ReCycle AirCond Water System

[Damon_11]

Hi Everyone,

My crafty neighbour suggested that I rig up some system to catch the water from my Evaporative Air cond unit that is dumped every hour or so and trickle feed it to my trees in the back yard 5-20m adjacent to the house.

Questions I have. Is this considered grey water, do I need any special permits, etc.

What could I use to catch and effectively deliver an even flow of water to the trees. Should I use some sort of float pump arrangement if they are not too expensive.

Thanks

DC

[silentC]

My guess is that it's not really grey water. It's just water taken from the air and should be clean as far as I know.

Whether you'd get enough to water trees or not, I don't know. It's not like you get litres and litres. It might be more useful for drip irrigation to your pot plants or garden. I reckon you could just run a length of watering system pipe with some drip nozzles in it. It would have to run down hill from the unit. If you wanted to do more with it, you could collect it in a tank and set up a pump etc but I'm not sure you'd get enough regularly to do much with.

Put a bucket under it for a day or two and then you'll see how much you actually get.

[Pulse]

Guys the residents of the Country music capital are a step ahead:

Last weeks paper had an interesting article. 30 litres per hour sounds OK to me. Some local twit also suggested we ban evap coolers if the water restrictions get really severe!!

Cheers
Pulse

[durwood]

I was surprised by the amount of water given off a A/c unit when my son in law put a bucket under the drain of his 1.5 HP unit it filled the bucket in under an hour and he is in the far west and it was hot and dry compared to the coastal area.

I think a tank would be the go. Maybe just a tap or if you have a good fall from the A/C drain to tank and then to plants with the tank supply giving you a head or if you have thirsty trees/lawn etc just let it drain from the A/C to them

As for a permit you don't need to have one to loose it to wherever you do now and why ask for trouble Don't even think of asking the council. Lets just hope they don't read this thread it might give them ideas to charge us.

Any moisture you can use has got to be better than loosing it.

[silentC]

Yeah, I guess it depends on the conditions etc. I had one in Sydney and I never noticed it pouring out, but then I was usually inside enjoying the cool air

Definitely worth checking out. Be interested to know how much it does pump out. Could be a good argument for putting a split system in at home

[ozwinner]

Hi Everyone,

My crafty neighbour suggested that I rig up some system to catch the water from my Evaporative Air cond unit that is dumped every hour or so
DC

Id be more concerned as to why it dumps every hour, isnt it set up right?
Ours only dumps at the end of a run (day).

Al :confused:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Questions I have. Is this considered grey water, do I need any special permits, etc.

No. Typically it's dumped into your roof guttering and it'd be illegal to do that if 'twas deemed grey water.

As to why it dumps hourly, that'd be 'cos that's the manufacturers' preset. Is it a Bonaire? Most dump only when the unit's switched off, but in high use conditions this can be the water's retained for weeks on end... which isn't good for the health.

On ours, I tossed the dump system and added an overflow, similar to a toilet cistern, but with a small hole drilled right on the water line. This means there's a constant trickle going to waste (actually it's more like a drip per second) but we've routed it to a soaker hose buried in the garden. Which, I gather, is what you want to do? No problem.

Not my idea... this is how the old Celairs were built before Bonaire bought 'em out and turned 'em into cr@p. The downside is that at the end of the season I have to go up on the roof, shut off the tap and remove the overflow to dump the water and prevent rain-water accumulating, then replace it before the next summer gets too hot. Can still run the fan over winter, just not the water. [shrug]

But hey, you should be up on the roof at those times anyway to service the filters and wash out the trough! Auto-dumping does not mean auto-cleaning!

Yeah, I guess it depends on the conditions etc. I had one in Sydney and I never noticed it pouring out, but then I was usually inside enjoying the cool air

Definitely worth checking out. Be interested to know how much it does pump out. Could be a good argument for putting a split system in at home

It'd be measured in gallons per dump.

A split can actually spit out more water than a swampy, especially on a humid day! Admittedly it's extracted from the air and not from the mains, but what with councils beginning to charge for rain-water tanks on the premise that you're removing that water from the catchment area, I can't help wondering when they'll see refrig. systems in the same light! :eek:

[Ashore]

The waters fine for plants but definately not for human consumption, the air born bugs etc are still active, but for plants go for it
For an even flow run it into a tank and drip feed from there

Rgds

[Damon_11]

Id be more concerned as to why it dumps every hour, isnt it set up right?
Ours only dumps at the end of a run (day).

Al :confused:

Thanks chaps, my largish Brivis unit is faily new and dumps the water regularly during the really hot weather, beleived to be for health reasons and efficiency of the aircond inside the house.

I'll try the bucket tomorrow, it's a mild 33 here in Perth tomorrow and see what the result is in litres.

DC

[silentC]

I think I missed the all important 'evaporative' term in your original post. This is an air conditioner that actually uses water for cooling. So I guess if it's dumping it and refilling, then it's definitely worth doing something with it.

[sammy_h]

Didn't I read somewhere that the water left at the end of the cycle is very salty? Therefore you could end up salinating your plants?

[sammy_h]

Yeah, from here:

As water evaporates from the pads, dissolved salts and minerals are left behind. This bleed-off water can be put to some uses, despite its elevated salinity and hardness. The water can either be diverted directly to salt-tolerant species such as turf, or stored for later use.

[ozwinner]

Thanks chaps, my largish Brivis unit is faily new and dumps the water regularly during the really hot weather, beleived to be for health reasons and efficiency of the aircond inside the house.

I'll try the bucket tomorrow, it's a mild 33 here in Perth tomorrow and see what the result is in litres.

DC

I think you will find that the dip switches in the unit are set wrong, our lagish newish Breezeair has the dip switch set to dump at the end of a run although we could set it to dump every hour too.

Al

[Bleedin Thumb]

Sorry to show my ignorance but if you are talking about an evaporative cooler what system would I have? :confused:
Split reverse cycle?
It does have a waste pipe but I dont recall ever seeing water dripping?

It sounds like the evaporative system needs a water feed whilst mine isn't connected to water and is a refridgerated/gas system that extracts water from the air??

Also I thought that the evaporative type would be a bit dangerous for domestic use with potential of legoinares disease etc. as commercial units must meet stringent cleaning and maintenance guildlines.

[ozwinner]

Also I thought that the evaporative type would be a bit dangerous for domestic use with potential of legoinares disease etc. as commercial units must meet stringent cleaning and maintenance guildlines.

Do a google on legoinares disease, house evaps arent in the same league as the commercial ones..

Al