Assuming the coils and bin in a dehumidifer were disinfected with bleach or other chemical, would the water it collected from a basement with no signs of mold or mildew be safe to drink?  i've been collecting the water from my dehumidifier for awhile for use in the toilet and other non-potable purposes, and was curious if it might be safe to drink with little on no preparation.  It looks really clean, but wasn't sure if it would also collect dangerous airborne critters in the condensation process.

No, it condenses all polutants, toxins, mold, etc in the air too...  I would rather drink from a mud puddle in a cow pasture then from a dehumidifier!

Google legionaires disease.

No, I wouldn't.

Run it through a filter or boil it, then drink it.  No biggie.  It'd be safer to
drink untreated as is than say water from a pond, but it's still got some crap in it.

Certainly if you run the water through a Sawyer filter to be reassured.

We inhale constantly all the pollutants others are running into the woods waving their hands about.

My only concern would be heavy metals from the coils, especially aluminum and copper. But we cook our food in those last time I checked. Some coils may be brazed, probably not an issue.

Get a TDS [total dissolved solids] probe for ~$20 from eBay or somewhere and see just how clean that condensed [distilled, partly by natural processes] water really is if you've maintained you DH properly.

At least it probably won't have Flouride in it.

Thanks for the information.  I was watching a show where the host was collecting moisture with a tarp over a hole, which made me instantly think of the dehumidifeir in the basement.

That's a "solar still".

Assuming the tarp and container collecting it is clean then the water is clean from one of those.

However, the average home dehumidifier is not built with that in mind.  To be safe with that water, you would need to have a cleaning procedure and perhaps pre-filter the air, and probably use a dedicated unit, not the type that you have attached to your furnace and air system.  (Which is going to hold all sorts of nasties.)  If you have all that, you have power, and could probably haul, filter and boil the water anyway.

So, the combination of circumstances required for making that an option is probably rare.

it would be safe to drink in an emergency, if you treated the water to kill mold and bacteria.  Any pollutants that are condensed would be the same ones you drank anyway.  The braze joints in HVAC are usually some combination of Silver, Phosphrus (as a flux), copper (as a base metal), and maybe zinc.  There might be the ocasional leaded brass fitting, but these are few and far between, and not likely to be part of the evaporator coils (where the condensation ocours.)

BTW, many cruise lines are reusing the condensate water- much cheaper from an energy standpoint than RO watermakers.

Now, why would you want to do so?  In an emergency, would you really have the power available?

Moondog;

As one of the other posters pointed out - water condensed from the air is essentially "distilled" water.  If the air in your basement is clean enough to breath, the water that is condensed from it is clean enough to drink.  If you want to prefilter the air going into the dehumidifier, go ahead but do you prefilter the air that you breath when you are standing next to it?  If not, you nose is a pretty good filter to get out any particles (in the air) which you will eventually swallow...  I really wouldn't worry much about problematic microbes unless there is unidentified crud growing in the dehumidifier (upon close inspection).  From a bacteriologic perspective, it's probably more dangerous to stick your finger in your mouth or kiss your girlfriend than is would be to drink that water (especially if it is "fresh").  The only question in my mind is how clean is the dehumidifier and what is the character/nature of the things inside it that the water will come in contact with (as an example, some plastics are not "food safe")...  Have a good look inside and see...

Perhaps everybody should look at this old thread again:



http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=580520&page=1



Again, I would rather filter cow piss then drink water from a dehumidifier but each to your own!

 This one is taking it hard.... lots of WAGs and speculation.  Legionaires like warm wet places to grow... not cold.  The referidgeration coils run at a high pressure so they are either brazed or silver soldered so you dont need to worry about lead solder joints.

Old units or condensate pans from large air handlers can grow some gross looking mung....  large condensate pans are typically treated to kill any growth... but these units move a lot of air daily year in and year out.

I wouldnt drink from some old nasty unit that has never been cleaned or maintained, and understand that the materials are not food grade....  but I really dont see how you could expect to drop dead from drinking the water.  On the other hand... for most applications, if you dont have water its because you dont have electricity so there is no point in using the dehumidifier.  

If there was some case where I needed the water and the dehumidifier did work I would probably using it for flushing or washing first and use my known good water to drink.  However, if I was in dire need of water I would drink it.

