Re: Water and watering etc.

Liane Cochran-Stafira (lcochran@midway.uchicago.edu)
Tue, 27 Jun 1995 09:40:22 -0500

>If you have access to the condensation outlet of a refrigerative air
>conditioner you have a reasonably pure supply of water since this
>water is condensed out of the atmosphere just like the frost in a
>freezer. I know one guy here that had the condensate piped from his
>roof top air conditioner into his rainwater tank. Great idea, he
>cools his house and collects pure water at the same time!

Hmm - Sounds pretty expensive to leave the fridge door ajar to increase
condensation. Here in the humid Chicago area I use air conditioner
condensate all summer long to water my plants. On a good? day I can
collect many gallons of water that can be stored in a dark cool place for
future use. In the winter I have used melted snow, although a clean source
(my back yard) is necessary to avoid road salt and other crud.

One point about using citric acid to precipitate salts. I think the stuff
you see coming out of solution may be the organics and perhaps some
phosphates. It would seem to me that most of the harmful salts would
actually increase in solubility when the water is acidified. Can any of
the chemists out there comment on this?

Liane Cochran-Stafira