Our van now runs partly on hydrogen from water
A few months ago we had a Waterboost fitted to our van…
What is a Waterboost? Well, its a hydrogen fuel cell for the van….
No – I’m not driving around as a hazard to everyone because the hydrogen is carried as WATER. Its an on-demand system which means the waterboost produces hydrogen as I need it and adds it to the fuel mix.
The results? Well, they are remarkable – its much more powerful, runs quieter and cleaner, i get better value for money from my fuel because all those nasty emissions from unburnt fuel (which is what most of them are from) are omitted because the hydrogen ensures ALL the fuel is burnt, so it means I, and others like me with a waterboost, are getting our moneys worth from our fuel, whereas others (those without a lovely hydrogen cell) are literally watching their expensive fuel money get pooped out the exhaust unburnt!
We have a 2000 Mark 5 Transit (just bought before christmas 2008), its got just under 100,000 miles on the clock and, to be honest, was a bit of a chugger. Our main cruising speed was 55-60 because if you went any faster, you could watch the fuel counter go down like you wouldn’t believe….
Since the Waterboost got fitted, we can go faster, easier. It drives like a diesel turbo and it is SO much quieter…it purrs instead of chugs and it has some really interesting quirks when driving it (you can take your foot slightly off the accelerator and maintain speed – for a 2 ton van thats impressive…all because of technical points to do with the vaccuum in the engine being filled with hydrogen when you take your foot off the accelerator)…
I’ll be saying a lot more about it when I have proper fuel figures etc, the only reason I don’t just now is because the timing belt went on it a month or so ago and we are still repairing it…should be on the road in the next few weeks…meanwhile, here’s the video the Waterboost Man (Oliver) took when we had it fitted….
If anyone wants one of these they are £500 (excluding fitting – you can have that done by your local garage or mechanic), and I highly recommend them. You can get them through me, or direct from Oliver through www.waterboost.co.uk. If you do go to him, please let him know you heard about Waterboost from me!
HI Darren
Very fascinating the waterboost system. Am wondering how you’ve been getting on with it. I did a little scour of the web only to find discredits for the system so am looking to you for first hand experience. Is it worth it??
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_46703.htm
Was a discredit from the advertisement agency and also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer%27s_water_fuel_cell
On the creator of the cell.
I love a good conspiracy story, but for something like this I’d like to know my money is going to a worthwhile cause!
Keep up the good work
Any more plans for talks in Manchester?
Much love and thanks
Fash
xx
Hi Fash,
First, the good bit
…I’ve had my Waterboost 6 months and have been using it for about 3 of those (since van was off the road). My honest feedback is that its great. Our van is definitely a lot quieter and smoother, and drives like a turbo diesel when it was a chugger before. Many people seem to be looking for big gains out of extra mileage, but I’ve noticed around a 10% gain in both MPG and top speed. The biggest gain for me is the catalyst effect – because the hydrogen causes complete combustion of the fuel. It means there are greatly reduced harmful emissions (which I havent had tested yet for figures) most of which are unburnt/partially burnt fuel. This is what delivers the extra power. Now, I know its not massive gains in MPG etc, but to know im getting the most out of the fuel I’m already using is a great benefit to me and satisfies me for the investment.
I, for one, am a happy waterboost user. My only glitch is that I let it run low a few times and some orange gunk built up at the bottom that affected it badly, but after some advice, I ran it through with vinegar for a day or two to clean it and we back on track, and, for my ten year old high top van, thats from ‘chug chug’ to ‘Vrrrooom!’
I know the guy who’s making them so if you want linked up to chat about it, give me a shout and I’ll pass on his details to you…
Addressing the bad points : I knew about the ASA post, since I spoke to Waterboost about it – turns out theres a bit of a potential scam where they have a list of ‘approved independent centres’ whose comments they will accept ‘as fact’ – but none of them charge less than £10K for basic tests…Also turns out the maker provided the phone number of the VOSA mechanic guy from the advert (who WAS in the ad, and it WAS his quote) but they never called him to confirm! Its a shame its had a bit of bad press over this.
Re: Stanley Meyers work – I know someone else who’s studied Stanley quite a bit, and the bad press is unfounded because most people who tried to replicate his work…didn’t actually replicate it! They missed out some details and that’s why it never worked. It’s also easy for it to get bad press since no fuel company in the world wants water to be a fuel, especially salt water!…I know that seems ‘conspiratorial’, but based on that particular leopards past behaviour, theres no reason to think its changed its spots!
As to Manchester…we will definitely be putting things on, I’ve tended to be only doing invitational stuff that I’ve been neglecting to advertise, but we’re restructuring how we operate and we should have some events published in the next few months.
Hi Darren, after talking to a few others about this, the conclusion is a cleaner burn, less emissions etc, all good by the sounds of it
If we do buy a turbo van, is there any need to go for the waterboost too? I guess I should really speak with the guy that makes them, hey
WOuld love his contact detail to find out more. If you can email it then fab.
Keep me posted about your talks in Manchester.
Fash
xx