HydroGEN water-cooled co2 generator - what do you think?

[sirripalot]

hey guys, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SDorIv81CA

just picked one up from the local store, going to be testing it out in a few days. they look siiiick

 

[noone88]

A few of us use it/have used it with mixed success.

1) use the water valve and run-to-waste. The water storage/water chiller method does not save a lot of power. The water usage is very minimal.
2) You can have them switch the unit to Natural Gas. Do not try to do this conversion yourself.
3) Sometimes, the unit will not stay lit even after the the pilot light has been light. My solution has been to put on a cycle timer so that the unit will refire.

The unit works well when it works heh. The CO2 output is tremendous without the hassle of dealing with a 24k btu heater (that's basically what a normal CO2 generator is).

 

[sirripalot]

i actually prefer propane since I can easily refill those, and I don't have natural gas in my house (did not prefer to).

i hope i don't have the same ignitions problems as you, but i do have n extra periodic timer i could use if i have to.

i'm definitely going the water chiller method. i read a post of somebody running a 1/15hp chiller on it and water temps were not a problem. i currently have a 1/10hp chilling my resevoir to 68F, so I was thinking I could just use my resevoir water to chill?

does anybody pump their resevoir (for plants) water through their icebox or generators? or must you have a second resevoir to cool separate water?

 

[Eminem]

i actually prefer propane since I can easily refill those, and I don't have natural gas in my house (did not prefer to).

i hope i don't have the same ignitions problems as you, but i do have n extra periodic timer i could use if i have to.

i'm definitely going the water chiller method. i read a post of somebody running a 1/15hp chiller on it and water temps were not a problem. i currently have a 1/10hp chilling my resevoir to 68F, so I was thinking I could just use my resevoir water to chill?

does anybody pump their resevoir (for plants) water through their icebox or generators? or must you have a second resevoir to cool separate water?

According to hydrogen, you can pump just about anything through it, including res water. You want to make sure its not heating up the rez though.

I had two, they are still mounted but they proved to be extremely unreliable. I had a big 1500GPH pump on each of them. Units wouldnt light or didnt stay lit. I finally gave up and installed a Sentinel burner in each room and have not had an issue with CO2 anymore.

Their directions dont give alot of info on the pump to be used except for head pressure. Alot of pumps dont give head pressure, at least the Eco-plus brand from NGW doesnt. They would be better to give GPH.

Also support sucks, no phone #, just email and when I emailed about the problem, all I got was some lame BS from the manual

 

[sirripalot]

thanks eminem. damn bro i have to say i'm very pissed right now.

i got mine, hooked the shit up only to find that it's clogged? after reading they say I don't have a big enough pump. I've got a 1200gph pump that has a diagram up to 20'. now after contacting my local shop i've got to go through contacting the manufacturer, this shit isn't cool.

has anybody else had this experience? it's like something in there has clogged the unit? i have tons of water going to the generator, but barely any comes out. i've hooked the thing directly up to my sink, water comes out, but i swear this thing is not putting the right amount of water through the output! can anybody confirm this suspicion? possibly a video of the water lines of your co2 generator?

i think i may got with a vented co2 generator after all..and return this bitch.

one thing to keep in mind is that the one I got must be a newer model? it's silver, not black. noone88 you said something about the pilot, this model doesn't have a pilot light. you can either use the water to ignite it, or a plug-in igniter.

does anybody have an experience with vented co2 burners vs the hydrogen water-cooled? i'm still on the edge between giving this one another chance (i'm really stoked about the co2 output), or just giving up and going with a vented. any thoughts?

 

[sirripalot]

what do you guys think, should i give this hydroGen another chance?

i CANNOT use a regular burner, as the heat generated is simply way too high for my sealed room, as I want to avoid A/C. would you say the hydroGEN is my only option? anybody have any air cooled burners they would like to recommend?

 

[Eminem]

you can try using a bigger pump. Maybe contact hydrogen and ask them WHAT pump they recommend.

I know I had to play with the water flow setting on my unit. I think I had to turn it down to make it work

Heres one thread on it. There is a guy named cotyledons or something. He only seemed to reply in hydrogen threads so look for posts by him. Dongle also linked to two other thread at the end of that thread, click those.

www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=125664&highlight=hydrogen

I know alot of discussion has gone on about these.

