Here at The Water Delivery Company HQ we often get calls from customers seeking water cooler troubleshooting advice. So we thought it was about time we published a list of common water cooler issues to save you, our valued customers, time.
The first step in troubleshooting your water cooler is identifying the problem and figuring out the cause. Use the headings below to locate your problem or leave a comment if you’re unable to find it.
Water Cooler not dispensing hot/cold water (It’s room temperature)
Option 1 – Check that your water cooler is plugged in at the wall socket and that the mains power is turned on (a surprisingly common cause). Also check that the power cable at the back of the unit is firmly pushed into its socket.
Option 2 – Check that the switches on the back of the cooler are turned on and illuminated.
Option 3 – Try “resetting” your cooler by removing several cups of water from both the hot and cold taps and switch off the machine. Unplug it from the wall and leave for 24 hours before switching it on again. Give the water temperature about 5 to 6 hours to adjust before dispensing to see if it worked. If the problem persists, contact a technician for assistance.
Option 4 – If all switches are on but hot water isn’t being heated sufficiently, your dispenser may have faulty wiring. Call a technician for assessment.
Option 5 – If room temperature water is coming out of the hot tap, it’s possible that your hot tank has scaled up and stopped working. But if cold water comes out, it’s more likely that the hot tank has blown. If this happens, it’s better to call a technician or to take the unit to your water cooler company for assessment.
Weak water flow from bottled water cooler
Option 1 – Keep the tap open while squeezing the bottle to force the water through. This has solved the problem on many occasions.
Option 2 – If the above doesn’t work, check the water cooler’s air filter on the lid, as well as underneath the lid that the bottle sits on. The filter is normally a small circular sponge that stops the air filter function (causing the water to flow freely) when wet. Remove and dry it before testing the water flow again.
Leaking water cooler
99% of the time this is as a result of a leaking bottle not the cooler itself. Occasionally a hairline crack can develop in transit which alters the pressure within the cooler – there is normally a vacuum within the cooler. This pressure change draws water into the tank causing it to overflow so that the cooler appears to be leaking. Remove the bottle from the cooler and test it with a different bottle. Please ensure there is no water in the top of the cooler where the bottle spike is located, if there is water ‘trapped’ here please just run the taps to release the water.
Leaking tap on water cooler
Option 1 – Check that the tap is tightly screwed on – in may need a slight twist to tighten it in place.
Option 2 – If the above didn’t work, the problem may be the spring or washer in the tap preventing it from closing properly. You will need to remove the bottle, drain the reservoir into a bucket, and call out an engineer to replace the tap.
Water leaking from drip tray
Your drip tray is most likely overflowing. It needs to be emptied regularly to prevent spillage. Simply slide the tray out from the cooler unit and empty in the sink.
Green stuff growing inside a water cooler
Don’t be alarmed, this natural phenomenon is caused by sunlight continually penetrating the bottle which causes algae to grow – it’s completely harmless. Store bottles in a shaded area, away from direct sun or fluorescent light. If there’s no way to position your cooler unit out of direct light, consider purcha vinyl bottle cover.
Water cooler not dispensing any water
Option 1 – Make sure the bottle isn’t empty and that there is enough water in the reservoir.
Option 2 – This is most likely caused by an air lock that can occasionally occur as a result of the air pressure that is forced into the water cooler as the bottle is placed on it. The taps may appear to not be dispensing any water, or only dispensing in intermittent drips.
Remove the water bottle from the cooler and place it back on the water cooler whilst at the same time holding both taps open (do not attempt to do this alone! You need one person to hold the taps and another to remove and re-attach the bottle).
Option 3 – An ice ring may have formed that is blocking the flow.
Water tastes funny or “off”
When last did you clean and sanitise your cooler’s taps and reservoir? Invest in a good quality water cooler sanitation kit and remember to clean it regularly.
Our general guideline is every 13 weeks for bottled coolers and every 26 weeks for plumbed units which is in keeping with The British Water Cooler Association code of practice.
Ice donut forming around the bottle neck in water cooler
This indicates that the cold control mechanism is no longer working and needs replacement. What’s happening at the moment is that the water cooler is continually chilling which causes the “ice donut” at the bottom of the internal reservoir. This will keep on happening until the cold control is replaced.
If you can get spare parts, it can be replaced relatively easily. We stock and supply a full range so just give us a call and we will look to assist.
Can’t find the answers you’re looking for? Give us a call on 0845 006 3309 and one of our staff will be happy to assist you.
