Uses for Dehumidifier Water

Although you cannot see it, water--in the form of a gas called vapor--is all around you in the air. The amount of water vapor in the air is called the humidity, and you can control the humidity of your home with a dehumidifier. If you turn on a dehumidifiers in a damp space, it collects excess water vapor to protect furniture and health. Instead of throwing away the collected water, try using it.

A woman waters a rosemary plant that she just repotted in her home. (Image: -lvinst-/iStock/Getty Images)

Water Plants

Tree Hugger website recommends using your dehumidifier water to water plants. Pour the water from your dehumidifier's water collector into a watering can, and water the plants in your house or your lawn or garden outside. Since there may be trace elements of lead and other dangerous elements in your dehumidifier's water collector, do not water plants you are growing to eat. This can cause plants to take up dangerous levels of toxins that can deposit into fruits and vegetables. This way you will not ingest any harmful contaminants from dehumidifier water, just as you would not drink this water.

Clean

Use this extra water to clean items around your house and in your yard. Mix soap or cleaning products in with your dehumidifier water. This will kill germs that have been collecting there so that you are not spreading microbes back into your environment. The Nature Conservancy suggests you use this mixture to wash your floors, your sink, your dishes or your car.

Flush Toilets

Another way to conserve the extra water that collects in your dehumidifier is to use it to flush your toilet. The Greenists website suggests you keep a bucket of this water next to your toilet, and pour it into the toilet tank until it is filled right after you flush. This way, you use waste water, instead of clean drinking water, to flush your waste.

Iron

A dehumidifier review on the Air and Water Center's website suggests another good use for your leftover dehumidifier water: pouring it into your steam iron. Since water collected from the air in your home is not full of minerals as tap water is, it is better to use dehumidifier water than tap. Using this water will prevent minerals from building up in your iron and depositing onto your clothes.