site located at http://h-minus-ion.vpinf.com

Introduction

First, for a recap, the term ERW stands for "electrolyzed reduced water", or water which has been electrochemically modified by electrolysis to enrich it with the h-minus ion (in a caged, protected form, of course, given its incredibly short mean free lifetime in many environments!)  Further, the term "RW" stands for the broader category of "reduced water", which includes water which has had it's ORP shifted into the reducing region by any of a number means, only a small percentage of which might involve electricity or electrolysis.  Therefore, while the category of RW includes ERW, it also includes water which exhibits a high concentration of H-minus ions, but which was not produced by any electrical means (such as electrolysis).

This educational, public-service website has been totally self-supported by the author, Vinny Pinto, since its inception in October 2000.  My expenditures for this site have grown to over $480, not counting my research or authorship efforts.  I have considered banner ads, paid text ads, and other commercial means to help support this site, but, frankly, all offend me and would not be in keeping with the spirit of the community I intend to support.  Therefore, I am now actively asking for donations to help me to support this site -- even two dollars helps!  If you wish to donate, you may do so by using your credit card, ATM card, debit card, or transfer from your bank account, via fully secure means, using Paypal.  To make a donation, please go to the Donations and Support page!  All transactions are secure; in all cases, you get to choose the donation amount!

Thank you very much!

Vinny Pinto

Over the past year, I have received number of e-mails, at the rate of about 3 per week, asking me questions about:

• how to build a home-made batch ionizer to produce high-strength ERW
• how the writer can salvage or repair their botched home water ionizer project
• how to make ERW without spending anywhere from $529 to $4,00 for a commercially-made ionizer 
• how to make reduced water (RW) without electricity 
• whether some various means (usually drops sold by health foods mail-order vendors) will convert tap water to "reduced water"
• whether some magic ceramic "laundry balls" will produce RW for them easily and cheaply

Notes on "Poor Results" Obtained With Kitchen Countertop Ionizers

In response to many inquiries: an ORP of about -150 using tap water from a Jupiter Technos or other counter-top ionizer is perfectly normal, and appropriate for the entire class of countertop tapwater ionizers, since the water is moving past the electrodes at a fairly fast rate, and since most tap water has little in the way of Ca, Mg or Na ions to increase conductivity.  I do have a souped-up Technos Jupiter which produces "alkaline" water with an ORP of about -820 mv, but it does not run on direct-supply tap water, but rather pre-treated water (0.1 g/liter of NaCl added) from a 5 gallon reservoir the flow rate of which is controlled precisely by a digitally-controlled metering pump, usually at a flow rate of about 1.8 gallons per minute.

However, the Technos Jupiter had to be beefed up to handle the increased current flow in the electrolysis chamber, due to overheating of the power supply.  I needed to drill the case with ventilation holes and add two muffin fans to force air through the device and especially over the circuit boards.
 

Notes on Batch Water Ionizers, Electrodes, Electrode Size, and Membranes

I have never heard of anyone successfully using porous cotton as a "membrane", although it appears that one correspondent has not been entirely unsuccessful.  Here is my own critique of common home-brew water ionizer designs...

First, what we DO know about what does work well:
The electrodes need to have a large surface area, and to be only a small distance apart to reduce resistance and maximize current flow.  For example, my commercial ($1,600 purchase) batch water ionizer (alkaline water with ORPs approaching -1,050, and an ORP of -831 with 0.1 grams/liter of NaCl added, for 15-minute batches) uses two parallel flat (Pt/Ti) electrodes which measure about 6" x 8", and the spacing is only about 1/2" or less.  The membrane is just a bit larger (add 3/8 inch of free space on each side) than those dimensions, is backed by rigid nylon screening to provide stability and rigidity, and effectively divides the large rectangular ionizing chamber into two wells, one anodic and one cathodic (taps at bottom for drainage.)  The membrane measures about 6 1/2" x 8 1/2", and is some type of acid-treated Gore-Tex synthetic filtering membrane which has been shown experientially to provide good ionic isolation.  The device seems to run 24 vDC at about 3 amps.