And its not going to remove ALL the heat from the room. I dont see you are going to run a sealed room with no A/C no matter what CO2 unit you get. Have you thought about CO2 tanks?

 

[Bozo]

A vented open burner model is bigger and costs alot more .Last I checked decent vented burner was around $700 plus a fan .
I dont think a Hydrogen is worth it unless you use city water dtw, . That said I still love my design . Hydrogen makes a exhaust cooler if you dont want to build your own ,without one they only scrub 50% of the heat from the exhaust /co2.

 

[sirripalot]

you can try using a bigger pump. Maybe contact hydrogen and ask them WHAT pump they recommend.

I know I had to play with the water flow setting on my unit. I think I had to turn it down to make it work

Heres one thread on it. There is a guy named cotyledons or something. He only seemed to reply in hydrogen threads so look for posts by him. Dongle also linked to two other thread at the end of that thread, click those.

www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=125664&highlight=hydrogen

I know alot of discussion has gone on about these.

And its not going to remove ALL the heat from the room. I dont see you are going to run a sealed room with no A/C no matter what CO2 unit you get. Have you thought about CO2 tanks?

so i gave it another shot. i actually took it apart, and found two adjustment screws at the water input, so i opened one up a little bit and could definitely hear/see the increase in flow.

i think i may have been expecting more waterflow through the unit, and that's why i thought it was clogged? I'm using the 3/4" connections, not the 1/2" so, on my drain line (it's clear), i can see the water coming out..but the tube isn't FULL..get me?

can anybody confirm that the unit INDEED puts out less water than you're giving it. (i can squeeze the input line to my chiller, and then the output line to the burner and I can feel the pressure build up..is this supposed to be the case? pressure builds up so it appears less water is coming out?

as far as the heat in the sealed room, i was hoping since the room is sealed i wouldn't have to run the burner that often? i was thinking about just setting up a timer so the burner runs for like 10 minutes in the morning or something? that not enough?

 

[Bozo]

I cant answer your water questions .I know it wont run unless you have enough pressure.DTW gives me plenty of volume and pressure.A magnetic drive pump will not give you consistent pressure.
my room is 8x8x7 if I left burner on for 10 minutes Co2 levels would be in ranges that can be harmfull to plants and animals ,not to mention all the oxygen in space may be used up and CO gas may build up .Room fulla plants will use the co2 and levels drop from 1500 to 1400 with in 15 minutes the bigger the plants get the more co2 they will use.Without a co2 controller you are guessing what the level is

 

[sirripalot]

I cant answer your water questions .I know it wont run unless you have enough pressure.DTW gives me plenty of volume and pressure.A magnetic drive pump will not give you consistent pressure.
my room is 8x8x7 if I left burner on for 10 minutes Co2 levels would be in ranges that can be harmfull to plants and animals ,not to mention all the oxygen in space may be used up and CO gas may build up .Room fulla plants will use the co2 and levels drop from 1500 to 1400 with in 15 minutes the bigger the plants get the more co2 they will use.Without a co2 controller you are guessing what the level is

yeah i determined i definitely have enough pressure. i just don't like this thing guys. i ran it for a few minutes and it definitely does the job (the water coming out of the burner is hella hot), BUT i turned the burners off, and left the water on just to see how my chiller ran, having to pump slowly through the generator. it's ruins everything. since the water is only pumping through the generator so slow, my chiller can't even keep the water cool like it used to!

i'm pissed to have to figure this out after i dropped 400 bucks on this thing. hopefully my local shop will let me return it! i'm going with the tank/regulator..and i'll get a monitor..hopefully i just don't have to refill the thing a million times.

does anybody have any experience to share with tanks (what size you use, how often you refill..etc). my room will be sealed, and it 4x7x8.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Sounds like you guys are being the guinea pigs for a new product. That means that others should shy away from it until the bugs are worked out.

Is it made in China? If so that explains the crap tech support and the crap manual. Stick with proven methods until a couple years passes.

(but then again, without guinea pigs like you where would the improvements come from? no guinea pigging for me. ymmv)

 

[Eminem]

The water that comes out is very hot, and I ddint get alot of water out of it either. I felt like I had enough pressure because I took the tube off and allowed it to come out and alot of water came out. I also had a larger run from the unit to my water tank.

