[nredman]

i have been thinking about getting one for awhile now. hopefully to help the wife & i drink more water. (i know its a pretty sad excuse) does anyone have one in their home? just looking for some suggestions. found this one on home depots website for $109



GE
Hot & Cold Free Standing Water Dispenser
Model GXC05D

Makes chilled water for drinking & hot water for instant beverages & soups. Free standing. Easy to use push button faucets. Child resistant hot water faucet. Fits 3 & 5 gal. bottles not included. Non-refrigerated compartment for storing cups & other items. Easy to read indicator lights. Removable drip tray for easy cleaning. Hot water temperature: 194 deg. F. Cold water temperature: 50 deg F. 2 year limited warranty.


thanks guys

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by nredman

i have been thinking about getting one for awhile now. hopefully to help the wife & i drink more water. (i know its a pretty sad excuse) does anyone have one in their home?

Yep. I call mine a "refrigerator".

[von Wrangell]

Why? Isn't the tap water cold enough?

[Scandalous Ion Cannon]

I got one, it is much better than a brita.

[bad_quote]

But is it trendy silver from ikea?

[Artful Dodger]

It's a necessity for me. The water is cleaner and tastes better. Plus, I find myself drinking a lot more water. I will never revert to my old ways. Tap water where I live is poison.

You won't regret it. Especially if you have a family.

[OldManMac]

My sister has one. It's a five gallon unit, without hot water. They bought it a few years ago, and they do drink a lot of water, which has helped them, along with exercise, to lose lots of weight. My brother-in-law has lost 60 pounds in the last couple of years, as has one of their daughters.

[Mastrap]

I was thinking about getting one, but in the end decided on a filter instead. We use about a gallon of filtered water a day for drinks and cooking and I just wasn't prepared to go through the hassle of getting bottles to and from our house.

I would suggest looking at a tap mounted filtration system.

[Artful Dodger]

^^^ I had one of those mounted filtration systems, PUR and Britta. Both were a joke and paled in comparison to a water-cooler.

[nredman]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

^^^ I had one of those mounted filtration systems, PUR and Britta. Both were a joke and paled in comparison to a water-cooler.

what kind of you have?

[Chuckit]

I use bottled water. Easier to carry around than a cup.

[Goldfinger]

Yep

+

[Artful Dodger]

This is the best water cooler system for home use: DRINKMORE. Click here for a diagram and explanation of their purification system. It's the industry leader.

They are based in DC, but I am sure there are other companies that use the same purification process. Use this place as a baseline, if you aren't in the DC area

Why drinkmore is great:
Water has never tasted so refreshing and crisp.
The purity is of the highest caliber.
My bahavior has been changed for the better: Over the past year, I have been conditioned to reach for water before food during late night temptation.
More energy. Better skin. I don't feel dehydrated nearly as often as I used to.
Extremely convenient
Water in DC is POISON.

I have no qualms on spending $ for something that constitutes a major percentage of my body.

[Artful Dodger]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

I use bottled water. Easier to carry around than a cup.

You can use a bottle too. Just refill it. That's what I do, daily.

[SSharon]

Do they sell bottled water with flouride added?

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally Posted by SSharon

Do they sell bottled water with flouride added?

Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?


I don't have a water cooler, but I usually just drink tap water. bottled water gets expensive, and tap water in NYC is quite good.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by SSharon

Do they sell bottled water with flouride added?

No, but they do sell toothpaste with fluoride added. I just use that.

[Eriamjh]

I have a water treatment system (also known as a water filter).

You can suck bleach water in one side and clean water comes out the other side. It's awsome!

[tooki]

Beware that water coolers are huge bacterial incubators. The source of contamination is that it's too easy to touch the rim of the open bottle when inverting it over the dispenser. (The Swiss consumer magazine had an article on this recently.)

Either use a filter on the tap, or buy bottled water that fits in the fridge. (Or get a fridge with a water dispenser and ice maker that has a filtration system.)

re: fluoride: you don't want it. Toothpaste plus what your dentist may apply provides plenty of fluoride, plus it's been shown that for fluoride to prevent cavities, it has to be applied topically -- systemically ingested fluoride a) doesn't reduce cavities, and b) can cause fluorosis.

tooki

[Face Ache]

The pH of the tap water here is 7.9. It's hard water and frequently reeks of chlorine. We use that for washing.

My rainwater tank is pH 7.0 but I don't really trust it, so I only use that for my aquarium.

