Recycling mini split water

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

im sure A/C water has all kinds of stuff in it.. however metal and minewrals are apparently not.. my grandmother used dehumdifier water from her basement in her steam iron forever.. her steam iron was old when I was a kid.. she used it till the day she died.. it never clogged up and still worked perfect...

I don't think any critters could survive a hot iron and the distilled water would be good ... for the iron. Do dehumidifiers have the massive air exchange and filtration rates of a/c units?

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Originally Posted by shaymcquaid

I read that the water is non potable?

It is simply condensation from the air. It is safe to drink. Some may have concerns about dust particles from the mini-split but you can solve that with a very inexpensive but incredibly effective, reusable Sawyer filter.

I grabbed the following from the Sawyer site:
MINI WATER FILTRATION SYSTEM
Our lightest and most versatile personal water filtration system, the Sawyer MINI weighs just 2 ounces, fits in the palm of your hand, and provides 0.1 micron absolute filtration — removing 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli, removing 99.9999% of all protozoa (such as giardia and cryptosporidium), and removing 100% of microplastics.

Attach the easy-to-use MINI to the included drinking pouch, use the included straw to drink directly from a water source, connect it to hydration pack tubing, or screw it onto standard disposable water and soda bottles.

Rated up to 100,000 filtered gallons of water, the award-winning MINI is perfect for everything from camping with the kids to traveling abroad where tap and bottle water cannot be trusted to kitting out your emergency go bag.

You can pick them up at Walmart for about 20 bucks.

We use this one:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sawyer-Products-SP834-Tap-Water-Filtration-System-Fits-Faucets-Hose-Bibs/286167559

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Ruth and I got rained in this week. We cant move until the ground dries enough to drive on. The humidity is higher than we normally experience here. We are drawing 5 gallons a day out of the air. Saving the water to wash dishes. Ran a little through the Sawyer filter. Safe to drink but tastes like mini split.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Rock-N-Ruth

Ruth and I got rained in this week. We cant move until the ground dries enough to drive on. The humidity is higher than we normally experience here. We are drawing 5 gallons a day out of the air. Saving the water to wash dishes. Ran a little through the Sawyer filter. Safe to drink but tastes like mini split.

Interesting.....

[Shamoke]

I work in the refrigeration industry. If you could see some of the filth that I clean from condensation drain pans and drain lines then you would never consider using that water unless you purified it first. I wouldn't even use it to wash with.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Shamoke

I work in the refrigeration industry. If you could see some of the filth that I clean from condensation drain pans and drain lines then you would never consider using that water unless you purified it first. I wouldn't even use it to wash with.

I see the industry hasn't changed much in this respect in the last 50 years.

[joeblack5]

Originally Posted by Rock-N-Ruth

Ran a little through the Sawyer filter. Safe to drink but tastes like mini split.

Very nice, it tastes funny, indeed like an ac or how you perceive an ac to taste.


Wonder what that is and what would be required to filter it out.

Johan

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Very nice, it tastes funny, indeed like an ac or how you perceive an ac to taste.


Wonder what that is and what would be required to filter it out.

Johan

We live in a very high dust area here in the desert. The Sawyer filter removes all the particulates 99.99% of all pathogens. The little bit of flavor left by the desert dust could probably be removed with a charcoal filter. Cant test that theory till the road dries out and we can get some activated charcoal.

[joeblack5]

Nice... How soft is the sand.. did you sink in while stationary? How many days do you expect it to take for the sand to dry out enough?
You have a secondary transportation to get to food?

Good luck,
Johan

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Very nice, it tastes funny, indeed like an ac or how you perceive an ac to taste.


Wonder what that is and what would be required to filter it out.

Johan

Distill it again to get rid of ??



Taste could be anything that dissolved into solution. Fungas and mold could create a lot of different chemicals (wastes?) Sawyers filters are good but do not get rid of or separate chemicals/toxins out, only particulates. The .02 micron will even take out most/all? viruses.


You could try regular natural homemade charcoal in a pinch. As I understand it the only difference is the amount of surface area. I have been wanting to try making cholla cactus wood charcoal to see how well it performs. Thought maybe its structure might provide enough/better surface area to work as activated charcoal.

[kazetsukai]

Since I'm likely to add a second mini split in the rear (right over my fresh tanks) this has my interest.

Originally Posted by Shamoke

I wouldn't even use it to wash with.

This surprises me. I would for sure RO filter anything I was going to drink, but if it is that bad I'd think one would need some kind of (gravity fed) filtration/passive purification system.

[cadillackid]

Couldn’t you distill it?

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Since I'm likely to add a second mini split in the rear (right over my fresh tanks) this has my interest.






This surprises me. I would for sure RO filter anything I was going to drink, but if it is that bad I'd think one would need some kind of (gravity fed) filtration/passive purification system.

Most Sawyer filters are gravity fed although some can be pressure fed.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Since I'm likely to add a second mini split in the rear (right over my fresh tanks) this has my interest.

