I spent a very interesting hour or so this evening talking on the phone with Justin Church about his ‘H-Cat’ system which came to my attention earlier today. I have spent some time trying to learn as much as I can about the experiments he is doing, and after talking with Justin I have a clearer idea of what he is doing, and what his hopes are. Below are some of the main points we covered in our conversation. Justin, if you read this and need to make any corrections, please do so!
I was interested in the setup he is using in the video I posted earlier of Justin injecting HHO gas into the catalytic converter. These are the main specs.
Power supply: 400 W power supply orignally intended for ham radio. 12 volts DC connected to grid.
HHO gas production: Justin Church’s ‘LiL Water Torch 1.0’ electrolysis system (can be seen here)
Catalytic converter: a used catalytic converter (didn’t get the brand). Justin said it is much better to used a new cc as there is a carbon build-up in the used ones that needs to be scraped away for the experiment to operate well.
Safety system: Justin said that he uses a water-filled tube (a ‘bubbler’) to run the gas through, and also a ‘flashback arrester’ which is a porous piece of plastic or metal (can’t remember which)
I think Justin mentioned that the flashback arrester acted as a diffusor for the gas, so that it is spread out when it hits the substrate in the catalytic converter. The surface area of active material inside the cc is about 8-12 square inches.
In Justin’s ‘H-Cat’ system, the gas is injected onto the substrate of catalytic converter from a distance of between 3-6 inches. The gas is ‘raw’, meaning it is not ignited into a flame. However when it hits the substrate, it causes it to produce heat. Justin has said he has measured temperatures of over 900 F.
I asked Justin the longest time that the experiment had run, producing heat, and he said 6-8 hours.
He mentioned there were times when he reduced the gas flow, but the temperature of the cc did not decrease.
I asked him how much it might cost a person to get the necessary equipment to run this experiment, and he estimated around $800 if you bought everything at retail prices — considerably less if you used homemade and/or used equipment.
Justin said his motivation for doing this work is so he doesn’t have to pay for propane or electricity to heat his home, and find a way to help humanity with this technology. He says he believes it’s time that people in the LENR community (business and science) should stop being so secretive and so concerned with making money. He wants to see more people involved in testing this system; so far he has been disappointed with the lack of interest.
I brought up the subject of safety. Justin said that the bubbler and flasback arrester help with safety.
My takeway from all I have learned about this system today: This seems to be an open-source, possibly LENR system that mechanically- and experimentally-inclined people might be interested in trying to replicate, since it uses off-the shelf parts that can be obtained relatively inexpensively. I think it is important to bring up the issue of safety. Proper safety precautions should be used in any experiment, and experimenters should carefully study all safety issues surrounding this particular experiment, and take all necessary precautions.
I have created a new category in the E-Cat World Forum called ‘H-Cat Topics’ where readers might like to discuss issues pertaining to this system, including reports and results of experimentation.