Recycling The Drips From The Dehu? Cervantes Says The Way To Up Your

[pic book]

grow game is to visit a lotta grow rooms. So I took the opportunity to visit other guy's rooms--a friend of a friend in all 3 cases of rooms that I saw on Saturday.  One thing struck me--these 3 guys all had dehus running, and a pump and a tube ran the condensate from the shallow collection pan to a giant trash can.

I asked why save that water?  They said the condensate is low ppm, like reverse osmosis water, but unlike osmosis product, the p and k isn't removed.  They got tired or adding back the p and k to osmosis water, and realized the dehu condensate was complete water.

Edited May 24, 2015 by pic book

[free420country]

Would have to be sterilized im thinking....

[trichcycler]

nice idea, really, though not original. Problem is the interior coils and other places coming into contact with this water is far from safe for drinking, or handling around medicine maybe too. Same goes for ac run off. The heavy metal content, soldered joints, strange china polymers, etc should be enough to deter this practice. Bacteria builds up and thrives on in these warm, dusty,  moist areas.

[nsmn8r]

What about all the soldered joints in your homes plumbing and the weird Chinese polymers in our plastic cups and bottles?

 

I reuse my water just because it's convenient. I don't think there's any p or k in it though. Wouldn't it show up on a ppm meter if there were? I know that when I add P it goes up so I would think if there was any in there to begin with it would show up.

Mine comes out of my dehumidifiers and ac with single digit ppm.

 

I don't worry about bacteria in there much either. The water drips off the cold coils a runs straight down a tube into the collection barrel so it's nice and cool and I don't keep anything dusty in there.

Edited May 25, 2015 by nsmn8r

[t-pain]

rock dust and fertz have heavy metals in them as well. including lead, etc

 

i also dont think theres any npk in condensated water. those minerals are too heavy to be evaporated into the air.

 

bacteria? dust? the soil is full of that. i wouldnt drink it, but plants should be ok with it.

 

grass, what bacterial infections can cannabis get anyhow?

mosiac virus?(extremely rare)

[trichcycler]

well, certainly not a judgment, just a lesson learned at the U.  
The bacteria that most definitely resides within the dehumidifier, in the warm, dusty, moist areas that are maintained by the constant air flowing over them, the heat caused by the compressor.   These bacteria cause little to no issue in the plants watered by them of course. Cannabis can and is grown in radioactive soil, watered with radioactive water too, it thrives on this. I wonder what the harvest is worth as fiber or medicine though lol.  
 
The issue of bacteria presence is not that of plant health but human health of course. Aerobic Plate Counts(APC) is used to identify bacterial counts on raw plant material. Coliforms,legionella salmonella, E.Coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, yeast and molds and  are some possible bacterial infections I learned about. Of course these are rarely an issue in clean gardens utilizing clean practices used by healthy peple. Storing water, leaky connections, wet floors, humid conditions, unsanitary conditions, and human hygiene are all culprits in the introduction of these bacteria.

Water collected from any dehumidifier is technically distilled water in that it does contain few of the minerals and other particulates that are removed in a true distillation process. However, a true distillation process condenses the steam of boiled water, and the boiling process kills any microbes and fungi that may be present in the pre-distilled water. Dehumidifiers are also not kept to a state of cleanliness required for food-grade standards (drinking water usually has very high legal requirements). The collected water is therefore not considered safe to drink. Also, as the water may sit for a while in the collection bucket, the water may be quite stale, in particular with fungus collected from aerial spores.

stupid Wikipedia says;

Potability[edit]

Generally, dehumidifier water is considered a rather clean kind of greywater: not suitable for drinking, but acceptable for watering plants, though not garden vegetables.[8] The health concerns are:[8]
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 may 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.

Food-grade dehumidifiers, also called atmospheric water generators, are designed to avoid toxic metal contamination and to keep all water contact surfaces clean. The devices are primarily intended to produce pure water, and the dehumidifying effect is viewed as secondary to their operation.
why take chances on the health of me, my plants and patients....that's what ended my dehumidifier water recyclings. bad water=icky contact=no oxygen=meh. One swipe sample from the discharge hose end of my dehu after a month of running was enough for me to stop. I wasn't concerned for the plants, but the contact between me, the plants, and mouths/lungs. I was also concerned about the "sink" in my soil, collecting these yuckies over and over in the garden. Feeding anaerobic water to my roots seemed counterproductive to me.

Water taken from a Dehumidifier is De-Ionized. This means that there is no dissolved O2. It is not potable water. oxygen affects a vast number of other water indicators, not only biochemical but esthetic ones like the odor, clarity and taste. Consequently, oxygen is perhaps the most well-established indicator of water quality.
 
While the possible bacteria/heavy metals may rarely affect a person,  especially a healthy person, its best to avoid the conditions that harbor these pathogens. Knowing there are other toxins present doesn't excuse me from doing everything I can to reduce the presence of even more. I'm anal about some of these bits. It cost me many years and lots of cash to learn.
There are specific atmosphere dehumidifiers made specifically to recycle this water in a healthy manner. They are used successfully all over the world. Those using the devices could have just used normal ones maybe ? As long as growers do not have an easy access disposal of run off water, this debate will continue.

peace out.

 

 

(blah, blah blah, whadda prick eh?)

Edited May 25, 2015 by grassmatch