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largbae • today at 5:47 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

This is fun, thank you! I wonder why home HVAC units couldn't just capture the drain water to accomplish something similar for "free".


Replies

LarsAlereon • today at 5:57 PM

The condensate water is laden with bacteria, mold spores, and pollution concentrated from the air. It can definitely be filtered and sterilized, but in water scarce environments you usually can't pull enough water from the air to be worth it.

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quickthrowman • today at 8:26 PM

Condensate is not suitable for drinking and 99.9% of homes don’t have a separate gray water plumbing system or storage tank. Even the evaporator coil in the furnace/fan coil unit is going to be dirty, and the condenser coil outside is definitely filthy.