Condensate water is a natural by-product of an air conditioner's condenser. While the amount of such water is negligible in home ACs, commercial central air conditioning units tend to produce large volumes of condensate. If you would like to learn more about how to boost your property's efficiency by putting this condensate to work, read on. This article will outline two ways to reuse your condensate water.

Risk Of Disease

Before continuing, it is vital you are aware that condensate water and the tubing through which it runs can accumulate dangerous forms of microorganisms. Perhaps the most notorious of these is legionella, the species of bacteria responsible for Legionnaires' Disease. Because of this risk, it is important to know that condensate-reuse systems should always have some method of disinfection, whether ultraviolet light, chlorine tablets, or injected ozone.

Cooling Tower Makeup Water

One common use of condensate is as a source of water for commercial cooling towers. These structures are used to absorb and deflect the heat generated by a commercial AC's chiller. Without a cooling system, these chillers would be prone to overheating and inefficient cycle times. The constantly circulated water inside a cooling tower acts to reduce the occurrence of such problems.

The expense of keeping a cooling tower filled with water can be reduced by rerouting the condensate water. In fact, studies indicate that condensate water can be used to make up as much as 15% of a cooling tower's water. While that percentage may not seem so significant on its own, when you stop to consider the massive amounts of water used by cooling towers--often in the hundreds of gallons--it's easy to see how this practice can benefit your bottom line.

Irrigation Water For Exterior Landscaping

Exterior landscaping is a highly effective strategy for improving the curb appeal of a business or commercial property. Unfortunately, whether you choose to utilize container gardens or natural planting beds, such landscaping efforts take a lot of water to maintain. This can lead to unacceptable hikes in your monthly water bill.

The good news here is that reusing condensate water is a great way to minimize the cost of landscape maintenance. Usually this tactic is employed in tandem with a rainwater catchment cistern, which is designed to collected the water coming out of your gutter system. Here the disinfected condensate water is simply routed into that catchment, which is used as the source for either an above ground or a subsurface watering system. 

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