When hygiene matters choose direct feed water coolers

Borg & Overström direct feed and tankless water dispensers offer significantly higher standards of hygiene, superior cooling, and a plastic-free alternative to conventional water coolers. Here’s why…

Direct feed water dispensers dramatically reduce bacteria growth

Conventional water coolers contain a reservoir of water, fed either by a plastic bottle or mains water supply. Direct feed water dispensers – also known as tankless or bottleless – cool the water as it passes directly from the mains supply to the dispense tap. No drinking-water is stored within the appliance.

The big disadvantage of reservoir water coolers is that ambient bodies of water provide the ideal conditions for bacteria to multiply to dangerous levels, says Dan Stafford, Microbiologist and advisor to Borg & Overström.

“You have a dead area of water where bacteria can attach themselves to the inside of the bottle or tank and propagate.” While water itself isn’t a food source, Dan says bacteria are “incredibly resourceful” in their ability to use materials as a food. “Once inside a water cooler certain types of bacteria can feed on components found in rubbers and seals present within a dispenser.

Direct feed water systems have an advantage over reservoir systems because of the low wetted internal surface area. “Tankless water systems remove dead zones and have a constant flush through of the system,” explains Dan.

“A lower wetted surface means there is a greatly reduced chance of a bacterial population establishing itself inside the appliance from viable cells, which may have entered via the incoming mains feed. This is of great benefit when considering difficult to control bacterial organisms such as Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and may help prevent the formation of bacterial biofilms.”

Direct feed or tankless systems are particularly relevant for commercial settings where hygiene and high performance are of utmost importance. “Tankless systems reduce the need for onsite treatments and interventions requiring harsh chemicals,” says Dan. “It also helps to reduce the possibility of bacterial populations becoming immune to treatment chemicals and procedures.”

Superior cooling technology

Our direct feed systems use superior cooling technology designed by our team of engineers and designers. Dry Chill^® is the latest advancement in cooling technology to be used in our range of water dispensers. This system cools water without it ever coming into contact with air, which greatly reduces the chance of contamination.

Dry Chill^® works like Direct Chill™ in that when the dispense button is pushed water flows through a chilling coil. But rather than passing through water it is passed through an insulated, aluminium block that is cooled via an environmentally-friendly coolant coil. Water is chilled faster providing a larger volume of lower temperature water.

Dry Chill^® will usually cool drinking-water within 10 minutes (depending on ambient temperature) because aluminium as a heat conductor is superior to water. The use of aluminium makes installation of machines fitted with Dry Chill^® faster, the recovery time quicker, and ultra-hygienic.

A more sustainable alternative to plastic

Mains-fed water dispensers also remove the need for plastic bottles of water. Although bottle-fed water coolers operate on a return and reuse basis, plumbed in or point-of-use dispensers eliminate them altogether. This not only reduces plastic but also emissions from the frequent deliveries needed to restock customer water supplies.

Borg & Overström no longer manufacture bottle-fed water coolers. Visit our models page for the full range of bottleless water dispensers, or request a copy of the Borg & Overström Range Guidebook