hose that isn't rated for underhood temperatures. That might explain why he commented it was pretty leak prone...
You can read the whole episode write-up here. What I found especially interesting was that they tested the system at an EPA certified lab using the federal mileage tests. This is the very first time I've seen anyone do this, and as far as I've been able to tell, it may even be the first time anyone's ever subject an HHO generator system to one of these, with surprisng results. No, the surprise wasn't that the generator improved things. It got the exact same results before and after the installation. But then they turned the system off and retested the car - and it got better mileage than before. It sounds like the guys who did the installation also made some sort of tweak to the car, most likely running a thinner grade of oil, that produced a real improvement. And then the hydrogen generator caused the car to run less efficiently and canceled out their real gains. Although I'm not sure if the gains were more than the test device's margin of error.
Their "What's in the kit?" video, which wasn't shown on the air, is one I found particularly interesting. One, he's combined the hydrogen generator with a gas mileage magnet - I doubt that would be any more effective than the one the EPA tested in that link. The electronic box caught my eye, since it's very similar looking to a MegaSquirt, but a closer look showed it seemed to just be something else that used an off the shelf aluminum case. One other thing about the kit seemed pretty telling - that appears to be a sort of cheap PVC-based hose that isn't rated for underhood temperatures. That might explain why he commented it was pretty leak prone...
Labels: Gas Mileage, Hydrogen
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good points. I have been helping Dateline with the story more than a year. I told them early on, "hey, if it really works, you have a much bigger story than if it is just another scam". I have a page on my findings on all this and the ex convict behind it at
www.phact.org/e/hafc.htm
They didn't even mention how these people had another high mileage system called TEEG that didn't work 7 years ago.
a shame to see crooks poison people to new technology
eric
www.phact.org/e/hafc.htm
They didn't even mention how these people had another high mileage system called TEEG that didn't work 7 years ago.
a shame to see crooks poison people to new technology
eric
# posted by 
: Monday, April 06, 2009 7:20:00 AM
: Monday, April 06, 2009 7:20:00 AM
Thank you for chiming in, Eric. I've read your site before and found it very interesting - in fact, I think I've quoted from it a couple times before, particularly the line about compressing Brown's Gas being "criminally stupid."
This is interesting. I built my own HHO system and installed it on my LX470. I went from 10.2 to 21 mpg around town. I did have to extend the o2 sensor in order to keep a more consistent mileage. I was told to trick my computer because now it rund clean and gets confused. I took it to a smog station but they won't test it. They did take a reading on my converter and found it was almost 200 degrees cooler at the exhaust. I also put a hose on my tail pipe and could breath the exhaust. My last trip, I got 34.5 mpg. I am not a scientist, but this thing works and I did it for $500,00 myself.
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