thought I'd ask over here. Xpost from gardening

[NMDemDist2]

my A/C puts out almost a gallon of water a day during the heat of summer. I have a copper tube that comes out from the house and it just drips constantly but it's pretty low to the ground

I'm thinking I can put a hose on it and run it over to my garden or apple tree or something

is there gonna be any thing in this fluid I need to keep away from my food plants? I'd sure love to use the water in my desert home....

[Longhorn]

1. Mr. Longhorn says no problem!

Nothing in it that would hurt your plants. Great idea! :hi:

[NMDemDist2]

2. i did do a search and there was some question there might be some

metal in the water

I think I'll just use it for the apple tree, it does so much better with a constant trickle

[Longhorn]

3. Well, he feels that since our drinking water comes to us after passing

through copper or galvanized steel pipes, there wouldn't be any difference with water dripping off of copper coils inside the unit.

[NMDemDist2]

4. what I don't understand is the AC unit sits outside, the squirrel cage fan

is above the heater inside but the water comes out from inside.....

[Longhorn]

5. Here's how it works:

There are coils outside with the compressor and other coils inside with the air handler (squirrel cage fan.) The freon is compressed outside, then piped inside where it expands and chills the coils. The air that blows across those coils is cooled. The moisture in the air around the cold coils condenses, drips into a pain, and drains to the outside. I hope that helps! :hi:

I'm amazed you have enough moisture in your New Mexican air to have any condensation! ;)

[NMDemDist2]

6. that helps a lot! thanks to you and the Mr. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Its pretty much the same as distilled water

Its condensation. It passes over metal. But so does your drinking water.

Its perfectly safe to use for watering the garden.

[Warpy]

8. No, it's just water pulled right out of the air

it's very close to distilled water.

[Grateful for Hope]

9. When I lived in NM

our home had an evaporative cooler. We were in that home for only four years, so, we probably did not have a chance to experience any ill effects from it. We loved it as it was very inexpensive to operate, and, it did a wonderful job cooling our home. I have often wished that I could use one here in NY...what a savings it would be to operate.

I mention this because it was so cheap to operate, and, I was wondering why your home would have an AC instead.

Sorry, I know this is OT, but, I was just curious.

[NMDemDist2]

10. in the hottest part of the year, it's also quite humid and the swamp coolers

aren't incredibly efficient then around here. same as in AZ but I wouldn't mind having one, we've only owned this place 18 months and the A/C unit was brand new from the old owners

they were more efficient up north as it stays drier up there, but we get 80% of our rain in the summer down here close to TX

:hi:

[Grateful for Hope]

11. That does explain it

I lived in Albuquerque which is very dry (at least it was when we lived there). I remember having one day of humidity in the four years we lived there.

Still, it probably would be a good thing to have one!