John Hale wrote:
>
> Greetings!
>      Here is a question about dehumidifiers.  I have two dehumidifiers, running full blast, 24-7, in an 1858 log cabin.  There is growing, in the discharge pan, what appears to be green algae.  The pans drain out through plastic tubing that runs through the wall chinking into the flower beds outside.  Is there anything I can put in the discharge pans to kill the algae?
>
> John C. Hale II  ([log in to unmask])
> Archives Technician & Curator of the Log Cabin Medical Museum
> Scott and White Archives
> Scott and White Memorial Hospital and Scott, Sherwood and Brindley Foundation, Temple, Texas

John,

Call your local Heating and air conditioning supply house.  They should
have some algecide tablets that are for laying in condensate pans on air
conditioners.

I would purchase an extra discharge pan, wash it with clorox, install
the tablets and remove the existing pan.  At the same time wash the
dehumidifier fins with this clorox mix.  A hand spray bottle should be
okay.

Install a small 'p' trap in the drain line before it leaves the building
to prevent air (containing mold and algae spores from coming directly
back up into the pan.

I would wash the removed pans with clorox and install algecide tablets
and rotate these pans as required. Algae goes thru 'blooms' and periods
of inactivity.  What is a killer are molds that will grow in the same
environment.

Regards,
Eckie Prater  ([log in to unmask])
Facility Operations Manager
National Cowboy Hall of Fame
(235,000 sq ft of new museum space)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma