Water Coolers

Why The Surge In Plumbed Water Coolers?

In the last two years alone, the sales volume of household water treating equipment (mostly water coolers) has tripled, according to the Water Quality Association. Plumbed in water cooler popularity results from increased awareness of industrial and other water pollutants, like pesticide runoff, affecting drinking water quality.

There is also the matter of economics.

Bottled water is far more expensive than home filtering. All water coolers work with a cartridge element that must be replaced periodically. In some cases it can be back-washed for more extended use. Cartridge life depends on the volume of water passing through, the amount of impurities and the size of the cartridge. Small systems may work for about a month while large ones can run for several years.

When water flow seems restricted, or the taste or odor returns, the element should be changed. There are three main types of systems:
* A system attached directly to a faucet.
* An under-the-sink system with larger elements.
* A main-line filter to process all the water that enters the house.
* A small water cooler that mounts directly on a faucet is the least expensive to install.

Installing a faucet-mounted water cooler is usually a matter of simply unfastening the faucet aerator and screwing or clamping the cooler to the faucet outlet. Under-the-sink filter systems process more water than the faucet type. They are designed to give you cleaner-looking, better tasting and smelling water while reducing the presence of organic chemicals and contaminants. Some under-sink coolers have their own separate faucets that must be installed by boring a hole in the sink, while others tap directly into the cold water line and filter all the water drawn through the existing cold water tap.

Any system can, of course, be piped to work either way. The most effective flow-pattern has the water flowing downward along the cartridge sides to the bottom and then turning upwards through the filter medium for thorough filtration. By installing an under-the-sink filter system yourself, you can save about $50 in labor.

This usually involves mounting a bracket for the water cooler at the appropriate level on the inside wall of the sink cabinet. Usually, the filter element must be raised off the floor for convenient cartridge replacement. A tap valve with a saddle connection must be hooked up over the cold water line and jointed to the filter system inlet with tubing. Tubing also connects the filter system outlet to take filtered water back to the cold water faucet or to a separate faucet. One example of this system is the QC4-THM water filter system.

Plumbed in water cooler has two cartridges with activated carbon as the filtering medium and is intended to work with a separate faucet for the purified water. It costs about $300 plus installation.