Custom water dispenser idea??

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
I have a water cooler that uses 5ga bottles, the same as you would see in an office. It's setup as a beverage area in our dining room. This cooler is next to a beverage fridge that holds soda. I had the idea of getting rid of the water cooler and instead using this...


There's a shelf in the mini fridge we can go without. It's about 2.5*14*17 inches (1 soda can high, 6 cans wide, 14inches deep). I thought about putting the bottle and pump in a cabinet where the cooler is, then running a line in and out of the fridge, that would go to a small faucet or tap faucet. It would just have a pan that could catch spilt water in the counter over the mini fridge. Obviously the idea would be to get rid of an appliance that makes excessive noise and wastes energy.

Problem is, anything I look at for doing this is very expensive. I thought the best results would come from using copper tube but 3" copper tube in enough of a QTY was like $300 (it's expensive and I'd have to find a plumber who could put it together). I though about maybe using copper coil or plastic tubing like what would be used for ice maker line would work but it would likely take hundreds of feet to get to about 1/4-1/2ga of cool water.

If I did the math right, a single piece of copper pipe that is 2.5x12 is 0.25ga and costs about $60 each. 6 of these could fit in theory. I could also do something like plastic pipe, and the last one in copper so it gets colder before dispensing, or maybe even just doing plastic going in, then have some copper ice line leaving the reservoir to the faucet/tap. I'd like it to look cool, and some copper radiator would probably be just that, but it could be very expensive, and I'm not even sure copper is a good idea (safe).

Again, the goal is to get ride of the water cooler. The fridge gets to 40 degrees.

Anyone have any cool ideas?

This is a similar model to the fridge. The shelf I am talking about using is the middle one with the cans sideways.

 

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
I just thought of bottles, and it turns out I can buy them in copper. I could maybe use something like these. 1liter each. $60 for 3, $100 for 6. Then I'd just have to put a fitting on the top and the bottom to connect them. I would be able to take the caps off and clean them out.

 

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
This set of 6 is $25. I could run 2 lines in the top, 1 flush and the other going to the bottom, and put them in cap first so the flat part is facing out. That could be a really good option. All 6 is about 0.8ga.

I wonder what kind of fittings would work best to put 2 1/4" tubes into the lid.

 
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Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
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What about just get a bunch of these and fill will filtered water from your fridge and put them in the beverage cooler??????
K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid!!!!!!!!) ;)
 

WFO Speedracer

A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
Location
Alabama
Or you could do it like it's done at my house and just drill a well, bye bye water bill forever and I have have yet to taste bottled water better than this. Then every fauct in your house becomes a cold water dispenser.
 

Quinc

Buy a Superjet
Location
California
Replace "water bottle" with a "Beer Keg" and you have a winner!

My grandfather converted a fridge to hold two Kegs and kept it on his patio right beside his big recliner.

Problem with the keg is you drink a hell of a lot more. And then you start having more people over in your garage and you get less done. Fun though! :)
 
Fridges with water dispensers in the door have a large coil of 1/4" plastic line. Enough for a tall glass of water. Usually in the back bottom behind the drawer.
 

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
I think one thing missed here is that this is in my dining room. If I have 20 or 30 guests over, kids birthday or whatever, fridge dispensers and 6 bottles of water don't do the job.

Also, the 2 - 5ga jugs I have a kept through hurricane season. The setup works as is. The cooler holds like 0.5ga of water and is Zephyrhills. I just thought I could combine the reservoir with the fridge and ditch the rest of the bulk.

View attachment 432063

What about just get a bunch of these and fill will filtered water from your fridge and put them in the beverage cooler??????
K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid!!!!!!!!) ;)

One is short term and one is an investment. If I make something nice, It's not a problem. What you suggested is fine, and is less waste, but it leaves me filling and cleaning. I'd rather not. Does save on cups, so I'm not completely against the idea. but generally, I'd just rather not. As is, it's my problem every 5ga. Your solution makes it my problem every 18 oz. KISS applies to the other side of the coin.

Fridges with water dispensers in the door have a large coil of 1/4" plastic line. Enough for a tall glass of water. Usually in the back bottom behind the drawer.

Yes, and some have these. Both are options.


Replace "water bottle" with a "Beer Keg" and you have a winner!

My grandfather converted a fridge to hold two Kegs and kept it on his patio right beside his big recliner.

Too big and we aren't drinkers.

Or you could do it like it's done at my house and just drill a well, bye bye water bill forever and I have have yet to taste bottled water better than this. Then every fauct in your house becomes a cold water dispenser.

Not a great solution in the city. Our well is for irrigation only. Drinking water wells are almost unheard of. Best I see from reading after your post is that most drinkable wells in the general area that do exist can be hundreds of feet deep for quality water. It was like $3500 for my irrigation well and it's down like 40ft I think. 5ga of Zephyrhills is $7 on exchange, and I'm not above refilling them with filtered water.
 

WFO Speedracer

A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
Location
Alabama
I get it everyones water table is different, my well is about 50 ft and at one time there were three houses connected to it, I guess we got lucky.
 
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