Before You Buy a Lye-Based Hydrogen Machine, Ask Some Questions.
This page covers three machines built on the same underlying technology: the AquaCure AC60, the PureONE, and the Promolife H2 Hydrogen Inhalation and Drinking System. If you’re comparing us to any of these — or another machine that mixes lye into distilled water — the same questions apply.
These machines are all priced within a few hundred dollars of our HYD-1500. The difference that actually matters is what kind of gas comes out — and what happens after you buy.
Separated vs. Mixed
Pure H₂ vs. an H₂/O₂ blend you can’t split apart
3-Year Warranty
Clearly scoped, vs. a “lifetime” claim with real exclusions
No Caustic Electrolyte
Distilled water only, vs. a lye (NaOH) solution
The problem with all these machines
AquaCure, PureONE, and Promolife all run on the same basic chemistry: a customer-mixed sodium hydroxide (lye) electrolyte, dissolved in water and electrolyzed to produce what’s marketed as “Brown’s Gas” or “HydrOxy” — a fixed, unseparated mixture of roughly two-thirds hydrogen and one-third oxygen. None of them split the gases apart before you breathe them.
Our HYD line works differently. PEM (proton exchange membrane) electrolysis separates hydrogen from oxygen inside a sealed cell, using nothing but distilled water — no lye, nothing to mix, measure, or dispose of. What reaches the cannula is 99.992% pure H₂, third-party verified.
That one difference in chemistry shows up in two places worth understanding before looking at any of these machines individually: what you actually end up inhaling, and what owning the machine day to day involves. We’ll walk through both, model by model, below — but the short version is the same across all three: less of what you want, and a caustic chemical to handle carefully to get it.
Side by Side
| AquaCure AC60 Complete Kit | Revive HYD-1500 | |
|---|---|---|
| List price | $2,999 (120V or 240V) / $3,399 (switchable dual-voltage) | $3,299 |
| Total gas output | ~1,000 mL/min (60 LPH) | 900 / 1,350 / 1,500 mL/min (adjustable) |
| Hydrogen output | ~660 mL/min (66% of a mixed gas stream) | 600 / 900 / 1,000 mL/min (adjustable, separated H₂) |
| Gas separation | No — unseparated Brown’s Gas/HHO, H₂ and O₂ leave the machine mixed together | Yes — PEM electrolysis separates pure H₂ at 99.992% purity |
| Adjustable output | Yes — electronic control, no fixed presets published | Yes — three preset flow levels |
| Power draw | ~240–250W | 375W |
| Water / electrolyte | Distilled water plus a sodium hydroxide (lye) electrolyte the customer mixes — NaOH is corrosive and requires appropriate skin and eye protection; the generated H₂/O₂ gas has separate combustion and ignition hazards | Distilled water only (TDS ≤ 5), integrated UV-C sterilization |
| Weight | 16 lbs | 32 lbs |
| Warranty | “Lifetime” coverage of parts, labor, and shipping for manufacturer-related issues; original purchaser only and generally not transferable. Outside warranty (for example, after resale), AquaCure says it will still repair the unit, with the owner paying parts, labor, and shipping | 3 years, parts and technical labor guidance included, scope clearly excludes water-quality damage and consumables |
| Return window | 1-year satisfaction guarantee, no reason required — but a flat $200 restocking fee applies to satisfaction-guarantee returns, and shipping, taxes, and duties are not refunded | 30 days, and you’re meant to use it — used cannulas don’t affect eligibility; defects get a full refund with return shipping covered |
The math, plainly
At $2,999 for ~660 mL/min of hydrogen (the H₂ component of its mixed output), that’s about $4.54 per mL/min of hydrogen delivered. The HYD-1500 delivers 1,000 mL/min of separated hydrogen at its top setting for $3,299 — about $3.30 per mL/min. The AquaCure’s sticker price is lower, but on a cost-per-rated-mL/min-of-H₂ basis the AquaCure is higher, because a third of its output is oxygen rather than hydrogen — and that’s before accounting for the fact that AquaCure’s published inhalation chart has most adults running well below the rated maximum (see below).