This surprises me. I would for sure RO filter anything I was going to drink, but if it is that bad I'd think one would need some kind of (gravity fed) filtration/passive purification system.

if you don't absolutely need the water for drinking, why go to that trouble?

Traditionally the best use for the condensed water was to sling/spray it onto the aluminum fins of the condenser coil to help the effeciency of the AC unit. If I remember right, 1 pound of water takes 956 BTUs with it when it evaporates. We are running the AC to cool, not produce water ... right?

WARNING:
I made the mistake once of rigging up a misting system to spray Las Vegas city water over the condensing coil of a new window unit and allow the excess to water a tree. Pretty smart I thought, worked great, efficiency went way up, temperatures in both coils dropped and current draw dropped... another way to use waters latent heat of evaporation to cool. (the humidity was too low to produce much condensed water, hence my brilliant idea)

But I started noticing that the aluminum fins on the condenser coil were clogging up with white crap and the aluminum fins were disappearing and by the end of the season I could see bare copper tubes in several places. Then I remembered my construction experiences with aluminum corroding away when in contact with wet concrete, stucco, mortar, etc.. The dissolved minerals in the city water were eating away the aluminum fins.

But with the distilled and condensed water the AC produces (no minerals) it works great, kinda like CKs iron use for condensed water. You could also strain it and use it for diluting the antifreeze as required on modern cars. I think that someone already mentioned using it for batteries. Distilled water in a jug costs $.75 to $1.00 at the store. Some people say that drinking distilled water with no minerals is not a good idea. I have no opinion.

[cadillackid]

ha!! misting the condenser.. kept a customer of mine cool that way in a 90s heatwave till we could get a fan motor.. in our case we only ran that unit a couple days that way but a cheap box fan on top and the water hose and their house stayed 75


you definitely need to filter the city water if you mist a condenser with it..



that said Ive never had issues with the condensate eating the coils away either on the insaide or out.. many window units and PTACs have a slinger wheel and do it anyway..


my portable 2 hose A/C never needs emptied because it does that and I notice a difference in performance and power usage once it starts making lots of water on a humid day .. I dont use it much since I beefed up the house A/C a few years ago but I do use it in the bus at the bus barn sometimes to keep it cool inside

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

ha!! misting the condenser.. kept a customer of mine cool that way in a 90s heatwave till we could get a fan motor.. in our case we only ran that unit a couple days that way but a cheap box fan on top and the water hose and their house stayed 75


you definitely need to filter the city water if you mist a condenser with it..



that said Ive never had issues with the condensate eating the coils away either on the insaide or out.. many window units and PTACs have a slinger wheel and do it anyway..


my portable 2 hose A/C never needs emptied because it does that and I notice a difference in performance and power usage once it starts making lots of water on a humid day .. I dont use it much since I beefed up the house A/C a few years ago but I do use it in the bus at the bus barn sometimes to keep it cool inside

Some trivia:

back in the fiftys when I was a little kid, before air conditioning in cars or homes, everybody that lived in the deserts/hot climates had canvas water bladders/bottles (sold at almost every gas station) tied to the front of the radiator of their car. The canvas provided a slow, steady leak of water that evaporated in front of the radiator while driving and pre-cooled the air a bit before going thru the radiator. This also cooled the water in the bag which provided cold water to drink when you stopped.


Some, like my dad, would go a step further and make a 12v on demand misting system for the radiator using junk yard parts - a switch, windshield washer pump, bucket or sealed container, rubber hose, wire to tie it down and provide electrical wiring, and a short piece of copper tubing with holes/orifaces/jets drilled in it. This became more popular in the cities with heavy crawling traffic to keep engine heat down, especially when air conditioning started being installed/added on to older cars.

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Nice... How soft is the sand.. did you sink in while stationary? How many days do you expect it to take for the sand to dry out enough?
You have a secondary transportation to get to food?

Good luck,
Johan

Hey Johan, thanks for the great question and your obvious concern. We will be just fine thank you.

Sand is not the problem. Our surface is mostly powdered clay with sand mixed in. Makes for great adobe and cobb, but is terrible to drive on when wet. The top couple of inches will peel off of the surface and stick to your tires making them as slippery as potters clay on a pottery wheel. We have the toad, a 2005 Jeep liberty. Same problem when it is very wet as it is right now. It's mostly a matter of vehicles not being able to shed the clay. Your tires just get bigger and bigger till they stop turning.

We get about 11.5" of rain per year, mostly all at one time during monsoon season from late July through late August. We are usually prepared with food and water but the well system was undergoing repairs when this rain hit and we needed to get out to get parts. So food we have. Months worth. But water is a bit of a trick. Good news for us is that I figured out how to remove all of the flavor from the water with a simple sediment catch.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/36hpghhchSDLAED18

The water from the mini-split drips into the cashew container till it is full. Then it seeps out of the catch through a small hole in the lid leaving the dust at the bottom of the catch. The water is allowed to fill the five gallon food grade bucket then is pumped to a drinking water container which is fitted with the Sawyer filter. Tastes yummy now.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zvcomEQUk4sziWJk8

As I mentioned we are getting about 5 gallons per day and we only use about 2 gallons for drinking and cooking so that leave a surplus which we are putting in the fresh water tank for washing and dishes.

