What I'm referring to as a "water cooler" is simply a drinking fountain you find in public or private buildings that dispenses cold water.
A recent pet peeve of mine is water coolers that run constantly and dispense lukewarm water. This typically means that they are out of refrigerant charge or there is some other mechanical problem. Why this bothers me is because these units are using a lot of energy and are doing nothing. Nobody will ever notice that there is a problem unless a janitor cares enough to notify the building manager, so these things run continuously for years.
My solution is just to have the unit shut itself off and turn on a service light if there's a problem.
Exciting? Admittedly not. But my guess is this would save a huge amount of resources.-- Worldgineer, May 03 2004 Water Coolers http://www.halseytaylor.com/coolers.htmlTypically have 5 year warrantees. My guess is they last 5 years and 1 month before breaking down and running continuously. [Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] <nostalgia>reminds me of an excellent Far Side cartoon</nostalgia>-- neilp, Oct 05 2004 nostalgia: not what it used to be-- neilp, Oct 05 2004 Please share a description of said cartoon. I must have missed it.-- Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004 Sorry for churning this, I just noticed another one of these devices running continuously. This one was installed on the 1st floor in a building in Seattle. Why do you even need a water cooler on the first floor in a city where the ground temperature never reaches 60F?-- Worldgineer, Nov 09 2004 random, halfbakery