I tend to use large surface area electrodes and membranes so that run time is 15 minutes or less, and the commercial products seem to do the same.  Yes, you will lose some of the H-minus at a 12-hour run time, due to light, heat, oxygen dissolving in the water and reacting with some free H, and also steady-state escape of H2 into the atmosphere, which will cause (vapor partial pressure and dielectric rules) more H-minus to come out of dielectric interstitial water "cages" and revert to being plain 'ole H2 gas, dissolved.

For the membrane, I find that most folks use Gore-Tex or treated Gore-Tex, or some other off-brand substitute PTFE fabric with small pores.  Gore-Tex is extremely pissy about providing even small samples measuring over 1" by 1" of their fabric; they claim their refusal is due to contractual protections built into their agreements with their major customers.  They are simply uncooperative.  I am told that one can go to some well-supplied fabric stores and purchase any of several varieties of nylon, PTFE or "waterproof but breathable synthetic" fabrics, and use these as the membranes, backed by some rigid screening to provide structural stability.  My own tests indicate that several of these fabrics seem to work well. Of course, some good lab supply houses carry rolls of treated PTFE filter membrane fabric for ionic separation, but it is costly.
 

Some Notes to Two Correspondents Regarding Home-brew Water Ionizers

I suspect that you are seeing poor results because of all of the following factors: 

• the surface area of your electrodes may be too small 
• the two electrodes may not be parallel and closely spaced 
• the two electrodes seem to be very far apart 
• the cross-section or surface area of your filter in the 1/2" pipe between cells effectively reduces the "bottleneck of conductivity" to an area of about 3/8" diameter 
• the cotton membrane may be leaking ions past a certain threshold of osmotic concentration 

Regarding your observations of your cell:
Mineral buildup on cathode is not unusual, and this is why all commercial water ionizers use some form of self-cleaning after each cycle, which may involve either: 

• running reverse current thru the electrodes for a few seconds to dislodge mineral deposits and clean chamber 
• reversing chamber polarity each session -- e.g. the left chamber is the cathodic chamber one session and it is the anodic chamber the next session.  This also keeps the membrane from "aging" due to mineral and ionic clogging. 

I suspect that the main reason you noted so little increase in current flow with larger electrodes was the small effective surface area of the membrane.

The ORP will eventually "fall off" (regress toward positive) after prolonged run times due to all the following: 

• depletion of "electrolyte ions" such as Na, Ca, Mg in the water, and reduction in current flow 
• constant escape of hydrogen gas into the atmosphere from cathodic water 
• migration of "cross-contaminating" ions and gases across an imperfect filter membrane 
• eventual increase in surface resistance of metal electrodes due to mineral deposits, resulting in decrease in current. 
• eventual degradation and "clogging" of filter membrane, due to deposits of minerals and other impurities 
• eventual degradation of filter membrane due to electro-mobilized formation of current "bridges" and "porosity" leaks (aka tunneling) 

Once your design is successful and stable, you should not need run times of more than 10 to 20 minutes per batch.

I have several friends, each trained scientists with massive experiential background in electricity, electronics and engineering, who have built massive bulk generators of H-minus-ion charged water using large rectangular 30-gallon or 40-gallon (in one case, 200 gallon) plastic-walled wells, divided in the center by a commercial laboratory-quality PTFE fabric membrane on rigid plastic screening, and using massive parallel platinum/titanium electrodes, with up to 210 vDC as the ionizing current.  Of course, this massive DC voltage could kill or maim someone in an instant, so massive and multi-layered automatic safety disconnects are needed to protect the operator during those "thoughtless" moments which we all experience. 
Example: I once, at age 13, grabbed a hot power supply wire (in my UHF radio research laboratory) carrying +1,400 vDC [at up to 1 ampere continuous] with my right hand, while holding a grounded metal bar with my left hand.  It almost killed me.  I simply was not paying attention!
If you decide to use voltages over 24 vDC, please be CAREFUL!

YES, PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!

