Anyone recycle water?

[marrell1482]

So I pulled out the old dehumidifier from storage yesterday. As I was dumping all the water from it into the sink I got to wondering if I could use it for anything? Watering the plants or maybe even purifying and cooking/ drinking it? Anyone else do this? Or know if it would be safe to drink.

 

[MCgrease08]

I generally use water from the dehumidifier to flush the toilet. It forces me too time bathroom breaks a little better, but I only empty it twice a day max. You can also use it to water houseplants. My dehumidifier is pretty crusty from being in the basement, so I doubt I'd try to cook with the water.

I'm curious if anyone else has more creative suggestions.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Can you use it? Sure, it's water.

As is it will be contaminated with whatever is in the dust in your air and low levels of heavy metals from the evaporator coils. You can probably drink it as is short term with no ill effects, but there's no reason to. Your dehumidifier will have bacterial slime on the coils and in the pan, but that too will probably not hurt you but it may cause minor GI upset if it does not play well with your intestinal microbes.

Treated like you would any other suspect water, either by chemical means or filtration, and it is perfectly fine to drink.

It's a very energy intensive way to get water though. If you want to feel good about using it, dump it on your plants, use it to flush the toilet, etc.

 

[LANShark42]

I use the water from mine to flush the toilet.

 

[findingZzero]

Unless you are sending it to outerspace, all water is recycled.

And that's my smart-assed comment for today.
p.s. I have a well

 

[shibumiseeker]

p.s. I have a well

Think of that every time you take a leak outside

 

[findingZzero]

and my dog.....


natural filters...............

 

[CathyInBlue]

Think of that every time you take a leak outside

What's the Brita filter equivalent of 40 feet of grass, topsoil, dirt, clay, sand, gravel, and rock?

 

[PapaScout]

What's the Brita filter equivalent of 40 feet of grass, topsoil, dirt, clay, sand, gravel, and rock?

I don't think Brita would get it as clean as that.

 

[shibumiseeker]

What's the Brita filter equivalent of 40 feet of grass, topsoil, dirt, clay, sand, gravel, and rock?

Sadly, little of that will filter out dissolved salts. The grass may uptake some of the nutrients but that's about it. Not that it bothers me as I am not that squeamish, I was just pissing on his smugness :-)

 

[Sfrandolph]

Recycle water? Yes, all the time. We are on a well so what goes back into the ground comes back out the tap.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Mine's conveniently located next to the drain, so I don't have to pay it any attention. But it's in the basement, so the lifting is going to be expensive enough energy-wise not to be worth it for gray water. I'd rather collect rainwater.

 

[Phil502]

I thought this was going to be a thread on drinking urine.....phewww.

 

[N_K_1984]

Necessary? Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No, but I do it anyway because it's sterile and I like the taste.

Gosh, I hope you people have seen the movie Dodgeball.

 

[LeadPharmer]

I guess if you had your dehumidifier on a main floor you could get really creative and run the drain hose outside and couple it to a soaker hose in the garden. Then, anytime you dehumidify you trickle-water the garden.

Or, you can just dump the bin once in a while <-- Seems much easier, :-)

 

[findingZzero]

**************snip******** I was just pissing on his smugness :-)

Hey! It's not like I can't hear you....

 

[rgrimm01]

I have thought about running all gray water outside for no other reason than I paid for it, might as well get complete use of it. The drought last year was brutal on the grass. It would have been nice to have something of a green patch right behind the house.

 

[Shiban]

Bear Grylls recycles it.