watering with dehumidifier water

should i use it or not

  • yes

    Votes: 9 64.3%
  • no

    Votes: 5 35.7%

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .

slayer6669

New Member
i was wandering if its safe to use the water out of my dehumidifier? i was thinking i guess it would be kinds close to being RO water, or am i way off? just curious bout this and if anyones ever used it? i dont think it could hurt plants cause it is just water out of the air. but i need other opinions.
 

KT420

Active Member
should be fine and people with hardwater can add it to their tap to bring down their pre-fert ppm.
 

lokie

Well-Known Member
I use the condensate drain water from my house A/C to water all of my plants. inside and out.

test PH and PPM first to be safe. but all should be good to go.
 

Cobnobuler

Well-Known Member
Heres one vote for a resounding NO FREAKING WAY..! I wouldnt even get into all the traces of god knows what could be in that water. WTF's wrong wit ya'all ? Would you drink that shit too?
 

lokie

Well-Known Member
Heres one vote for a resounding NO FREAKING WAY..! I wouldnt even get into all the traces of god knows what could be in that water. WTF's wrong wit ya'all ? Would you drink that shit too?
when the beer runs out and the whiskey drys? yes.
 

keyman

Well-Known Member
I have tested my dehumidifier water and found it to be relatively clean. range PPM 50-100 and PH range 6.0-6.5. Not sure why it varies so much but it does. So I use it to fill the Humidifier when needed. I would use it on plants in a pinch but not normally. Only because it can take a few days to a week for the bucket to fill and I have seen mold form in that holding bucket inside of a week. I cant see how that would be good for the plants, let alone drink unless there was nothing else available. So, I would say as a last resort... sure but AS a last resort
IMHO
 

slayer6669

New Member
i checked it my well water is 200 to 250 ppm and around 7.3 ph the dehumidifier water is 30 ppm and ph is 4.0 so if i mix them it should balance my ph out enough that if i use dolomite lime in my medium it should b eok to water with. or am i way wrong. i just started to use dolomite lime recently and was told its a ph buffer and will adjust the ph on its own and the ph of my water wasnt that important if i had that in there or do you think thats wrong?
 

xxEMOxx

Well-Known Member
I have read that using dehum water is safe only if the condensing coil your unit uses is copper.

Otherwise this can cause problems such as heavy metal, ( aluminum and zinc ) build up.

BTW dehum water, is just like distilled water.... it is water that is pulled from the air as its pushed over a chilled coil which causes condesation to form.

MY 40 pint dehum. makes about 3 gallons a day which has a ppm at about 35-50 which is close to that of my r.o.

So yeah I would use it no prob.
 

Cobnobuler

Well-Known Member
try doing a little research before speak.
...Right....you as well, maybe start with legionaries disease. A little excerpt from "research" :

"This one's been covered before on here... The condensate from a dehumidifier can/will be filled with all manner of toxic crap. The metal, the solder used to join the condenser connections, etc are all made from nasty level metals. Even if 'purified' of bacteria the water will be filled with nastiness and poisons. Nothing about the condenser in a dehumidifier is food-grade nor needs to be; so they use the cheapest, most toxic crud metal they can find to manufacture the units. And since most of those applicances now come from China, they are probably even worse.

Do not use water from a dehumidifier to consume or to water plants. Its like using cheap plastic containers for your grow - you are passing toxins and poisons to your plants. You may - or may not - taste them outright, but they will end up in your smoke!

Sometimes its what you can't see that is dangerous.
"
 

lokie

Well-Known Member
...Right....you as well, maybe start with legionaries disease. A little excerpt from "research" :

"This one's been covered before on here... The condensate from a dehumidifier can/will be filled with all manner of toxic crap. The metal, the solder used to join the condenser connections, etc are all made from nasty level metals. Even if 'purified' of bacteria the water will be filled with nastiness and poisons. Nothing about the condenser in a dehumidifier is food-grade nor needs to be; so they use the cheapest, most toxic crud metal they can find to manufacture the units. And since most of those applicances now come from China, they are probably even worse.

Do not use water from a dehumidifier to consume or to water plants. Its like using cheap plastic containers for your grow - you are passing toxins and poisons to your plants. You may - or may not - taste them outright, but they will end up in your smoke!

