This past weekend I was down in the basement cleanining up yet another cat bomb when I realized that the dehumidifier needed to be emptied. I'm pouring 60 pints of water down the drain when it hits me. Why can't I drink this stuff? It's basiclly distliled water. So if there is a boil water order, or some reason not to trust the local water supply and I have power(or a generator) I may have a source of readily potable water! Please pick this apart and let me know what you think!
I may just send a sample to the local lab and get it tested for potability with no treatment.

You will probably still want ot treat it since dehumidifiers usually spend their time in the most damp, moldy and mildew stricken areas of the house. The water may not make you sick but it may smell and taste bad. If you use a little MP1 or Aqua Mira this will kill the cause of the smell.

Yep. Dehumidifier water is prone to being full of mold, mildew and bacteria. You'd definitely want to treat it before you drank it.

Kevin B.

There are machines that would literaly make water out of air. But they require electricity, so in a long term scenario they may or may not be worth it, depending if one has a reliable electricity source.

It is one thing to get water as a bi-product and to start an electric machine to produce water. It is not economical and you will be wasting lots of power for little water. That is beside the other concern of midlew.

You can use it as a backup source of "clean" water that needs boiling. But that is if there is not corrosin in your dehiumidifer. Corrosion will add iron, copper, and whatever metals to the water.

BTW I remember some thread somewhere on getting electric power from a car generator by running th e engine. It is a similar case of non-ecocnomical way of getting enough of what you need versus what you will be spending. An engine is suppoosed to move the car (mechanical) and only a small part of its power goes to the generator (electrical) and you will be wasting too much gas for too little electricity. It is similar to getting water from air. And is only adviseable if you have large (unlimited ? ) amounts of the resource and you critically need the product.