Bottleless water cooler vs in-fridge dispenser? (appliance, cleaning, leaks, electricity)

[urbex]

I drink a lot of water on a daily basis, usually somewhere around a gallon, and I'm not a fan of going through that much bottled water. Plus, I think the water straight out of my well tastes better anyways.

My current "solution" is a 5 gallon water jug in the fridge, but it's a bit of a pain to fill, seems to always be collecting condensation or weeping water, leaving a mess in the fridge, and I always seem to empty it in the middle of the day, lol. I also have issues remembering to fill the ice trays (because medical reasons, and I never need them until I run out of cold water, lol) My fridge is an older top freezer model, with no provisions for a water/ice dispenser.

I've been considering buying a new fridge with a built in water/ice dispenser, but also recently discovered there's such a thing as a bottleless water cooler. While not cheap, they're not horribly expensive either. Certainly cheaper than a new fridge would be. Appears to be basically the same basic concept as the typical office water cooler, just without the 5 gallon water bottle on top/bottom, and needing to be plumbed into the water supply.

Anyone with experience with these things? Do they do a good job at keeping the water cold? Able to cope with the demand of someone drinking a large amount of water? Reasons that the built in dispensers in fridges may be better, other than the additional space a cooler takes up and lack of ice?

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by urbex

I drink a lot of water on a daily basis, usually somewhere around a gallon, and I'm not a fan of going through that much bottled water. Plus, I think the water straight out of my well tastes better anyways.

My current "solution" is a 5 gallon water jug in the fridge, but it's a bit of a pain to fill, seems to always be collecting condensation or weeping water, leaving a mess in the fridge, and I always seem to empty it in the middle of the day, lol. I also have issues remembering to fill the ice trays (because medical reasons, and I never need them until I run out of cold water, lol) My fridge is an older top freezer model, with no provisions for a water/ice dispenser.

I've been considering buying a new fridge with a built in water/ice dispenser, but also recently discovered there's such a thing as a bottleless water cooler. While not cheap, they're not horribly expensive either. Certainly cheaper than a new fridge would be. Appears to be basically the same basic concept as the typical office water cooler, just without the 5 gallon water bottle on top/bottom, and needing to be plumbed into the water supply.

Anyone with experience with these things? Do they do a good job at keeping the water cold? Able to cope with the demand of someone drinking a large amount of water? Reasons that the built in dispensers in fridges may be better, other than the additional space a cooler takes up and lack of ice?

An even simpler idea is to place several smaller water jugs in your fridge with a plate or tray underneath. They'll be easier to move, fill, and find space for on the shelves, the trays will catch the condensation mess, and when you refill the smaller jugs that water will chill down faster. Why pay for the electricity to run an entirely separate cooling appliance when you already have one? IME (although limited) the water dispensed by fridges with ice/cold water dispensers can taste funky over time depending on your household water quality. The ones I've had in various houses were a pain to maintain. Changing filter cartridges, cleaning up leaks and spills, getting grungy residue out of the supply lines. Plus, if the freezer compartment isn't very large the ice bin takes up a lot of space I'd rather use to store food. Look in to the variety of reusable "ice cubes" available to chill drinks. They might re-freeze faster than making new ice cubes out of water and take up less of your freezer space. FWIW, I don't use the ice or water dispenser system on my current fridge at all. My house water comes from a large cistern underneath the house. It stays bone chillingly cold year round.