Sometimes its what you can't see that is dangerous.
"


thirsting to death is a bitch too.;-)
 

imchucky666

Well-Known Member
Heres one vote for a resounding NO FREAKING WAY..! I wouldnt even get into all the traces of god knows what could be in that water. WTF's wrong wit ya'all ? Would you drink that shit too?
If you have filters on your intake for the central A/C, and your house isn't a shithouse, why would the dirt be so nasty?
Is it so much different than the plant sitting there in the same dust particles in the air, and then being watered with tap water?
 

imchucky666

Well-Known Member
i checked it my well water is 200 to 250 ppm and around 7.3 ph the dehumidifier water is 30 ppm and ph is 4.0 so if i mix them it should balance my ph out enough that if i use dolomite lime in my medium it should b eok to water with. or am i way wrong. i just started to use dolomite lime recently and was told its a ph buffer and will adjust the ph on its own and the ph of my water wasnt that important if i had that in there or do you think thats wrong?
Math says you will end up around 5.5-5.6 assuming you use 1/1 ratio.
 

smoke and coke

Well-Known Member
...Right....you as well, maybe start with legionaries disease. A little excerpt from "research" :

"This one's been covered before on here... The condensate from a dehumidifier can/will be filled with all manner of toxic crap. The metal, the solder used to join the condenser connections, etc are all made from nasty level metals. Even if 'purified' of bacteria the water will be filled with nastiness and poisons. Nothing about the condenser in a dehumidifier is food-grade nor needs to be; so they use the cheapest, most toxic crud metal they can find to manufacture the units. And since most of those applicances now come from China, they are probably even worse.

Do not use water from a dehumidifier to consume or to water plants. Its like using cheap plastic containers for your grow - you are passing toxins and poisons to your plants. You may - or may not - taste them outright, but they will end up in your smoke!

Sometimes its what you can't see that is dangerous.
"
and yes then there is this one copy and past from wiki.

[edit] Disposal

Most portable dehumidifiers are equipped with a condensate collection receptacle, typically with a float sensor to detect when the collection vessel is full, to shut off the dehumidifier and prevent an overflow of collected water. In humid environments, these buckets will generally fill with water in 8–12 hours, and may need to be manually emptied and replaced several times per day to ensure continued operation.
Many portable dehumidifiers can also be adapted to connect the condensate drip output directly to a drain via an ordinary garden hose. Some dehumidifier models can tie into plumbing drains or use a built-in water pump to empty themselves as they collect moisture.
alternately, a separate "condensate pump" may be used to move collected water to a disposal location when gravity drainage is not possible.
Potability

Generally, dehumidifier water is considered a rather clean kind of greywater: not suitable for drinking, but acceptable for watering plants, though not garden vegetablesThe health concerns are:
  • The water may contain trace metals from solder and other metallic parts, most significantly lead (which is quite dangerous), but also copper, aluminum, and zinc. The trace metals pose a danger if used on edible plants, as they can bioaccumulate; however, the water is usable for irrigation of non-edible plants.
  • various pathogens, including fungal spores, may accumulate in the water particularly due to its stagnancy; unlike in distilled water production, the water is not boiled, which would kill pathogens (including bacteria);
  • as with distilled water, minerals are largely absent, hence it is somewhat flat-tasting.
Food-grade dehumidifiers, also called atmospheric water generators, are designed to avoid toxic metal contamination and to keep all water contact surfaces scrupulously clean. The devices are primarily intended to produce pure water, and their dehumidification effect is viewed as secondary to their operation.
 

KT420

Active Member
Good info on dehumidifiers versus atmospheric water generators. Maybe it isn't such a hot idea then. 30ppm is pretty low, but who knows what it is, maybe they used lead-core solder on the condensing coils, who knows. Might be worth contacting the manufacturer or finding out which dehueys have food grade condensing coils. I'm sure some of them must, and not be marketed as atmospheric water generators??? What's the cheapest atmospheric water generator go for anyway? quick google search shows $1,800???

Also, I think imchucky666's math is wrong because the 30ppm water will have a much lower buffering capacity than the 200-250 water. If both waters were the same ppm at those pH values his math should be correct, though.
 
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