Heads up! I had slight lingering diarrhea for months. It got to where I accepted it as normal. A vision came to me at night that I should check my water cooler. It was full of mold.

Just to clarify for anyone thinking of this, you will need power/electricity for this to work. If your prepping for a grid down scenario then make sure you have a way to run the dehumidifier. Good way to be resourceful though when water is needed.

I just got one about a month ago. If I’m not mistaken it’s pretty much a mini fridge, producing condensation like any other system like your AC. Our chickens drink from the AC condensation drain (even though they have several water sources). People all over are looking for uses for the water because we hate wasting it. Great timing!

If you plan to drink from a dehumidifier make certain that you clean the coils regularly, as this is the surface the water collects on. And absolutely filter the water before consumption, I saw men die from contaminated water while in the Army. It's not a way you want to go, trust me.

Even if the water was contaminated in the dehumidifier, a simple water filter should make it safe.

Yes,you can use it for water as long as you keep the pan clean to prevent mold from growing. The best way to do this is washing it out with dish soap and dropping a chlorine tab or a small chip from a 3 inch or 1 inch tab. Don't worry about the ph or alkalinity or even copper.

At my old place I put my dehumidifier water through my alaxapure. Last Christmas got all my kids and grown grands a Zero water pitcher and extra filters. It comes with a water tester.

We put one outside just to see and powered it with 4 solar panels WITH CHARGE CONTROLLER a car battery and 500 watt inverter which made 2.4 gallons in 24 hours easy. I got tired of dumping it. I told my girlfriend I was now a moisture farmer like in Star Wars😂. I would still filter and keep your tank clean. I got a medea dehumidifier works great, remember it needs fresh air from outside to work the best . 😊

If it’s the difference between life and death, I’ve heard stories of people drinking their own urine, so yeah, I’m drinking it.

Be good idea if you tested both of the waters after filtering it. Be interesting to see the results

As I look at those strips, the colors for both the tap and the dehumidifier water tests look very close / almost identical on my screen. Have you tested these strips before for another water source and gotten different results/colors? The stripes may have expired or lost their sensitivity due to storage conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.) and may not be offering solid results.

You can drink it if you first filter it preferably with a RO system and use a UV water sterilizer. Because anything that was in the air is in that water in concentration. Mold spores, Legionaries disease, etc. This is because it works by the water condensing on a cold surface then dripping into a container. It's not really evaporation it's condensation like a glass of ice water how drops form on the glass, also depends on where it's collecting the water a basement is probably the worst place because of the environment.

Good information, thanks. I’ll definitely be purchasing those test strips.

Put it through a Berkey filter and call it good 👍🏼

I’d add an ozonator and a UV light to get rid of microbes before filtering it using reverse osmosis The ozone will bind to metals and precipitate them out of the water. The filter in the reverse osmosis will take care of the precipitates. This will be great for washing clothes but I would still distill it before drinking it.

There is a company called "Source renewable drinking water" that creates water from condensation. The trick is they have their contraption encased in an air tight box and zero contaminates get in the water. It is the purest water on the planet because of this. If you can figure out how to make the purifier air tight, you would have something.

So the test strip claims the distilled water has chlorine? That can't be right. I have been using water dripping off of the window AC and dehumidifier to water plants with no problems. If I was going to drink it I would put it through a simple pitcher filter or something.

The answer is yes. I plan on using one to fill my rain barrels between rain. I live in the deep south with extreme humidity year round.

Interesting.

“I’m from New York City, so when I get homesick, I pour urine in my humidifier.” -Comedian Emo Phillips

Great job buddy

It's not a bad idea, but the water needs to be treated really well. It needs to be filtered, boiled, and tested.

Congrats on your successful citizen water patrol!

John P. Craven, Oceanographer (deceased) based in Hawaii, in one of his books, touched on an experimental water system that used cold deep ocean water pump through coils located above ground. The moist ocean air would hit the cold pipes and produce condensate.

Have considered this as we run a dehumidifier in winter here in the UK as we can get mold issues in this House. I have a tiny one which I used when I was in a caravan and running 100% solar and a similar sized one to yours. I personally found it too expensive to run now I'm back on mains electricity. Which leads me to think. If the situation is such that you need to be sucking water out of the air, are you going to have the power to do it?