AquaCure’s published inhalation chart, worked through
AquaCure’s published AC50 operation manual includes a weight-based inhalation chart built on a simple formula: divide your body weight in pounds by 5 to get a duty-cycle percentage, targeting roughly 2% hydrogen in the breathed air. It’s a straightforward rule, but like flow rate alone, it doesn’t account for breathing rate, nasal congestion, mouth breathing, or elevation — the variables that actually determine how much hydrogen reaches your airway.
What actually reaches your lungs
Apply AquaCure’s weight-based duty-cycle chart to the AC60’s rated output for a real person, and the gap between the nameplate output and what’s actually delivered gets clearer. Using the chart’s duty cycles, the AC60’s rated 1,000 mL/min of total gas, and AquaCure’s own 66% hydrogen fraction, here’s what a range of body weights actually receives:
| Body weight | Duty cycle (their formula) | Total gas delivered | Hydrogen delivered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 130 lbs | 26% | 260 mL/min | ~172 mL/min |
| 150 lbs | 30% | 300 mL/min | ~198 mL/min |
| 180 lbs | 36% | 360 mL/min | ~238 mL/min |
That delivered flow still isn’t what reaches your airway. A nasal cannula doesn’t deliver gas at 100% concentration — it mixes with whatever room air you’re inhaling alongside it. That fraction is called FiH₂ (fraction of inspired hydrogen), calculated as hydrogen delivered divided by your total inspiratory flow, not by the cannula’s output alone.
At a typical resting inspiratory flow of 30 L/min, here’s that same table in estimated FiH₂ — sitting still, breathing calmly, purely through the nose:
| Body weight | Hydrogen delivered | Estimated FiH₂ at rest |
|---|---|---|
| 130 lbs | ~172 mL/min | ~0.57% |
| 150 lbs | ~198 mL/min | ~0.66% |
| 180 lbs | ~238 mL/min | ~0.79% |
Notice that all three land below the bottom of the paper’s 1–4% window at this resting estimate. Real-world conditions can shift FiH₂ substantially, in either direction:
- Mouth breathing (or breathing through the nose and mouth together) bypasses the cannula and reduces capture efficiency — less of the hydrogen delivered to the nose ends up in the air you inhale.
- Talking, moving, or exercising raises inspiratory flow well above 30 L/min, diluting the same delivered flow further.
- Poor nasal patency — the paper estimates roughly 10–15% of adults, rising to 20–25% of adults 65 and older — lowers how much of the delivered hydrogen is captured.
- Elevation affects the effective dose indirectly: at lower barometric pressure, the same inhaled percentage corresponds to a lower hydrogen partial pressure, even though the percentage itself doesn’t change.
- The nasal reservoir effect can push FiH₂ higher: with nose-in, mouth-out breathing, hydrogen can accumulate in the nasal passages between breaths and add to the next inhalation. The paper cautions against counting on this at low flows.
The AC50 duty-cycle chart is titled “for 2% inhalation” — meaning the weight-based formula is already an attempt to estimate FiH₂. But it’s a fixed lookup table, not a physiological measurement, and it doesn’t adjust for the variables above. Like every hydrogen inhalation machine on the market, its output can’t be verified from generator flow rate alone — precisely measuring FiH₂ requires specialized hydrogen gas-analysis equipment.
What mixing the electrolyte actually involves
Per AquaCure’s own materials, the customer mixes the electrolyte themselves at home: roughly 3 oz (80 g) of lye in about 1 quart (1 liter) of distilled water, in an ordinary glass jar, stirred with a stainless-steel utensil, in a well-ventilated area. AquaCure says an 80 g mix should last at least two years with proper maintenance, and that routine water top-offs use distilled water only. Initial setup and periodic maintenance, though, do involve handling sodium hydroxide. The manual’s safety page carries GHS hazard pictograms for explosive, flammable, and corrosive/chemical-burn risk, and instructs the user to wear gloves and eye protection, avoid inhaling airborne lye particles, keep the mixture away from children, never ingest it, and remove static from their body before operating the machine, since the output gas is combustible.
Their maintenance instructions call for periodic draining and rinsing to manage this, and their humidifier’s stated job is scrubbing residual lye mist out of the gas before you breathe it.
“Lifetime warranty” is doing a lot of work
A lifetime warranty sounds like the stronger offer next to a 3-year term. Read the actual scope before deciding that.
