accually baking soda gives off some nasty stuff
its ok to use but you need to keep on adding when you fill up
if you use lye or potassium hydroxideyou only need to add it in your first fill
after that only add distilled water.
and as far as how much lye or KOH to use??
it wont take much mabe one table spoon per gallon.
but try diffrent mixtures, a little goes a long way.
and for your plates, the more surface area the better.
do you have them set up in series?
if you can get your hands on some good 316 stainless
your cell wil be alot cleaner
the 304 ss in the plates still corrode over time
and use distilled water!
rain water is to dirty! i know its cheap...lol
but a gallon of distilled water is only about a dollar!
and your cell will stay cleaner...way cleaner
having the O2 unpluged for tests is ok
no long term effects
ive had mine unpluged for about a year and no problems yet
its also not my only car!