One above-mentioned friend who has built massive batch water ionizers almost died as a result of a massive shock received when he accidentally grabbed the two wet and HOT electrodes with his bare wet (salted water) hands, and spent months with painful burns as a result.  Fortunately, he fell (was thrown) backwards by the convulsive effect on his arms, and the force pulled the DC power cables out of the power supplies, disconnecting the current as his head hit the floor and he was knocked unconscious (for 20 minutes).  Now, 10 years later, he has some serious cardiac arrythmias as a result of damage to his heart from the current.

The 0.35 grams of NaCl per gallon of H20:  about 1/4 to 1/3 of a 1/8th teaspoon kitchen measuring spoon.  I usually try to find something like a tiny spoon which holds about 350 mg, to make it easy to shovel out the salt.

ORP and curves.   As I recall, ORP is a semi-logarithmic scale, and each change of 59 mv in ORP indicates a 10-fold change in free electrons (antioxidant power), and each 118 mv change indicates a 100-fold change.  This is all based on the Nernst equation (for redox) and the work of derivative authors since then who have modified the Nernst equation.  I have an Excel sheet somewhere showing all this ORP versus free-electrons relationship. 

By the way, I was an EE at one time in my life, but have switched careers many times since then. 

The above topic leads us to... . . . 
 

Notes on Some Commercial Laboratory Hydrogen Generators Which Use Electrolysis

I have in my laboratory a commercial ($9,000 new) hydrogen generator which uses a pressurized electrolytic well (heavily-doped water in a special mesh polymer electrode, constantly refilled under high pressure via high-pressure pump from a water reservoir) to produce the pressurized hydrogen gas, and it uses for the electrolyzing current a 24-volt DC supply which can source 38 amperes continuously.  Phew!  This monster produces about 300 ml per minute of hydrogen gas, at up to 120 psi above ambient atmospheric pressure.

I have in my lab another ($11,000 new) commercial hydrogen generator which uses pure platinum coaxial electrodes in a coaxial bath of heavily-doped (sodium hydroxide) water.  The H gas percolates thru the central hollow negative platinum electrode to escape into a central tube and, after filtering, supplies pressurized hydrogen gas at up to 100 psi above atmospheric. Runs 24 volts DC at about 17 amps. 
 

Some General Questions and Answers About Reduced Water and the Physics Thereof

You asked:
Could you tell me what does the H- ion looks like?  To be negative it must have one proton and two electrons, right?  How can it be stable?

My answer:
The H-minus ion is a proton with 2 electrons, and, as related on my website, it was previously thought that it primarily existed in stable form at high temperatures in plasmas (you know, super heated gases which are radiant) and in stars.  It was thought that its half-life at STP on earth's surface was only on the order of femtoseconds, due to reactivity.  However -- and there is more on my H-minus website about this -- it has been discovered that apparently singlet H and H-minus can indeed be stable at STP in the biosphere, in any of several ways (see my website).  In the water, it appears that the H- forms clusters or cages of water around it, forming structured but amorphous water clusters, and that the cages protect it until a biological molecule wants the electron.

In silica (as in  MegaH, aka MegaH-™ ) and certain other molecules which are already in a particular amorphous crystalline configuration, H-minus can also exist and remain protected for a long time in stable form, forming a hydride known as a metallic dielectric interstitial hydride, whereas the really reactive and nasty hydrides such as LiH and CaH store H-minus as a metallic interstitial hydride.

Question: As you generate high negative ORP what happens to the pH level in the alkaline
water?

Well, electrolysis of water is only one of several ways to create reduced water high in H-minus ions and their associated water cages or clusters, and with extremely negative ORP, and it is about  the only method which might involve significant shift of pH to the strongly alkaline region due to concentration of alkaline mineral ions. (The other methods are largely proprietary, and I can reveal little further information about them.  However, to tantalize you and perhaps tease your mind into making some intuitive shifts, I can tell you that I have in my kitchen (and more in my lab) an ordinary 1/2 gallon amber jug, with no electrical or electronic devices attached at all. I add tap water with an ORP of perhaps +390 to the jug, and the next morning, the water has an ORP of -220, and tests reveal that the water has strong reducing powers, which is really a better indicator of presence of the H-minus ion than is ORP alone.) To learn more about non-electrical means of producing RW, you may wish to see my page on this site entitled Means and Methods of Modifying the ORP and Particularly, the Reducing Potential, of Water

Nonetheless, when performing electrolysis to produce "ionized" electrolyzed reduced water (ERW), the shift to alkaline pH of the reduced water is essentially an accidental corollary, and not inextricably linked to concentration of H-minus ions.  Having said that, in general it is true that pH continues to increase as we drive the ORP of the reduced water more and more into the negative region when reducing water via electrolysis.  For example, I have here several devices which produce electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) with an ORP of about -830 mv. (some even ranging to -920 mv.), and at an ORP of -830, the pH usually measures in the range of 11.2 to 12.2.  However, see notes below for further information on this!

