Dispensers and coolers are devices that provide chilled and sparkling water directly from your home tap. Here’s an overview of how they work:
Dispensers
Dispensers are devices that take water from the water supply and distribute it at room temperature. They can be used to provide still, cold or sparkling water, depending on the model.
Coolers
Cookers are more advanced devices that not only provide cold water, but also sparkling water. They work similarly to refrigerators, using a refrigeration cycle to cool the water and a carbonation system to add carbon dioxide, making the water fizzy.
Main Components
- Compressor: Increases the pressure of the refrigerant gas, increasing its temperature.
- Condenser: Releases heat and condenses the refrigerant gas into liquid.
- Expansion Valve: Reduces the pressure of the refrigerant liquid, allowing it to evaporate and cool the water.
- Evaporator: The refrigerant cools the water through an evaporation process.
- Carbonation System: Adds carbon dioxide to the water to make it sparkling.
Advantages
- Convenience: They provide cold and sparkling water without the need to buy bottles of water.
- Economical: They reduce long-term costs compared to buying bottled water.
- Sustainability: They reduce the use of plastic and help reduce the environmental impact.
How to choose the most suitable model
The main risk is to install a poorly sized system, for example too small or too large, or that uses the wrong technology for your specific location, or that does not offer the taste you wanted.
Still, sparkling and cold: choose the taste you want
With the right purifier you can set and customize the taste of the water from the tap, varying the flavor between still, sparkling and cold.
In addition, there are purifiers that maintain mineral salts.
Position: under-sink, under-plinth or over-sink
You can choose the under-sink water purifier, which is installed in the space under the sink, hiding all the parts that compose it.
To connect it to the tap it is no longer necessary to make holes. This is the most common option.
An alternative is the under-plinth purifier, so thin that it can be placed under the kitchen plinth – thus taking up very little space.
Finally, it is also possible to install the purifier above the counter (over-sink) if the other two solutions are not practicable for some reason.
Technology: reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, microfiltration
As for the treatment method, water purifiers are divided into three types:
- microfiltration purifiers are the cheapest; suitable for eliminating bad odors and bad tastes, they are used when the water is already light and of good quality
- ultrafiltration purifiers are of intermediate effectiveness and cost; they can also eliminate chemical substances and bacteria
- reverse osmosis purifiers are the most effective; through special membranes, they can also eliminate pesticides, herbicides, nitrates and nitrites, arsenic, lead ions, pesticides, heavy metals and other substances with dimensions up to 0.0001 microns.
After an initial analysis, we can propose the model that best meets your needs, selecting it correctly based on your consumption, the type of incoming water and the available space.
