4 ms·

A practical thing that I've had, for years and years, and of which I know literally zero other people who have such thing, is a water cooler. Yes, in my house,

A practical thing that I've had, for years and years, and of which I know literally zero other people who have such thing, is a water cooler. Yes, in my house, in the kitchen. Like in an office. A big 5 gallon bottle of purified water sitting on a little refrigerated tap. It's literally always good. I want a small glass? No problem, pure water nice and cold. Fill up a bottle to go? Also no problem. I get it, tap water doesn't always taste great. Also not a problem! I have a couple of giant 5 gallon plastic bottles, which I occasionally take to the local Glacier/Primo machine at the gas station (!) and fill for literally a couple of dollars. It tastes delicious. After moving across the country, we bought a new water cooler that has a button that automatically dispenses fresh water into a dog bowl next to the cooler. Like, how great is that? My dog can drink water as nice as I'm drinking. It's like, people don't even want to put in the minimum effort to drink water, which can easily be delicious with a Brita or a cooler or whatever. It's the foundation of life. Come on, people.

uri4 4y ago
Transparent jar full of water, sitting on sun for days maybe weeks. Perfect petri dish!
- iwanttocomment 4y ago
  Wow, lots of anti-water people coming out in the comments. Bizarre. Our family goes through a 5 gallon jug in less than a week. I have a few jugs, which I'll refill a few times, and then the local grocery store or Walmart has a thing where you can drop off old jugs to replace with new ones, sterilized and pre-filled with fresh water. (Clearly this is a thing many other people are doing since the infrastructure exists, even though it's never advertised and I never see other people doing it.) There is literally no health risk involved here. Yes, I go to refill or replace jugs every two weeks or so. Not a big deal. Easier than buying soda or smaller bottles of water, IMO. Edit: We used to use Britas but that was honestly more hassle than just dealing with the jugs.
  - criddell 4y ago
    Is you tap water not drinkable?
    - iwanttocomment 4y ago
      In my community, it is technically safe for consumption and not under a boil order, but also not easily drinkable.
      - ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
        not easily drinkable... is it frozen? ;)
        iwanttocomment 4y ago
        It is pungent, and the natural flavor is unappetizing. Through a filter, either a Brita or a Glacier/Primo machine, it's fine. It is remarkable to me, an actual person who lives an actual life in America, that anyone might question the desire to have 1) fresh water or 2) decent-tasting water. Internet trolls are questioning the base essence of humanity, and it's honestly troubling.
- scotty79 4y ago
  If it's sitting in the sun it best environment for algae. Other organisms have much harder time there.
yakak 4y ago
We had one of these things in our office once. It didnt get a lot of use, so everyone was afraid of it and whatever it might be harboring. The next office we shared with a larger company that connected a water line to a tankless device. I was also a little skeptical of these funky plastic lines, but it got enough use to probably not be a problem. Of course there was the water tap, which serves perfect water, so all this nonsense was for carbonation and cooling.
- blitzar 4y ago
  > I was also a little skeptical of these funky plastic lines > Of course there was the water tap, which serves perfect water You are aware that the "water tap" also goes through pipes to get to you? It doesn't originate like magic at the faucet exit.
  - yakak 4y ago
    What is the rate of flushing in the line to an apartment building compared to a line to some novelty within the apartment, I.e. an ice maker? How much more total time in contact with with a surface (that may be semi-porous, etc) will the water in that ice have had? If there were some kind of bacteria problem, where might it multiply without getting quickly washed away? I live in a developed country so the water from the source is not the problem, pretty much all risks are from defects in private infrastructure and time the water may spend in that infrastructure.
    - iwanttocomment 4y ago
      In my many decades on Earth, I have never, ever heard of anyone, anywhere, experiencing any illness borne specifically from a water cooler that didn't get used enough or from contamination of the short water line from a residential pipe to a refrigerator ice maker or dispenser. It is literally bizarre to hear someone try to question the average "5 gallon jug of water" or a "residential water line" as something that can be potentially harmful in generic, except due to some sort of ludicrous edge case, when water jugs or refrigerator water lines have been used by literally billions of people across continents for decades. What is even up with this kind of comment? How did you become "anti water line to an ice maker"? Do you work for Nestle, or Coca-Cola?

uri4 4y ago

Transparent jar full of water, sitting on sun for days maybe weeks. Perfect petri dish!

iwanttocomment 4y ago
Wow, lots of anti-water people coming out in the comments. Bizarre. Our family goes through a 5 gallon jug in less than a week. I have a few jugs, which I'll refill a few times, and then the local grocery store or Walmart has a thing where you can drop off old jugs to replace with new ones, sterilized and pre-filled with fresh water. (Clearly this is a thing many other people are doing since the infrastructure exists, even though it's never advertised and I never see other people doing it.) There is literally no health risk involved here. Yes, I go to refill or replace jugs every two weeks or so. Not a big deal. Easier than buying soda or smaller bottles of water, IMO. Edit: We used to use Britas but that was honestly more hassle than just dealing with the jugs.
- criddell 4y ago
  Is you tap water not drinkable?
  - iwanttocomment 4y ago
    In my community, it is technically safe for consumption and not under a boil order, but also not easily drinkable.
    - ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
      not easily drinkable... is it frozen? ;)
      - iwanttocomment 4y ago
        It is pungent, and the natural flavor is unappetizing. Through a filter, either a Brita or a Glacier/Primo machine, it's fine. It is remarkable to me, an actual person who lives an actual life in America, that anyone might question the desire to have 1) fresh water or 2) decent-tasting water. Internet trolls are questioning the base essence of humanity, and it's honestly troubling.
scotty79 4y ago
If it's sitting in the sun it best environment for algae. Other organisms have much harder time there.

yakak 4y ago

We had one of these things in our office once. It didnt get a lot of use, so everyone was afraid of it and whatever it might be harboring. The next office we shared with a larger company that connected a water line to a tankless device. I was also a little skeptical of these funky plastic lines, but it got enough use to probably not be a problem. Of course there was the water tap, which serves perfect water, so all this nonsense was for carbonation and cooling.

blitzar 4y ago
> I was also a little skeptical of these funky plastic lines > Of course there was the water tap, which serves perfect water You are aware that the "water tap" also goes through pipes to get to you? It doesn't originate like magic at the faucet exit.
- yakak 4y ago
  What is the rate of flushing in the line to an apartment building compared to a line to some novelty within the apartment, I.e. an ice maker? How much more total time in contact with with a surface (that may be semi-porous, etc) will the water in that ice have had? If there were some kind of bacteria problem, where might it multiply without getting quickly washed away? I live in a developed country so the water from the source is not the problem, pretty much all risks are from defects in private infrastructure and time the water may spend in that infrastructure.
  - iwanttocomment 4y ago
    In my many decades on Earth, I have never, ever heard of anyone, anywhere, experiencing any illness borne specifically from a water cooler that didn't get used enough or from contamination of the short water line from a residential pipe to a refrigerator ice maker or dispenser. It is literally bizarre to hear someone try to question the average "5 gallon jug of water" or a "residential water line" as something that can be potentially harmful in generic, except due to some sort of ludicrous edge case, when water jugs or refrigerator water lines have been used by literally billions of people across continents for decades. What is even up with this kind of comment? How did you become "anti water line to an ice maker"? Do you work for Nestle, or Coca-Cola?