Industry insights

Why Isn't My Water Cooler Working? Quick And Easy Troubleshooting Tips

2 min read

By Matt Stimpson |  Published

Having a bottled or mains fed water cooler in your home or workspace is one of the easiest ways to keep everyone refreshed and hydrated all day, every day. But being the ideal item to position in any high-footfall area, it does mean they can get a lot of daily use.

While every unit is covered by our service and maintenance packages, there may be times when your water cooler develops a small fault and needs a little troubleshooting to help it maintain its performance. So let’s take a look at a few quick and easy troubleshooting tips you can do to help you – and your water cooler – out.

Water cooler troubleshooting

Both our bottled water coolers and mains fed water coolers are easy to install and use, giving you fully filtered water direct from the tap. Delivering ice-cold, ambient, or hot water is what you should expect from your water cooler, so if it’s not happening, here are some common problems that you can fix on either model by using these simple tips:

My water cooler isn’t chilling!

Make sure your unit is plugged in and switched on, checking there are no loose wires. If this hasn’t resolved the problem, reset your cooler by switching off the power at the wall, removing the plug, and disconnecting the cable from the unit. Wait a few seconds before reconnecting the cable, plugging back into the wall, and switching on before leaving your cooler for another 30 minutes to re-chill.

My water cooler isn’t heating!

If the water isn’t heating, ensure your unit is plugged in and switched on while checking the red ‘hot tank’ switch on the back of the unit is in the ON position. If this doesn’t help, switch off the power at the wall, remove the plug, and disconnect the cable from the unit. Wait a few seconds before reconnecting the cable, plugging back into the wall, and switching it on before leaving your cooler for another 30 minutes to reheat.

My water cooler isn’t dispensing!

If no water is dispensing from your cooler, the reason might differ depending on whether you have a bottled or mains fed water cooler.

On bottled water coolers, this may be caused by an airlock. Remove the bottle from the unit and drain all the water from the inside chamber using the taps. Replace the bottle and wait for the unit to refill.

For mains fed water coolers, check your unit is plugged in and switched on at the wall. Ensure the blue water isolation tap is turned to the ‘ON’ position on the water connection pipe at the back of the unit. And if your model has one, slide the ‘reset’ button to clear any errors.

Your Thirsty Work engineer is just a phone call away

These tips cover just a few common issues that can be easily fixed without an engineer. You can also see and download our troubleshooting PDFs for both our bottled water coolers and mains fed water coolers for more issues that can be fixed quickly and easily.

But if any of these doesn’t fix the problem straightaway, all you need to do is call our customer service team on 01392 877 172 or email hello@thirstywork.com, and we’ll arrange an immediate engineer call-out to service, fix, or replace your cooler straight away.