I have been filtering tap water for years no problem in a Bereky filter. When I run dehumidifier water through the Berkey for my high value medicinal plants it clogs the filter after filtering just 5 gallons. When I place the filtered dehumidifier water in the reservoir for the plants it grows slime much faster. Much much faster than Reverse osmosis water or tap water. Its wrecking my filters. You would need gallons of water to clean them too. I have had to scrape a micron or 2 off the surface of the filter just to get it to work again. Initially it looks fine and tastes fine but there must be invisible particles in from the air I cant see in the dehumidifier water. This leads me to believe I would need to prefilter the water to catch larger particles first. Trying to figure out a way as I pour a lot of dehumidifier water down the drain.

Its interesting that it has chlorine in it considering it was evaporated. I would not have expected that. Have you seen the use if a teracotta pot as a filter?

Before watching - my dehumidifier collects bugs most times

I also have 2 dehumidifiers. I would definitely filter the water. When I dump it out, it doesn't look that appetizing. You gotta love (NOT) BASEMENTS. as a matter of fact, I just dumped it ten minutes ago. Small world, isn't it.

Of course keep clean as jonaichs1976 said, but also run the water thru a Berkey water filter. That is your best bet. Remember, the cleaner the water to start before you filter it, the longer your filter lasts. So far as AZ, I ran a prtable AC, $600, which included a dehumidifer. Got about a half cup of water per day. The hose run off which i put into a pan had evaporated before the day was over. I was afraid it would drip and make a mess in my RV. Yeah right.. that water was better off evaporating into the air anyway. There are companies which make like $10k-40k dehumidifiers for the purpose of drinking water. I think that's wasteful. In most places on earth which aren't Arid-Zona, you can get plenty of water to run through a Berkey!

Interesting and novel. Yeah I acannot see why it isn't drinkable. I WOULD. Good alternate sources.

There are new machines that pull the moisture out of the air and create water on a greater and cleaner scale.. can't remember what they are called but that is a thing.

I wonder if it also might change with air quality?

I would recommend that if you can afford it, get an air-to-water water dispenser and a generator. If not a Berkey water dispenser or Nikken water dispenser with a dehumidifier and generator.

The condensing coil is not food grade and likely has lead solder points, as well as contact with other toxic substances. Your test strips came out fine but if you want to know for sure, have a lab check it. In the worst case, you could use dehumidifier water for washing clothes.

We have a Peltier Model, that thing reall sucks the moisture out of the air a great deal, every 4 days I have to empty the thing. so here is the question, If I am using a peltier design, i will have to test it. But When I make the video, I will do more than the 16 in one, I will also test for Mold, as well as ameba and other things, if need be I will send it to a lab and have it tested profesionally.

Presume you need to run the distilled water from the dehumidifier through a filter system(Berkey?) and then add some minerals back into it? Key is the state of the filter in the dehumidifer right?

Of course you can. Should be ready to filter and/or disinfect tap water anyway. At least you can flush your toilet once a day with it.

i tested water from my dehumidifier and the only bad thing it had was lead, but that's pretty bad. Must be coming from the coils? I wonder if there is one that does not have lead.

Is just boiling the water from a dehumidifier as good as filtering?

My dehumidifier produces about a gallon every SIX hours :O Then again, I live right on the beach in Florida, and it is summer ... I run some of it through an Aquapur filter, and no problems so far. Thanks for the tip with the test kit. See if it is really safe ...

Probably use it to water plants?

Filter and Boil???

What about mold and mildew

👍😀

should probably boil it, but in an emergency looks good.

shud have used several test kits.... i would not trust only 1

After seeing the results of that test. I'd still not recommend not drinking the water. One thing your test kit doesn't take into account is biological agents. A dehumidifier can be a source of bacteria. Bacteria can and will grow in the reservoir and on the drain channels of the condensation coils. I imagine if you boil the water and the water goes through a filter you can eliminate those, but don't take my word for it, because I don't have any test data to show. If this is a brand new dehumidifier I would venture to guess the only thing to worry about are dissolved metals being added to the water. since a dehumidifier isn't a piece of lab equipment designed to produce drinking water. I would guess after a month in operation it would be teaming with bacteria. That's not to say it would be harmful bacteria. We're exposed to bacteria everyday and our bodies are covered with it. I would still seek a lab to do a thorough analysis. Your Berkey should make the water a lot safer, but Biochemistry wasn't my major. So without more information, caution would be advised.

So, wehre is the Chlorine coming from? its not inour Air natually thiswouldmean that we have a lot ofpolution occuring. Other things to include would be undetected things like Mold,and other unforssen hazzards. water kitts needtotest for a lot of things other htan chemicals.