Anyone have spring water (5 gal etc) delivered to home?

Since we moved to the area, we've been getting 5 gallon water bottles delivered monthly from Poland Springs / Ready Refresh by Nestle (we also pay "rent" for the dispensing tower).  I was doing some poking around online and it appears Crystal Springs is less than half the price for the tower rental (with better dispensers) and about 25% less on the water itself.

Anyone else local use a spring water delivery service and have opinions about cost & service?

Buy a cooler on eBay or Amazon.

So scanning Amazon, most dispensers about about $150 - $200, but I did find one for $80.  Since rental options are as low as $2 / month, I'm better off renting (assuming 3 year life of dispenser).

Am more curious to learn what service people use...

LivingLarge said:

Buy a cooler on eBay or Amazon.

Started with Poland Springs when we moved to town 11 years ago and set up an automatic payment from our bank account and haven't looked back. Perhaps we should. . .

lanky said:

So scanning Amazon, most dispensers about about $150 - $200, but I did find one for $80.  Since rental options are as low as $2 / month, I'm better off renting (assuming 3 year life of dispenser).

Am more curious to learn what service people use...

LivingLarge said:

Buy a cooler on eBay or Amazon.

 I had our first dispenser for 15 years. 

I'd still rather rent for the nominal monthly amount and be able to swap the dispenser out for a new one every 2 years.

LivingLarge said:

lanky said:

So scanning Amazon, most dispensers about about $150 - $200, but I did find one for $80.  Since rental options are as low as $2 / month, I'm better off renting (assuming 3 year life of dispenser).

Am more curious to learn what service people use...

LivingLarge said:

Buy a cooler on eBay or Amazon.

 I had our first dispenser for 15 years. 

You can't. They won't take it back, and you have to pay for a new one. Disposal of the old one is your responsibility. Kind of sounds like you bought it, right? The "rented" dispenser is really a very long lease-to-own that you lose money on.

We've had ours swapped out several times with Poland Spring.

jersey_boy said:

You can't. They won't take it back, and you have to pay for a new one. Disposal of the old one is your responsibility. Kind of sounds like you bought it, right? The "rented" dispenser is really a very long lease-to-own that you lose money on.

I swapped mine with Poland Spring about every 3- 4 years.  Usually no questions asked.  

lanky said:

Since we moved to the area, we've been getting 5 gallon water bottles delivered monthly from Poland Springs / Ready Refresh by Nestle (we also pay "rent" for the dispensing tower).  I was doing some poking around online and it appears Crystal Springs is less than half the price for the tower rental (with better dispensers) and about 25% less on the water itself.

Anyone else local use a spring water delivery service and have opinions about cost & service?

So back to your original question...I have also been a Poland Spring (now Nestle) customer for years.  I researched Crystal Springs delivery, and currently they are roughly the same price and get horrible reviews for service.

I'm considering putting a whole house filter in my home; along with also an undercounter filter for the drinking water (in case there is lead or other contaminants in my pipes).  A whole house filter goes for about $750 + plumbers fees, and an undercounter 3-stage filter for about $150 + ~ $55 every 6 months for new filters.  I pay about $500 / yr for water delivery, so it won't take long to get my investment back.

I know having both the whole house + undercounter might be a little paranoid, but we have a young son and we all drink a lot of water.

These are the ones I'm looking at:

http://www.aquasana.com/whole-house-water-filters

http://www.aquasana.com/product_detail.php?product_id=24

We have the 3 stage undercounter filter at work.  It was easy to install and people haven't complained since we replaced Poland Spring delivery with this.

Hmm. We waited till ours stopped working - definitely more than 4 years. Do you suspect that's the difference?

mikescott said:

I swapped mine with Poland Spring about every 3- 4 years.  Usually no questions asked.  

Thanks @kegunn - most helpful.

Here is something to consider, although I should apologize for the thread drift.  Nationwide the new problem is PFOA contamination.  I use a whole house filter and softener to keep the hardness of my water down, which protects my appliances and filters a lot of stuff out of the water, but it is not effective for PFOA's.  I'm not sure what is.  I contacted Aquasana about their system, and it does not remove them.  I am curious about the water quality of the bottled water.  Do you guys who get that service have any sort of paperwork guaranteeing the purity?  Does it contain PFOA's?  I would not assume that it is free of the chemical. Thanks.

FilmCarp said:

Here is something to consider, although I should apologize for the thread drift.  Nationwide the new problem is PFOA contamination.  I use a whole house filter and softener to keep the hardness of my water down, which protects my appliances and filters a lot of stuff out of the water, but it is not effective for PFOA's.  I'm not sure what is.  I contacted Aquasana about their system, and it does not remove them.  I am curious about the water quality of the bottled water.  Do you guys who get that service have any sort of paperwork guaranteeing the purity?  Does it contain PFOA's?  I would not assume that it is free of the chemical. Thanks.

