thalium - 16-7-2006 at 01:01
Do air conditioners produce distilled water? The guys who installed mine said that the water that is produced during operation is distilled water. My
air is an LG Art Cool
evil_lurker - 16-7-2006 at 04:32
No, its not distilled.
There are two coils in an AC unit, a condensor and an evaporator. Essentially an AC unit consists of a pump which pressurizes the refrigerant into one
coil, causing heat from the rapid pressurization. Then the pressiurized refrigerant is fed into the coil inside your house.. when the gas goes from
high pressure to low inside the coil causes a cooling effect.
Essentially what happens is when the air is cooled by passing over the coil, it loses the ability to hold its moisture and it condenses on the coil,
hence thats why you see AC units pissing water, its the condensate.
As far as purity, whatever is in the air is going to be in that condensate, be it bacteria, molds, viruses, chemicals, etc.
unionised - 16-7-2006 at 05:42
"As far as purity, whatever is in the air is going to be in that condensate, be it bacteria, molds, viruses, chemicals, etc. "
That's quite true, but it still might be cleaner than the tap water.
A fine filter will take out a lot of the bugs and dust. Any chemicals it picked up from the air are volatile so boiling it to drive them out will
leave you with pretty clean water.
Of course, rainwater is pretty clean too. Whether or not any of these is clean enough depends on what you are using them for.
Mr. Wizard - 16-7-2006 at 08:43
It actually was distilled, but then contaminated by exposure to the metal , dirt, bacteria, mold, dust, skin cells, volatiles, and other debris
present on the evaporator fins that the cold air blows over. It might be useful to water plants, not for lab use or drinking.
unionised - 16-7-2006 at 10:02
Arguably, quite a lot of it was "sub distilled"- the water vapour that condenses out in an air conditioner wasn't boiled , it just evaporated.
It might still be a good place to start for purification of water in the same way that "double distilled" water used to be the standard in most labs.