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A comment on Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid. Parent comment

Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by jondwillis on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @09:00PM (#41440853)
I have run a dehumidifier off of excess solar before to collect water and use on plants. It was mostly for fun, and not ideal bc of possible contaminating chemicals from the dehumidifier involved, mold, and lack of minerals for the plants, but hey, it worked.
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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by whycome on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @09:04PM (#41440874)
What possible contamination?

Easy enough to add minerals/nutrients after the fact!

What kind of wattage was the device?

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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by jondwillis on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @09:28PM (#41441004)
I just don’t trust my random chinese amazon brand dehumidifier’s internals to be totally food-safe. At the very least the water is condensing onto some unknown (to me) metal, touching some mystery plastics.

It was a peak ~700W device, and quite efficient for its price. It’d produce a few gallons overnight in summer in southern california when attached to a rather large battery.

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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by Izkata on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @10:23PM (#41441268)
> I just don’t trust my random chinese amazon brand dehumidifier’s internals to be totally food-safe.

Dehumidifier water in general isn't safe for consumption.

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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by pests on Wednesday September 04, 2024 @03:11AM (#41442727)
But if you pour that water onto a plant, and then you eat the fruit or vegetables of that plant, is it safe?

I meant acid rain and contaminated water probably lands on crops all the time.

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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by rightbyte on Wednesday September 04, 2024 @05:22AM (#41443575)
Probably not a bigger risk than using a no-name mug?
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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by ars on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @09:18PM (#41440955)
> and lack of minerals for the plants

Are you doing hydroponics or something? Because the soil has more minerals that you could ever possibly get from water. I mean the ground is where those minerals in regular water come from in the first place.

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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by M95D on Wednesday September 04, 2024 @08:32AM (#41444879)
Why would plants need minerals in the water? Rain doesn't contain any.
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Re:Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid by collinvandyck76 on Wednesday September 04, 2024 @10:03AM (#41445981)
hydroponics i'm guessing
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