Dehumidifiers as a water source.

[david nack]

I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons of
water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef tank?

Thanks,
David

[John]

I'd say its pretty close to distilled water.....minus the fact huge amounts of
air have been blown over it and therefore contaminated. IMO I would'nt
recommend it.
~John

[david]

Thanks to all for the feedback. The consensus seems to be that it is a bad
idea to use the dehumidifier soI'll stick to the RO water.
"nanoreef" > wrote in message
. rogers.com...
> On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT "david nack" >
> wrote:
>
> > I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of
> > gallons of water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know
> > the purity of this water and the advisability of using it to top of my
> > 120 gal reef tank?
>
>
> Don't use it. The water is not that clean. The water will be
> comtaminated by all the junk in the air. And is often a huge breeding
> ground for bacteria. The water will also be contaminated by the chilling
> coils which are probably made from a collection of metals you don't want
> in your tank. Such as copper.
>
> I am a recent convert to RO/DI. The cost of the unit it is much
> cheaper then the contents of a tank.
>

[Joe Ferenchik]

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT, "david nack" >
wrote:

>I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons of
>water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
>this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef tank?
>
>Thanks,
>David
>

No good for the tank, but you can use that water in a clothes iron.
It's not worth risking the inhabitants.

Joe

[John]

> you can use that water in a clothes iron.

Or houseplants, they love it compared to tap.

On a side note, I've been giving my houseplants the gunk from my skimmer and
theyre doing very well since :o)
~John

[CapFusion]

"John" > wrote in message
...
> > you can use that water in a clothes iron.
>
> Or houseplants, they love it compared to tap.
>
> On a side note, I've been giving my houseplants the gunk from my skimmer
and
> theyre doing very well since :o)
> ~John

You plant should be doing better since those waste RO hold higher nutrient
and such.

CapFusion,...

[Charles Spitzer]

"John" > wrote in message
...
> > you can use that water in a clothes iron.
>
> Or houseplants, they love it compared to tap.
>
> On a side note, I've been giving my houseplants the gunk from my skimmer
and
> theyre doing very well since :o)
> ~John

really? what kind are they? most plants don't survive sal****er. ever hear
of salting the earth (sparta) and nothing ever growing again there?

[Charles Spitzer]

"CapFusion" <CapeFussion...@hotmail.., com> wrote in message
...
>
> "John" > wrote in message
> ...
> > > you can use that water in a clothes iron.
> >
> > Or houseplants, they love it compared to tap.
> >
> > On a side note, I've been giving my houseplants the gunk from my skimmer
> and
> > theyre doing very well since :o)
> > ~John
>
> You plant should be doing better since those waste RO hold higher nutrient
> and such.
>
> CapFusion,...
>

well, if there's any salt or metals in your tap water, the ro would be
concentrating it which would quickly do in house plants.

[John]

>On a side note, I've been giving my houseplants the gunk from my skimmer
>and
>> theyre doing very well since :o)

Maybe I wasnt clear enough.

I use dehumidifier 'waste' to water my plants.

I use the brown stuff from the skimmer to add to my plants _before I water
them_. I have a small 12 gallon tank, maybe you were thinking I was dumping
skimmate from a 150 gallon in there. Even still, IMO there's probably not alot
of salt carried in the foam, I haven't noticed any salt creep on my skimmer and
there's plenty of evaporation going on. Also, if the skimmer was removing our
salt, salinity would go down over time.
~John

[Charles Spitzer]

"John" > wrote in message
...
> >On a side note, I've been giving my houseplants the gunk from my skimmer
> >and
> >> theyre doing very well since :o)
>
> Maybe I wasnt clear enough.
>
> I use dehumidifier 'waste' to water my plants.
>
> I use the brown stuff from the skimmer to add to my plants _before I water
> them_. I have a small 12 gallon tank, maybe you were thinking I was
dumping
> skimmate from a 150 gallon in there. Even still, IMO there's probably not
alot
> of salt carried in the foam, I haven't noticed any salt creep on my
skimmer and
> there's plenty of evaporation going on. Also, if the skimmer was removing
our
> salt, salinity would go down over time.
> ~John

if the skimate is at all liquid, how is the salt leaving it? a skimmer
doesn't distill the tank water to make the skimate liquid.

it might not be very much, and since you have evaporation in the tank, the
salinity would tend to rise/fall as you add replacement water and you'd not
notice much of a change anyway. however, salt builds up in dirt. you add
salty water, the water gets absorbed by the plants or evaporated, the
salt/minerals stay. you'd have to pour a LOT of water through the dirt and
discard the water going through to wash the salts away. that would tend to
wash a lot of nutrients away too.

it's a bad idea to use skimate for house plants.

dehumidifier water has traces of whatever metals your module uses for
evaporation. typically, it would be aluminium or copper. also, there's
usually lots of mold spores in there.

