Draining a dehumidifier into aero res - copper/aluminum contam?

Mr. Bins

Member
I was thinking about hooking up my dehumidifier to drain into my aero reservoir, but I'm concerned about contaminating the res with metals. The coils look like they're made of copper and aluminum, and the waste water from the dehu measures at 30ppm (for comparison my RO water measures around 23ppm).

Looking for thoughts/opinions on whether this could be an issue. If so I'll need to create a secondary tank with a float valve and switch, and buy another pricey diaphragm pump to handle pumping the water to waste (or modify the built in tank.) I'm aware that some of the dehus have built in pumps but opted not to go that route because it adds another component that can brick the dehu if it fails. Also the way that these built in drain pumps attach to tubing looked questionable compared to a garden hose thread which can be adapted.
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
its toxic, not rated for drinking, moldy dirty fungus filled water drips down china metal and lead while it forms condensate
that collects in a bin. dont fuck with this water, wash hands before handling plants too. I drain mine right outside to avoid it.
 

SouthCross

Well-Known Member
How new is the dehumidifier? When I first started using mine it was 50ppm. Two months later it measured between 7 and 10ppm.
 

Mr. Bins

Member
It's a brand new Danby 70pt. I was also thinking that the ppm might drop after the first few uses, will report back on that later. Though I've read reports elsewhere of people doing this without consequence I'm leaning toward not worth taking the chance just to save some money and effort.

You can see the coils behind the intake vent in this pic. The exhaust is on the right side in the photo - left side if you were looking at the front of the unit. I've driven two large eye hooks into wall studs and used a piece of 10-2 Romex strung between them to hold it in place.

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Mr. Bins

Member
Closeup shot of the coils. Most of the surface area is aluminum fins, while the copper is used as a core. Not sure what the blue coating is. There are copper test kits available for $13 online. Not sure about the toxicity of aluminum or whether either metal would actually leach much into neutral condensate water. It's also questionable how accurate a $15 ppm meter is in the 20ppm range.

_MG_6666.jpg
 
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