Everyone needs fresh, clean water to live. That means reliable access to safe and pure H2O at home and at work. If you're in almost any type of business, you also need a convenient and reliable way to deliver water to your employees and customers.
Options include tap water, bottled water and water coolers. Tap water may not always be clean enough to drink unfiltered and bottled water can be expensive and wasteful. Water coolers offer a convenient way to deliver fresh water — and opting for bottleless water coolers means you won't have to lose much space to do it. Find out more about when bottleless water coolers make sense for a business, how to navigate the choices on the market and how to maintain them — you'll save money and space in the end.
Businesses that need water coolers
These days there is rarely a business can get away without providing fresh, safe drinking water to employees, customers and other visitors. It may also be desirable to have a source of clean, hot water for instant beverages and instant foods. Bottleless water coolers are practically essential in:
- Office buildings
- Retail stores
- School or health club gyms or locker rooms
- Wellness oriented businesses
- Warehouses or other storage facilities
- Factories or manufacturing facilities
- Any commercial space with employees or visitors/clients
Bottleless water coolers even make sense in home settings as a source of pure water for drinking and cooking.
Some information you may take into account when evaluating different water coolers:
- Brand
- Size of unit
- Dispensing area
- Temperatures — hot, cold, room temperature
- Hot and cold tank size
- Room tank size
- Filtration type — reverse osmosis, UV, etc.
- Home or business application
- Number of people to use it
Some high quality brands of bottleless water cooler include Vertex, International H2O, Oasis and PureWaterCooler. They are very reliable brands that have been around for a very long time and know their business.
Why go with a bottleless water cooler
What's so great about a bottleless water dispenser? If the alternative is a water cooler with large jugs of water, the benefits are clear: There are no back-breaking, inconvenient jugs to change, no service contracts or need to constantly replace jugs yourself, wasting time and gas money.
Bottleless water coolers are also more environmentally friendly because they don't produce plastic waste like bottled water, which also costs more. The counter top coolers take up even less space than the free-standing models and work great in buildings where space is a premium or aesthetics are important and you want your cooler to blend into the decor.
Bottleless coolers are easy to install — they just hook into your existing water source. The eliminate impurities and chemicals from municipal drinking water and provide water on demand to drink or even brew coffee and tea, flavor packets, instant food and more if you choose a model with hot water.
You may need to do some periodic maintenance, such as installing a replacement filter. Just follow the seller or manufacturer's specifications on how to keep the unit operating at peak performance. Changing filters is typically very easy. Read through the owner’s manuals that accompany your cooler for tips on cleaning and maintenance. Like any other appliance, bottleless water coolers need very little attention and can last a very long time with proper regular care.
Specifications to compare
How can you figure out what size unit and what features you need in a bottleless water cooler dispenser? Determine the size of the space where you need to install it and the number of people who will be using the unit. Will you need hot water? Is space an issue? Do you need a large dispensing area? Are aesthetics important?
Things like dispensing area may be important if you need to fill reusable water bottles — such as at a gym or fitness facility. Different bottleless water dispenser filtration methods work better for different water quality issues. Talk to an indoor environmental solutions expert about your specific concerns.
If looks matter, some brands offer models with marble or stainless steel options, in addition to the common black or white models.
Different filtration options
Most bottleless water coolers will employ multiple types of filtration processes, but generally rely on a primary method. Options of water filter types may include:
- Reverse osmosis
- Sediment and carbon
- Ultraviolet (UV)
- Ultra-Filtration
- No Filtration
Some methods of filtration may be better for different issues and concerns. For example, you may have particular health needs, or municipal water that has a bad taste or odor. No filtration may be needed if you have a water filtration system at point of entry (POE).
Reverse osmosis water filtration — or RO — is good for sodium restricted diets, or for those who want to remove as much as possible from their water. One important thing to note is that coolers equipped with an RO system require an outlet drain. The hot and cold tanks in bottleless water coolers with RO filtration take approximately one and half to two hours to fill from empty.
UV filtration is recommended when the water comes from a well or spring, or has uncertain amounts of chlorination. If you're not sure that your municipality is sufficiently chlorinating the water supply, you may want to consider adding UV as a final stage in the purification process.
Making a purchase
Bottleless water coolers typically cost anywhere from $430 to about $1,400, depending on the size and features needed. The fortunate thing is that once the unit is installed, the cost to use and maintain it is minimal. There are no ongoing fees for replacement jugs or countless bottles of water — which makes it a great option for budget-savvy business owners.
If you have any questions about how to choose a model that makes sense for your business, home or specific needs, talk to an indoor environmental solutions specialist who has familiarity with the quality brands on the market.
Download the Pure n Natural water cooler comparison chart for more information about different types of available models.
