Does Your Water Cooler have no water flow?

Does your water cooler have no water flow? If it does there could be several issues that you could fix on site before removing your entire unit or calling a plumber, service station, etc.

We get these calls all the time. It seems to be the number one reason or first noticed issue that customers have with their water cooler. You walk up to it and try for that much needed drink of chilled water and low-and-behold nothing is coming out. Quite frustrating! Rest assure that there are steps that you can take to resolve this issue.

First of all it is very important to make sure that the shut-off valve is open. I can't tell you how many times I've been out on a job and someone had come along and shut this valve completely off. The shut-off valve, if you are lucky will be in the bottom corner, either left or right of the unit. I have seen it where its up in the ceiling above the unit or on the opposing side of the wall. But there should be a good chance that this valve is installed inside the unit so to make it accesable for future repairs. This valve has a small handle and should be checked first to make sure it turns freely. If it has tight spots or is very difficult to turn, a replacement of this valve should be done by a local plumber.

Once you've made sure that this valve is open and the unit still has no flow. Follow the pathway of the water flow. Water will flow directionally through this unit till it reaches the bubbler or drinking spout on top of the unit. What we would do is shut the water off at the shut-off valve. Disconnect the shut-off valve, make sure you have a bucket, then turn water back on, discharging water into bucket, just to make sure your supply water is fine and flowing. Once you've found no problem with that, now its time to go through the next component which should be the storage tank, that styrofoam looking unit, or evaporator. Shut water off again and disconnect on the water-out side of this unit. This is commonly where the cooler tends to build up with lime and will cause the cooler to lose flow. Or if your unit is freezing up, which can happen from a faulty thermostat or low freon, this is where the problem will occur. Turn water back on. If you are not getting any flow at this point, one of two things could be going on. Your unit needs to be de-limed. We set your unit up with a vinegar type solution and constantly cycle this solution through, until cooler has good flow again. Your cooler could be freezing up! At this point, your cooler should probably be serviced by a plumber or your local water cooler rep. The tech will have to reclaim the freon inside of the unit and then recharge unit. Also a replacement of the thermostat should be done. So make sure this is changed by the tech if this type of repair is done. If you still get good flow out of the evaporator. Shut water back off and reconnect the line you took out. The water should then flow through the regulating cartridge assembly. Here's a link to a pic of this part. These can be mounted in different locations depending on model but always know these have to be activated somehow. So its usually mounted behind a push bar or push button of some sort. Again disconnect on the water out side of this part. Turn water on and push down on the spring cartridge to activate this part. If you get no flow replace the internal cartridge, link here. Reassemble and check unit. If you still have flow at this point, last but not least is to check the bubbler or drinking spout on top of the unit. These can over time become limed up because the unfiltered particulates get leftover after the water evaporates eventually leading to a clogged orifice. Gross I know. By simply unscrewing this part and replacing it should solve any bubbler issues.

At this point, hopefully, your water cooler should be up and running smooth again. But if not please give your us, 402-341-1414, a call, stop by the website www.aesupplyonline.com, or shoot us an email. I hope this has been helpful. Let me know if you have any other suggestions or tips. Or comment at the bottom with some other helpful advise that I may have over looked.

Until next time!