Archive for the ‘Eco Scams’ Category
More British HHO scams - HHO Fuel Soutwest and HHO4U
More anonymous emails have brought my attention to more HHO scams in the UK. HHO Fuel Southwest is a scam, as is hho4u.
Both sites make the same preposterous claims of reduced fuel consumption and cleaner emissions (and so on…) as every other pedaller of this nonsense. There is no prof that any of their claims are true for the simple reason it is not true, it is a scam.
What is new to me is both sites claim something which I have not seen before, they think you will be entitled to lower road-tax because you will be able to re-register your vehicle as a “hybrid”. I’d be amazed if the DVLA will fall for this, but I have been amazed before so if you know of any examples please let me know.
They also both claim to be members of TAMA, some HHO trade association. Can’t find any evidence of it actually existing however.
Oxygen sensors for use with HHO
The oxygen, or lambda, sensor.
An oxygen sensor, or lambda sensor, is an electronic device that measures the proportion of oxygen (O2) in a gas or liquid.
Automotive oxygen sensors, also known as O2 sensors, measure the oxygen content of the engine’s exhaust gasses. They are what makes modern electronic fuel injection and emission control possible by determining if the engine’s air-fuel ratio, its mixture, is too rich or too lean.
The O2 sensor enables electronic fuel injection to control the air-fuel mixture which enables the engine to run at its most efficient. This in turn reduces the amount of both unburned fuel and oxides of nitrogen from entering the atmosphere.
Unburned fuel is pollution in the form of air-borne hydrocarbons, while oxides of nitrogen (NOx) gases contribute to smog and acid rain.
Information on oxygen concentration in the exhust is sent to the engine management computer (the ECU) which adjusts the amount of fuel injected into the engine to compensate for excess air or excess fuel.
The ECU attempts to maintain an average air-fuel ratio by interpreting the information it gains from the oxygen sensor with the primary goal of compromise between power, fuel economy, and emissions. In most cases this is achieved by an air-fuel-ratio close to the “stoichiometric-ratio” and ensures complete combustion.
The three types of emissions we are concerned about are:
- hydrocarbons
(incompletely burnt fuel caused by misfiring or running rich). - carbon monoxide
(the result of running rich). - oxides of nitrogen, NOx.
( are the result of running lean).
Deliberately running lean
If modifications cause the engine to run lean there will be a slight increase in fuel economy. However this will be at the expense of increased NOx emissions, a higher exhaust gas temperatures and a loss of power.
At ultra-lean air-to-fuel ratios engine damage is inevitable.
Deliberately running rich
If modifications cause the engine to run rich then there will be a slight increase in power to a point, after which the engine starts “flooding”. However this will be at the cost of decrease in fuel economy and an increase in unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust which causes backfire and overheating of the catalytic converter.
Prolonged operation at rich mixtures will cause failure of the catalytic converter.
Timing
The ECU also controls the spark engine timing along with the fuel injector pulse width, so modifications which alter the engine to operate either too lean or too rich may result in inefficient fuel consumption whenever fuel is ignited too soon or too late in the combustion cycle.
The EFIE
An EFIE (electronic fuel injection enhancer) as a small electronic device which fits between the O2 sensor and the ECU. It modifies the signal sent to the ECU to fool it into running the engine too rich (greater power) or too lean (greater economy).
However using an EFIE will be detrimental to the emissions control, may well damage the engine and is almost certainly illegal.
Oxygen sensors and HHO
Pedallers of HHO or “hydrogen hybrid” “technology” will often tell their customers that the reason the HHO machine is not saving any fuel is not because HHO is bullshit but because the engine is “too modern” and the ECU is compensating against the HHO unit.
They say that an EFIE is needed in addition to the HHO to allow the HHO work.
Of course this is bullshit and all part of the scam, it is the EFIE which is saving you fuel (at the expense of performance, the environment and your engine’s life) and nothing to do with the HHO unit at all.
In fact the HHO unit, with or without an EFIE, does nothing to improve your vehicle’s fuel economy. In fact because the HHO unit consumes energy while having no positive impact it will actually result in a reduction in fuel economy, an increase in consumption!
Mileagebooster.co.uk - HHO scam in the UK.
Yet another anonymous emailer has drawn my attention to http://www.mileagebooster.co.uk/ and asked me for my opinion on it… really, you need to ask?
Easy, Milagebooster is a scam. See my old page on why HHO is a scam here.
They, Mekeda Publishing, are offering to sell you an ebook of how to perform the impossible and they have no proof whatsoever that it works. It cannot work, it is just another run-your-car-on-water scam.
They are als affiliated to the original HHO scammer, Ozzy Freedom, at Water4gas.
So far as I can tell, Mekeda Publishing also run a scam which looks to be altogether much more sinister, the Liberty Wealth Club.
Mekeda Publishing, 20 Bricklands, Crawley Down, Crawley, West Sussex. (a private address?)
Hydrox Solutions, more pseudo-science with university endorsement
I have been blogging about HHO for years now. One of the tools I use to try to explain to people that this “technology” does not work is that if it did work then it would have been investigated by a university somewhere, however because any scientist with any idea of their subject can see that this “technology” is preposterous claptrap, that it cannot possibly work, no scientist or university will touch it.
In all the years I have been following “hydrogen-hybrids” I have never seen any proof whatsoever that it works… and the reason that I have never seen any proof is because it does not work.
That is until now… Read the rest of this entry »
Torry E Garage - another run-your-car-on-water scam clone
I’m not sure about the latest Hydrocharger site I have found, Torry e Garage. They are defiantly selling the Hydrocharger, a technology which does not work, indeed cannot work, but they are also connected to the brain injury charity Brainhelp.