Humidity is at 42% and 9 gallons in about 10 hours woo hoo. Even after this debacle we will continue to store all of our condensed water for backup. We have a couple of food grade plastic drums we can send it to.

[Rock-N-Ruth]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Nice... How soft is the sand.. did you sink in while stationary? How many days do you expect it to take for the sand to dry out enough?
You have a secondary transportation to get to food?

Good luck,
Johan

Just a little picture of what it means to be rained in at Freedom Field.

Skoolie ranch where the boondocking and building happens:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BwD55FQ1AjGVotUi7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FsBAuTDjYKHpGVXS8

Looks dry right?

Freedom road eastbound. Travel this along the Northern border of freedom Field for 1/2 mile to Michigan rd.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SjonDDCP2sShAW7j9

Pretty dry?

Intersection of Michigan and Freedom Rd:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vZ8nJbv3XW3pnnLa8

Not so dry.

Decided to offroad and get close enough to take this picture:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SJ6MFpu4WJ3CBazV6

One really important note: I got stuck before the lake formed. Notice that it is not really rutted up. Just sitting on top of the clay. Decided to abandon ship and walk back to the Skoolie and wait for it to dry up. Then it rained all night after two sunny days.

So here is what happens to very aggressive off road tires in the clay. Notice i am on dry road. I just did a short, 100 foot run through some soft stuff.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tPRyunvD23cyVxaS8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/i7rESQjagnZ2XLMSA

After 1/2 mile driving fast on dry dirt road:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/onvyuRWntJfxbSBB8

After 1 mile: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ctwYYoVKgzP5RhEi7 I had to run up and down my half mile of dry road to get this. You can almost see the tread.

If I did say, 300 feet of soft clay it would be 4 inches thick on the tires. Hit a little water or wet clay and its just slick on slick. Its 100 degrees in the shade so getting stuck and having to walk a mile or two is no fun. Better to sit tight and wait for evaporation and sun hardening to happen.

[joeblack5]

Good to hear you have all covered.
Impressive what weather can do ,even if it does not look very menacing at first glance. Good you have experience. I am sure you have some entertainment seeing newbies experiencing the learning curve.

Johan

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Rock-N-Ruth

Just a little picture of what it means to be rained in at Freedom Field.

Skoolie ranch where the boondocking and building happens:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/BwD55FQ1AjGVotUi7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FsBAuTDjYKHpGVXS8

Looks dry right?

Freedom road eastbound. Travel this along the Northern border of freedom Field for 1/2 mile to Michigan rd.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SjonDDCP2sShAW7j9

Pretty dry?

Intersection of Michigan and Freedom Rd:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vZ8nJbv3XW3pnnLa8

Not so dry.

Decided to offroad and get close enough to take this picture:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SJ6MFpu4WJ3CBazV6

One really important note: I got stuck before the lake formed. Notice that it is not really rutted up. Just sitting on top of the clay. Decided to abandon ship and walk back to the Skoolie and wait for it to dry up. Then it rained all night after two sunny days.

So here is what happens to very aggressive off road tires in the clay. Notice i am on dry road. I just did a short, 100 foot run through some soft stuff.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tPRyunvD23cyVxaS8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/i7rESQjagnZ2XLMSA

After 1/2 mile driving fast on dry dirt road:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/onvyuRWntJfxbSBB8

After 1 mile: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ctwYYoVKgzP5RhEi7 I had to run up and down my half mile of dry road to get this. You can almost see the tread.

If I did say, 300 feet of soft clay it would be 4 inches thick on the tires. Hit a little water or wet clay and its just slick on slick. Its 100 degrees in the shade so getting stuck and having to walk a mile or two is no fun. Better to sit tight and wait for evaporation and sun hardening to happen.

Any one at Skoolie ranch now? Do they have water? Those Sawyer filters are supposed to be good enough for muddy water in an emergency. Do you have .02 micron or 1 micron?


I stay home when it rains. I have a similar problem when it rains, but it hasn't rained in close to a year here, drought. It trys to rain here, but no. We can't drink the well water, too much arsenic, so I keep several months worth of bottled water handy.


The roads looks a lot like here. Does NM have open range like AZ?


The ranchers cattle are going crazy here, no grazing and the rancher doesn't seem to be supplying them with any supplemental feed. They will tear down your fences if you have anything that they think they can eat in your yard. I saw 4 of them jostling each other to eat an approx 3ftx3ftx4in piece of yellow fiberglass insulation board from a walk-in freezer panel that was blowing around. They tore into it and ate it like they thought it was hay.


A big/2000 lb bull tore up my 6ft chain link fence to get into my yard because he thought the few weeds there looked tasty. Charged me multiple times trying to trample me when I tried to get him to leave and ran right through a 29 foot sliding gate instead of going thru the 10ft open gate right next to it. Now that is crazy.