This may seem like a silly question to non-Americans, but I have to ask it.

Every time I empty the reservoir from my condensation dryer, I feel like I could be using this water for something, instead of just pouring it down the drain. But I don't have a garden, and I don't have any house plants. So the obvious uses are not there.

How do you use it? Is it safe for cooking? safe for drinking?

No. My experience with fabrics tells me that the water contain residue of soap and chemical products from the clothes.

+1 Exactly. Even if you had houseplants you wouldn't want to use it as, in addition to the residues left in it, it also does not have any of the natural minerals that plants need to get from the water (learned this from a forum after I was doing the same and the plants were dying)

But now that I think of it, if you really, really want to do something with this, put it into a pot, heat it up and use it to wash your floors

Can you use it for your iron?

I would be concerned about the soap residue eventually building up and clogging the iron, like the way the minerals in standard tap water would do, but it's just a guess on my part

No residues will stick on the clothes with the heat.

I have to say that you usually don't make posts like this... are you serious? Did you ever look at the water that comes out of that tank or smelled it?

a) it is obviously full of the various detergents you put into your washer before.

b) it usually is collected over weeks and months. Even if it was the cleanest mountain spring water without any chemicals... you should not drink water that was standing in a tank for months.

Bottom line: You technically could drink it, but it surely isn't a good idea...

Grey Water ( Grauwasser ) is not fit for human consumption, although ok for plants.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauwasser

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater

http://www.bafu.admin.ch/wassernutzu...x.html?lang=de

Thread moved from Food & Drink to Daily Life.

In many cases, the water from the dryer does not go into the drawer, but instead is drained out from a hose connected at the back of the dryer, the same way the washer water is drained. You will see a double siphon where both hoses are connected to the drain.

This is the installation we have so I have never given a moment's thought to what I could ever do with this water.

I know it seems wasteful to pour out that water, but consider how much water is used when you flush a toilet.

Maybe someone can answer this question, does a "wärmepumpe" dryer also have condense water drain off?

Grey Water, the discharge from the washing machine, agree is ok for plants as it contains the minerals and phosphates from the detergent, but the evaporation water from the dryer is what the OP was asking about

I've used the water from the Clothes Dryer for the iron with no problem at all. A long time ago when I had to worry about recycling water I used the grey water from the Clothes Washer for our vegetable garden, and it worked beautifully.

We've used the water from the dryer for our iron for years - no problem. The manual states that it can be used in irons or to water plants. Drinking it, I wouldn't want to do - distilled water (which is what it effectively is) really doesn't taste good.

Actually yes I am very serious. The water that I'm pouring down the drain looks and smells like it is pure and clean. I haven't tasted it though. There's no sign of any residues or any lint. It really does look like it could be bottled water or straight from the tap. Which to me makes sense, because the water is removed from the clothes via condensation, rather than via draining.

Just a bit about the machine. I didn't do the installation, so I'm not sure about any hoses draining water out of the dryer, but it is a "Kondensationstrockner". At the bottom of the machine is a reservoir. When it fills up to capacity, the machine won't run anymore until it is emptied. In the US, dryers don't have this set up which is why this is a novel concept for me.

Hence why I asked the question.

....there's my problem... reading the manual... *sigh*

It can be used in drinks ,but only for house guest Special the one you don`t like

It may not make that much sense to conserve water in water-rich countries such as Switzerland (or Germany, where the article is from):

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...1469-3,00.html

I had one like that in the US, so, while rare, they do exist there (or did, this was in the '80s).

Never though about drinking the water, though!

Tom

I think that should LSVH* - the manual is probably in German.

*Lesen Sie das verdammte Handbuch.

So my wiskey is in fact nothing but pure water cause the only thing that condensates is H2O? I don't think so.

Really: Just throw it away. Thinking about saving water is btw great, but there is way more potential with the toilet and water tabs than this small tank...

I heard what comes out is distilled water!? Use it for ironing!