Normally with a bottled cooler this means that the cold control mechanism is no longer working and needs replaced. If you can get spare parts for the same water cooler then this can be relatively easily replaced. What is happening at the moment is the water cooler is continually chilling which is resulting in the “ice donut” at the bottom of the internal resevoir. This will keep on happening until the cold control is replaced.
The Water Delivery Company offer a cooler repair service but you may prefer to look at our range of water coolers for sale or water coolers for rental.
My bottled water cooler for some reason freezes the water around the bottle neck in that little upper tank .It builds a big ring of ice that takes more than one day to melt down.Has become totaly unusable.Please let me know if you have a answer to the problem.Thank You!!!
Hey I have a question about my water cooler. Everything has been working fine but I believe there is an air lock occurring with my water cooler after changing the old bottle with a new bottle of water. The bottle is full but the water comes out very slow and appears to be empty(even though the chamber is completely full). When I remove the new bottle and have no bottle at all on the cooler the water runs freely from the chamber. When I put on the new bottle the chamber fills with water because I can see the air bubble but very little water comes from the dispenser with the bottle on the cooler. Seems like an air issue, but I do not know how to solve this problem. Please Help!
Thanks!
Thanks for your enquiry – can you let us know whether the water ever runs at a full speed from the watercooler. It is unlikely to be an air lock within the cooler as this will normally stop any water from coming out of the taps. Can you also let us know whether you are getting the reduced water supply from both taps? and whether you have had this cooler sanitised on a regular basis (every thirteen weeks)? Many thanks – The Water Delivery Company
The advice about the air lock (no water tapping out) and using two people to re-attach the bottle while holding open the taps worked perfectly! Thank You.
I have the same problem with the water flowing out of my water cooler. It is extremely slow and I have not santisied it on a regular basis. I did not realize, until I started looking into this problem, that you were suppose to santize it ever thirteen weeks. Will satizing the water cooler allow water to flow faster out of the cooler?
A good start would be to sanitise your water cooler – you can purchase a home sanitisation kit from us which will cover four sanitisations (one year). We can do this for you if you require for £12.77 ex VAT. Further details on the sanitisation kit are also available on our blog – http://www.thewaterdeliverycompany.com/blog/2009/04/09/water-cooler-sanitisation-kits/
Instructions for how to sanitise a water cooler are also on our blog site – http://www.thewaterdeliverycompany.com/blog/2009/03/30/sanitising-a-water-cooler/.
Please call us on 0845 006 3309 if you have any further questions.
I am searching for a mechanism for how to out the bottle of water without effort using only mechanical components to raise it and flip it.
I will be thankful for any ideas or sketches that will help me.
Kind Regards
Many thanks for your enquiry. The only thing that we can really help you with is to point you in the direction of bottom loading water coolers. These negate the idea of having to lift up the bottle and therefore mean that you may not need to invent this mechanism. Please have a look at this site for more information. The video below shows the principle.
Yours,
The Water Delivery Company
lOOKING FOR BOTTLED WATER FOR MY HOME COOLER.
Thanks for your enquiry
Please have a look at http://www.homewatercoolers.co.uk for more information on our water coolers suitable for homes.
yours,
Rob Laughton
@Nick
I have the same exact problem as Nick and wondered if anyone had a solution. I cleaned it, tried putting the bottle on with the tap open, no luck. It flows great when no bottle is on, but slows down to a trickle as soon as the bottle is put on.
Thanks.
We would recommend keeping the tap open and squeezing the bottle to force through the water – this has worked for us on many occasions. Make sure the tap is open during this process.
Secondly – check the air filter. On the lid it is also worth checking the air filter on the underside of the lid that the bottle sits on – sometimes this can become wet and stop the function of the air filter. This is normally a small circular sponge filter which can be easily dried. Please call us on 0845 006 3309 if you have any more questions.
Nick – We would recommend keeping the tap open and squeezing the bottle to force through the water – this has worked for us on many occasions. Make sure the tap is open during this process.
Secondly – check the air filter. On the lid it is also worth checking the air filter on the underside of the lid that the bottle sits on – sometimes this can become wet and stop the function of the air filter. This is normally a small circular sponge filter which can be easily dried. Please call us on 0845 006 3309 if you have any more questions.
Hi I have a water cooler which dispenses both hot and cold water- well that is what it is supposed to do- the problem is that I only get normal/cold water through the hot water tap. The cold water tap is fine. The sockets are plugged in and the cooler is left for a while just to give it time to heat up but its still dispensing cold water.