Lots of reading challenged this AM.

The OP asked:

Assuming the coils and bin in a dehumidifer were disinfected with bleach or other chemical, would the water it collected from a basement with no signs of mold or mildew be safe to drink?

Let's respond to his question.

He's not asking if it's safe to drink from a moldy, dirty DH possibly infected with Legionairs disease.

He likely understands that's probably not a good idea.

That was the first thing I thought when I saw the thread title.

if you clean it on a regular basis i dont see why not. if you want the real answer take a sample of it and have it tested by your local health dept. or find a lab online that will test it. it will cost you a few bucks but would be well worth it for piece of mind. make sure to take several samples between cleanings then you will know if you need to clean it more or less often.

uhhh....

insert notsureifserious.jpg scale 100%

On a dare at 9 years old or so I drank condensate from a window unit AC. I mean I tasted a DROP of water from the AC. Bleech, yuck, aw shit NASTY.

Been better than 40 years and it'd be more than 40 years more before I try that trick again.

Normal water tests check for coliform and fecal coliform bacteria, not mold-  Its not normally a drinking water problem.    Beside which you will never know if some strain of mold that is toxic starts reproducing after the test is done.

That is why you would regularly and carefully clean and maintain a system that you intended to drink from...  Sodium hypochlorite solutions (Clorox) kills ALL microbes - bar none...  all bacteria, all fungi, all viruses,... all are toast under the influence of bleach (used correctly)...

The main problem with the idea of drinking dehumidifier water is the fact that dehumidifiers are not manufactured or designed considering the idea that the water that they produce will be consumed by people.  As a result, the materials used in the collecing system are probably not "food safe".  The water that condenses/freezes on the (meticulously cleaned) aluminum coils (and not any other part of the cooling/condensing system) is perfectly safe for human consumption before it comes in contact with the collecting system - after it drips into the collecting pan and comes through the drain hose...  all bets are off...  and I don't know a quick/easy/cheap way to test the water coming out of a drain hose for chemical contamination... IFF you can collect the water that drips directly off the (meticulously cleaned) aluminum coils and no other part of the cooling/condensing system (without using the collecting system in the dehumidifier) and don't store it for more than a day or 2, I wouldn't have a problem drinking it with impunity.  It's true that there may be more "dust" in the water than in tap water but I have never heard of anyone with a "normal" immune system being harmed by eating a dust contaminated diet (hell, kids eat dirt without causing problems!)...  If the water is stored for an extended period, this will give the microbes on the dust a chance to grow/multiply - possibly resulting in levels high enough to cause problems...  you can probably fix this potential problem the same way water utilities do it - chlorination!

To the OP - the answer is that it can be done but the process necessary to do it safely may not be as easy as you initially thought.

Peace out...  

I want to know what the fascination is with drinking dehumidifier water?  I want to know who's preps are so pathetic and income so bad that picking up one or two extra gallons of drinking water is a big deal?


You all do know that something that uses electricity is not going to be a continuing source of water during a SHTF. If there is enough electricity to get a decent supply of water from a dehumidifier then it isn't SHTF. Are you going to run a generator to continue to use your dehumidifier?

So why drink it in the first place? Use it to flush the toilet and the supply is gone.

I don't think anyone PLANS to use a dehumidifier as a primary source of drinking water...  I think of the subject of this thread (drinking dehumidifier water) as more of a MacGyverism than anything else...

In a SHTF situation - If you have a generator and are powering a circuit that has a dehumidifier on it AND your water supply is somehow compromised, AND you don't have any other viable choice, dehumidifier water could make a difference... <yes I know it's a stretch but most of what we call "prepping" is a stretch to most "normal" people who don't have a hurricane (or some other impending SHTF disaster) bearing down on them ...>

Who would waste power on a dehumidifier? It would cost how many gallons of gas for every gallon of water? I would rather find a stream.

I run a 6,200 watt generator (240V output) to power my breaker box during power outages...  the generator runs at 3,600 RPM without regard to load placed on it...  one small load more or less won't change the generator's fuel economy...  I don't think that anyone would run a generator for the primary purpose of powering a dehumidifier BUT if someone were running a generator setup like mine anyway, plugging in a dehumidifier (or not) wouldn't have any significant effect on anything...