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The Average Life
Span
of Hydrogen Boosters
The life
span of a Hydrogen Booster is determined by several
factors:
(1) The
quality and thickness of the stainless steel.
(2) The amount of current that the booster is using.
(3) The type of catalyst that the booster is using.
(4) The total amount of plate edges that are exposed
to the current and catalyst.
Unfortunately,
hydrogen boosters do not last forever. If they are
constructed correctly, some can last up to five years
or longer. If they are not constructed correctly,
the life span could be reduced to about one to two
years.
Fortunately,
at Hydrogen Boost Now we do not use inferior designs.
We only use designs that have a proven long life span.
(1) The
proper material to use is 316-L stainless steel. This
can last up to five times longer than other grades
of stainless. The L stands for low carbon. This grade
has very good anti-corrosion characteristics. Even
if it is thin, it can last for years in a properly
designed hydrogen booster. All boosters that we sell
are manufactured from 316-L stainless steel, the best
kind of stainless to use for this application.
(2) The
total amount of current that passes through the cell
is one of the major determining factors on how quickly
the plates or electrodes will deteriorate. Using a
pulse width modulator (PWM) can reduce current flow,
which can extend the life span of your stainless steel
plates. Also, using the right amount of voltage between
each plate is very important. There are some other
tricks but we won't get into that now as our competitors
will probably read this.
(3) The
catalyst that is used is also important. Some people
are using too strong of a mixture in order to improve
performance, but this can shorten the life span of
your hydrogen booster. We recommend a mixture of 15%
of KOH or less. This increases performance without
severely affecting the life span of the electrodes.
In fact, it seems to keep them nice and clean and
reduces maintenance. KOH is not consumed during the
electrolysis process, but to keep it clean, it should
be changed about once a year.
(4) The
edges of the electrodes will deteriorate first. If
you have no edges exposed to significant amounts of
current, your plates will last a very long time. Some
are working on designs right now that are completely
sealed and none of the edges are exposed to any significant
amounts of current. This can get to be quite complicated
when it comes time to add water to your booster. The
sealed series cell design of the M-4 reduces the total
amount of edges exposed to current by approximately
80%. We can't tell you exactly how this is done, but
it is a simple idea that works really well and reduces
deterioration and current draw considerably, while
maintaining simplicity in design.
In
closing, the M-4 has an expected life span of 4-5
years, thanks to a great design, low current draw
and high-quality materials.
Replacement
plates will be available in 2009 although nobody will
need them.
Just as
an example..
The picture above is not a very good design. The cell
spacing is wrong! The fluid level exposes all of the
edges of the tubing being used. This will definitely
cause the cell to use more current than necessary,
which will deteriorate the stainless steel tubing
faster than if the edges were insulated.
Unfortunately, this is one of the more common designs
being sold today.
Even with the above design, the life expectancy of
the cell is around 2-4 years.
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Now With Automatic Variable Output Control (VOC)