PLEASE can you help me urgently! There are no switches on the back that I could reset – what could I do and what could be the problem? Any help is appreciated
Thanks for your enquiry.
You have taken all the correct steps in the short term. It is possible that your hot tank has scaled up and has stopped working – but given you are getting cold water out of the hot tap it is more likely that the hot tank has blown. Unfortunately I think you are best taking it to a local water cooler company as I don’t think that you can get any further on this problem from home.
It is possible to replace the hot tank but depending on the age of the water cooler it may be cheaper to purchase a new water cooler.
Thanks
Tech Team
Thank you Rpb Laughton for the squeeze the bottle trick to get rid of the air pocket. You are simply awesome!! Worked like a charm. Thanks again : )
Thank you Rob Laughton for the squeeze the bottle trick to get rid of the air pocket. You are simply awesome!! Worked like a charm. Thanks again : )
I have a cooler that has a hot and cold option. The Hot still works when i turn it on but the cold does not. You can hear the cold try and kick on and then you hear a click and it kicks back out. My outlet and breaker are not the issue. Any suggestions? The unit worked fine until we unplugged it for a few weeks.
My water cooler seems to have maybe an air lock. you can only get a very small amonut of water at a time if you press down both taps you can hear the water/air glug and water comes out. 3 bottles ago it was fine and it normally rights itsself after about 1/2 a bottle. I have just sanitized it and put it back together hoping that would solve the problem but now you press down either cold tap and nothing comes out- we have shaken machine/bottle and water has gone down into the cooler but still sounds like there is an air lock and water not coming out freely. Any help
The answer in this case may well be to go back to basics. Remove the bottle from the water cooler and drain all the water out through the taps. This obviously leaves your water cooler empty. Now take off the lid that the water bottle sits on and pour some spring water directly into the steel tank (reservoir). Now try the taps – if the water is flowing perfectly then it is likely you have an issue with the air filter in the lid.
For problems with the air filter, send us the model and make of your water cooler and we will let you know where it is situated in the lid. It is likely that it may have become wet. This is easily remedied.
Yours,
The Water Delivery Company
thank you have tried the above to no avail,and other tips on this site all still to no avail, so will look up the model number and get back to you, thank you for your help
Thanks –
It does sound like it is the air filter. This is in the lid that the bottle is placed on. It normally looks like a round part of the lid. You can remove the filter and clean and then dry it , Then simply place the air filter back into its original place.
Alternatively it may be time to try a new water cooler
The Water Delivery Company
Took off the empty bottle to pull out machine its a Culligan Oasis model B1RRKY.
I think it must be something to do with the air filters as I have now put on bottle no 4 since this started and still the same.
Could you tell me how much filters would be for this and is there an instruction Manuel. As said when I cleaned it out took out the 2 plastic bits the bit the bottle sits on and the baffler I think its called, just then had the plastic container that the water sits in to cool, but no sign of where filters may be
Out of interest how much would a new machine be ? Also do you supply water and how much per bottle.
What if the water cooler can only dispense from the hot side? I am having difficulties with the cold side, as it will not dispense.
Hi I have a sunbeam YLRS2-5-87H3 and the cold water won’t get cold I looked for burned wire but found none, however the on & off switch lights don’t come on. Everything else works except the cold water. What can I do?
Hot water on light and cold water on light don’t light up but hot water and room temp. water work but not the coldwater.
My dispenser only dispense hot water and the cold side dispense warm water, it does not dispense cold water, I have checked all the socket but still not working, any help pls
I have a bottom loading water dispenser that has hot/cold/and room temperature water. The water only flows in a very small stream, it takes almosr a full minute to fill a small cup of water. please help me fix this problem.
I have a black and decker bottom loading water cooler, model #8lieck-w, that has a “cold tap” and a “room temperature tap”. Lately when I try to get a glass of water, the cold side does not dispense properly. It takes almost 60 seconds to fill an 8 ounce glass. So far we have tried squeezing the bottle for air troubles..emptying the reservoir completely..and cleaning the tube that goes in the water bottle. Any other suggestions you can recommend since we are out running out of ideas.
where do i get a cold control mech for the vertex watercooler pwc1000 and how much?
I have a just bought a primo water dispenser . I have put through a bottle of water but the water still tastes of plastic . Am I doing anything wrong please help
My bottled water cooler for some reason freezes the water around the bottle neck in that little upper tank .It builds a big ring of ice that takes more than one day to melt down.Has become totaly unusable.Please let me know if you have a answer to the problem.Thank You!!!