To their credit, AquaCure’s lifetime warranty is generous in scope: it covers parts, labor, and shipping for manufacturer-related issues. It applies to the original purchaser and, per AquaCure, generally isn’t transferable. Outside warranty — for example, after a resale — AquaCure says it will continue to offer repairs, with the owner paying parts, labor, and shipping. Its terms also define exclusions such as abuse, misuse, alteration, neglect, and unauthorized repair, and the AC60 page identifies incorrect voltage selection on the switchable model as user error. Their separate 1-year satisfaction guarantee is generous in length, but a flat $200 restocking fee applies to satisfaction-guarantee returns, and shipping, taxes, and duties are not refunded.
The HYD-1500’s 3-year warranty is shorter in duration. Its scope — what’s covered and what’s excluded (water-quality damage, consumable wear, misuse) — is spelled out in our manual and on our warranty page, and warranty service comes with no restocking fee.
We’d encourage you to read their warranty and guarantee terms yourself rather than take our summary for it.
Another alkaline mixed-gas design: PureONE
If you’re comparing us to the PureONE (sold by Pureffect), the same questions apply. PureONE uses the same basic alkaline-electrolysis approach as AquaCure — a sodium-hydroxide electrolyte and an unseparated H₂/O₂ output — but it is a distinct machine with its own design, warranty, and return policy, and it’s made in Canada. PureONE also promotes “Electrically Expanded Water” (ExW), which it describes as an electron-rich cold-plasma form of water and credits with additional therapeutic effects. Those proposed properties are not established to the same evidentiary standard as the chemistry and biological activity of molecular H₂ itself.
| PureONE | Revive HYD-1500 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,900 | $3,299 |
| Total gas output | 833 mL/min (50 L/hr) | 900 / 1,350 / 1,500 mL/min |
| Hydrogen output | ~555 mL/min H₂ component of the mixed stream (about 2/3 of total, unseparated) | 600 / 900 / 1,000 mL/min, separated H₂ |
| Electrolyte | Lye (NaOH), customer-mixed at home | Distilled water only |
| Warranty | Lifetime warranty covering parts, labor, and shipping for manufacturer-related issues; if the warranty is invalid due to user or shipping abuse, the customer pays parts, labor, and shipping | 3 years, clearly scoped |
| Manufacturing | Made in Canada | Made in China |
| Return guarantee | 365-day money-back guarantee; machine price refunded after inspection, shipping costs not refundable | 30 days, and you’re meant to use it |
At $2,900 for ~555 mL/min of hydrogen (the H₂ component of its mixed output), that’s about $5.23 per mL/min — higher than AquaCure’s own $4.54, and well above the HYD-1500’s $3.30, despite PureONE’s lower sticker price. Same story, different label: the price on the box is lower, but the cost per mL/min of hydrogen is higher once you account for what fraction of the output is actually hydrogen.
What ongoing maintenance actually looks like
PureONE’s manual also includes troubleshooting procedures for contamination-related foaming. If foaming is suspected, it instructs the owner to remove the cap and observe the outlet from a safe distance; the manual warns that water vapor carrying dissolved lye can emerge during this test, and cautions against putting your face above the opening.
Getting the lye concentration right matters for the machine to work correctly — the manual specifies roughly 70 grams of lye, and if gas production seems off, part of the troubleshooting is checking whether your homemade solution is under-concentrated. Lye also gradually crystallizes out of solution over time, which the manual flags as an expected maintenance issue, not a malfunction. In PureONE’s favor, it says routine cleaning may be needed only as infrequently as once per year, depending on use.
Disposal also requires some attention. PureONE says used lye solution may be disposed through a municipal sewer, but users on septic systems must neutralize it first because the alkaline solution can kill beneficial bacteria. Their manual provides a vinegar/citric-acid neutralization procedure, using pH test strips, gloves, and goggles, and notes that the reaction is exothermic.
None of this is a defect — it’s simply what owning a machine built around a lye electrolyte involves. Whether that routine fits into a daily wellness habit is worth weighing for yourself. The HYD-1500 has no equivalent routine: distilled water in, distilled water out, nothing to neutralize.
