Maintenance Tips for Water Coolers and Dispensers
Your water cooler is a well designed piece of equipment that
has few moving parts and is unlikely to go wrong and let you down. But, like
many appliances, it will need some maintenance and servicing to keep it in
optimum condition. After all, you bought it so that you could have the best
possible quality drinking water. Regular maintenance and servicing will ensure
that that clean, fresh, properly filtered water is what you always get.
Because water coolers are sturdy appliances with few moving
parts, there’s not a great deal that can go wrong with them. One of the most
important maintenance and servicing tasks is to ensure that the filter or
filters (depending on the model) are changed at regular intervals. Most
manufacturers recommend a filter change twice a year.
Whether you have a bottled water cooler or a plumbed in
model, to keep bacterial contamination at bay you will also need to clean the
tank and/or chiller reservoir and flush the system out with sanitising
fluid approximately three times a year.
A sanitisation kit will provide you with all the equipment
you need if you’ve chosen to do the maintenance of your water cooler yourself.
It’s not difficult and it won’t take you long to do it. Alternatively, a
maintenance contract with your supplier will take the burden off you. You won’t
even have to make a note of when a service and clean is due.
If you’re doing it yourself there are some basics to
remember when cleaning and maintaining your water cooler. Check out the
manufacturer’s instructions carefully and follow them to the letter. Short cuts
aren’t worth it if you want to maintain the quality of your water supply.
Remember to unplug your water cooler before draining and
servicing it. As we all know, water and
electricity don’t go together except under controlled conditions. If the
tank is empty at any time, switch it off.
If there is any ice in the chiller reservoir of your water
cooler, don’t chip it off. The best, and the easiest, thing to do is just to
let it melt. It shouldn’t take too long.
Keep an eye on dust. If your water cooler is in a dusty
environment, you shouldn’t have a problem with it contaminating the interior,
but it’s obviously a good idea to keep the external cabinet clean. Avoid
abrasive detergents. Keep an eye on the tap and the drip tray, which can also
be simply cleaned, using dishwashing liquid and a soft cloth. Proprietary
products to deal with limescale can be used as required.
Maintaining your water cooler isn’t that much more
complicated than maintaining your fridge. Simply servicing it regularly and
keeping it dust free will make sure that your water cooler continues to serve
your hydration needs for years to come.
