July 17, 2023 – Remarkably, Rob Gourley with assistance by others overhauled Big Jake gas machine in 10 days. This morning, I helped Rob load the big machine onto a trailer rented from Home Depot. While hanging close to Big Jake as Rob was strapping it down to the trailer, I heard a noise that I had not ever heard before … Big Jake was making burping sounds! Rob told me that the new electrolyte solution that he added to the machine earlier this morning was flowing through all of the 80 cells. It is funny to me that our largest WIT Machine that produces DiTetra Gas actually burbs when new electrolyte solution is added to it.
Rob estimated that the overhaul involved over 1,500 parts. Each one was disassembled by hand (or by using tools), either cleaned by bead-blasting or replaced, and then reassembled. We are talking about a lot of metal plates, fiberglass dividers, new o-rings, fasteners, hoses, tanks and electrical connectors. The photo shows Rob reconnecting the two units, the 80 cells are in the bottom part of Big Jake, and the second working unit with the power supply, plumbing, cooling fan and various tanks is the top part of Big Jake. Having plumbing to circulate water inside an electrical machine makes Big Jake a novel machine compared to most machines plus it makes a novel gas!
As I write this at 4:45 pm Monday (today), the good news is Big Jake is back at the bottling plant but Rob is coming back from Tampa to the office to get more parts and a schematic for reconnecting the cooling fan. It will be a late night for Rob since he will be bubbling the next tank of purified water tonight so the Watt-Ahh liter bottles can be produced tomorrow. We hope to have the 16.9 oz. bottles back in stock by next week.
Below is a photo of Big Jake reassembled, burping on the new electrolyte solution and ready to go for a ride up I-75 this morning!
The “Big Jake” Saga Continues
Rob and I headed back to the bottling plant so Rob can work on Big Jake that night. It is making lots of gas but not building internal pressure. I was trying to listen for a hissing sound like when a tire is losing air pressure. Rob explained that DiTetra Gas is such a tiny molecule that it can go thru a pinhole of a metal tank and could not be heard by the human ear. DiTetra Gas is definitely a “ghost gas” and is very elusive. Today (July 18th), Rob is heading back to the bottling plant with an air compressor and pressure gauge (elements of air have larger molecules compared to DiTetra Gas) and just like finding an air leak in a tire, Rob will smear liquid soap on the various tanks and hoses to find the “fugitive” opening. Once he knows which tank, he will bring it back to his workshop to weld the repair. Stay tuned!
Hissing and Kissing “Big Jake”
On the second day, Rob added air to pressure up Big Jake and he finally found the hose culprit. A hose attached to the gas dryer had a small split in it and gave an audible hissing sound at 40 psi of air. At Rob’s request, I dashed to Silliman Fluid Power to pickup new fittings before they closed and drove to the bottling plant. Rob got all of the new parts installed and I had the honor of turning power onto Big Jake. The pressure doubled so Rob had the optimum gas pressure to start bubbling the tank of ultra pure water for conversion into Watt-Ahh. We got home around 2 am the next morning. Rob was happy and one of the photos below shows Rob kissing Big Jake. Rob took the photo also below of me kissing the full tank of sweet-tasting Watt-Ahh!
Big Jake’s screen showing optimum DiTetra Gas pressure to bubble ultra pure water in the tank.
When Big Jake got back working again, Rob kissed it.
Watt-Ahh World at the Top of the Tank (about 25 feet from the floor using a manlift). Rob is taking initial baseline water-quality measurements before bubbling.
Bubbles of DiTetra Gas
Dana kissing the large tank of Watt-Ahh.