Bottleless vs. Bottom Loading Water Coolers — What You Need To Know

Hydrated employees are a linchpin in reaching organizational efficiency and productivity goals. However, to reap the benefits of a well-hydrated workforce, workplaces are in need of high-quality water systems — which ultimately encourage greater water intake. As a result, organizations are increasingly in search of the best options to provide water to their employees. 

Two popular options are bottleless water dispensers and bottom loading water coolers. Although these options look strikingly similar, there are considerably more differences than meets the eye. Read on to learn about the difference between a bottleless water dispenser and a bottom loading water cooler, so your organization can determine which option is best suited for your business. 

Bottleless vs. Bottom Loading Water Coolers

Over the years, organizations have relied on traditional water delivery services and top-loading coolers to offer clean water to employees, guests, and consumers. However, these methods have proven to be costly, time-consuming, inefficient, and a possible risk to your team members. The main issues organizations face with traditional water delivery include:

• Necessitating frequent heavy lifting — which ultimately poses a threat to the well-being of employees handling this task.
• Offering a limited amount of water.
• Becoming costly with recurring deliveries.
• Requiring regular cleaning needs.
• Increasing their environmental footprint.

The growing inconvenience of water jug delivery has quickly led to the rise of alternative solutions — namely, the bottom loading water dispenser and bottleless water cooler. While both of these options are intended to solve some of the key challenges associated with top-loading coolers and water delivery, they offer different functionalities for workplaces to consider. 

Bottom loading water coolers

A bottom-loading water cooler is considerably more similar to traditional top-loading options than a bottleless alternative — where the water supply still comes from a water bottle. However, in this case, the water bottle mounts in the bottom half of the dispenser, in a covered compartment. 

With a bottom loading dispenser in place, organizations can:

• Take advantage of temperature settings, offering both hot water and cold water.
• Eliminate the need to lift a heavy bottle above your waste, making the loading and unloading process significantly easier and mitigating the risk of back injury.
• Reduce the possibility of accidental spills when replenishing the water supply.
• Provide a sleeker design for a cleaner look and better space efficiency.

It’s important to note that a bottom loading option still requires regular procurement and replenishment of bottled water jugs. For an option that eliminates the need for a water jug altogether, organizations can consider a bottleless water dispenser. 

Bottleless water dispensers

Bottleless water coolers are the forward-thinking water solution that is quickly growing across industries. Organizations can work with a dependable water service provider like Quench to install a bottleless dispenser that connects directly to your water line — giving employees, guests, and customers access to fresh, filtered water. Similar to a bottom loading machine, bottleless options are also easier to manage than traditional solutions, offer both hot water and cold water temperature settings, and considerably simplify the cleaning process. However, these innovative bottleless solutions take it multiple steps further to provide a variety of key benefits for workplaces to consider. 

5 Big Benefits of Bottleless Water Coolers

Organizations that leverage a bottleless water dispenser, over both top loading and bottom loading options, stand to see a host of benefits as a result. These include:

• Introducing a never-ending supply of water: Unlike traditional coolers and bottom loading options, a bottleless water cooler is installed at your workplace and connected directly to your water line. This serves as an endless source of clean, great-tasting water for your employees, guests, and customers whenever they need it.

• Eliminating the heavy lifting and transfer process: While bottom loading water dispensers are a sufficient way to ease the water bottle lifting and transfer process, organizations can eliminate these practices altogether with a bottleless water dispenser. Workplaces can ditch the hefty water jug for a machine that takes the work off of your team members.

• Reducing contaminants with advanced filtration: Organizations that offer tap water and bottled water solutions risk exposing their employees to unwanted chemicals and contaminants, such as PFAS, BPA, or microplastics. In fact, a study from Forbes found microplastics in 93% of bottled water tested. A bottleless water cooler from Quench utilizes state-of-the-art filtration technology to ensure your workplace is providing the cleanest water possible — for the health of your employees and customers.

• Supporting sustainability practices: Around 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills each day, and, according to National Geographic, 91% of this plastic isn’t recycled. With a bottleless cooler solution, your organization can significantly reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions from delivery trucks and plastic production.

• Utilizing a more cost-effective alternative: Both a top loading water dispenser and bottom loading water cooler involve seemingly insignificant expenses, but these can quickly add up and put a strain on your budget. A bottleless water dispenser eliminates the cost of bottles, jugs, and regular delivery, which is considerably more cost-efficient in the long run.

The Workplace Productivity Boost That a Hydration Solution Provides

The true impact of a hydrated workforce can’t be understated. As employees increase their daily water intake they are likely to experience considerable health benefits — which is ultimately advantageous for your organization long term. Implementing a top-tier hydration solution leads to:

• Increased workflow efficiency across teams.
• Decreased fatigue and absenteeism in employees.
• Greater focus and enhanced cognitive function.
• Improved health and wellness throughout the workforce.
• Boosted employee morale and satisfaction.

The combination of these results will prove key to supporting performance, productivity, and efficiency long term. However, workplaces need high-quality solutions and dependable partners to elevate their water supply and improve productivity successfully. 

The Quench Water Solution Advantage

If your organization has been in pursuit of ways to bring your water systems to the next level, a bottom loading water dispenser is a step in the right direction. But, introducing a bottleless water cooler can bring your drinking water systems into the future.

Quench offers a broad array of bottleless water dispensers and related products, so every workplace can find a water solution that fits their unique needs. With dependable solutions, qualified technicians and water experts, and reliable customer service, Quench is a water service provider you can depend on.

If you’re ready to provide your valuable team members and customers with an endless supply of clean, filtered water, get a free quote today. Or, try our product finder to discover which bottleless water cooler is best suited for your workplace.