Anyway, all their website has all the same pseudo-scientific claptrap as all the run-your-car-on-water, HHO, hydrogen-hybrid websites; none of it makes any scientific sense whatsoever and none of it comes with any proof that it works. The reason they have no proof is because it does not work, indeed cannot work.
The domain is registered to: Mr Walter F Baxter, 39Menzies Road, Torry, Aberdeen, B11 9AU. Brain Help is registered to the same name at the same address. From here it all looks very sad; man with brain injury gets conned into setting up a business selling a product that does not do what he was told it does.
Carbon Clean Direct is another HHO scam
Carbon Clean Direct is another HHO, run-your-car-on-water, hydrogen hybrid (or whatever you/they want to call it today, it is all the same thing) scam which I have been blogging about for years. Their product does not work, indeed cannot work, it is preposterous pseudo-scientific nonsense.
They claim to be able to reduce you vehicle’s fuel consumption by 25%, but where does this 25% come from? An engine in good working order will burn in excess of 99% of its fuel leaving less than 1% unburned, so even if their unit made the engine 100% efficient the gain would be less then 1%, not the 25% these jokers claim. And the 40% reduction in emissions, where do they get that figure from? It is bullshit, it cannot possibly be true, so I can only guess they just made it up.
Nowhere on their website as any proof offered, no science, no scientist, no lab, no papers, no nothing. Why? Because it does not work! It is a scam!
There is no name, address or phone number on their web site - what a funny way to conduct business. Nevertheless I can tell you they are no less than Daniel Smith and Chris Clark - 07971313822, 018448871676, chris.clark@carboncleandirect.com and daniel.smith@carboncleandirect.com - allegedly at 130 Colmore Road, Birmingham (England) which is right on the edge of Victoria Square in Birmingham city centre… so I’m a bit dubious if it is a real address.
The domain name is registered to New Visual Media.
Why The Bolton Evening News endorse bullshit
Search the Bolton Evening News for Hydrocharger and you will find several articles parroting the virtues of this company… a company who are known to be selling a product that does not work. It would seem in the desperate fight to fill column-inches reporters at the paper have totally failed to investigate any of the outrageous claims made by this company and just printed their lies verbatim.
Samantha and Neil Prendergast of Hydrocharger are also responsible for WaterMotive Ltd and Water4GasUK and Tranztec UK, three more UK based HHO scams. Neil and Sam Prendergast were also the founders of “Water Fuel Expert“, an old USA based HHO scam. I wonder if there are any more I have missed?
Of course I have pointed this out to the Bolton Evening News, I have sent them several emails and made a couple of phone calls, I have even had assurances from some that my “allegations” were “being investigated”. But months later the four articles are there on line for anyone to read.
And, most mind-numbing of all, is Hydrocharger’s nomination for the award of “Start-up Business of the Year”!! See Bolton and Bury Business Awards and Business Bolton for more on this scary prospect.
I can only assume that either The Bolton Evening News are in on the scam, which I doubt, or they are spineless and can’t admit they are wrong and are hoping I will go away or shut up and stop pointing out how dumb they are being.
The four offending articles are:
- Fuel saver is way ahead
- Couple’s hopes for fuel-saver
- This year’s finalists
- Trade mission bids to foster links with India
James Higgins, Assistant Editor, assured me he was looking into the matter, as did Wes Wright. Nevertheless the articles are still on the paper’s website and Hydrocharger are still listed as being short-listed as possible winners for “Start-up Business of the Year”.
Does failing to act, given the information I have supplied, make these people complicit in the scam? I’m not sure.
James Higgins said:
We will not be removing anything from our website until we have proof to the contrary of what the people behind Hydrocharger claim. As you can probably imagine, we need to research this issue properly. We cannot simply take claims made in a couple odd internet articles to be gospel. That woudl be bad journalism.
… which is retarded to say the least! They printed several articles based on no proof whatsoever, having done no research, and are suggesting that they won’t remove the articles until they see proof to say that the claims are wrong (that would be science backwards). What is worse journalism; printing rubbish without checking your facts or refusing to remove it when it is pointed out to you?
Other people contacted are Ian Savage ian.savage@theboltonnews.co.uk and Andrew Mosley amosley@theboltonnews.co.uk .
Better Butter reduces toast consumption by 10% (and thus saves the world)
Some toast yesterday
[For immediate release - 29th November 2009]
A new Better Butter has been developed by Jon Starbuck, a British inventor, published author and entrepreneur.
Jon claims that this new Better Butter, when applied to toast, improves the toast’s “fill factor” by up to 10% (when compared to ordinary butter on toast) and yet contains no perceivable extra calories.
“This helps bridge the hunger gap”, said Mr. Starbuck, “between late-morning and lunch while eating 10% less breakfast”.
myhydrogen.co.uk - yet another HHO scam in the UK
myhydrogen.co.uk are just another example of HHO, run-your-car-on-water scams popping up in the UK in recent months.
It is the same old bullshit about being able to cut your fuel bills, in this case by 10% to 40%… but they provide no evidence whatsoever to back up these preposterous claims and no method by which it could work.
Why do the have no evidence? Because it does not work, it is a lie.
Why do they have no explanation for how it works? Because it would defy physics if it did, there is no explanation which makes and scientific sense. Where would this extra 10 % to 40% of energy come from? It is such obvious claptrap!
It is just another scam, I’m reporting them to Cornwall Trading Standards. Meanwhile save your money, these are con-men out to defraud you not entrepreneurs trying to save you money or the environment.
HHOTec bring their scam from Carolina to the UK
HHO Tec’s website has improved massively since I last saw it, and so has the sophistication and language used, but it is all risible nonsense, all bullshit dressed up as science, all a complete scam, con men after your money while pretending to be trying to save you cash and the environment at the same time.
