A store-bought office water cooler takes less effort up front, but someone on your team becomes its maintenance department: filters, cleaning and repairs are all yours. A serviced bottleless cooler comes with a company that purifies the water with reverse osmosis, schedules the upkeep, and fixes or swaps the machine when it stops working.
Neither choice is wrong. They're different deals, and the difference shows up a year or two in.
Why do so many offices start with a store-bought cooler?
Because it's easy. You're already at the warehouse store, there's a cooler on a pallet, and it fits in the cart. Someone sets it up in the break room that afternoon. Problem solved.
That's a reasonable call, and plenty of offices make it. The trouble usually starts later, and it starts quietly.
What usually goes wrong with a store-bought cooler?
The cooler isn't the weak point. The upkeep is.
- Nobody owns it. Changing filters is nobody's job, so it slides. Months turn into years.
- The water drifts. As filters wear out, the water starts tasting flat or a little off. People notice before anyone does anything about it.
- It gets gunked up. Tanks and lines that never get cleaned build up residue over time. Not dramatic, just unpleasant.
- Repairs are on you. When it stops cooling or starts leaking, there's no one to call. You're shopping for a replacement.
- Hard water takes a toll. Utah's water is hard. Without good filtration, minerals leave scale on the parts that heat and chill water.
It's the story we hear most often from offices around Salt Lake City. The cooler went in fine, and nobody has touched it since.
How is a serviced bottleless cooler different?
A bottleless water cooler from a service company connects to your building's water line, so there's nothing to haul or order. The bigger difference is everything around it.
The water is purified. Every system we install uses reverse osmosis: a sediment filter, a carbon filter, the RO membrane, then a final carbon or pH polishing stage. It takes out the chlorine taste and smell and most of the hardness. Many of our coolers also keep their tanks clean with UV light.
The maintenance is scheduled for you. We plan preventative maintenance about every 12 to 18 months and change the filters then. We reach out to set it up, so nobody in the office has to keep a calendar.
Repairs aren't your problem. Service calls are free. If the cooler isn't working, we come out and fix it or swap it, as often as you need. Most service calls are completed the same day, and nearly all the rest the next day.
Someone local answers. Calls are answered in Salt Lake City by our own team, and our technicians are our own employees, not subcontractors.
The short version
- Water treatment: varies by store-bought unit. Every serviced cooler we install uses reverse osmosis.
- Filter changes: whoever remembers, versus scheduled by the provider.
- Looking after the machine: whoever remembers, versus checked at every scheduled maintenance visit.
- When it breaks: you fix or replace it, versus a free service call to fix or swap it.
- Who you call: no one, versus a local team.
When does a store-bought cooler make sense?
To be fair to the cart-and-pallet option, it can be the right fit when:
- The team is very small and use is light
- Someone genuinely wants to own filter changes and cleaning, and will
- There's no water line, drain or power near where the cooler needs to go
- The space is temporary
If that's you, buy a decent unit, write the filter dates on the side, and stick to them.
When is a serviced cooler worth it?
Usually when the cooler matters to the people using it. A team that drinks from it all day, makes tea and oatmeal with the hot water, or wants ice too. A combo unit adds pebble ice to cold and hot water, and in a 10 to 20 person office it tends to become the most-used thing in the break room.
It's also worth it when nobody has time to be the cooler person. Most office managers already have plenty of jobs.
Switching from a store-bought unit
Switching is simple. A rep visits to check for a water line, a drain and power, and helps you pick a machine. Our technicians install it, often right where the old cooler stood, and clean up after themselves. The store-bought unit is yours to keep, move or get rid of. Here's what switching looks like step by step.
You can also try it first. We'll install a cooler free for a week, and 98% of businesses that try one keep it. Get a free quote and we'll reach out within 1 business day, or call 801-609-4321.