I JUST HAD A GREAT IDEA!!!! Waste notwant not!!!

Hey, all you fellow Houseplant nuts!!!

My resourceful mind is working overtime, but this is really a great "recycling" idea!

I run a Dehumidifier downstairs in my Club Room as the walls are 1/2 way underground and it tends to stay cool and damp. I even have mildew on some secluded spots om the walls! The Dehumidifier keeps the air drier and warms the room as well.

Even though I only have my dehumidifier set at 30%, I need to empty the water-drawer almost daily. All that good, precious water going to waste! I hate to just pour it down the drain!!! I had been pouring it into my washer, but then i had this "brainstorm" one day!

Water pulled out of the air has NO Chlorine in it!!!! NO salts! NOTHING!!!! Here, in Baltimore, our water is quite highly Chlorinated. Plants do not really like that! So I started filling up 5 gal. buckets with it to use for watering all my Houseplants. Almost as good as rainwater!

What do you all think of this? I am very "tickled" that I thought of it!

Gitagal

It sounds pretty logical, but I'm wondering if there's any minerals at all in the water that the plants would need. Then again, is there any in city tap water? I wonder what the "experts" out there might think.

It's a great idea!!

We need a dehumidifier in our basement during the summer months, and I *always* use this water to water my plants. I've even read,in several reference books, that it's specifically recommened for use on plants that prefer rainwater (some tropicals and other plants that resent water with a high lime/mineral content) if your tap/well water does have a high lime or mineral content.

I think it's a great 'conservation' idea!

In some conversation recently, someone mentioned a "home water maker" which is essentially a dehumidifier. Since we are "rather" humid lost of the time...it would be easy here. But...hehehe...we also get about 160" of rain annually, so who needs more water????

But your idea is fantastic!!! Especially getting rid of using chlorinated or floridated water on your indoor plants!!!

Let's hear it for innovation!!!

Hi everybody!

I live in such a dry climate that there won't be any dehumidifying here! But I have started using my fish tank aquarium water to water my plants. The water needs to be partially changed once in a while so I just take some out when watering my plants and fill it back up with tap water that has been conditioned.
My plants are loving the fish waste in the water. My lantana is finally blooming and all my plants seem to be extra happy now!

Gitagal - in passing I ran your idea by my Chemical Engineer/Environmental Engineer DH and while at first he thought it was OK, he later commented that the air in Baltimore may be so polluted that the water drawn out of it would be worse than the water. Of course, he allowed as how it would be better to "flash off" the chlorine and stuff from the water before using it.

He also commented that rain water wouldn't contain the higher concentrations of pollutants that the dehumidified water would have.

Just a thought to consider....

Good luck, Carol

I am with you. It sounds like a great idea.

Alohahoya,

I live far out in the "burbs" and any air polution thet your hubby refers ti is probably not valid. It IS the air in my house that is being de-humidified! NOT downtown in the shipyards!

A lot of people have this "down" attitude about Baltimore. YES! We have a working Harbor. Yes! We have the "Sparrows Point" Shipyards. Yes! There are a number of industries downtown around the Bay that do not present a pretty picture as one zips through the "grubby" part of town on I-95. BUT!!!!! Boy! Do we have a nice tourism trade and our beautiful "Inner Harbor"!!! And quaint places like ancient "Fells Poit"! The "watering hole" for anyone under 30! Cobblestone streets and A1 restaurants and bars in every block! The whole downtown area oozes "atmosphere"!

We here are used to having people from DC and NY look down on us, but you know what? Our realstate here is HALF of what it would cost in those places! Maybe less! DC'ers are buying homes around Baltimore and commuting for that reason.

Come visit us sometimes! Besides having all the steamed crabs you can eat-----you may just fall in love with this town! Thousands have!

OK! I guess I got a little carried away! Just shows you how much I care about this place! I think my dehumidifier water is clean enough to drink! HMMMMMMM! Don't know if I would get that desperate, though.

Question: What does your DH base his opinion on that our water here is so polluted? I'd be interested to know...................

Gitagal

My post wasn't too clear...it is the air of downtown/industral Baltimore that would produce "not pristine" water....and your post stated that the city water is full of chemicals. Frankly...I grew up in Annapolis and I LOVE Baltimore...(Baldymere LOL). And it is not just Baltimore...it would pertain to any BIG city...with lots of pollution. Heck...our air HERE is full of Sulpheric Acid (volcanos) at times but the water (rain) is more plentyful and cancels it out.

No offense meant, Gitagal...just an observation. :)

Alohahoya,

It has been a while....Too busy "eating crow"......LOL

Tell your husband he may have been right about this water saving and polution. I had 2 big buckets filled with this "saved" water. and they sat and sat. Never got to using it up. Then I noticed there WAS scum growing on top of it. It could have been that the bucket was dirty, it could have been that there were contaminants in the air and the collected water. YUK!!! I dumped both buckets down the laundry sink!

I think if I do this again, the water has to be used up in a few days. My dehumidifyer "died" anyway, so.....need a new one!

Gitagal

Gitagal...I find crow excellent with Sauce Bearnaise! Lord knows I have eaten it enough.

Now...I wonder...if you ran your collected water thru a charcoal filter, wouldn't that filter out the pollutants? Must ask DH...he's out now.

You could collect rain water (after it has "run" a bit to wash the air)...

Aloha, Carol

Water from dehumidifiers or air conditioners do have a concentrated amounts dust particles which include fungii spores, bacteria,... which in turn causes the water to build the surface "scum" quicker then it would with "clean" tap water (it will too but it takes longer). I previously used the "run-off" water on plants without problems but theoretically you have a higher chance of introducing harmful pathogenes to your plants that way.

Milan

YES!!! YES!!!! YES!!!!!

The reason i run the dehumidifier down in my semi-basement is BECAUSE I DO have a lot of "smelly" air down there. That means, of course, that I have mildew and funguses growing there---somewhere---on the walls.

Yes! A lot of contaminants! I am not all that motivated to go to any great lengths to collect rain water or filtering it through charcoal. The tap water will have to do! Inside! Outside! Let it all flow!!! We have pretty good water here in Baltimore. A bit overly chlorinater, maybe, but very safe for drinking with NO "funny taste".

Gitagal...you might want to let your water sit out for about 24 hours before watering...the chemicals will flash off in that time...at least, most of them will.

No greater teacher than life, eh?

Carol

Gitagal, I'm coming back to Bawlamer or maybe Annapolis (I lived a long time in both) soon for blue crabs... just your mention of them made me salivate!

Darius!

If you have no one else to stay with here in "Bawlmer", "Mi casa--su casa!!!!" I live in Perry Hall, (near White Marsh) all by myself in a big house. Divorced now 12 years. I would love to put you up for your visit! I will even cook you Crab cakes! I DO still work, though, part time at HD.

Welcome...........Welcome...................Gitagal

Gosh...I loved that part of the world growing up: crabbing on the Severn River, dodging jelly fish...Loved it. Happiest years growing up. Have fun, guys, and eat some crabcakes for US!

Carol

Gitagal, thanks.. I might just do that! I lived on Wilson Point but haven't been back to that area for many years. Usually on a visit I try to get to the Lexington Market, and maybe Fells Point but seldom east.

Carol, I lived right on Round Bay so I know the Severn well. I loved waking up in the early morning and hearing "Strooooke" coming across the flat morning water as the crews from the Naval Academy were out practicing in their skulls. Best time for coffee, sitting out on the deck. And watching ice boats in the winters...