Distilled Water

[cooksonscharlie]

This may be a very stupid question - it wouldn't be my first! Our tumble dryer removes the moisture from the clothes and then condenses that moisture into water which collects in a container which needs to be emptied periodically. Presumably this is distilled water. Do you think this could be used in soap making - or am I barking up the wrong tree completely! Many thanks!!

 

[DeeAnna]

Theoretically it is distilled water and should be fine for soaping. A problem using water from dehumidifiers, air conditioners, dryers like yours, and rainwater is the possible bacterial and fungal contamination. There's nothing stopping lint, dust, bacteria, and fungal spores from also ending up in this water. Any time you mix food (dust and lint) with water, you can get microbial growth. For soaping use, I would filter and sanitize it by either boiling or adding a disinfectant. That way, I could store it without too much concern about microbial nasties.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Interesting question you have there. I have a dryer like that, but although the water is sort of "clean" (as in condensed) I do see lots of lint in the water after every use. But I don`t know if you have a self cleaning dryer like mine, or one that you manually have to take the condenser out and rinse manually it in a bucket full of water (like I had to do in my old one) I had some lint in the water then too.

But as DeeAnna mentioned, if you could filter and clean it etc, that would of course make a difference. If that is an effort you are willing to make + invest in disinfectant and doing the labour instead of buying distilled water that is ready to go, then that is all up to you, and if it works for you then that is great!
Which is the beauty of soaping, because you can test out so many things and see waht works for you and what doesn`t.

Besides, there are areas in the world has a shortage of water, so if it works out for you it wouldn`t exactly hurt.

Let us know how it works out if you decide to go with it, we love experiments in here...:mrgreen:

 

[cooksonscharlie]

Thank you both - I had not considered the lint. Now you explain the difficulties I can see the problem. Might be easier to source some elsewhere - it was just a thought!. By the way I'd just like to say what an absolutely fabulous forum this is. I can't begin to tell you how much I have learnt. I recommend it to everyone!!