Question: i.e. at -150mv the pH may be around 8.5 as the ORP increases; what is the correlation, i.e. does the pH just continue or does it stabilize?

Answer:
Increases only slowly. See text and examples above. Further, if this high pH were an issue of concern, one could find ways of scavenging the metal (Zn, Ca, Na, Mg, etc.) ions which are producing the high pH, if desired, or of neutralizing them. 

Question: If so how does the water reach a saturation point with the pH and continue to increase the ORP in the negative direction. I am missing the link between how the pH increases ( I believe it has to do with the mineral content in the water to start with ) and the ORP is splitting of OH- as more electrons are introduced into the water through the electrolysis process?

Answer:
In "traditional" electrolysis of water through a membrane to produce reduced water, it is commonly believed that the pH increases due to a concentration of the ions of certain minerals (Ca, Mg, Zn, etc.) which are produced and then trapped in the reducing cell by the membrane.

Question: The reason I am asking this is that if the pH does increase with increasing negative ORP then it can't be beneficial to drink water with a very high pH, even though the ORP is highly negative.

Answer:
For most people, it does not seem to be an issue.  The pH is really not that serious an issue, even for human consumption, as there are several factors to consider: 

• the pH of most such reduced water is what is called "poorly buffered" -- it has little "staying power" or "resilience", and is relatively fragile; it will drop easily when it hits organic material such as GI tract contents 
• pH is a logarithmic scale, while, if I recall correctly, ORP is a semi-logarithmic scale, so, even with conventional water ionizer technology, the pH does NOT increase as quickly as ORP changes 
• perhaps you are letting high pH numbers in the 11 or 12 region scare you.  To add perspective, please consider that humans regularly consume liquids which exhibit an acidic pH every bit as far removed from neutral pH (7.0) as the alkalinity of even strongly electrolyzed reduced water.   For example, some commercial cola drinks exhibit a pH of about 2.0, which is 5 units below neutral pH (7.0), and some of these cola drinks exhibit a pH which is much more strongly buffered than the alkaline pH of most ERW.  Please remember that some folks in Western societies consume a gallon or more of such liquids daily, without much immediate obvious ill effect.  I am told that the same (acidic pH phenomena) is true of some black coffee drinks and a few other commercially-available drinks as well. 

Question: I was reading about your souped-up Jupiter Technos ionizer and am interested in building a
unit to produce some water with an ORP in the range of -700 to -900mv. We don't have any machines in the country that can do this that are available to buy. Those that we can import are far too expensive and out of our price range so we are going to have a go at making our own.  Do you have any more notes on the finer detail of how you went about modifying the Jupiter. This will allow us to do some experimenting of our own. Then we can set the record straight in our own minds.

Answer:
What country are you in? In the USA, one can buy (see my website for the link to Ion and Light in SF) a Japanese Super Oxide Labo for about $1,600, and it will produce over 1/2 gallon each batch of highly reduced water with an ORP of -831.  The smaller Super Oxide Mini sells for about $1,200.  I recently sold one in slightly-used condition for $600.

I souped up the Jupiter Technos (I have mentioned some of this on the website) and created a new system by:

• adding ventilation holes and a muffin cooling fan to the cabinet to prevent overheating
• switching the water input from the flow diverter on the faucet to a 6-gallon reservoir (easily refilled by hose or bucket) which holds water which has had sea salt added at the rate of 0.10 g/liter. 
• a valve at the bottom of the reservoir feeds a laboratory-quality digitally controlled metering pump (cost $1,000) which can precisely regulate the water flow to the Jupiter from 0.01 gallons per minute to 20 gallons per minute. 
• here is also a variety of check valves, flow control valves, and many feet of vinyl tubing. 

