How do you collect your air conditioner water? (San Antonio, Anton: house, transfer) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

Chaka · 06-09-2008, 07:58 PM

I figure this is San Antonio-related since most of us have a/c and we're in a drought prone place. I've never lived in a house with a/c before now.

The water comes out of a PVC pipe under the house (pier and beam, so raised about 3 ft off the ground). Initially we just placed a 5 gallon bucket under there to catch it and figured we'd get to it some day.

I'm collecting at least 15-20 gals of water a day, and that's running the a/c at 80F (so not continuous). I'm usually not home during the day so it's not running, but today I actually paid closer attention. We use the water to water all our plants, trees and struggling lawn. For now I tip the bucket into a watering can and make multiple trips.

1) the Bucket is ugly and I'm actually beginning to care what the yard looks like (see yard pics post)

2) tipping it over 3-4x day is a pain.

Could a fountain work here? Ideally the inlet would be the pvc pipe there now, but there'd be an outlet where I could attach a hose to move it around the yard as needed. I'm totally clueless about how fountains work. Is this set up possible?

On a different note - does anyone have a pump for bath water? I'd love to be able to use the bath water outside w/o having to transfer via bucket (which we don't do now but probably will once drought restrictions hit - we've got mostly drought tolerant plantings, but they're all new, so needing extra now to get started). Any suggestions on how to set this up?

spamatdan · 06-09-2008, 08:06 PM

Probably not a lot of value I can add here, but what the builders did to my house (slab construction) is they have a piece of pvc pipe running partially submerged, but still viewable at the grass line and have the water dumping directly under ground into the lawn. Sure, this does great for the front 40, but the back 40 needs a lot more love...though with the heat, watering has not helped much, so I just turn my sprinklers on the front yard for my flowers. Oh wait...four of my rose bushes died...which is not usual for me. Now if only I can find my Home Depot receipt so I can take them back. grrrrrrr...

Chaka · 06-09-2008, 08:07 PM

So you don't get excess water, or a softening or depression at this site? Given our foundation shifting issues, I want to direct the water as far away from the house as possible.

spamatdan · 06-09-2008, 08:09 PM

So far...no...but it is the greenest part of the yard...but the most of the day shade probably helps a bit too. During the "Winter" it was the wettest part of the yard, but it was not squishy by any sense of the word.

sinsativ · 06-09-2008, 08:11 PM

yes, thats exactly what you want to do, into a rock garden area, or something at least two or three feet away from the house. termites love the ac water area

banker · 06-10-2008, 05:49 AM

In new construction the A/C line dumps back into the plumbing waste line. Ours ties into one of our Master Bedroom sink drains. It is sad that you can not capture the large amount of water that these systems generate.

scuba steve · 06-10-2008, 06:51 AM

Air conditioning condensate from my house drains from the attic into a drain line for a sink upstairs. What I did was get a 3/4" T connection, a spigot, and a male-male adapter to install between the drain line and the sink. If I need water, I just put a bucket below the valve, open it up and wait. Don't need water, just leave it closed and it works as it did before.

I use the water to keep my low-PH loving plants alive. The tap water here is way too basic for them. So far my little scheme is working great.