[MonkeyBoy]

I figured I'd add this question to this thread since you guys started
talking about evaporation and salt buildup, etc.

This might sound strange, but . . .

Have any of you ever noticed salt resdue/accumulation occurring any
distance from the tank, such as across the room? The reason I ask is
that I've got my tank in the same room as where I do wood carving
(it's dust free by the way, not power carving) Anyway, I have a
fairly expensive set of tools set up there and was concerned about the
possibility of salt from the tank causing corrosion on my tools. I am
especially concerned if I end up running a fan over the water to cool
it down Could this cause any salt to become airborn?

Regards,

MB

[erik]

Ok. It seems that everyone thinks the dehumidifier water will have a
bunch of atomospheric comtaminants in it. I'm willing to entertain
this idea since so many seem to think so, but maybe someone could give
an explaination.

The dehumidifier is cooling the air and collecting the condensate.
How is this different from distilling? A distillation process just
has a much higher moisture content in the "air".

I agree that the water sitting in the collection vessel probably
becomes a bacteria haven (much like the RO water I store in open
rubbermaid contatiners) but....



Anyway, can anyone explain why they think the dehumidifier water is
bad?


TIA
Erik


On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT, "david nack" >
wrote:

>I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons of
>water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
>this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef tank?
>
>Thanks,
>David
>

[Paul Schnettler]

erik wrote:
> Ok. It seems that everyone thinks the dehumidifier water will have a
> bunch of atomospheric comtaminants in it. I'm willing to entertain
> this idea since so many seem to think so, but maybe someone could give
> an explaination.
>
> The dehumidifier is cooling the air and collecting the condensate.
> How is this different from distilling? A distillation process just
> has a much higher moisture content in the "air".
>
> I agree that the water sitting in the collection vessel probably
> becomes a bacteria haven (much like the RO water I store in open
> rubbermaid contatiners) but....
>
>
>
> Anyway, can anyone explain why they think the dehumidifier water is
> bad?
>
>
> TIA
> Erik
>
>
> On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT, "david nack" >
> wrote:
>
>
>>I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons of
>>water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
>>this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef tank?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>David
>>
>
>
I would think the risk comes from the contaminants on the condensate coils. The
room dehumidifiers pull room air through a rudimentary refrigerator cooling
coil. The condensate that results is collected in a drip shelf and funneled into
the collection bin. If you could guarantee the sanitary integrity of the coils
and collection end of the process there wouldn't be a problem. A difficult dilemma.

[Dan Norgard]

Speaking as an HVAC contractor, it's fairly simple: Contaminants can be
(and most are) microscopic and quite readily adhere to water/moisture
molecules in the air. When you condense these water/moisture molecules into
a denser state (water) you have also increased the concentration of
contaminants. Try mashing up a few cloves of garlic and put them in front
of the dehumidifier then, in a few hours, take the water outside and smell
it.

Dan


"erik" > wrote in message
...
Ok. It seems that everyone thinks the dehumidifier water will have a
bunch of atomospheric comtaminants in it. I'm willing to entertain
this idea since so many seem to think so, but maybe someone could give
an explaination.

The dehumidifier is cooling the air and collecting the condensate.
How is this different from distilling? A distillation process just
has a much higher moisture content in the "air".

I agree that the water sitting in the collection vessel probably
becomes a bacteria haven (much like the RO water I store in open
rubbermaid contatiners) but....



Anyway, can anyone explain why they think the dehumidifier water is
bad?


TIA
Erik


On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT, "david nack" >
wrote:

>I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons
of
>water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
>this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef tank?
>
>Thanks,
>David
>

[Charles Spitzer]

not only that, have you look at your refrigerator evaporation pan? a fridge
coil does basically the same thing, and is really gross.

a distiller is a closed system. it also doesn't have constantly exposed air
condensation fins, as a good one will have glass and not metallic
condensation tubes.

"Dan Norgard" > wrote in message
...
> Speaking as an HVAC contractor, it's fairly simple: Contaminants can be
> (and most are) microscopic and quite readily adhere to water/moisture
> molecules in the air. When you condense these water/moisture molecules
into
> a denser state (water) you have also increased the concentration of
> contaminants. Try mashing up a few cloves of garlic and put them in front
> of the dehumidifier then, in a few hours, take the water outside and smell
> it.
>
> Dan
>
>
> "erik" > wrote in message
> ...
> Ok. It seems that everyone thinks the dehumidifier water will have a
> bunch of atomospheric comtaminants in it. I'm willing to entertain
> this idea since so many seem to think so, but maybe someone could give
> an explaination.
>
> The dehumidifier is cooling the air and collecting the condensate.
> How is this different from distilling? A distillation process just
> has a much higher moisture content in the "air".
>
> I agree that the water sitting in the collection vessel probably
> becomes a bacteria haven (much like the RO water I store in open
> rubbermaid contatiners) but....
>
>
>
> Anyway, can anyone explain why they think the dehumidifier water is
> bad?
>
>
> TIA
> Erik
>
>
> On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT, "david nack" >
> wrote:
>
> >I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons
> of
> >water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
> >this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef
tank?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >David
> >
>
>

[Kevin & Donna Sanders, M.D.]