With this device, I can produce strong ERW (ORP of -800 mv.) at the rate of about 2 gallons per minute. 

Unfortunately, if you read my description of what I did to the Jupiter Technos closely, you will see that the total cost is about $2,000, which is well more than the purchase price for a Super Oxide Labo commercial batch water ionizer (about $1,600).  Further, it takes up a good part of my kitchen and kitchen wall, and looks like a Rube Goldberg invention.

Question: Do you recommend any tests that we should have done with our blood etc
prior to us testing the effects of ERW our health?

Answer:
Don't know anything about blood or anything, don't know about tests either.

Question: Also what do you think of the "Ultra-Super Water Filter" on the market. They are trying to discredit the water ionizers on the market.  Do they have any merit in what they are saying?

Answer:
Some of the folks pushing distilled water and hyper-clean water regularly knock tap water, well water and ionized water, and in fact, all water except their distilled water.  That is their business.  Use your mind, heart and intuition and make your own choices. I cannot and will not do this for you. 
 

Question:  A question for you. If water contains Silica Hydride (as well as Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium) would this hide/disguise the true negative ORP potential of the water?

Your answer would be appreciated.

Answer:

You have asked a fascinating question.  Why?  Well, here goes:

First, when you say "silica hydride", do you mean:

1)  the silica hydride which was know only to primarily industrial chemists until now, and which is a rather reactive gas, which is an interstitial metallic hydride
OR
2)  the substance developed by Patrick Flanagan which also bears the same name, but which is a solid in a small colloidal form, and which is an interstitial dielectric hydride, and has really been recognized by the scientific community in the past 19 months, and acknowledged in the scientific literature as being a real dielectric hydride with antioxidant nutritional properties?

Second, the only "silica hydride" of the latter type (2) above available to consumers is already "charged" with the negative hydrogen ion, and thus, when exposed to water, will slowly start releasing it to maintain ionic equilibrium and gas pressure equilibrium (basic laws of physics and chemistry).  When silica hydride (type 2) is depleted of the h-minus ion, then it is no longer silica hydride, but silica in a colloidal form, with perhaps a small amount of calcium, magnesium and other trace substances present as well. 

So, if the silica hydride it truly the stuff mentioned as Type 2 above, then it will tend to DONATE H- ions to the surrounding aqueous environment (if any), unless the ORP of water, due to the H-minus ion and H-singlet forms, is WEAKER (smaller negative ORP) than the equilibrium point for "fresh" silica hydride, which is about -880 mv. 

However, if the ORP (due to H-minus ion and H-singlet forms) of a surrounding aqueous environment is STRONGER (larger negative ORP) than the equilibrium point of silica hydride, then conceivably the silica hydride might accumulate even more of the H-minus ion, thus depleting the ORP. 

Of course, if you put "depleted" silica hydride, which is really now only silica in colloidal form (in a special buckeyball state) in water which has a strongly negative ORP due to presence of H-ion and singlet atomic H (rather than a strongly negative ORP due to dissolved H2 gas, which is also a possibility), then the nano-colloidal silica , if certain other conditions are met, will start to "grab" some of the free H- ions and slowly,  molecules of nano-colloidal silica will be converted to silica hydride (type 2).

So, FINALLY, the answer to your question, bearing in mind the qualifications above, is:
NO, silica hydride (type 2), when present  in water, will not usually mask the true negative ORP of water, but rather, will contribute strongly to making the water even more reduced (more strongly negative ORP).  Further, however, the silica hydride (type 2), will tend to act as a "reservoir" of H-ion, thus serving to "replenish" or "recharge" the strongly negative ORP of the water (or drive it even more negative), until the H-ion in the silica hydride is depleted or "used up".
 

Question: (next, the above writer asked. . . . .)
The reason I have asked the previous question is that we are getting some very amazing results with our water product, reduced to a 43 dyne average surface tension, yet with an ORP from 130 to +50 or so depending on source. 
Darkfield (blood profile analysis) and tradition blood antioxidant tests, indicates that our water product is a very strong antioxidant.
 