If you use city water DTW check out this guy

http://shop.ebay.com/valves4projects/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=

He sells the same valves for much less than hydrogen. I bought all my valves from him, think his name is Esra.

 

[sirripalot]

damn em, nice find! shit. thanks a lot. yeah em i saw you commented earlier somewhere that the unit should have more waterflow, and i AGREE. I feel like the icebox has much greater water flow and would allow more efficient heat dissipation, plus just more general usability.

who knows if my shop will take it back, if not fuck it..400 down the drain..i'll make it back

i'm going with the tank/regulator method, just have to find a reliable store.

 

[Lazyman]

Yeah, I posted in the other thread on this too. HydroGen's just should NOT be used with a pump, drain to waste only on city or well water. Period! If you don't have problems with a pump setup, you will, shortly.

I don't see the point in chilling the water out of it, what a huge waste of electricity and as you pointed out, the output from the unit isn't enough to keep a chiller happy anyway.

I'm probably getting one (just saw them for $299) but will just drain to waste, or maybe put it through a small heat exchanger with a fan on a thermostat, so I can add heat back to my room when needed before it dumps in my field.

 

[sirripalot]

Yeah, I posted in the other thread on this too. HydroGen's just should NOT be used with a pump, drain to waste only on city or well water. Period! If you don't have problems with a pump setup, you will, shortly.

I don't see the point in chilling the water out of it, what a huge waste of electricity and as you pointed out, the output from the unit isn't enough to keep a chiller happy anyway.

I'm probably getting one (just saw them for $299) but will just drain to waste, or maybe put it through a small heat exchanger with a fan on a thermostat, so I can add heat back to my room when needed before it dumps in my field.

yeah they're instructions don't make sense. why would they tell you to attach this thing directly to your chiller when the output can't even keep up..heh. i agree drain-to-waste all the way.

 

[pro engineer]

Guys

I look into buying one, but after some research I decided against it. Here's why.

1. Made in Chine = no or little QC/QA

2.It's somebody's wet dream convert a gas fired water heater into a co2 generator.

3. Depending on how hook it up, you could waste a lot of water.

4.Piping, pumps and tanks adds to the cost. Don't get me wrong I can handle the install.

5.I couldn't get an answer to this one. Is it UL or AGA listed. If not I'm not using it period......

So here's what I'm using a Plug & Grow IGS-220 controller and a Plug & Grow 24,000 btu NG co2 generator with the optional heat exchanger. two years running and no problems. Outstanding products made in Canada.

PE

 

[sirripalot]

Guys

I look into buying one, but after some research I decided against it. Here's why.

1. Made in Chine = no or little QC/QA

2.It's somebody's wet dream convert a gas fired water heater into a co2 generator.

3. Depending on how hook it up, you could waste a lot of water.

4.Piping, pumps and tanks adds to the cost. Don't get me wrong I can handle the install.

5.I couldn't get an answer to this one. Is it UL or AGA listed. If not I'm not using it period......

So here's what I'm using a Plug & Grow IGS-220 controller and a Plug & Grow 24,000 btu NG co2 generator with the optional heat exchanger. two years running and no problems. Outstanding products made in Canada.

PE

is this what you're talking about? http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=2475

What sort of heat output does this thing produce? Looks like it's almost double the price of the hydroGEN. that's something to consider.

the hydroGEN's co2 output is phenomenal, i think if they just beefed up the exchanger for more water flow it would be a killer. because i'm sealing my room with no A/C, i'm going the tank route. thanks for the info bro.

 

[pro engineer]

Yes that's the one I'm using. My set up is a seal room very air tight. 6000 watt and a 2 ton mini split. I don't use optional heat exchanger right now. You can buy it with out it if you wish. Any way my controller is set at 1500 ppm. It runs for a minute or two then is off for 10-15 minutes so the heat load is very low. Very easy set up just a gas line and plug it into the controller and your done.

PE

 

[FMCDomer]

so pro engineer. what makes this heat exchanger unit better than the others when your not even using the heatexchanger?

wouldn't it be as efficient as some other 1 burner?