[Boozbaz]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/128967/water_as_fuel/

Has it really happened? Has somebody honestly figured out how to turn Water into Fuel?

[gnm]

There are several threads on this already... in short NO... Its BS/scammers...

-G

[Boozbaz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gnm', 'T')here are several threads on this already... in short NO... Its BS/scammers...

-G

[entropyfails]

Well
1) It DOES seem to produce a bizarre welding gas. So it gets marks as "cool tech".
2) No EROEI has been performed. So we don't know if it is an energy looser or not.

However, he does make claims about a "Non Browian Water Gas HHO" which is somehow different from H2O vapor. But I've seen the thing drip water as if it had perfect combustion. Watch some of their videos.

It does have the benefit of being for sale. So if you have a theory about it, buy it and test it out.

I would note that the owner's car runs on a Gas/ HHO mix. Apparently even the inventor finds it difficult to power modern cars solely on the stuff.

[PolestaR]

I was going to post a reply, but someone already did :-

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ater is not the fuel--it's not the source of energy. Electricity from your local power plant is your source of power. Electrolysing water and then burning the result gets you around the simple problem that electricity itself doesn't burn. You can burn hydrocarbons, like butane or gasoline, but then you have to store the fuel (which can be dangerous).

Instead, you store water, a very stable substance. You use electricity to turn that water into fuel, then immediately burn the result, turning it back into water. You can even take that waste water and run it back through the system. You always get less power out of the system than you put into it (laws of thermodynamics in effect here); but you've effectively found a way to burn hydrogen without having to store the hydrogen and oxygen, which can be very dangerous to store.

A water-powered car isn't really powered by water. It's battery-powered. However, puting water into the system allows you to still use a combustion engine, rather than electric motors. It's not nearly as efficient, which is why this route isn't being pursued by auto makers. But there can be advantages, depending on your needs.

[Faustus]

Dude's invented a Water powered car. Whether it's an effective partial solution to peak oil or not, it's still pretty amazing.

Of course, my cynical side expects some oil company to buy this stuff up and pay the guy to forget he ever thought of it. On the other hand, a smart oil company that paired up with a car company to start offering a water/gasoline hybrid and putting water/gas stations up could make themselves a mint.

I wonder how pure the water has to be. Probably distilled.

[Leanan]

Dollars to donuts, it's a scam.

[Faustus]

I might have thought so, except the thing is already passing safety tests, at least if that news story is to be believed. I heard of another guy in Britain who managed a water-run car but was bought out by the oil companies. I don't have any documentation on that, though, so I can't vouch for its veracity.

[Faustus]

Here's another, similar story (don't know if it's the same guy or not). They were testing out a water hybrid, and it upped their milage about twenty-five percent. So I don't think it's entirely a scam, though its effectiveness might be overrated.

[Armageddon]

So does that mean i can plug all my appliances into the toilet and hope they work too ?
Water will never create energy unless it is dammed up and used to power turbines which generates electricity.

[emailking]

All of these water stories are either complete scams or half-stories. Water is not an energy source. It can be a source of hydrogen *if* you first expend energy to collect the hydrogen. You can then recoup some of the energy by burning the hydrogen. Overall you lose energy.

Now we may find some energy source some day that you can put in your car, whereby the most efficient way to use the energy is to first waste some of it by making hydrogen from water. Perhaps some of these guys have found that by doing this, gasoline is used more efficiently. (Currently, something like 10-20% goes to doing useful work and the rest is wasted.) However, if that were the case, I think it's probably likely that there exists another engineering feat that bypasses the hydrogen altogether.

Whether there's some truth to them or not, what matters is how much they increase the gasoline efficiency. If they can make it 50%, that is a gigantic discovery. If they increase it 2%, that's not as significant. Most likely they decrease the efficiency and this is just hype.

What is *not* true is that these cars accept water as its fuel, and then they run just on that.

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') might have thought so, except the thing is already passing safety tests, at least if that news story is to be believed.

[OilsNotWell]

Interesting post, Faustus, thanks.

But, do us all a favor, and next time you post a thread, make the title more informative than this.. It's not just you, but others as well...

I get tired of all the "Dude! Check This Out!" threads where the post is not that interesting. Thanks.

[truecougarblue]

Water is and has been used for many years to increase HP output from both piston and turbine engines. In the right setup you can indeed increase mileage because the injected water vaporizes and gives a steam component to the power stroke. You are using part of you waste heat that way.

Most internal combustion engines waste about half of the energy in the fuel as heat through the exhaust or radiator.

The down side is complexity. Most engines that use this have a 20-50 hour tear down spec. (read military). If you had to have your cars engine overhauled every month then even 100+MPG wouldn't make you happy.

Please let me know if this isn't what this guy is doing. If he's using electricity to make hydrogen from water then the efficiency will really suck.

[LadyRuby]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilsNotWell', 'I')nteresting post, Faustus, thanks.

But, do us all a favor, and next time you post a thread, make the title more informative than this.. It's not just you, but others as well...

I get tired of all the "Dude! Check This Out!" threads where the post is not that interesting. Thanks.

[jackal42]

Like we did this a century ago, its called Steam!!

[emailking]

I don't see why passing a safety inspection validates the technology.

I watched that video again today. It clearly states that the man claims his car can run on just water, but he currently has it rigged as a water and gasoline hybrid. Why be so conservative?

It's bogus. The flame technology is pretty cool though.

[skeptic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Faustus', 'D')ude's invented a Water powered car. Whether it's an effective partial solution to peak oil or not, it's still pretty amazing.

[jeezlouise]

Or... how about let's stop the desperate grasps at anything that will perpetutate our car-designed-around/obsessed-with culture and focus our energies on reclaiming what was lost after WWII: relocalizing and redesigning society so that car travel is plan B or C instead of the only option for so many people.

Yes, I know it's a big job but we will have to do this sooner or later, so it might as well be now, while civilization (at least in this country (USA)) is still relatively orderly.

[julianj]

I didn't even get to the car bit. The whole segment screamed "bollocks". It's a scam.

Until Nature prints an article validating this tech it's not even worth thinking about.

Imitates Montequest:

And even if it was true, how are we going to scale up the technology to avert the crisis? Even converting say 100 million vehicles (out of 800m) would be impossible.