Thursday, June 26, 2008

Dehumidifier water

Like many people in New England, and I'm sure elsewhere that it is humid, we run a dehumidifier in our basement all summer. It collects a lot of water. Throughout my life I have seen this water dumped down the drain or in some cases the dehumidifier is connected to the main drainpipe for the house and goes out to the sewer or septic system.

We happen to have four cats, as I may have mentioned before, which means we have a lot of big buckets from buying litter. We have always saved the buckets (which come in handy for all sorts of things and have lids that fit pretty snug). So, we let the dehumidifier work its magic, then dump the water into these buckets, which conveniently hold exactly two batches of collected water, and then use that to water various plants around the yard. It's funny if you think about it, sucking water out of the air and then using it. It's kind of like a rainwater collection system except this water has never even rained down on us.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. If you are paying for the electricity to run your dehumidifier, you might as well get something free out of the deal other than just the less humid air.


Here is some more information about dehumidifiers from Wikipedia

Water collected from any dehumidifier is technically distilled water in that it does contain few of the minerals and other particulates that are removed in a true distillation process. However, a true distillation process condenses the steam of boiled water, and the boiling process kills any microbes and fungi that may be present in the pre-distilled water. Dehumidifiers are also not kept to a state of cleanliness required for food-grade standards (drinking water usually has very high legal requirements). The collected water is therefore not considered safe to drink.[1] Also, as the water may sit for a while in the collection bucket, the water may be quite stale, in particular with fungus collected from aerial spores.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Gas Saving Tips

A nice little set of tips for driving more efficiently can be found here, put together by the Federal Trade Commission. These are a lot of the same things we have all heard over and over but it's a nice reminder as gas approaches $5/gallon.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Slacking, kind of

I haven't written lately because a lot of things have been going on, including a re-organization at work, two trips, and an upcoming opening reception for my first real photography exhibition. Incidentally, my series of photos on display are very much inspired by my interest in sustainable living and the impact of human beings on this planet.

I am exhausted right now from getting ready for this show but the general idea is that we humans are essentially inconsequential in the grand scheme of everything that is 'out there' in the universe. This is not to say that I do not appreciate the air I breathe or the water I drink. On the contrary, my goal with these images is to push the idea that we are touching EVERYTHING. I just want us to retract a little. Or a lot. Stop over indulging. How very un-American of me to say such things.