I have a Poland spring water dispenser,and followed the cleaning video every step,and the red light will still not go out that says time to clean.I cleaned it twice.any advice
air will not return after water is taken out of bottle, bottle is sucking in
M water cooler will heat the water but wont cool it what could b the problem?
I have Milan 405c cool/cold water dispenser. Out of the blue, the cold stopped working. There are no on/off switches on this cooler, so I cannot turn it off and reset it. Help?
My water cooler has a room temperature and a cold spout. The room temperature spout is also dispensing cold water. Any ideas?
I have a primo bottom load water dispenser model number 900146 had it for a couple of years and has been just fine, but now the stream is very small and takes almost 2 minutes to get a pint of water. The pump comes on every second or so, and the stream is very small. This is irritating. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Crystal Springs water cooler and the hot water dispenses hot water as it should but the cold dispenses room temperature water. I can hear what I think is the compressor trying to turn on and quickly off again. Any ideas/tips? Thanks in advance
Lately I was having the problem of the water dispensing very slowly. I sanitized it, half way took it apart, tried some of the ideas for the air lock and nothing worked, so I stopped using my water cooler. Months go by and I’m getting very frustrated because I bought the water cooler in February and by June it wasn’t working properly. I had a thought, I tried it and it WORKED! I used my son’s basketball pump with needle attached to fix the air lock problem. Just simply put the needle of the pump inside the water spout and pump air in and out. It works just like when I first night it.
Hi – We use thin-walled bottles and instead of air replacing the
water as it’s drawn off, the bottle just contracts.
GE Water Dispenser.
Any idea what I need to do to get the air flow back to normal?
Thanks,
Paul
My water cooler is dripping from the hoes I nthe back is there anyway to fix this myself
My GE Profile water cooler has stopped working. No sound, nothing. It is a fairly new machine, maybe 4 years old. Any help/suggestions would be really appreciated.
Thanks,
Darren
My machine still dispenses water, it just’s room temp though.
My cooler froze in a big donut as mentioned in this article which means the cold control mechanism is broken, apparently, but i defrosted it, and when I went to plug it, it comes on, however it never cools the water now. Is something else wrong? Thanks in advance!
I have a problem with our water cooler, all of a sudden.
No bubbles are being released into the bottle and at the same time it looks like the bottle is being slowly sucked inwards.
clearly air is not able to enter the bottle and equalize the pressure, but I can’t seem to solve it.
I’ve tried:
Taking the bottle off and putting it on again
Taking the bottle off and putting it on again, while holding down both taps
Taking the bottle off and then emptying both taps
Nothing works so far.
Any suggestions?
Cleaned water cooler and time to clean button is still lite pressed to reset still on what do I do
Can you let us know the model & brand of your water cooler
We would advise looking for the air filter and making sure that it is dry
We would recommend purchasing a new water cooler
Open up the top of the water cooler and you will see a metal tank filled with water. There should be a floating plastic part floating in the water. Drain the water cooler and then make sure that the plastic part is attached to the hole in the bottom of the tank
Open up the top of the water cooler and you will see a metal tank filled with water. There should be a floating plastic part floating in the water. Drain the water cooler and then make sure that the plastic part is attached to the hole in the bottom of the tank
Have you checked the fuse on the water cooler – this may need to be replaced
What do you mean by hoes
Please check the air filter that should be in the lid of the water cooler
Sounds like you may need to replace the cold control on the water cooler – contact the manufacturer
I have a primo dispenser that said it was time for a new bottle. When I replaced it after a few minutes it went back to the flashing button that says you need a new bottle.. Im it sure what happened what do I do
Hey Rob,
My water cooler was working this morning, but now is not powering on. I think water may have spilled on the machine. The cold water is working fine, but hot water is not heating. no light on the switch on the back. I’m trying to empty the water and dry it out in hopes that it will work again. Any advice?
Hello,
My water cooler is great for cold water, but the hot water is dispensing a very little water? Please any one help me
We would recommend descaling the hot tank on the machine – how long have you had the water cooler?
We would recommend leaving it to dry out completely and then getting an electrician to check it
Thanks for replying, but I do not know how to descaling the hot tank. My model is Koldair (KWD-M13L).. can any one help me? I want to do it myself.
To descale a hot tank you are using a similar process to descaling a kettle, however we find that often the scale is so embedded that you are better using more industrial chemicals. A local water cooler supplier will be able to assist you and will stock these – but we would recommend getting them to do the work on your water cooler.
