Re: Dehumidifier water

[huntley@ix.netcom.com]

Hi all,

Anthony described his very sad results using dehumidifier water. Others 
have gotten away with using it, but I believe it is *not* a good safe 
source, when purer water is only about $0.25/gallon at the store.

Many, if not most, dehumidifiers use copper coils for the condenser. 
The low-salts (essentially distilled) water that condenses on them is 
very corrosive, and may well pick up some of that copper. Topping it 
off, the unit passes a lot of room air over that water, so room 
deodorants, cooking fumes and oils, insecticides, paint, smog and all 
other household air pollutants can add to the "stuff" in solution. I 
wouldn't drink it, and I certainly would only use it for fish in a dire 
emergency. [That is, it's better than being dry!]

Unless hardness is a big problem, running tap water through a simple 
carbon filter is probably safer and more likely to provide healthy 
water for the fish. Hardness must be dealt with by RO or deionizing 
units. The half-way deionizers called "water softeners" are not much 
use for this purpose, for they still leave all the sulfates, 
carbonates, etc. right there in the water.

Wright


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Wright Huntley (408) 248-5905 Santa Clara, CA USA huntley@ix.netcom.com