Then we get 3x15 litre bottles of spring water per week (pH 6.9) for drinking. I'll be buggered if I'm going to pay to refrigerate it though. Ceramic jug here.

[OldManMac]

Re; flouride

ORONTO, Sept. 19-Tooth decay is making a comeback, fueled by junk food, spurred by social changes, and abetted by an unusual culprit - bottled water.


"I had a three-year-old kid come in the other day," says Toronto dentist Sheldon Rose, D.D.S., "and he had at least two cavities that I could see. I haven't seen that for years."


Like most dentists, Dr. Rose blames the usual suspects - snack foods, soft drinks, lack of parental supervision of food. But bottled water also plays a role, he and others suspect.


"It's not the water that's causing the decay," said Jack Cottrell, D.D.S., president of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA). "It's the lack of fluoride."


The bottled water issue was raised at the World Dental Congress in Montreal, Dr. Cottrell said, as part of a general discussion about what to do about the sudden rise in tooth decay in children.


The American Dental Association says that more and more "health-conscious consumers are sipping bottled water."


Indeed, says the International Bottled Water Association, in 2004 Americans drank nearly 6.8 billion gallons, for a per capita consumption level of 23.8 gallons. That's an 8.6% increase over the previous year, the association says.

The problem is that people are turning away from tap water - which for over two-thirds of Americans contains all of the fluoride that they need to prevent tooth decay - and most bottled waters don't have enough fluoride.


"If bottled water is your main source of drinking water, you could be missing the decay-preventive benefits of fluoride," the ADA says.


(The bottled water association notes that more than 20 U.S. companies do produce fluoridated products; the association has more than 80 bottlers among its members.)


Part of the rise in bottled water is lack of trust in municipal water. In Canada, for instance, a mismanaged town water system in Walkerton, Ontario, was blamed for killing seven people and making 2,000 others ill in 2000.


One result of such occurrences is that people think tap water is "not safe," Dr. Cottrell said, and begin drinking and cooking with bottled water, with detrimental outcomes for their kids' teeth.


Ground zero for fluoridation was the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., which 60 years ago began adding small amounts of fluoride to city water - enough to bring the level to the U.S. Public Health Service recommended level of between 0.7 and 1.2 parts per million.


Since then, fluoridation has become recognized as a key intervention. The CDC in December 1999 put fluoridation among the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th Century, along with such things as vaccination and control of infectious diseases.


The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent group appointed by the CDC director, found that - in studies that measured decay rates before and after water fluoridation - the median decrease in tooth decay among children ages four to 17 years was 29.1%.


"We know the effectiveness of fluoride," says the CDA's Dr. Cottrell.


But the chemical is only part of the equation, he adds. "We're seeing changes in the diets of children," says Dr. Cottrell, a combination of more readily available sugary snacks and - because more families are working couples - less parental supervision of the kids' diets.


At the same time, he said, the protective element of fluoride is being removed as more parents switch their kids to bottled water and fruit juices. "We're not getting the advantages of it," he said.


"When I graduated in 1965," said Dr. Rose, "it was a rarity to see a kid with no decay."


Then Toronto's municipal water supply was fluoridated and the rate of cavities plummeted. "It became very unusual to see a kid with any decay," Dr. Rose says.


"But in the past 10 years," he says, "it seems we're going back to the way it used to be."


---------

This was something I found rather quickly. I've seen several other articles in the past few weeks, stating the same thing.

[Chuckit]

And I can quote stupid articles that say fluoride in drinking water makes kids go blind and become atheists. The fact is, nobody is questioning the usefulness of fluoride, but there are other, better sources of fluoride if you have decent oral hygiene.

[OldManMac]

My, my; testy, aren't we? This "stupid article" came from dentists, who report seeing an increase in cavities, because of bottled water. That's all. It didn't say anything about going blind or becoming an atheist, but thanks for playing.

[tooki]

There have been studies done that show that fluoride has to be applied topically to prevent caries. That means that fluoride in drinking water is useless -- it was never shown to make any difference. But it has the potential for negative side effects, while even high levels of fluoride in toothpaste and dentists' fluoride applications is safe.

And also, that article shows suspicion. Without having done a study, you cannot show a correlation, much less causation.

tooki

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by tooki

There have been studies done that show that fluoride has to be applied topically to prevent caries. That means that fluoride in drinking water is useless -- it was never shown to make any difference. But it has the potential for negative side effects, while even high levels of fluoride in toothpaste and dentists' fluoride applications is safe.