Answer:
First, tell me what you mean by "our water product", and next, it is highly possible for water with even a high ORP to have strong clustering properties which would reduce the surface tension, although less likely than for water with a more reducing ORP. 

As far as the antioxidant possibilities of "your water product ", here are some points to consider:   

• improved results on darkfield analysis do not necessarily mean anything in terms of antioxidant properties (indeed, according to the scientific literature, it does not mean tat at all!)  Rather, such darkfield results will usually reflect the "clustering" and/or electrostatic properties of a product. 
• QUESTION: what specifically do you mean by "tradition blood antioxidant tests". You would need to be able to document assays performed with traditional chemical and biochemical tests to assess antioxidant activity before you could make such a claim.   You will note that Patrick Flanagan, who developed MegaH (MegaH-) ™, spent a long time working with scientists in private and university laboratories to thoroughly document the antioxidant properties of MegaH™ via traditional test of antioxidant activity in both chemical and biochemical life-related realms.  These tests even included protection of cells in vitro against strong oxidizer insults, and the successful conversion of NAD to NADH by MegaH™.  This is all available in literature available to the public. 
• Likewise, the scientists in Japan who studied the antioxidant properties of  ERW conducted numerous scientific tests using standard assays of antioxidant activity in both chemical and life-oriented biochemical reactions. 
• a product does not need to have a strongly negative ORP to have nutritional antioxidant properties in biochemical systems.  Witness vitamin C, vitamin E, beta carotene, citric acid, and a host of other bio substances with higher molecular weights.  Indeed, a number of these substances named herein show a pretty strongly positive ORP, and yet, in certain specific biochemical situations, will indeed donate an electron to a molecule ( a free radical) needing one. 
• Conversely, a strongly negative ORP does not necessarily say anything at all about antioxidant properties. It is OFTEN correlated to antioxidant properties, but not always.  Some examples follow: 
1)  If you bubble hydrogen gas (H2) from a tank through water, the ORP will drop to about -690 or even further.  However, any standard assay of chemical or biochemical antioxidant properties will show ZERO antioxidant activity. 
2)  On the other hand, ERW ionized water and water containing MegaH (aka MegaH-) not only show a strongly negative ORP, but also strong antioxidant effects in both chemical and biochemical (life-type) reactions 
3)  bear in mind that an ORP in the range of +50 to +150, as you cite, still indicates that there may be some a modest quantity of H-ions present (or, of course, dissolved H2 gas), and if so, will indeed be able to exhibit some antioxidant properties.  If, on the other hand, the low positive ORP is due to dissolved H2 gas, then there will be little in the way of free H- ions, and little antioxidant activity. 
• Just as some substances with strongly positive ORP are highly toxic (witness chlorine bleach and hydrogen peroxide), so it is true that some substances with strongly negative ORP are toxic as well.  For example, dissolve sodium hydroxide in water (CAREFULLY! or YOU WILL BE BURNED OR BLINDED!), and the ORP becomes modestly negative, but yet it is toxic due to its alkalinity.  Another great example is lithium hydride.  This substance shows a strongly negative ORP, and yet is incredibly toxic. 
• the ORP correlation with antioxidant activity tends, among other limitations and qualifications, to apply only to substances with very small molecular weight.  Thus, water and the negative hydrogen ion may be in the ballpark, but larger molecules with molecular weight in the hundreds or thousands (vitamin C, vitamin E, citric acid, beta carotene, alpha lipoic acid, pycogenol) hold onto their free electron in another way, and so it is no apparent or available in a simple aqueous solution. 

