Renting vs. Buying a Water Dispenser

If your headcount or lease is in flux, renting saves you from a bad fit. If you will be in the same building for years and someone on staff already looks after equipment, buying outright can win on cost. The rest of this post is the reasoning for an office choosing between renting and buying a bottleless water cooler. One disclosure first: Aqualume only rents, so we are not neutral. Here is where each option wins for offices, schools, gyms and other commercial spaces.

A dispenser is infrastructure, not a perk

Drinking water is the one office amenity nobody argues about, and a dispenser is what people actually walk to: cold water, hot water for tea, and ice on the models that make it. Are rentals gross? Only when nobody looks after them, so ask any provider how often the unit is cleaned and by whom. Ours comes with scheduled service, and sanitization is one of the seven filtration stages. Treat a bottleless cooler like any shared equipment: it should simply work on Monday morning.

When renting is the safer bet

Why renters like it:

• Rent and it is an operating expense, not a capital purchase, so there is less to get past finance.
• Scheduled service and repairs sit inside the monthly price, and we are on site within 2 business days, so nobody raises a PO each time. Replacement filters are billed separately, about once a year.
• Growing from 15 people to 50? Ask for a bigger unit rather than writing off a machine you own outright.
• Our agreement term is set for your site and confirmed in writing before you sign anything, so read it for the length.

What renting gives up:

• Hold the same unit for many years and the monthly rent can add up to more than a one-time purchase would have.
• Nothing to own at the end: no asset on the books and nothing to resell.

Buying, if you will stay put and can handle upkeep

Why owners like it:

• The lifetime cost is lower when you stay in one location for many years and the unit holds up.
• You own an asset: depreciable, transferable and on your balance sheet.
• Any brand, any size. You are not limited to one rental fleet.

What owning adds:

• A purchase price up front, before anyone pays for installation. Quotes vary by model, so get them in writing.
• Filter changes, sanitizing visits and every repair are yours to arrange. Filter intervals vary by unit, so check the manual before you budget.
• Outgrew it? You sell it used and buy again, so the upgrade costs real money.
• Filtration technology moves on, and a unit you own stays the model you bought until you decide to replace it, however far the technology goes.

If you are holding two quotes, here is how the trade-offs line up

How our rental works

Aqualume provides bottleless water coolers to commercial customers as rentals instead of outright purchases, with water dispenser rental in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire. Plans start at $80 a month per dispenser* and cover the machine, installation, service and repairs. Replacement filters are billed separately, about once a year. The term is set for your site and confirmed in writing before you sign. The 7-day free trial includes a site visit, and if the unit is not a fit, we remove it at no charge. *Starting price; final pricing depends on the machine and site.

We do not sell our equipment, and we serve businesses only, not homes.

Who should rent, and who should buy

Rent if:

• Your headcount is growing, shrinking or anyone’s guess
• Your lease is short, or up for renewal soon
• You would rather not run one more vendor relationship, with its filter orders and repair calls
• Your office wants one predictable monthly rent

Buy if:

• You own the building or hold a long commercial lease
• Your facilities team already maintains equipment and can take on a dispenser
• Lifetime cost matters more to you than convenience, so you would buy

We rent, so weigh this: for most offices renting wins, because owning means doing the upkeep. See dispensers for Southern California offices or the Glacier water and ice dispenser.

Want your own numbers?

Book a free consultation or call 833-426-5863, Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM, and start the 7-day free trial.