Condensate

Introduction

The Kendeda Building has many intricacies making it the sustainable building it is today. Seven "Petals" can describe the overall workings and goals of the Kendeda building, the Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty petals. The Condensate Team focused primarily on the water petal, with an emphasis on the place petal.

The Condensate Team sought to learn more about the unique condensate system at the Kendeda Living Building. The research was primarily focused on any possible potential consequences that may arise with the use of condensate water as Kendeda's primary source of irrigation. Principally focusing on testing water for heavy metals and irrigated plants. As well as test for the presence of Legionnaires disease in the condensate tank.

System Specifics

The system being focused on for this research is the condensate system in the Kendeda Building. The purpose of this system is to take in the condensate from the air when it comes in the vents, store it, and then send it back out to be used as irrigation for the various plants around Kendeda. This system is made mainly of stainless steel and HDPE, which was found using the schematics to left. From this, various studies show that there are common metals that leach from steel and these will be used as a basis for the testing in order to see if there is any leaching. The condensate water also sits in a large tank for an extended period of time before being used, especially if it is very humid for multiple days at a time. Because of this there will be tests for the presence of legionella in the irrigation water. This would be an issue, especially since the condensate water will be used to irrigate edible plants in the future.