And also, that article shows suspicion. Without having done a study, you cannot show a correlation, much less causation.

tooki

When you drink tap water your teeth are exposed to the water. A Flouride overdose is highly unlikely and probably caused by flouride suplements.

My story: I grew up in a very rural area and our house had it's own well for drinking water. It had zero flouride content. I had a LOT of cavities until I was 10 years old. What changed? I moved closer to a city and our house had a connection to that city's water supply. Zero cavities after that. Hmmm.... YMMV

[Railroader]

A little "funny" story: We have water coolers at work. I like them. But one time the delivery service made a delivery when we were shut down for two weeks and the security company had them put the water bottles on the dock outside. Water+clear bottles+sunlight=algae YUCK!

[Ozmodiar]

Originally Posted by tooki

There have been studies done that show that fluoride has to be applied topically to prevent caries. That means that fluoride in drinking water is useless -- it was never shown to make any difference.
tooki

That's probably the most incorrect statement I've ever read on the internet. The reverse has been proven so many times that it shouldn't even be up for debate any more.

I remember in junior high watching a film about pigmies in Africa, where they compared two villages. In one village the people all had rotten teeth and in the neighboring village everyone had great teeth. Not totally free of cavities, but brighter smiles and less tooth decay. The anthropologists surmised that the second village had a natural fluoride source and, upon further investigation, found that their water supply did indeed have a high level of fluoride in it.

Also, and I hate it when people do this, but my father is a dentist and I tend to listen to what he says. When he first moved to my home town he tried to get the city to start putting fluoride in the water. That is, until he started getting death threats (yes, death threats - I've seen them) from people claiming he was a Communist and was trying to make the women go bald and all the children become retarded.

As it's been stated, you can find articles on the internet that support your theories and I can find articles on the internet that support my theories. But, again, I'm just going to listen to my dad. All those letters after his name have to count for something.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

That is, until he started getting death threats (yes, death threats - I've seen them) from people claiming he was a Communist and was trying to make the women go bald and all the children become retarded.

[Ozmodiar]

Originally Posted by Railroader

Right? God I hate that town.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

Also, and I hate it when people do this, but my father is a dentist and I tend to listen to what he says. When he first moved to my home town he tried to get the city to start putting fluoride in the water. That is, until he started getting death threats (yes, death threats - I've seen them) from people claiming he was a Communist and was trying to make the women go bald and all the children become retarded.

Well, forcing everyone to have something in their water whether they like it or not is kind of a commie thing to do, regardless of whether that additive is beneficial or not.

One thing puzzles me. What on earth is a dentist doing trying to persuade authorities to do something which may reduce his income and/or put him out of business? Isn't that a little like a barber trying to get the authorities to put something in the water which reduces hair growth rate?

[Ozmodiar]

Originally Posted by Doofy

What on earth is a dentist doing trying to persuade authorities to do something which may reduce his income and/or put him out of business?

Because he's a good person?

[- - e r i k - -]

It all depends on the fluor used. Normal natriumfluorid dissolves into it's two components natrium and fluorid naturally, but in the 1950's the American government started using silsiumfluorids because it was more readily available and one just assumed it had the same effects. It didn't. Using silsiumlfluorids can cause high lead-readings in the bloodlevel. Which again can lead to leadpoisoning and behavioural disturbances (increased violent tendenscies among others).

This is the reason why very few european countries have opted to fluorise drinking water and instead focusing on controled applied fluorisation through toothpaste, pills and mouthwater.

Oh, and water coolers are bacteria-incubators as already mentioned. 'course bacteria never hurt anyone

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

Because he's a good person?

[Ozmodiar]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Sometimes words are better than emoticons. Not always, but sometimes.

[lurkalot]

Usually words are better. Doofy's word for the day is:
Altruism.

[Doofy]

Hey, I live in the UK and spend a lot of time in politics. I forgot that sometimes people do things purely because they're nice folks.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Hey, I live in the UK and spend a lot of time in politics. I forgot that sometimes people do things purely because they're nice folks.

They are few and far between.

Whenever I help someone stuck on the side of the road and they want to compensate me I tell them to simply help the next person they see stuck on the side of the road.

"Pass it forward".

[Goldfinger]

Originally Posted by Doofy

What on earth is a dentist doing trying to persuade authorities to do something which may reduce his income and/or put him out of business? Isn't that a little like a barber trying to get the authorities to put something in the water which reduces hair growth rate?

Because doctors, dentists, vets etc. aren't supposed to be in it for the money but to help people/animals.