I'd like to have those 5 gallon jugs of drinking water at home.

I do not want them delivered and I have no interest in filter options at home.

I was wondering if anyone here does this and what is the approximate cost? Where do you get them? Are these usually just exchanged or do you have to actually refill your own?

Currently we buy Costco bottled water. 5 gallons in the 40 pack is about $3. Our recycling bin is full of them every week. I'd like to avoid the bottles all together if I can come up with a reasonable alternative.

We just bought a water cooler, too, to get away from using so many 20oz water bottles. Water jugs are available at the forbidden Walmart and Sam's Club. They're refillable at Walmart. An online search may also provide additional companies in your area.

Walmart has a 5 gallon bottle exchange machine. I have never used it but it looks like you buy the bottle on the first purchase then get a credit when you return for a refill.

I can't see lugging 5 gallon water bottles from the store to the truck then into the house, weight on a 5 gallon bottle is 41.7 pounds. Those suckers are a hernia looking for a place to happen...

We had a water service that delivered and picked up at the office. But as others said, Y'all mart, most supermarkets, all have refillable water machines. I doubt you'd be getting anything better than you would by putting a good filter on your house...

Are you stuck on 5 gallons?

When I was a kid, Mom had water delivered. They were five gallon glass bottles. Getting big enough to haul them in from the garage was one growth milestone and getting big enough to put them up on the dispenser was another. When there for Thanksgiving this year asked Mom if there was anything I could do to help. Sure, put up the bottle here and bring in a fresh bottle. Interesting thing, they are *WAY* lighter. At a guess, they are three gallons rather than five. Besides that, the plastic bottles are much lighter. To boot, they have a handle on the side that makes them much easier to handle. Instead of 40# of water plus several pounds of glass that needs two hands to carry, you have 24# of water plus practically nothing for the bottle which is easily carried with one hand.

Around here, most grocery stores have them for sale, and also have an exchange machine and/or refill station.

We had a water cooler at our house & it came with a coupon for a free bottle. IIRC, the coolers run in the 80-100 range.

Primo, I believe, is the primary brand I see here, for pre-bottled water jugs.

Do you have a dairy, milk processing, cheese making place nearby?
We used to live near one, and they had 5 gal. jugs for sale at a very reasonable price periodically. Various products for cheese making came in these jugs.
Back in our camping days we used these to have water at the campsite, plus to have water when traveling with the horses.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
I can't see lugging 5 gallon water bottles from the store to the truck then into the house, weight on a 5 gallon bottle is 41.7 pounds. Those suckers are a hernia looking for a place to happen...

That's about a half pound lighter than what I bring home from Costco now.

Do they make a dispenser that filters and pre-fills a reservoir?

My biggest gripe with filters (aside from my fridge unit freezing up and unusable) is they put out a tiny stream of water that takes forever to fill something and I'm not sure of the quality.

I'm not a fan of the pitchers and manually filled dispensers - they never seem to get refilled.

You’re options are somewhat limited beyond 5 gallon dispensers. Have you considered an under-sink filter set up? You have a unit mounted under the sink surface and a separate spigot for the filtered water. Might be an option if you don’t want to deal with 40 pound jugs at startup. You might have to drill a hole for the faucet but the upside is steady regular water flow that won’t need frequent filter changes.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:

That's about a half pound lighter than what I bring home from Costco now.

LOL yeah we've bought a few cases like that, and we buy bottled water, Kirkland brand so it's not a lot less weight to carry but it breaks down into a gallon jug so that's easier to handle for the wife.

I'd look for an under the sink filter or a whole house filter with those you should have plenty of flow, at least as fast as a 5 gallon jug flows out of the dispenser...

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
I can't see lugging 5 gallon water bottles from the store to the truck then into the house, weight on a 5 gallon bottle is 41.7 pounds. Those suckers are a hernia looking for a place to happen...

That's about a half pound lighter than what I bring home from Costco now.

Do they make a dispenser that filters and pre-fills a reservoir?

My biggest gripe with filters (aside from my fridge unit freezing up and unusable) is they put out a tiny stream of water that takes forever to fill something and I'm not sure of the quality.

I'm not a fan of the pitchers and manually filled dispensers - they never seem to get refilled.

Our reverse osmosis (RO) setup under the sink includes a two or the gallon pressure tank. If you empty it whenever you notice water flow issues (we’ve had to do it once since putting in the system 14 years ago) and use a pump to put about 7 pounds of air pressure in the empty tank, then put it back in service you’ll have more water flow than you know what to do with. Because the water dispenser in our fridge is inside and it is less speedy, we just keep a pitcher of water in the fridge for our cold water drinking needs. When it gets down about half way or before going to bed at night, we just top it of from the (much faster) RO tap at the sink. You may choose not to drink RO water (I would not drink solely RO water due to mineral leaching), but that is a separate question.

Home Depot has the jugs here.

As stated by other posters, there are several retailers that offer them in store, and most people never even notice them because they're not paying attention. Around here several grocery stores offer them in addition to Walmart, Home Depot, and others.

In addition to the bottle exchanges where you trade your empty for a full, I have also seen dispensing stations that will fill your empty.

If 5 gallon jugs are too much, they are also available in 3 gallons. They also make small counter top water coolers for the 3 gallon bottles.

Will the three-gallon jugs work in standard five-gallon coolers?

Where do you find the three-gallon bottles?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Will the three-gallon jugs work in standard five-gallon coolers?

Where do you find the three-gallon bottles?

SIMON: On the fountain, there should be 2 jugs, do you see them? A 5 gallon and a 3 gallon. Fill one of the jugs with exactly 4 gallons of water and place it on the scale and the timer will stop. You must be precise, one ounce of more or less will result in detonation. If you're still alive in 5 minutes, we'll speak.
JOHN: Wait, wait a second. I don't get it. Do you get it?
ZEUS: No.
JOHN: Get the jugs. Obviously, we can't fill the 3-gallon jug with 4 gallons of water.
ZEUS: Obviously.
JOHN: All right. I know, here we go. We fill the 3-gallon jug exactly to the top, right?
ZEUS: Huhuhu.
JOHN: Okay, now. We pour that 3 gallons into the 5-gallon jug. Given us exactly 3 gallons in the 5-gallon jug, right?
ZEUS: Right, then what?
JOHN: All right. We take the 3-gallon jug and fill it at the 3rd of the way...
ZEUS: No, he said: Be precise. Exactly 4 gallons.

When we lived in Big Spring, TX they had a water store. You brought your own jugs (or bought them on site) and filled them from their taps. Nickel a gallon.

I think it's a good idea that you are trying to cut down on waste. A refillable container is a great idea. But the cheapest in the long run would be to filter it yourself, that is what you are buying at the store, filtered municipal water. Then it's trucked, stored, and sold, all bringing the price up. Under the sink is a great choice. Or if your water heater is in the garage you could tap into the cold water line and have a filter on a faucet there to fill up 5 gallon jugs. There are plenty of good filters out there that are very low maintenance.

I know you said you have no interest in your own filter. I stopped buying bottled water a long time ago. I use an RO system with a UV unit. No hassle with tugging jugs and bottles. Water is better than lots of places because not all the water you buy is RO.

I was just looking at those 5 stage Apec RO systems. I’d like to mount one in my crawl space but I’m not sure the tank would fit through the opening. It’s maybe 12-14” tall.