You might not notice salt creep across the room but I guarantee you that the
humidity will be higher and every time a bubble pops in your tank some
microscopic salt particles get into the air. believe me I live near salt
water and it its not galvanized it will rust.. I would keep a close eye on
the tools
"MonkeyBoy" > wrote in message
m...
>I figured I'd add this question to this thread since you guys started
> talking about evaporation and salt buildup, etc.
>
> This might sound strange, but . . .
>
> Have any of you ever noticed salt resdue/accumulation occurring any
> distance from the tank, such as across the room? The reason I ask is
> that I've got my tank in the same room as where I do wood carving
> (it's dust free by the way, not power carving) Anyway, I have a
> fairly expensive set of tools set up there and was concerned about the
> possibility of salt from the tank causing corrosion on my tools. I am
> especially concerned if I end up running a fan over the water to cool
> it down Could this cause any salt to become airborn?
>
> Regards,
>
> MB

[erik]

I agree that the water will be contaminated from the coils since they
are always wet and will attract dust. I wouldn't want to drink the
water coming from a dehumidifier unless it was further cleaned.

But... it sounds like everyone is saying that if you have a bunch of X
in the air along with some moisture, the water you pull out of the air
will also have a bunch of X in it. I'm not sure that's true.

As for increasing the concentration of X 'cause the water is in a
denser state.....
The water is in gaseous form when in the air (in my basement anyway)
and the X in the air is just hanging out next to the water vapor.
When I pull the water vapor out of the air, the X stays behind. Now,
while the water is hanging out in liquid form, the X might get
absorbed into the water. This can and will happen in any process.

So....if you keep the condensing coils cleaner than the back of my
refrigerator, and take care to not let the standing water that you've
collected get re-contaminated, you should have some pretty clean
water.

I can accept that I'm missing some fundamental point here but I think
my counter-argument was misunderstood.

Erik


On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 09:42:41 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
> wrote:

>not only that, have you look at your refrigerator evaporation pan? a fridge
>coil does basically the same thing, and is really gross.
>
>a distiller is a closed system. it also doesn't have constantly exposed air
>condensation fins, as a good one will have glass and not metallic
>condensation tubes.
>
>"Dan Norgard" > wrote in message
...
>> Speaking as an HVAC contractor, it's fairly simple: Contaminants can be
>> (and most are) microscopic and quite readily adhere to water/moisture
>> molecules in the air. When you condense these water/moisture molecules
>into
>> a denser state (water) you have also increased the concentration of
>> contaminants. Try mashing up a few cloves of garlic and put them in front
>> of the dehumidifier then, in a few hours, take the water outside and smell
>> it.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>>
>> "erik" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> Ok. It seems that everyone thinks the dehumidifier water will have a
>> bunch of atomospheric comtaminants in it. I'm willing to entertain
>> this idea since so many seem to think so, but maybe someone could give
>> an explaination.
>>
>> The dehumidifier is cooling the air and collecting the condensate.
>> How is this different from distilling? A distillation process just
>> has a much higher moisture content in the "air".
>>
>> I agree that the water sitting in the collection vessel probably
>> becomes a bacteria haven (much like the RO water I store in open
>> rubbermaid contatiners) but....
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyway, can anyone explain why they think the dehumidifier water is
>> bad?
>>
>>
>> TIA
>> Erik
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 23:43:21 GMT, "david nack" >
>> wrote:
>>
>> >I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that produce a couple of gallons
>> of
>> >water a day that I poor down the drain. Does anybody know the purity of
>> >this water and the advisability of using it to top of my 120 gal reef
>tank?
>> >
>> >Thanks,
>> >David
>> >
>>
>>
>

[Ken H]

> if the skimate is at all liquid, how is the salt leaving it? a skimmer
> doesn't distill the tank water to make the skimate liquid.

I was hopping it does kill plants. I have been dumping in on the weeds out
side the door... I'll let you all know if I get a brown spot.

[[email protected]]

> I'd say its pretty close to distilled water.....minus the fact huge
> amounts of
> air have been blown over it and therefore contaminated. IMO I would'nt
> recommend it.
> ~John
this subject comes up often you can search for it,

dont worry about bacteria, and solids can be removed, the catch is from
heavy metals. if you get the right unit it will have ceramic and glass.