everything you can do with it (and what you can’t)

We are in full heat wave and in many homes andThe air conditioning is not enough. In addition to make our electricity bill go up in summerair conditioning gives us something else: water. Most people throw it away directly, but there are things you can do to take advantage of all those liters of water so that not everything is a waste.

The amount of water expelled by the air conditioner depends on several factors such as the type of equipment or the temperature outside, but it is estimated to be between 1 and 2 liters per hour. In my case I have a 5 liter bottle at the water outlet and yesterday I emptied it twice, so I ended up wasting 10 liters of water. Taking into account that we have been in a heat wave for more than a week, I will have about 70 liters wasted.

What to do with air conditioning water and what is best to avoid

The water that comes out of the air drain is produced by condensation, so it is pure, demineralized water without salts (like distilled water). This makes her perfect for some uses:

• Clean: one of the uses that we can give to this water is cleaning. As it does not contain any minerals, it is perfect for cleaning windows or shiny surfaces where limescale usually leaves visible marks.
• Iron: If you iron clothes, you can save distilled water for ironing. This water will also not leave any trace of lime on the fabrics.
• for the car: Another ingenious use that has to do with cleaning is to use it to refill the water tank for the windshield wipers. If you wash your car by hand, you can also use it to give it the final rinse so that the typical droplets do not remain.

We have seen that the absence of minerals is good for some things, but it is also not recommended for others. In addition, it must be taken into account that the water passes through the machine filter and the ducts, so may contain dirt. This is what is not recommended to do:

• Water the plants: Plants need nutrients and air conditioning water contains none. You can use it to water as long as you supplement it with a fertilizer, but if you only give this water to drink without anything else, in the long run your plants will suffer from a lack of nutrients.
• Drink it: It is not recommended, nor is putting it on pets. It is not drinking water and as we said, it may contain dirt and bacteria present in the device’s circuit.
• Cook: It is evident that if it is not recommended for drinking, it is not recommended for cooking either. If we boil it we eliminate possible germs, but it is still better to use drinking water.

An even more valuable resource when it is on a large scale

What at a domestic level is a few jugs of water, in large buildings can become an important water resource. Rice University in Houston has been collecting condensation water since 2008 of your air conditioning system and reusing it for cooling systems of your power plant. They estimate that the savings are 12 million gallons of water per year, which is equivalent to more than 45 million liters.

At the Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building in Chicago as well They installed a similar system and they calculate a saving of half a million liters per year. There are also other industrial uses, such as using that condensation water. to feed toilet cisternssomething common in many hotels. In airplanes it is also often used to

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