My dehumifier is an absolute necessity and I couldn't imagine going through another winter without it. After tank #3 or #4 .... my walls literally rotted out on me. You may think your forced air furnace will rip out that humidity .... I lived in denial for a long time saying that there was -no way- I could possibly need a dehumifier, but I was wrong.
I had to replace my window frames, most of drywall around my windows, and even some sealed units (windows) had failed and accumulated several inches of water. I could have kept minnows in my windows.
Yes, living in Edmonton or Calgary, I guarantee you will get some VERY strange looks if/when you go plunk down $200 to $350 on a dehumidifier. You typically don't need one living out here. But trust me. After about the tenth time I cleaned black mold off my walls .... I said no way can this continue. That investment is one of the best I ever made.
I also use mine to dry wetted carpets (now how on earth could that ever happen) ... ?
I suppose if you kept your forced air furnace on 100% of the time it might help. I tried that for a month, until I saw my hydro bill ( :shock: ) and that summer fan went right off after that month let me tell you!
So, dehumidifier, yes, wouldn't live without it. Saves my walls, saves my wooden window frames, saves me from black/toxic mold.
I personally wouldn't use the dehumidifier water. I don't even water my plants with it. It's going to contain anything that's in your air (probably not so bad, but still), and plus, I have no idea if the aluminium condensers leech anything into the water. Heavy metals, etc. I personally would not drink water out of an aluminium container -- and anything I wouldn't trust to drink, I don't trust to put in my tanks. It's probably harmless, but if you stop to think about it, you probably end up investing thousands upon thousands of dollars into your livestock. Why risk all that (notwithstanding why risk the healthy of anything alive that depends on you for their health), just to potentially save on a couple bucks worth of water? Not worth it. It could be harmless, but what if it isn't? If you discover it's not harmless, the damage will already be done. No thanks!