Anybody running a lawnmower on Brown's gas?

[Sherman House]

Wondering after watching some utbe vids if anybody has actually built a on-demand gas generator and installed it on a lawnmower. Can you generate enough gas to mow your yard?

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Sherman,

I had to do some searching, not knowing what Brown's gas is: Turns out to be just a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

How would this be produced on-demand with a lawn mower? It takes an awful lot of energy to create hydrogen/oxygen from water through electrolysis, and you don't get all of that back through running a combustion engine (which is not very efficient to begin with).

-RoB-

[Captn Blynd]

Browns gas is the result of electrically separating water into the component gases. A mix of hydrogen and oxygen that wants to explode.

I built the Browns Gas Generator shown by "the king of random" on you tube. It would certainly produce enough gas to run a lawnmower. That said, this stuff is massively explosive. I would try running the lawnmower on a combination of alcohol and a trickle of Browns in the air supply.
I have exploded more than 1 flashback suppressor playing with this. Use due caution.

[Sherman House]

After seeing the news vid about the girls in Africa running a generator on urine extract hydrogen, I was intrigued. THe gas is basically free, if generated from solar powered electrolysis. I hate the utility companies around here, and would love to lessen my dependence with my own skills and effort.
I envision a small gas generator powered by a solar charged battery, or maybe a tesla coil / earth ground capacitor charger, running the mower on demand. Mowers are cheap in the pawn shops about now.......I have a small lot, and have been using a string trimmer, and only cut the grass three times this summer. I let the back yard grow...;)
Other ideas I want to explore are an on demand gas powered water heater. I am wondering how hydrogen will burn in the ring and if the ring will withstand the temperature of HHO combustion.

[Rob Beckers]

Wouldn't it be easier to put up some solar panels, use them to offset your own electricity use (net-metering), and charge batteries. Then convert the a lawn mower to electrical/battery use (or look for a corded electrical one at the pawn shops, for a small lot those work fine). Same with the water heater, get an electrical one. Heck of a lot more efficient and certainly much safer than trying to burn oxygen/hydrogen in large quantities inside a house (= recipe for disaster).

-RoB-

[Captn Blynd]

Browns gas is a mix of hydrogen and oxygen. It burns hot and is reported to have a couple odd effects. They use it to weld some special materials as well. It does not store well. Hydrogen does store well and burns with (somewhat) more control.
For the things you state you would like to try, I'd build a hydrogen generator and not a browns gas generator. The difference is really only in how the generator is constructed. The same electrical process separates the water but the oxygen and hydrogen are gathered separately. one at the anode and the other at the cathode. I forget which is which. The hydrogen then becomes the form you store. Using hydrogen for heating and running engines is well understood and even some parts are commercially available. For practical use, harvest hydrogen instead of Browns Gas. Hydrogen is good.

To me, the most interesting use for Browns Gas would be in septic treatment. Browns Gas nozzle burning inside a septic storage tank would vaporize solids and liquids. I thought the nozzle could be mounted on a float and designed to turn off before reaching the bottom and burning through. Just use the flame to keep the waste level down and this would seem a good solution to an old problem. This mix burns that hot. Yes, it will burn under water but that introduces needless new problems. Capture the steam and recycle it to electric and it may even be somewhat efficient. If you insist on experimenting with Browns Gas. Build a Browns Gas torch. A cheaper, safer and well understood approach to learning about this.