A third option in the same category: Promolife
Promolife’s H2 Hydrogen Inhalation and Drinking System is another alkaline electrolyzer: it runs on a sodium-hydroxide electrolyte packet that their own safety manual identifies plainly as “Lye” or “Caustic Soda,” and it produces an unseparated H₂/O₂ mixture rather than a separated H₂ stream. Promolife is unusually straightforward about its output: it specifies 567 mL/min of hydrogen plus 283 mL/min of oxygen, for 850 mL/min of mixed gas.
| Promolife H2 System | Revive HYD-1500 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,395 | $3,299 |
| Total gas output | 850 mL/min | 900 / 1,350 / 1,500 mL/min |
| Hydrogen output | 567 mL/min H₂ + 283 mL/min O₂ (about 2/3 H₂, unseparated) | 600 / 900 / 1,000 mL/min, separated H₂ |
| Electrolyte | Sodium hydroxide (lye) electrolyte packet added by the customer during initial setup; distilled water is then added to the generator. Routine refills use distilled water | Distilled water only |
| Warranty | 3 years on the generator; 1 year on power supply, timer, and cooling fan | 3-year limited warranty; covered defects include replacement parts and technical labor guidance |
| Return window | 30 days; 15% restocking fee; must be in “sellable condition” (no dents, stains, or odors). For non-defective returns, the customer pays return shipping and original shipping charges are deducted from the refund | 30 days, and you’re meant to use it |
| Manufacturing | Made and assembled in the USA | Made in China |
At $2,395 for 567 mL/min of hydrogen (plus 283 mL/min of oxygen), that’s about $4.22 per mL/min — better than AquaCure’s $4.54 and PureONE’s $5.23, but still higher than the HYD-1500’s $3.30 once you account for what fraction of the output is actually hydrogen.
Two things set Promolife apart from the other two machines in this category, worth saying plainly rather than lumping it in as identical: it’s made and assembled in the USA, and its 3-year warranty on the generator is a real, specific term rather than a “lifetime” claim with an escape clause. Their safety manual is also unusually direct about one practical detail: hydrogen gas can trigger false alarms on electrochemical carbon monoxide detectors — a real, documented phenomenon, and useful to know regardless of which machine you buy.
Promolife’s setup differs from PureONE and AquaCure: the dry electrolyte packet is poured directly into the generator, followed by distilled water, rather than being premixed in a separate container. Its manual recommends gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection when handling the electrolyte, and specifies deep-cleaning intervals of every 6–8 months at up to 2 hours a day, every 3–4 months at up to 4 hours a day, and every 1–2 months above that — which means emptying the old electrolyte and rinsing the generator repeatedly.
Promolife also uses two distilled-water gas purifier cups. Its manual explains that high-output operation can carry a small amount of water/electrolyte vapor out of the electrolyzer; the purifier cups are designed to capture those remnants before the gas is delivered.
What doesn’t change from the rest of this page: it’s still a sodium-hydroxide electrolyte, and still an unseparated gas stream.
What We Don’t Claim
Hydrogen is an interesting molecule and an active area of research. It is not a treatment for any disease, and anyone telling you otherwise is either uninformed or hoping you are.
We won’t tell you hydrogen cures, treats, or prevents any condition. We won’t share testimonials or anecdotes implying it did. We won’t present preliminary studies as settled science, or animal research as though it were human research.
We will tell you that molecular hydrogen is being studied for its role in the body’s antioxidant and inflammatory response pathways, and that much of that research remains early. We’ll point you to the Molecular Hydrogen Institute and other trusted sources and let you read the literature yourself.
If you want claims, there are people who will make them. If you want a straight answer about what a machine does and what the evidence supports, book a call.
The comparison we’d want you to make
Ask any company the same five questions:
- Does the machine separate hydrogen from oxygen, or leave them mixed?
- How many mL per minute of hydrogen — not total gas?
- What’s in the electrolyte, besides water?
- How long is the warranty, and what does it exclude?
- What does it cost to return it, even with no defect?
And do this before buying anything: search the exact specifications — the output numbers, the electrolyte, the warranty scope — not the brand name or who promotes it. Do it for ours too. We’d rather you bought knowing exactly what else exists with those specs than bought on our word alone.
Weighing us against a different machine? See all our comparisons, including HLTH’s $5,500 machine, InhaleH2, Echo Refresh, and Qlife.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Comparative specifications and policies reflect information published by the referenced company as of September 2026 and may change; we encourage independent verification.