Updated: Wed, 10/02/2024 - 13:45

From Saturday, Oct. 5 through Monday, Oct. 7, the Downtown and Macdonald Campuses will be open only to McGill students, employees and essential visitors. Many classes will be held online. Remote work required where possible. See Campus Public Safety website for details.


Du samedi 5 octobre au lundi 7 octobre, le campus du centre-ville et le campus Macdonald ne seront accessibles qu’aux étudiants et aux membres du personnel de l’Université McGill, ainsi qu’aux visiteurs essentiels. De nombreux cours auront lieu en ligne. Le personnel devra travailler à distance, si possible. Voir le site Web de la Direction de la protection et de la prévention pour plus de détails.

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Is water from a dehumidifier drinkable?

Possibly. But why would you want to? 

Whether water from a dehumidifier is drinkable depends how clean you keep your tank and how long the water has been sitting around. The water the dehumidifier collects is actually very clean water; comparable to distilled water. Let’s consider for a minute how a dehumidifier works. Think of it as a refrigerator with the cooling coils exposed to the air. Water vapour from the air condenses on the coils and drips into a tank. The condensed water is pure because when the water originally evaporated into the air, it left its impurities and minerals behind. So providing your coils are clean, you could collect the dripping water and drink it. But if the water sits around in the tank, it can provide a hospitable medium for the growth of bacteria and molds making it unfit for drinking. Regular cleaning of the tank minimizes this problem, but I would say that unless you are planning to drink the water that has just dripped into a freshly cleaned tank, don’t do it. And let me let you in on a little secret. We don't have to resort to drinking water that drips from a dehumidifier. Tap water is perfectly acceptable!


@JoeSchwarcz

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