Drinking Dehumidifier Water??

BenchmadeBoy

BenchmadeBoy

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Sep 4, 2005
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Hey, I'm in a wacky mood tonight and I had a sudden thought. Not sure if this qualifies as "survival", but can you drink water produced by a dehumidifier without treatment? Might be some nasty bacteria in there especially if it needs a cleaning? We recently got a medium size unit for the house and it has produced around 2L of water in a 12hour period. Drinkable? Potentially valuable information? Am I crazy? Let me know what you think.

Cheers
 
don't you have any kids or pets or something?

giev it to them to drink, then watch em closely

if they drop dead

the water aint no good!

lol

:D
 
I have two large dehumdifiers that can easily fill up overnight in the GA humidity if I leave them running. I always look at the water, wondering how clean it is. At worst, you could filter or treat it if you didn't have available treated water.
 
I hope to be corrected if I'm wrong , but I believe that dehumidifier water is the same as distilled water. Use it instead of tap water for car batteries , and in your wifes steam iron. The process of condensation removes most , if not all of the " other stuff " ( metals , minerals ,and such , found in tap water or streams ect.)


Phil
 
The water itself will be fine, but the interchange surfaces would likely be a breeding ground for mold and mildew. Maybe try putting some of the water in a sealed sterile jar and see how long it takes for it to go scummy?
 
1894 said:
I hope to be corrected if I'm wrong , but I believe that dehumidifier water is the same as distilled water.
Phil
Click to expand...
No, it's not the same at all.
Distilled water is heated and becomes steam at some point...and so heavy particles that cannot become steam are eliminated, and bacteria is killed by the high temp.
A dehumidifier does not kill any bacteria, nor does it remove heavy particles.

Don't drink it!
 
Yep, I wouldn't drink it either. The catch tank on my newer dehumidifier is grey in color, and I can see the bottom of the tank is heavily dotted with black spots. Ick! Our older unit has a black tank. I can just imagine what's in there! Blech!
 
Dehumidifier drippings sounds about like distilled water to me, plus a little dust and other crap maybe. :D How about straining it through a clean paper towel or handkerchief, adding a drop of regular Clorox bleach to a couple of quarts of it, then shake it up, let it stand awhile to evaporate some of the chlorine, and then it should be good to drink. Bottoms up. :p
 
In an emergency, the water could be used. But before drinking it, I would add a drop or two of bleach to kill any bacteria. This kind of water can lead to legionares disease, so it should be used only in a case of last resort.
 
Dehumidifier drippings sounds about like distilled water to me, plus a little dust and other crap maybe.
Click to expand...
Again, NO!

A still converts liquids to steam and then condenses that steam back in to liquid...hence the dripping.
And the heat required to turn the liquid to steam is what kills the bacteria.

A dehumidifier does not turn the liquid to steam.

But you can make a crock-pot still or a rice cooker still....for water purification purposes only of course.;)
http://www.instructables.com/id/ENN80BO7B5EXCFGX2J/
 
Add a couple of drops of bleach to your dehumidifer's collection tank once a month. Don't sweat the small stuff.
 
allenC said:
No, it's not the same at all.
Distilled water is heated and becomes steam at some point...and so heavy particles that cannot become steam are eliminated, and bacteria is killed by the high temp.
A dehumidifier does not kill any bacteria, nor does it remove heavy particles.

Don't drink it!
Click to expand...

OK I'm trying to understand the diference here :confused:
First off I never mentioned bacteria or drinking , I think a little bleach and proper cleansing of the condenser would be important for drinking in an emergency ;)
What I'm not quite getting ( I can be a little thick headed sometimes ) is that you mention that the water is heated and becomes steam , or water vapor ? And the heavy particles cannot become steam , or water vapor , correct ?
Then my simple mind ( :confused: ) does not understand that those " heavy particles " can be held in the air , Humidity , or water vapor . Please in laymans terms explain this.
I grant you that bacteria , and other nasties are in the air , but , the condensation from the air moisture should not have those heavy particles.
A few drops of salt water that evaporates off the table leaves a residue, I thought that was the heavy particles.
Is it just air polution that off sets the closed process of " distilled " water ?
Not trying to be a jerk , I'm just currious .

Phil
 
OK, I'll toss a little more into this mix. Some years ago when I was still an aircraft mechanic, one of my almost daily duties was operating a commercial still to produce quantities of water that we used to service the 80 pound and $3,000+ ni-cad batteries used in our aircraft. This still, at least, did not raise the temperature of the water to the boiling point. It merely got warm enough to produce water vapor which was condensed and collected for our use. This unit did not, in my opinion, raise the temperature of the water high enough to kill bacteria, but it did remove dissolved solids (read: minerals) from the water. I still contend that a small amount of bleach added to dehumidifier condensate would make it perfectly acceptable to drink if needed.
 
on the other hand if things get so bad you are thinking of drinking the water from your dehumidifier , more likely than not the electricity will be out too. but if theres a bit in the tank boil it strain it and drink it
 
Thought I'd jump in here. Dehumidifiers work by having water condense and drip down into the collection tank, much like the water that condenses on the outside of a soft drink container on a hot humid day.

Any small paticles(bacteria, etc.) that are in the air are concentrated during the condensation.

For example, I work at a printing factory that uses all kinds of solvents.
OSHA and the EPA regularly test the air saturation levels, and has always declared it safe for long term exposure. However, the condensate that comes from our air conditioners are so saturated with these solvents that it must be piped into containers and disposed of as hazardous waste.

In short use it for washing or flushing toilets, etc, but I would never drink it, without a full water treatment.
 
Something no one has clarified yet is that the water from a dehumidifier is just collected from the air. As the coils get cold it collects on them and then drips into the aforementioned scummy buckets. Legionaires disease? Highly possible. Mold? You bet. As someone else said, the unit can be a breeding ground for all kinds of nasties. In an emergency, if it's all you've got, filter and treat it, then drink it. But not right from the tank.
 
If you've got power to run a dehumidifier, you'll probably have tap water too. Non-Issue.
 
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