We have a under sink 6 stage water filtration system. One of the stages (4) is the equivalent of bottle water filtration. 

Right, but does that filter PFOAs?

FilmCarp said:

Here is something to consider, although I should apologize for the thread drift.  Nationwide the new problem is PFOA contamination.  I use a whole house filter and softener to keep the hardness of my water down, which protects my appliances and filters a lot of stuff out of the water, but it is not effective for PFOA's.  I'm not sure what is.  I contacted Aquasana about their system, and it does not remove them.  I am curious about the water quality of the bottled water.  Do you guys who get that service have any sort of paperwork guaranteeing the purity?  Does it contain PFOA's?  I would not assume that it is free of the chemical. Thanks.

The Aquasana whole house has an Activated Carbon Filter, which the EPA recommends as treatment for PFCs (PFOA is a type of PFC).  The EPA recommends either a reverse osmosis unit, or the activated carbon filter.  I'm not sold on the Aquasana yet, I just started doing my research and hope to buy something in the next month or so.

I'm also interested in the purity of the Poland Spring water, and haven't done any research on that yet.

Here are some links I've found helpful. There is way more to consider than I imagined.

http://www.purewaterproducts.com/water-problems/perfluorinated-chemicals

http://www.nj.gov/health/eohs/pfc_in_drinkingwater.shtml

http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/compare-water-filter-technologies/

FilmCarp said:

Right, but does that filter PFOAs?

I sent them a message asking this particular question but it does have reverse osmosis and the activated carbon filter. I will let you know what they say.

pmartinezv said:

FilmCarp said:

Right, but does that filter PFOAs?

I sent them a message asking this particular question but it does have reverse osmosis and the activated carbon filter. I will let you know what they say.

@FilmCarp this is their response:

"Thank you for your email. Currently, no reverse osmosis systems are tested to remove PFOs and PFOAs, however, third party lab tests have shown that reverse osmosis will remove them at a 92-99% rejection rate. Reverse osmosis is the most recommended residential treatment for PFOs and PFOAs. PFO and PFOA removal testing will likely be conducted by the Water Quality Association in the near future, and at that time the removal rates would be official. If you have any further questions or concerns feel free to ask."

Thanks.  Good to know.

jersey_boy said:

Hmm. We waited till ours stopped working - definitely more than 4 years. Do you suspect that's the difference?

mikescott said:

I swapped mine with Poland Spring about every 3- 4 years.  Usually no questions asked.  

I am sure they could have lasted much longer.  My wife liked everything to look new all the time.  Guy told me they use the older ones at commercial or government accounts after cleaning them up.  

I bought a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) and ran some tests in my home.

TDS meter

TDS from all of my taps (NJ American Water in Maplewood) was 275-280.

TDS of a 5-gallon jug of Nestle PureLife Water was 47.

TDS of all 4 tap waters in my NYC office  was 44-48.

TDS from the NYC tap thru the Aquasana filter was 45.  Guess it didn't need to do a lot of work.

These numbers match up with what is reported in the water quality tests from NYC, American Water, and Nestle.

Next I plan to visit my neighbors house to test her tap water as well as water in her Brita pitcher.  I imagine if our taps are vastly different it might indicate a problem with our pipes.  I'm also curious to see how well the Brita does.

Below is a link explaining what TDS is; and near the bottom there's a bar graph demonstrating recommended levels.  Ideal drinking water should be below 50.

http://www.tdsmeter.com/what-is

kegunn said:

I bought a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) and ran some tests in my home.

TDS meter


TDS from all of my taps (NJ American Water in Maplewood) was 275-280.

TDS of a 5-gallon jug of Nestle PureLife Water was 47.

TDS of all 4 tap waters in my NYC office  was 44-48.

TDS from the NYC tap thru the Aquasana filter was 45.  Guess it didn't need to do a lot of work.


These numbers match up with what is reported in the water quality tests from NYC, American Water, and Nestle.

Next I plan to visit my neighbors house to test her tap water as well as water in her Brita pitcher.  I imagine if our taps are vastly different it might indicate a problem with our pipes.  I'm also curious to see how well the Brita does.


Below is a link explaining what TDS is; and near the bottom there's a bar graph demonstrating recommended levels.  Ideal drinking water should be below 50.


http://www.tdsmeter.com/what-is

You are welcome to test our counter top filter as well. It should be in the 20s range.

I have one of those, and they are fine for what they test.  They just don't test everything.  

I love my Poland  Spring service, they deliver to my back porch, it is so easy.  They have swapped out my dispenser in the past.  It also broke once and they replaced it.  I looked a local places to buy water but they cost more per bottle than what I currently pay.