Hello,
Thanks again, but I do not know the process of descaling and How can I open the koldair to reach the hot tank to do that? I appreciate your efforts. thanks
I cannot speak for this model – does it have a reservoir tank under the lid of the water cooler. This is a circular metal case where the water sits. At the bottom of this there are two holes – one for the cold water (generally in the middle) and one to the hot tank. The descaler should be placed in the relevant hole followed by hot water.
Another way to check is to open up the waste from the hot tank but this may also be blocked with scale – these are normally found on the back of the water cooler near the bottom
Crystal Mountain (mod# WCYCC2WTHMI) – Water froze – Recommend Repair – Await your immediate reply -thank you -Gord
Ice Mountain Direct replaced my defective water cooler this morning (2/18/15). The replacement is working fine, I drank a cup of chilled water before going to work, but, I did not noticed the color of the water. Came home and reached for a cup of water when I noticed the color of the water coming out is really yellowish. i tried the hot water and it also dispensed yellowish colored water. I’m concern that I drank a contaminated water earlier and what’s causing it.
I have a series 2000 hot and cold water dispenser but the hot water is not that hot hot can I get it hotter
I have a series 200 water dispenser. And the hot water does not get hot wnough.how can I adjust the hot water And how can I clean it and where is the filter located
I have a GE water dispenser (Top loader)model GXCF05D. Stopped dispensing cold water for few months now. The hot water works. The on light and hot water light indicator comes on but not for the cold water light. I cleaned the coils on the back but still no cold water.
Water leaking from the bottom of the water cooler. Not the bottle. Any suggestions?
Hi
I have a PRIMO MODEL 900133 WATER DISPENSER, I have a full bottle and its not sucking up the water, no water coming out of taps,. i checked the suction, seems alittle weak, its about 3-4 yr old,
anything i can do, or replace?
thanks
Nick
I just purchase a new oasis hot/cold water cooler and the hot water is coming out at room temperature. What should I do?
Have you checked for a small on/off switch on the back of the water cooler. There may be two switches – one for power to the whole water cooler and one that switches on the hot tank
Please email warehouse@thewaterdeliverycompany.com if you have any more questions.
Our water cooler (it is a cold-water cooler only) was not cooling the water. We replaced the thermostat, the water is now being cooled again. However, the compressor seems to be running constantly, and there is ice leaking out the back of the cooler – about a 0.5″ thick coil of ice is leaking out and curling down the hose at the back – it has now reached a length of 2′). Would appreciate any thoughts on what might be causing this. Thanks.
[…] In a past blog we detailed how you could avoid becoming a victim of a heatwave. Our sister company also has another blog detailing what to do if your water dispenser isn’t working. […]
I have a Vail Electrotemp VC-CHK-400. The cold water is not as cold as it used to be. Sometimes it’s cool but not cold and sometimes its just room temp. Is there something that I can clean or adjust? Thanks for your time!
I have a water cooler Black and Decker it’s a bottom load but I have to take the water bottles I have and dump them into another bottle because the pump head does not fit over the mouth of the bottle the most of all is to small is there any way to make this fit my mother is elderly and has to wait for me to come over if her water runs out
I have an oasis water dispenser hot/cold. my issue is the dispenser handle broke and I bought a new one How do I replace it. Does it just screw off? Don’t want to break it.
Please send pictures to contact@thewaterdeliverycompany.com – we are sure that the taps simply screw off. Please remember to take the water bottle off the top of the water cooler and empty the tanks through the taps before you take the tap off
3 Bottles ago it was working fine. My bf said he heard a click in the back and yhe cold stopped working. But the hot is fine. What should we do?
It may well be that the cold control has gone – where are you based?
Is there any water coming out of the cold tap?
Hey my water dispenser leaks from the bottom what do i need to change help please!
If it is a bottled water cooler please try removing the bottle and putting on another bottle. Often leaks occur when there are hairline cracks in the bottle.
If it is a bottleless water cooler we would recommend calling a service engineer – we can help with this if you are in London
Using a primo bottom loading 601090.
After a year, the cold dispenser isn’t as cold as it used to be.
Only slightly better than room temperature.
I can hear the compressor working and I’ve tried resetting the power switch.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Bellagio. No more cold water
My water dispener leak from the bottom could you tell me what is wrong with it thank yo
I have an older Elkay temprite dispenser that has hot/room/cold temperature taps. I recently moved it and now the hot water is coming back into the main tank. I can see hot water mixing back in when i shine a flashlight in the water and the main water tank is hot. It worked perfectly fine before moving. It did get turned on its side during the move.