[Viking Josh]

I was emptying one of my dehumidifiers, and realized how much moisture is in the air, I pull out gallons of water everyday, though your experience may be different because the humidity levels may be different, but it got me thinking, how valuable this piece of overlooked equipment actually is in a survival situation. Say you can't leave your house in fear of raiders and gangs roaming the streets, but you have no more water. Never fear, your dehumidifier will solve that problem, gallons of water every day. Makes up for your low stock of bottled water.

What do you think about it?

 

[regulator74]

Dehumidifiers can harbor all kinds of nasties, just make sure you treat it.

 

[Viking Josh]

Dehumidifiers can harbor all kinds of nasties, just make sure you treat it.

Well of course, and one should also clean the dehumidifier often too.

 

[KaBar67]

We are using humidifier right now. Winter air is relatively dry.

 

[Viking Josh]

We are using humidifier right now. Winter air is relatively dry.

Oh yeah I forgot that it's winter in most the world, over here in Okinawa, its just a bit chilly and windy, but still humid.

 

[TackleBerry]

Might want to get one of these if you plan to drink water you gather from the air. It has a process of cleaning the water so its safe to drink.

http://www.ecoloblue.com/en/ecoloblue

 

[brutalsun]

Just a thought, use the water collected for plants, throw it in a rain barrel. While tackleberry's link is awesome for some it's not econmically feasible. If it is already collecting water make it work for you.

 

[Viking Josh]

Might want to get one of these if you plan to drink water you gather from the air. It has a process of cleaning the water so its safe to drink.

http://www.ecoloblue.com/en/ecoloblue

Looks like someone already cashed in on my idea:xeye:

 

[HotPrepper]

Good idea for certain survival collection situations, but I think the ecoloblue and others are gadget-y. A humidifer will range from 3ish on the low side up to 10 or so amps for larger household types. Running this for a significant amount of time WILL add a noticeable amount to your power bill. For something long term, you are best served by one of the tried and true methods of filtration, using rain or surface water as a source.

 

[d3athp3nguin]

definitely sounds cool, but too little humidity means nosebleeds for me. Got two this week due to super dry winter weather (and working in a datacenter where I'm going from hot to cold temps all the time.)

 

[N3HCP]

Remember that the evaporator coil where the moisture from the air condenses, in every dehumidifier I've ever seen (worked on them for 20+ years), is made from aluminum. You will have a fairly high concentration of aluminum salts in the water, no matter how often or how well you clean it. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin, have been implicated in breast cancer and retinal problems. I don't think I would use it for any thing that comes in long term contact with the body, like laundry. Might be OK for house plants (nothing edible), but I certainly wouldn't drink it! You would need to check any filters you use to be sure they are effective on Aluminum.

 

[Humungus]

yeah you can get a substantial amount of water. Based on my experience, you could probably get enough for one person to live off of if you ran a decent sized dehumidifier 24/7.

The problem is providing enough power in a shtf situation

P.S. This is based on my experience in Florida, where the air is ridiculously humid.

 

[Humungus]

Remember that the evaporator coil where the moisture from the air condenses, in every dehumidifier I've ever seen (worked on them for 20+ years), is made from aluminum. You will have a fairly high concentration of aluminum salts in the water, no matter how often or how well you clean it. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin, have been implicated in breast cancer and retinal problems. I don't think I would use it for any thing that comes in long term contact with the body, like laundry. Might be OK for house plants (nothing edible), but I certainly wouldn't drink it! You would need to check any filters you use to be sure they are effective on Aluminum.

probably would be a fairly easy task to replace it with a copper coil or something similar.

But soda comes in aluminum cans, so either its not that big of a deal or people are gonna stop dropping like flies one of these days.

 

[Viking Josh]

probably would be a fairly easy task to replace it with a copper coil or something similar.

But soda comes in aluminum cans, so either its not that big of a deal or people are gonna stop dropping like flies one of these days.

oh dang, what to do!

 

[Greg5791]

Hi there. I think I can help here (despite I´ve been unfairly "punished" by "insulting" some thug around there in other thread, but that´s another story) could not resist to post, as there´s a little confusion about Aluminum use: the alloy used in dehumidifiers, air conditioning systems and alike (I suspect) is fairly different to those used in vessels for human consumption! or well perhaps not that different, but the small difference perhaps is a thin layer of some coating to avoid the phosphoric acid and carbonic acid to "attack" the metal of the can. I suggest not to use the water product of a dehumidifier for human comsuption with exception of a extreme situation, and make sure it´s been properly treated with some drops of the product of your choice. This water perhaps is not rich enough in the minerals you need, it´s almost like distilled water not suited for human consumption in a long basis. By the way, if you are not allowed to leave the place where the dehumidifier is, are you sure you´re going to have power for that thing to work so you can rely on it for water? I´m using the condensed water from my A/C systems for my tomatoes planting : but mainly because I don´t like the algae spots this dropping on the floor around my house. I´m in Tropical weather of course.