If like me, you are asking: What can I use the water from dehumidifier for? You’ve come to the right place.

I live in a high humidity place, and I am actually considering connecting the drain hose for my unit because I have been emptying my 30-pint bucket daily.

I figured I was pouring too much water out. That’s why I decided to look for ways to use dehumidifier water. I felt it was only fair to try to recoup some of the cost of running a dehumidifier.

Is water from the dehumidifier safe for drinking?

Is water from dehumidifier safe for drinking

First, I wanted to find out whether I can drink or cook with dehumidifier water. I did not have it tested in a lab or anything, but I did read up some research on dehumidifier water. I found out that it is equal to distilled water in purity.

Here are the reasons I did not want to consume water from a dehumidifier:

I would also advise you not to drink this water, well, unless you are on survival mode somewhere in the desert and you are super thirsty.

If this water is equal to distilled water in purity, can you use it for cooking? Never! It is also not good for washing your dishes because it can contain traces of metal used to make some parts of the unit, such as the coils.

Remember, even when you clean the dehumidifier coils, the metal still leaks into the water passing through.

What can I use water from dehumidifier for? 6 Great Uses

By now, I think we are agreed we cannot use dehumidifier water for consumption. But don’t worry. There are still many uses for the water. Here are the most outstanding of them:

1. Can I use water from the dehumidifier in my humidifier? Yes!

Many times in this blog, I have mentioned that you should avoid using tap water in a humidifier. I have also mentioned several times that using boiled water in the humidifier does not help anything.

As a remedy to this, I have always said you should use distilled water in the humidifier. It is pure, free of minerals and affordable.

Something else I have said is that if you cannot find distilled water, you can use tap water, but with humidifier tablets or demineralization cartridges for humidifiers.

In this case, after collecting your dehumidifier water in summer, save it in plastic containers and wait for winter, when you can use it in the humidifier.

Also, it does not contain minerals (apart from what might have leaked from the coils). Therefore, even when you use it in cool mist ultrasonic units, it is not going to leave humidifier white dust.

You could use this water in your cool mist or warm mist humidifiers. The mist produced will be pure and harmless to your children.

Of course, if the humidifier is dirty, this will affect the quality of the mist. Mold in the humidifier tank will also lead to mold toxicity symptoms if there is prolonged exposure.

2. Watering plants

What can I use water from dehumidifier for

In a different post, we said you could use dehumidifier water to water plants. Imagine having a lot of water from your 70-Pint Frigidaire dehumidifier, and using it on your plants. This is going to save you a lot of money on water bills.

It is recommended to use the dehumidifier water to give your indoor and outdoor plants good nourishment. If you have plants that lower humidity, use the dehumidifier water to feed the plants.

Dehumidifier water can easily have mold from the bucket. It can also have other microorganisms so it is best not to use it to water plants that you use for food.

Houseplants remain a stunning interior décor trend for 2023 and beyond. If you have several of them, just give them a drink from the dehumidified water.

3. Using the water in a steam iron

Everyone has a steam iron at home for pressing their clothes. You can use dehumidifier water in the steam iron without any harm.

You will need just a little amount of water in the steam iron, but it can help to press heavy creases from your clothes.

When you use tap water in the steam iron, it forms scale on the walls of the iron’s tank. However, since dehumidified water contains minimal minerals since it is drawn from the air, there will be no scale forming in the iron tank.

Instead of buying distilled water for your steam iron, you can save that money and use the water from the dehumidifier.

4. Cleaning cars, bikes and toys

use dehumidifier water to clean a car

If you have a basement dehumidifier with a drain hose, trap the water in a tank and then use it to clean your cars, bikes and toys.

Just like distilled water, this water works very well with different types of soaps. It makes foams properly to give you good cleaning action.

This water is not going to affect the metal parts of your cars or bikes. It has been drawn from the air, so it is clean and does not contain minerals that can harm the paint of your vehicle.

5. Use the water for your toilets

Depending on the brand name and model, today’s toilet can use as much as 1.2 to 1.6 gallons of water per flush.

Now, if you have a large dehumidifier and you live in a very humid place like Florida, you could save yourself some money by using the dehumidifier water to flush toilets.

Just flush the toilet after use, and then after that, switch off the regular water supply to the toilet. You could then pour the water from the dehumidifier into the toilet tank to wait for the next flush.

6. Use it for other cleaning purposes

There are many cleaning needs at home. You can put the dehumidifier water to good use by cleaning the driveway with it, the floors, the garage and other parts. You could even use the water for your laundry since it is soft water.

The dehumidifier filter will most likely have removed the calcium, magnesium and other minerals contained in the water.

Since you can also use a dehumidifier to dry clothes, you can use the same water for the next laundry day.

Imagine how much water we could save the planet if everyone put their dehumidifier water to these uses.

Is water from dehumidifier good for anything?

Is water from dehumidifier good for anything

The water from the dehumidifier is good for tens of purposes. Apart from drinking it or cooking with it, you could use this water for cleaning laundry, floors, cars, for toilets and many more uses.

This water is soft and its purity level is similar to that of distilled water. Apart from the uses that we have mentioned here, you could use it in your home’s radiator. Just be sure to mix half water and half coolant.

This water is also perfect for your outdoor garden and non-edible plants. It does not have minerals like magnesium and calcium and whatever pollutants remain in it, the roots will filter them out.

All the same, it is best that you do not use it on edible plants since the roots cannot filter out some microorganisms.

What to do with water from a dehumidifier

It is really up to you what you do with the water from your dehumidifier. If you want to put it to good use, go ahead and use it for watering your flowers, washing your vehicles, dirt bikes and other things.

Considering that this water also does not contain too many minerals (apart from what might leech from the dehumidifier materials), you could also use it to clean your utensils, but rinse them thoroughly.

If you have a damp basement where you are drawing water from the air daily, you could use a dehumidifier with a pump, connect the garden hose and direct the water into the swimming pool.

So to the question of what to do with water from your unit; use it to save yourself some money that you would have used to pay your water bills.

Conclusion

Putting the water from a dehumidifier to good use can save you money on the water bills and still do Mother Nature one good turn.

This water is soft and pure. The only thing you should not do is to drink or cook food with it. For all of the other cleaning needs at home, you can use it safely.

Instead of letting it go to waste in the sewer, use it first for most of your washing needs. You might even be able to recover the cost of the electricity you used to lower the humidity in the amount you’ll save in the water bill.