• SHD2 is incredibly hard to make.  No one in the world has succeeded other than Patrick Flanagan (who is admittedly a genius as well as being highly intuitive), although some Japanese scientists at major universities in Japan have spent millions of dollars trying to do so. Not only do the particles of SHD2 have a very small (nano) size, but they have a unique new buckeyball structure, never before seen in silica, which allows them to grab h-ions and store them. 
• normal silica, including commonly available silica products such as the various colloidal silicas available from industrial vendors, do NOT exhibit any of the properties of Patrick Flanagan's nano-colloidal silica.  Normally available commercial silica does not have any nano-colloidal properties nor a buckeyball structure, nor will it uptake h-minus-ions in a reversible fashion as dielectric hydride.  Thus, if you take normal colloidal silica, or even silica in any other form, whether from a health food store shelf, or from an industrial supplier, you cannot get it to store H-minus ion reversibly as Flanagan has done with SHD2. 
• anyone wishing to claim in either the health food or scientific arena that their product does include silica hydride of the form which I reference as SHD2, would need to be able to fully substantiate their claim with lab tests from  independent physical chemistry laboratories, and those tests would need to include: NMR, ESR, assay with negative ion electrodes, electron microscopy to demonstrate the buckeyball nature and nano-colloidal size, along with the antioxidant assays mentioned earlier. 
• I have encountered some folks who have purchased commercially available colloidal silica (the type used in the foods industry for packaging), mixed it with traces of potassium, magnesium and calcium (likely because they also saw these ingredients listed along with colloidal silica on the label of a bottle of MegaH (aka MegaH-)™ !), and then assumed that this somehow "created" silica hydride, of the type which I reference above as SHD2 (the one marketed by Patrick Flanagan as MegaH®.)

• clustering with beneficial cluster size 
• reduced surface tension of water 
• removal of certain toxins from water 
• presence of solvated electrons 
• presence of free hydrated cluster electrons 
• presence of any of several beneficial "subtle energies" 
• presence of any of a number of beneficial substance such as vitamins or minerals, but you have indicated that your water is relatively free of things other than water, so... .  . 

Non-Electrolytic Means of Producing Reduced Water (RW)

Now, a teaser: there are actually NUMEROUS other ways of creating H-minus ions in water, and without electricity/electrolysis, and often without the artificial corollary of high alkalinity as well.  These methods yield water commonly referred to as "reduced water", or RW.  However, many of these methods really cannot get the H-minus concentration to a place where the resultant ORP is much stronger than -300 mv.  There are a few that can go much further.

The Magic Jugs
There is one means I might mention.... I have some proprietary and developmental "Magic Jugs" here in my laboratory and in my kitchen, which use no electricity at all, and no complicated devices.  These are amber glass 1/2 gallon jugs, with a special active substance in the bottom.  I fill the jugs with tap water (non-chlorinated), and in 24 hours, I have reduced water (RW) with an ORP of -435 or lower.  If you wish to learn more about the magic jugs, please click here to go to a page on this site with more details.

If you wish to know more about this topic in general, you may wish to check out my page on this site entitled Means and Methods of Modifying the ORP and Particularly, the Reducing Potential, of Water
 

On Breathing Gas Enriched With the H-minus Ion

I created a device a few years ago which allowed me to breathe, as 8% of my air intake, a mixture of H2 and H-minus gas (the H-minus gas was stabilized in a gaseous cage via a proprietary method.).  If I breathed the mix for about 20 minutes, being careful to avoid sparks (coulda been an explosion!), the effects were very interesting, and included a sense of well-being. Three hours later, the ORP of my urine was in the -450 mv range.  Ten hours later, it was still at -380 mv. I know only one other person who has been foolhardy enough to do this experiment; he is a fellow researcher and very wild.
 

MegaH (aka MegaH-)™ is a registered trademark owned by Flantech Group.

You may also wish to check out the page on this site entitled Means and Methods of Modifying the ORP and Particularly, the Reducing Potential, of Water

This educational, public-service website has been totally self-supported by the author, Vinny Pinto, since its inception in October 2000.  My expenditures for this site have grown to over $480, not counting my research or authorship efforts.  I have considered banner ads, paid text ads, and other commercial means to help support this site, but, frankly, all offend me and would not be in keeping with the spirit of the community I intend to support.  Therefore, I am now actively asking for donations to help me to support this site -- even two dollars helps!  If you wish to donate, you may do so by using your credit card, ATM card, debit card, or transfer from your bank account, via fully secure means, using Paypal.  To make a donation, please go to the Donations and Support page!  All transactions are secure; in all cases, you get to choose the donation amount!

Thank you very much!

Vinny Pinto