A water cooler is a device that cools and dispenses water.

The most common form of the water cooler is wall mounted and connected to the building water supply for a continuous supply of water and electricity to run a refrigeration unit to cool the incoming water, and to the building waste system to dispose of unused water. Some versions were free standing floor models.

A small container in the machine held chilled water so the user would not have to wait for chilled water. Water was delivered by a turning or pressing a button on a spring loaded valve, located on the top of the unit, that turned off the water when released. Some devices also offered a large button on the front or side. Water was delivered in a stream that arched up allowing the user to drink directly from the top of the stream of water.

These devices usually delivered water directly from the municipal water supply. In general no treatment or filtering was provided on the incoming water.

A newer design involves bottles of water, usually treated in some way, placed spout down into the dispensing machine. These machines come in different sizes and vary from table units, intended for occasional use to floor mounted units intended for heavier use. The bottle size varies with the size of the unit with the larger versions in the US using 5 gallon bottles. Some units offer a refrigeration function to chill the water. These units do not have a place to dump excess water only offering a small basin to catch minor water spills.

These gravity fed systems have a device to dispense water in a controlled manner. Some versions also have a second dispenser that delivers heated water that can be used for Tea, Hot Chocolate or Instant coffee.

When used in a larger companies, staff somehow managed to show up at the same times during the workday which is often colloquially described as meeting "around the water cooler".

Other usage

A water cooler is a kind of device used to remove heat from electronic devices, such as computer processors, that makes uses of water instead of air (see air cooler and CPU cooling).