The process of Electrolyzing water has a minimum of two by-products, hydrogen an
d oxygen gases. As the gases are made, they rise to the top of the water - in th e form of bubbles. The bubbling action on the surface can be quite turbulent. Th e turbulence can cause foam. The foam can collect on the waters surface and get carried or sucked into the engine. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, a bubble is a gas trapped inside of a membrane. In our case, it is a water membran e. If you jump into a lake, you come out wet - right? Well the gases come out of the hydrogen generator wet. They are trapped inside a thin membrane of water. S ome of the bubbles are big; some are small; some are in the form of mist; and un der certain conditions, they are sometimes in the form of steam (steam is not a bubble). As long as the water is pure, the bubbles are not much of a problem for gasoline engines. Gasoline engines are always burning fuel mixed with water vapor in the air. They will even run while you pour water down their throat. Diesel engines are not like that. Water will not compress into vapor, inside the combustion cha mber, thus it will lockup the piston and damage the engine. Water vapor however will compress so it is ok. Diesel engines burn water vapor all of the time; it c omes from the air. One by-product of burning gasoline and diesel fuel is also water. Both fuels are hydrocarbons. Some by-products of burning carbon are Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide. The only by-product of burning hydrogen is water. So while your engine does not burn water, it sure makes a lot of it, in the form of steam. If our engines can handle water vapor, then what is the big deal about having a bubbler? For the most part, the problem is the other contents of the water. We a dd Electrolytes to the water - to increase gas production. Water is a very poor conductor of electricity - and the electrolytes change that for us, Chemically. It is the chemicals in the water that can be destructive to our engines. As the gases rise to the surface of the electrolyzer, they get trapped inside a water m embrane. The membrane contains the chemicals that are in the water. The bubbles, and the mist contain traces of the chemicals, That contaminated moisture has th e potential to cause harm to aluminum parts in our engines. The bubbler's job, in most cases, is to get rid of any foam. It can also be used to rinse or wash the gases; in other words, get rid of the chemicals. A bubbler that contains electrolytes can not wash out or remove electrolytes. To do this, you will need a second bubbler which does not contain any electrolytes. I will cover this more, later. Sometimes a bubbler is used as a Flash Arrestor; but not reliably. I have witnes sed engine backfires that passed from the intake manifold, to the bubbler, throu gh the water (from bubble to bubble) and out of the bubbler to the electrolyzer. The closer the bubbles are together, the better the chances for a flashback to make it through the water. HHO is an explosive gas. The explosion travels faster than a speeding bullet; over 3,000 feet per second. Don't trust a bubbler to st op a flashback.