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While wandering through our local street market today, I spotted these kitchen ladles. Ding ding……. Stainless steel. Checked em with a magnet to make sure :)  1Buck apiece so bought 4 for a test. Probably low grade SS, 302 or 304 but worth a try at the price.

The ladle part is almost 4″ diameter so that gives about 12 square inches of surface per plate (pi x r x r ) if I remember math from half a century ago

OK……… let’s go and build a kitchen cell. Minimum tools. A simple DIY project to generate HHO/ HYdroxy Gas.

First off, we need to get rid of the handles on all except 2 of the ladles. I used tin snips, but a hacksaw or angle grinder would do equally well. That’s the hardest part over.

Spacers: My 1st thought was to use some of the small self adhesive pads used as buffers for kitchen cabinet doors. Unfortunately I was unable to find any. Next best thing that is easily available here in Panama was the plastic tubing used to fix mosquito screen into it’s frame. Split it lengthways with a craft knife and then cut the tube so it fits slightly less than half way round the outside of each ladle. Fix the ends with superglue.

Only add the tube to alternate ladle/plates. In this case I had an even number (4) so the tubing was fixed to one of the ladles with a handle and one without. If I had an odd number of ladles I would have fixed the tubing to alternate ladles without handles.

These ladles have small holes punched in them which may cause a small power loss as current can pass through the inner plates. Solid plates would be better, but here I’m using easily available stock so will have to see how well it works.

A quick explanation of how this type of cell works and the formulas involved may be in order at this point.

There are 3 electrical things involved, Volts, Amps and Resistance. I will endevour to explain them in laymans terms.

Volts:
Electrolysis of water to produce HHO/Hydroxy gas only needs about 2 volts. Car systems are usually 12v or slightly higher when running as the alternator produces about 14volts to enable it to charge the battery.

If we just use 2 plates, anything over 2 volts is wasted as heat. There are 2 ways to overcome this problem. Either we make several 2 plate cells and wire them in series so that the current passes through them like a chain, or we can add neutral or floating plates between the positive and negative plates. Adding a neutral plate in effect creates 2 cells, one on each side, and halves the voltage. For a 12 volt system, adding 5 neutral plates creates 6 cells between the 2 powered plates and reduces the voltage to the level we require. This experimental cell has 2 neutrals, creating 3 cells at 4 volts each so it will run slightly hot.

Amps:
Amps or current are what make the water separate into gas. More amps……. more gas. However, we need to keep in mind that we do not have an unlimited supply. The car alternator has to supply current to many other things, as well as keep the battery charged. So what we want is the most gas for the least current.

Secondly, the amount of amps that we can use are also limited by the size of the plates. A good rule of thumb here is a maximum of 1 amp per square inch. For low grade stainless steel like chinese kitchenware it’s better to keep the current down to 1/4 amp per square inch as it will rust.

Resistance:
This is a measure of the difficulty that the volts are subject too while trying to push the amps through the cell. Less resistance means more amps. In the case of electrolysis this is adjusted by the strength of the electrolyte and the space between the plates. Wider spacing means more resistance, purer water means more resistance. This is the part we can adjust, both during the cell building and once we start testing.

Back to the cell building.

What we want to achieve is the maximum amount of current flowing through the plates and the liquid between them while minimising current escaping into the surrounding water. To help in this we need to insulate any metal that is in contact with the water apart from the actual plate surfaces inside the cell.

So the next step is to cover the handles. For this quick build I am using electricians insulating tape. For long term use a better alternative is heat shrink tubing. This just slides over the handles and is shrunk into place by gentle heat.

OK, We now have 2 ladles with the handles insulated, and 2 neutral plates. 1 of each has the thin tubing glued around both edges with a gap top and bottom. Let’s put it together.

To help keep the plates aligned I used 2 thin screws through the holes as a temporary fix. Start with the complete ladle with tubing attached, add the neutral plate without any tubing, then the one with tubing around the edge and finally the 2nd ladle with no tube. Keep the handles aligned.

Wrap the whole unit using electricians tape, or large diameter heat shrink tubing if available, except for the small area at the bottom where liquid will enter. Remove the temporary screws once you have got at least half the tape in place. The Hydroxy gas will escape from the gap between the handles. This wrapping holds the unit together and also insulates the plate edges and outer surfaces. Just like the handles, this keeps all the current in the area between the plates where it can produce gas, rather than allowing it to escape into the surrounding liquid where it will only create heat.

Voila!!……… We now have 4 kitchen ladles taped together. Lets go make some gas in the next article.

Disclaimer: This whole article is about an experiment done by me. Nothing more is implied. If you choose to copy the experiment or make use of any of the ideas contained in this article, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. Electricity and water can be a dangerous combination, and the HHO/Hydroxy gas produced is HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE. You are responsible for your own safety and that of others nearby.

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