Gas savings with hydrogen technology?

HASTINGS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - As the price of gas keeps climbing, and folks look for ways to save money, one West Michigan mechanic wonders why more people aren't asking him.

Newschannel 3 went out to talk to Les Pollyea about a technology that he says will do wonders for your gas mileage.

So many options for increasing fuel efficiency have come on the market in recent years, but few actually work. Now, some people are pushing for hydrogen converters to be installed under the hood, but does it work? Les Pollyea of State Street Motors in Hastings says that it does.

It looks like something out of a science fiction movie, two bubbling containers under the hood. Pollyea says the bubbles shows that it's working.

"You're getting a much better burn out of the gasoline by introducing the hydrogen," Pollyea said.

It's called an HHO converter, it essentially runs electricity from the car battery through a container of water to break it down into hydrogen and oxygen gases. The hydrogen is then pumped into the engine to be burned, Pollyea says he's enjoying a whopping savings on gas already.

He installs the devices, ten of them already, for customers at his garage. Pollyea says he's gotten calls from all over the United States and has big plans for installing more of the devices, which cost between $400 to $900 a piece.

"By using more of the fuel that goes into the engine, means we're going to get more miles to the gallon plus reduce emissions that are coming out," Pollyea said.

Pollyea says he knows the devices work from personal experience he says he has a 1997 Suburban that went from 13 mpg to 19 mpg using HHO technology.

If the devices do in fact work, it could be a breakthrough, but everywhere Newschannel 3 turned to get independent confirmation, we were met with skepticism.

"Let's just say I think you would get more result, more enjoyment out of your three or four hundred dollar investment buying and installing one of these devices by putting these dollar bills in your driveway and lighting them on fire," said Mike Allen from Popular Mechanics.

Allen has done an awful lot of research on the topic to see if hydrogen really works to get better gas mileage.

Allen says that "the problem with that is that it takes more energy to make that hydrogen oxygen mixture then when you get it by burning it in the engine."

Allen said that some of these generators manipulate car emissions, which is actually breaking federal law, so we wanted clarification from Pollyea.

Newschannel 3 asked if the devices have passed any mandated EPA testing at all.

"No, it's not really needed," Pollyea said, "from my understanding, and I'm not an expert when it comes to the EPA, all we're doing is adding an additive to the fuel."

Newschannel 3 spoke with the EPA, which told us that it hasn't approved any type of hydrogen product, including the one in Barry County.