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How Much Does A Water Dispenser Cost

Possessing a dispenser for drinking water clearly has its merits. Not least of which, is that it holds what should be, a fairly pure obtained source, or further cleansing a plumbed source. Ready to dispense at either room temperature, cold or hot. But even though not all coolers are comparable - they can enable lower total water bills which are inherit with the larger three gallon and five gallon size containers. Some possibly eliminate their need altogether.

Renting & Buying Options

Water coolers, if purchased outright or else acquired by way of a connected service, will be cheaper or more expensive based on a number of factors. Including the expected life of the unit which rarely is a known.

• Placing a unit through a water company, at the yearly average rental rate in the range of $80 to $100 can go a major way toward purchasing one. As new, no frills units, that keep the water at room temperature begin as low as $35 to $40. Which would mean a six month payoff period.


• Other enhanced units, equipped with hot and cold temperature controls start at around $125 for basic top loading gravity feed coolers, and around $160 to $180 for bottom load dispensers. Prices travel upward as quality of construction and capabilities mount. Stainless, self cleaning units cost $200 to $350 and more.


• Many bottleless hot & cold units fall in the wide $275-to-five-hundred-dollar plus range.


• Certain models that feature high grade filters exceed the upper three-hundred dollar amounts and even $500, especially those that operate on systems that bypass the bottled water concept altogether. Instead drawing straight from the source of tap water. Same for reverse Osmosis dispensers. Those relying on staged, sub-micron filtration systems are among the most expensive units on the market today.

Maintenance & Cleaning Expenses

Contrary to certain opinions, water dispensers usually do require occasional cleanings and possible descaling and sanitizing efforts. So that the reservoir, tubes and fittings are all kept in the desired, healthy state. Kits start at around $9 for the solution and supplies. As replacement filters and their type will be dependent on the cooler itself. Moreover, dispenser owners are much more likely to find themselves faced with the maintenance, and hard cleaning tasks of the unit rather than when on a rent or lease plan option.

Operating Costs

According to Energy Star, by the Federal Government, water coolers vary hugely in their consumption by brand, model and insulated construction and they can even exceed the power requirements of a major appliance with cold units running at about 1/8 the cost of hot units that are slightly over $80/yr. Refer to: Energy Star

To obtain a rough operating cost of a prospective dispenser, multiply its kilowatt hour rate of consumption (watts divided by 1000) by what you are charged by your electric company (found on a recent bill, in kilowatts per hour or kw/hr) by the hours in a day that it is to provide service. Knowing that there may be spikes.