Creating a watering system with dehumidifier

[Ladyhawk]

I've been fighting high humidity here in the south since spring began, went from a small dehumidifier to a larger one and now saving up for an even bigger one since I can't get the lung room below 70 percent on a dry day and if it rains forget it-and it's only going to get worse. Yes, it's an old house and the grow tent is in the coolest room with the biggest dehumidifier.
So I'm dumping out a gallon and a half of water every day after work and most days the dehumidifier has auto shut off before I get home, got the hose setup now so it's much easier but I'm looking at all this water getting dumped out and I know it's specs are pretty close to distilled and I'm thinking how horrible our well water is that I've got to run it through multiple filters and still pH it down just to water the plants with it and here I am throwing water away that's much better than what's coming out of the faucet. Yes, we've looked at RO systems but they're not for us, the waste water it makes wouldn't make sense on our well system that has run dry on us a couple of times.
We had already considered saving the dehumidifier water for the plants. Talked about saving it in 5 gallon water jugs with caps since we have a lot of those, or draining it into 5 gallon buckets, but that amount per day would quickly overflow. So we're running a drip system from a submersible pump on a timer in a 5 gallon bucket and I'm thinking couldn't we rig the dehumidifier straight into that or upgrade to one of those heavy duty plastic totes? It would need some kind of trigger to turn on a pump to keep the water from overflowing and we can run the overflow hose out where we have the dehumidifier hose now. I'm seeing various condensate pumps, sump pumps, and floats for sale but while I get the idea I'm not 100% sure how they work but it seems like some of them are made to remove all of the water, some aren't strong enough to push the 5-6 feet out to drain, so I'm like lemme run this across people who might have done this before. And I've been reading the good for watering opinions and not good for watering opinions all day so we're past that please.

 

[ntg108]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the water pulled from the air and in the dehumidifier should be Distilled.. it's not a bad idea..have you tested the water? PH, EC, PPM?

 

[ntg108]

What you need is to have your dehumidifier connected to a float switch. When the float reaches your set height, it will turn off the power to the dehumidifier

What you will do is buy this float switch controller

Briidea Hi-Lo Sump Pump Controller with Dual Float Switch and Overload Protection (White) - Amazon.com

Briidea Hi-Lo Sump Pump Controller with Dual Float Switch and Overload Protection (White) - Amazon.com

a.co

And a small submersible pump

Amazon.com: GROWNEER 550GPH Submersible Pump 30W Fountain Water Pump, 2000L/H, with 7.2ft High Lift, 3 Nozzles for Aquarium, Fish Tank, Pond, Hydroponics, Statuary, Pool : Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: GROWNEER 550GPH Submersible Pump 30W Fountain Water Pump, 2000L/H, with 7.2ft High Lift, 3 Nozzles for Aquarium, Fish Tank, Pond, Hydroponics, Statuary, Pool : Pet Supplies

a.co

Plug the submersible pump into the ac outlet on the controller and and install the pump into your drip feeder bucket

Install the high water sensor to where you want the pump to kick on and expell the excess water.

Install the low water sensor to where you want the pump to turn off.

Controller is 55$, pump is 15$

Since.these are mainly for sump pumps, they provide.power to the outlet when the water level raises.. you want the opposite..You may be able to find a float switch that will turn off the device when the float rises... Or just install the float upside down.. that may be the way to go

 

[Ladyhawk]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the water pulled from the air and in the dehumidifier should be Distilled.. it's not a bad idea..have you tested the water? PH, EC, PPM?

Ph has been consistently about 7 and ppm 20 or below, I've been checking it at least once a week for a month. It's pretty close to distilled.

 

[Ladyhawk]

What you need is to have your dehumidifier connected to a float switch. When the float reaches your set height, it will turn off the power to the dehumidifier.

Problem is that would happen pretty fast with the humidity in my area and then I'm still back to draining excess water and the dehumidifier being off until I do because the amount of water I'm potentially collecting exceeds the amount my plants can use. That's why I was looking for a way to drain just the excess water.

 

[JIMKSI64]

Folks dehumidifier water is considered a condensate and under certain conditions can become highly toxic. Mostly still water that never evaporates but it can happen. Would rethink contact other than throwing it down the sump hole like I does. Legionaries disease comes to mind. Can grab airborne hunta virus from mouse droppings.

 

[Ladyhawk]

Something like this might work if I can set the float to the right level. It's a bit bigger than what I was thinking, maybe I can find something made for a fish tank? Mount it in a good sized plastic storage container, the heavy duty ones. Drill a hole in one side of the lid for the overflow hose and the other side for the intake coming from the dehumidifier and hose for my drip system so they aren't close to the float and get tangled up.

6699 Utility Pump Submersible Sump Pump with Adjustable Float Switch 2000GPH High Flow Easy to Drain Clean/Dirty Water for Pools Garden Ponds Hot Tubs Rain Barrels https://a.co/d/8Pwr4wK

 

[Ladyhawk]

What you need is to have your dehumidifier connected to a float switch. When the float reaches your set height, it will turn off the power to the dehumidifier

What you will do is buy this float switch controller

Briidea Hi-Lo Sump Pump Controller with Dual Float Switch and Overload Protection (White) - Amazon.com

Briidea Hi-Lo Sump Pump Controller with Dual Float Switch and Overload Protection (White) - Amazon.com

a.co

And a small submersible pump

Amazon.com: GROWNEER 550GPH Submersible Pump 30W Fountain Water Pump, 2000L/H, with 7.2ft High Lift, 3 Nozzles for Aquarium, Fish Tank, Pond, Hydroponics, Statuary, Pool : Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: GROWNEER 550GPH Submersible Pump 30W Fountain Water Pump, 2000L/H, with 7.2ft High Lift, 3 Nozzles for Aquarium, Fish Tank, Pond, Hydroponics, Statuary, Pool : Pet Supplies

a.co

Plug the submersible pump into the ac outlet on the controller and and install the pump into your drip feeder bucket

Install the high water sensor to where you want the pump to kick on and expell the excess water.

Install the low water sensor to where you want the pump to turn off.

Controller is 55$, pump is 15$

Since.these are mainly for sump pumps, they provide.power to the outlet when the water level raises.. you want the opposite..You may be able to find a float switch that will turn off the device when the float rises... Or just install the float upside down.. that may be the way to go

Thank you, that plug should work. And no, I don't need it the opposite, exactly as it's designed to do I need it to power on when the water gets too high.