It's just something we do automatically, when someone finished off one bottle of water on the cooler and you throw on the next. It's a never ending cycle. I once worked at a building where is was common place forever. One night, while changing the bottle I looked down inside, BIG MISTAKE. The tank where you dropped the bottle, where the water was cooled, was covered in what I assumed was green algae. Gross. I remember wiping it down, but also not drinking out of it any more.
Cut to this week, our water cooler sprung a leak and left a rather large puddle of water on the carpet. Someone was smart enough to remove the bottle, but it continued to leak. I then placed the whole cooler in the sink so it could drip there.
When all was said and done, someone pulled it out of the sink and placed it back on the floor...where it happened. I did something I swore I'd never do again. I looked into the hole where the water bottle goes. Again, I'm scarred. I'm not pointing the finger at the company who gave it to us, it's our fault. We just go through these bottles so fast, no one ever thinks about cleaning it. It's just water right? So you tell me, are you putting your water bottle under this?
For the record, I will clean it before we attempt to make this operational again. Or maybe we can just replace it.
Photo: dave taft