Can You Drink The Water From A Dehumidifier?
South End Plumbing, Heating, & Air Expert Tips
Can You Drink The Water From A Dehumidifier?
A dehumidifier is a helpful tool to have at hand, especially if you reside in damp locations. Damp air contains lots of bacteria and adversely impacts your overall health. A dehumidifier can clean the water vapors from the air, rendering it fresh and clean.
In the process of dehumidifying, the dehumidifier tank gathers a great deal of water from the air(if you don’t have it configured to drain outside). It would be great if you can use the water somehow. It crosses the mind of lots of people, whether dehumidifier water is safe to drink. But be warned, dehumidifier water is not drinkable. Below we’ll go into several aspects about why it is not safe to consume.
Why dehumidifier water shouldn’t be consumed
Dehumidifiers work on 2 principles: refrigeration and absorption. In refrigeration, damp air passes through chilled coils or grills with the help of an electrical fan. When the water strikes the cold surface area, it condenses, and the less damp air that is left is returned into the room. A drip pan present in the dehumidifier gathers the condensed water from the coils. The water vapors go through the condensation process, the water, at this phase, is still not very clean. Mold spores and germs are common in humid air, and the condensation process can not purify the water from such pollutants. Also because the inside of the coils are tiny and not exposed, it’s often that dust can collect in there which some of it will wind up in the water.
The other method utilizes a combination of absorption and adsorption. In this type of dehumidifier, water-absorbing product covers up a large cage. This cage revolves and absorbs the majority of the humidity in the air. The air becomes much less humid than before. The next action is a hot electrical fan that blows warm air. When air passes in front of the fan, drainage of the remainder of the vapors in the environment occurs. Lastly, the dehumidifier releases the now dryer air back into the surroundings.
Both dehumidification techniques are extensive in their task, however they still are not effective in making it drinkable. Lots of people mistake dehumidification for distillation. For this reason, they think it is safe to consume this water. However both the procedures are entirely different and serve entirely other functions.
So what’s the difference between distillation and condensation?
Unlike condensation, you can purify water through distillation. The distillation device brings the water to a boil through heating. As a result, the water evaporates, leaving all the pollutants. These water vapors then move to another container. This container consists of a cold surface area that condenses the vapors, turning them into liquid water. With distillation the water is pure, and pure water is pure and safe to drink. The distinction between distillation and condensation is evaporation. A dehumidifier does not evaporate the water before condensing. In turn, the water from a dehumidifier comes out unclean and undrinkable.
Can you make dehumidifier water drinkable?
The dehumidifier water is not pure, you can definitely treat the water to make it drinkable. Filtration of water happens through numerous methods.
- Distillation
Through the process of distillation, you can get rid of the microorganisms from the water and make it drinkable. You have currently checked out the methodology of distillation above. - Reverse Osmosis
Reverse osmosis is another water purification technique. It utilizes a partially permeable surface area or membrane. When water passes through this surface, all the pollutants and huge particles are captured in the body, leaving the water safe for usage. This is basically how a common “water filter” works.
You can purify the water from the dehumidifier through the methods discussed above. Nevertheless, it is still not suggested to use this water for drinking.
At South End HVAC we specialize in whole home dehumidifiers and humidifiers, contact us for a free consult. We’ll evaluate your system and help make recommendations for optimum value. After all, we want to keep you cool all summer long and warm in the winter. Just schedule a visit with one of our technicians to talk about how we can help with your thermostat’s settings. Would you like to learn more options our techs can help you with? give us a call 704-684-5339