How to Clean Your Water Cooler

My 3 year old is obsessed with getting water “all by mah-self” from the water cooler. Because of her constant trips to the water cooler, I noticed it was leaking from the “Hot” tap (which is not turned on).  I turned the tap upside down to prevent the leaking when I saw the gunk  “WHAT THE?!!”

How did this get overlooked? Time to get cleaning.

I thought I would share how to clean your water cooler since it is so easy to do.  As we live in the desert and water coolers are a massive part of our lives, this is something that should not be neglected (as I clearly have done).  You will need to wait until the water bottle is empty. Grab a sponge, your vinegar, toothpick and put the kettle on because you are going to need some hot water.

Now before we get started, I just should mention that this is how I do it.  The measurements are approximate measurements and it is okay if it is not exact.   It will still get the job done.

How to clean your water cooler

• First unplug the water cooler.
• Remove empty water bottle from cooler.
• Drain the last of any water still sitting in the reservoir.
• Mix 1 1/2 cups (approx 350 ml) of vinegar and 5 cups (approx 1 litre) of hot water and pour into the water cooler (from the top).  Let sit for 15 mins.
• You can use this time to take a sponge with warm soapy water and clean the outside of the water cooler.
• After 15 minutes, drain out the vinegar water from the cooler.  Be sure to drain from both taps.
• Once drained, add a kettle full of hot water (about 1.5 litres) and let sit for an additional 5 minutes.  This just gets out the last of any gunk that may be lingering.
• Drain using both taps.  Add more water (this time it doesn’t have to be hot) and drain.  Repeat this process until you are brave enough to test if the vinegar taste is gone.  For me it took about 4 so I did add a 5th just to be sure.

Now you have cleaned the inside and outside of the water cooler.  Next you move onto the taps and drip tray.

• Unscrew the taps and remove the drip tray.
• Wash taps and drip tray in the sink using warm water and dish soap (and a brush if available). You can wash the taps in the sink. There are some hard to reach places of the tap – even with the help of a brush.  This is where a toothpick can come in handy.  I used the toothpick to loosen up any buildup on the tap, then rewash.
• Once clean, put back together and put back onto water cooler.  I would recommend running one last pot of water through before putting a new water bottle back on.  This way you will ensure that there are no leaks.

Now everything is clean, there are no leaks so you can put on that new water bottle and enjoy!