Knew I could count on you for sensible talk, Ms. Ducks. Yeah, that's what I keep thinking but I keep getting the "oh, no, blah blah" from others, but I am used to having wierd ideas that folks around here think are odd. I can't help thinking that with all of the water dripping out all over the country, how much good use it could be put to, even drinking, but no, I'm too American and green-hippie for most folks. Some are listening and changing habits but it's just a drop in the bucket (couldn't resist!). I usually put the airconditioner on dehumidify rather than cool when I can get away with it, but DG pops it back to 20C, then I pop it back up to 25, then off and open the window, then back again......sigh

Collected water usually contains a lot less minerals. So if your in a hard water area, its a good way to get plants watered with someting that has little alkali.

I used to live in the Mojave Desert of California. We collected & used our Air Conditioner water for our gardens and house plants, too. Absolutely. Even our dogs drank out of the buckets of water.

~ Annie

I give my plants tapwater that has been filtered through a brita filter because they can not handle the tap water here. If the AC water seems to be working for you, there is no sense in not using it.

Air Conditioner condasation water is almost the same as rain water.They both come from the moisture in the air.
In the case of rain, the moisture make the cloud and then come down as rain. Airconditioner hastens that process. The principle is the samme; moisture in colder air condensates.

i can speak from experience i have used water from my central air unit for years the water that comes out is as good as any reverse osmosis filter could make and it's especially useful when mixing fertilizers hope that helps someone out there

Water is water. Just add nutrients/fertilizer separately if that is your concern.

Thanks for the reassurance. I have collected 2 1/2 gallons a day for lots of summer days and used it, on flowers and garden, but just wanted to be sure that I wasn't doing something bad for the plants. Made sense to me!

Condensate from any air conditioner is pretty much distilled water, void of minerals. If you live in a hard water area, this stuff is PERFECT for plants, and will help leach out some of the excess mineral content to leave a more balanced hard-water mineral concentration (and less alkaline pH). If your water is already soft, using gallons of the stuff on your potted plants could leach out too much nutrient (an issue that can arise anyway), but then all you would have to do is add dilute fertilizer once and a while to compensate. Overall though, condensate water is safe and probably better than most sources, so long as you fertilize your plants appropriately.

I do not see any advantage in using distilled water for plants. As mentioned before, rainwater is also distilled but may contain pollution from the air(acids..).
But for human use , you can buy distilled water from grocery stores for under a Dollar per gallon. DISTILLED, not filtered.

Obviously, air conditioning condensation is free , but might be infected by the germs in the air. But it should be ok for plants.

I have always used the run off water from my ac to water my plants. Plant a shrub or tree and let the water drain onto it from the ac and watch how fast that plant grows, that is because ac water is rich in oxygen and oxygen is great for growing plants. Your plants and trees will get all the minerals they need from the ground, if they don't, that's why they make fertilizer. When I run a hose from the AC drain to my apricot tree, it burst out in new growth each spring and summer. Collect that AC drain water and use it on your plants and trees, you are doing them a great favor.

Do you use bleach to purify the air condition? Is bleach bad for plants?

No I don't and I would think bleach would be very bad for plants. I wouldn't even think about putting any amount of bleach on a plant.

Why would you even want to add bleach to what is basically fresh distilled water? I also water plants with the AC run-off and never any problems.

Your right CA Kate, AC water is pretty much perfect from the beginning. Full of Oxygen. I collect it all day and night and put it on my plants and fruit trees, they do great.

CA Kate,

Because I put bleach inside the home's pvc pipe once a while

Unless you put it into the AC drain, there is no way it will get into the AC drain water. AC water is pure with nothing but oxygen in it.

Are you talking about putting bleach in the pipe from the AC? Why?

I collect rainwater that has "compost tea" in it from partially clogged gutters. I then mix it with the plentiful A/C condensate water our central air produces. No problems so far, after two plus years. I give the beans mostly condensate because they fix nitrogen, and the other veggies mostly rainwater, for the nutrients. Any batches I find at all suspicious, I use to water grass and flowers.

From my experience as an HVAC professional a typical evaporator coil is made of aluminum, copper and tin all of which experince some form of oxidization when exposed to water and over the years the coil will collect the particles out of the air. Therefore your condensate drain will have some forms of bacteria in it as well as calcium deposits and iron. The water from a condensate drain is not pure but also not harmful to your plants, mine love it. As far as the bleach in the drain some professionals will recommend that you use a small amount mixed with water to help break the "sludge" up so that the drain does not clog. If you don't use bleach in your drain then you should be good to use that water on your plants.

if you're worrying about lack of minerals , put a small barrel to catch the water then throw in a few handfuls of finished compost. after a day or so use it! ;)

What I've been told is that ac condensate contains zinc and lead from the solder used inside the unit. As we know, those elements are stored within our bodies and can reach a level of toxicity. What I'm wondering is, will that be taken up by the edible plants and be transferred to me?

i would think it would be so small a amount it wouldn't even be measurable. and most of it wouldn't enter the plant even though it was in the soil.

Thank you for your reply.

I thought that too! Plants will take what they need.

We're having a rain barrel installed to collect water from our two air conditioners. We were told we need to put anti algae pills in the units every couple of months. Will the algae tablets hurt my outdoor plants and oak trees. We live in south Texas and could really benefit from extra water for our plants.

anti algae pills are herbicide and will also kill your plants as algae is a plant also. vinegar is safer to clean out your acs and once diluted won't adversely affect your plants. concentrated tho. will acidify your soil. too much will kill most plants but at least its natural and a safer alternative. i would just run the vinegar thru full strength to clean the system and collect that water in a separate bucket for about 10min. or so to make sure you got most of the vinegar that came thru. dump that bucket out in a drain or pour around your driveway where you don't want grass.

I hate to be “that guy”... and thinking now I didn’t see how old this thread was. I’m guessing the water is aces for most all non-edible houseplants.. but I gotta say, I’m not so sure I would feed it to anything (plant-wise) that could be consumed, let alone drink or let my animals drink it.. I would consider the make-up of what it’s condensing off of. If it’s a series of soldered and sweated together copper pipes, which is basically what a condenser unit is made of, you have to imagine nobody during production is concerned about consuming anything when making it. There are many toxic elements found in soldering components. Major amounts of lead and zinc, chromates copper arsenate is a big one, not to mention whatever other elements in the process were used or what the raw materials came in contact with. We are talking about ferrous metals that were handled in a way with no thought of safety for human (or animal) consumption. Just my two cents; non consumable houseplants, prolly A-ok.. I’d seriously consider taking a sample to a local lab, water maintenance facility or there are places online you can affordable mail samples to, that can test it for you before using it for anything else.