Some homes use window units to cool individual rooms. I happen to have central air. For those unfamiliar with central air you can read about it here. In a nutshell, a compressor and evaporator work together to cool warm air and recirculate it. That warm air releases moisture as it is cooled. The moisture drops into a pan which then gets drained into a sump pump, outside or a slop sink as in my case.Every time I go in to the basement, I notice the water dripping from a small hose. Never really thought much of it. Out of curiousity, I decided to start collecting it with the use of milk jugs. Well after a few hours, I filled one. A few more hours pass, I fill another and another... in a 24 hour period I collected 4 jugs of water. That's 4 gallons of water a day! I am constantly surprised by these little experiments. I thought I got alot of water from the dehumidifier.
Here's some rough math:
AC running from May to Sept: 153 days 153 days x 4 gallons = 612 gallons of water!Between the dehumidifier and the air conditioner I estimate I can collect anywhere between 800-1,000 gallons a water during the summer months! 1,000 gallons... that's ALOT of water.
As a result of this new discovery I will be installing a rain barrel outside of my basement to collect this water for my gardens. I just found my new winter project.
