Do Water Dispensers Use a Lot of Electricity?

A water dispenser avails hot, cold, or room temperature water whenever you need it. But do you know that getting this water from these devices means using energy?

There are different types of water dispensers with different power consumption rates.

Every model has heating and cooling elements that require a constant power supply to keep the water steaming hot or nice and chilled.

So, do water dispensers use a lot of electricity? How much energy does a water dispenser really use? You’ll find that out soon enough.

But before that, note that power consumption depends mainly on how frequently cold or hot water is dispensed.

However, there’s an average of how much electricity a water dispenser should use.

Methods of Estimating the Power Consumption of a Water Dispenser

There are several methods of estimating the amount of electricity used by a water dispenser. They can be summarized as:

• Average power consumption
• Standby energy consumption

Average Energy Consumption of a Water Dispenser

Water dispensers produce a maximum of 1.84 gallons of hot water per hour and 1.55 gallons of cold water per hour at a standard room condition of 21 degrees Celsius.

For the dispenser to produce the 1.55 gallons of cold water, it’ll use about 80 Wh of electricity. That’s approximately 13.6 Wh per 1 liter of cold water (0.26 gallons).

And to produce the 1.84 gallons of hot water, the unit will use around 450 Wh of power. This equals 57 Wh of electricity per liter of hot water.

Therefore, the average power that a water dispenser requires to produce cold and hot water is:

• 13.6 watts to produce 1 liter of cold water(0.26 gallons)
• 57 watts to produce 1 liter of hot water (0.26 gallons)

Standby Energy Consumption

Standby power consumption is simply defined as the power to “dead cycle” the dispenser. This is the amount of electricity consumed when power is connected to the dispenser, and no cold or hot water is drawn from the unit.

The dispenser is placed in a room controlled at 24 degrees Celsius, where the unit stores cold water at 10 degrees Celsius and hot water at 80 degrees Celsius.

In such a scenario, the results are:

• Standby power consumption for hot and cold water= 726 Wh per day
• Standby power consumption for cold water = 160 Wh per day

How to Measure a Water Dispenser’s Energy Consumption

The best way to measure the amount of electricity a water dispenser consumes is by using a kill a watt meter.

This plug-in meter can actually measure any electrical device in your home. All you need to do is plug it into a power outlet and connect your dispenser to it.

All electricity that goes to the outlet is measured and displayed in the meter.

However, if you don’t have the kill a watt meter, look for an energy star rating on your water dispenser. If the unit comes with an Energy Star Rating, it’ll most likely use up to 50% power less than those without.

In fact, most water coolers that use less than0.16 kWh per day have the Energy Star Rating label.

Do Water Dispensers Consume a Lot of Electricity?

Depending on the model, a water dispenser uses around 2.8kWh to produce hot and cold water daily, which is approximately $118.00 per year.

The dispenser also uses between 0.3 – 1.2 kWh a day to get cold water, approximating at around $45.00 per year.

And should you use a dispenser with an Energy Star certification, you can save more on power.

Your unit will be more energy-efficient and consume less than the 1.2 kWh of cold and hot water per day or less than 0.16 kWh of cold water daily.

The amount of electricity a water dispenser uses also depends on what it’s used for and the number of times you use it per day.

If using it primarily to heat water, it’ll use more electricity. Less electricity is usually consumed during cooling.

Another thing to note is that water dispensers use a lot of power on the initial cooling or heating of water. When brought to the required temperature, the unit turns off and gets into standby mode.

Therefore, how you use the dispenser and the number of times you use it will determine whether it’ll consume more or less electricity. If you often use it to draw hot water, expect a higher electricity bill at the end of the month.

Factors That Determine Energy Consumption in Water Dispensers

Some of the factors that determine the amount of electricity used by water dispensers include:

• The installed equipment power
• The capacity of the unit’s cooling or heating water tank
• The model
• Ambient temperature
• Cooling system

Ways of Reducing the Power Consumption of a Water Dispenser

To reduce the amount of electricity used by your water dispenser:

• Turn off cooling and heating modes on weekends and outside working hours.
• Turn off the water dispenser when you don’t need it.
• Buy a model that you can program to run on and off.
• Use a socket-timer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

After going through the article, we believe that you already have the answer on whether water dispensers use a lot of electricity.

The answer can actually be yes or no, depending on how you use your unit. If you usually use it often for heating. It’ll consume more energy than if used it draw cool water.

The best way to save on energy consumption with water dispensers is to get a unit with an energy star rating. It can save up to 50% energy.