Product Review: Vitapur VWD8000W

It may seem pretty inane to be reviewing a water dispenser (yes, a plain old water dispenser). However, as a lot of my thinking in life and leading our office tends to be towards trying to do things simpler and smarter, this actually seemed to be the perfect topic. As we all know, the subject of water, especially water bottles, has become a mainstay in the green conversation. We were pretty happy at our office 2 years ago when we completely eliminated water bottles, even for visitors... switching to a water service and drinking, not out of dispensable cups, but rather glassware was a big step. But we knew more could be done...

People in our company kept reading that tap water was still the most earth friendly way to go. The gas (and pollution) consumed in delivery of water, the petro used in the making of the large water bottles (after so many uses, they do have to be recycled or thrown away), and other factors contributed to our thoughts. Furthermore, our office is pretty healthy, which means we all drink a lot of water. Our estimates of about $60 / month for water service soon shot up above $100 / month, and even then we would run out of water sometimes.

We all kept reading that tap water was close to the quality of bottled water, but our team still wanted filtered water. So what to do? We thought of putting a filter on the tap or even at the source in our tank, but both solutions yielded a problem: water not hot enough for tea (or hot chocolate in the winters). We have a lot of tea drinkers in our office.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon Greenway's Vitapur VWD8000W (and its sister the VWD8000W-F) at Costco one day. I cannot speak highly enough about this machine - it is a piece of technology that will make your office greener and reduce costs. If you are looking at it from a water quality point of view - it is filtered water (through your tap), on demand room temperature, cold water, and hot water. There is no changing of bottles anymore (backbreaking for a few in our office when we had the water service) and is good enough for a medium size office (25-50 people) or home.

We ordered the unit for about $300 from Costco. The unit paid for itself in about 4 months as we eliminated the $100 month water service we previously had (our water bill did not noticeably go up - water bill is measured in 1000's of gallons per cost increase, so we dont really see anything). Setup was extremely simple - we took it out of the box, connected it up to our water line under our sink in the kitchen, and we were up and running in about 15 minutes after unboxing. Everybody used it and loved it. The only complaint was that the water flow was slower than our previous machine (it was a change and any change is difficult for people). But within a week people forgot.

Now everyone in the Company is happy. We all know that we have reduced our footprint just a little more with this machine. Our CFO was happy by paying for the system almost instantly. Upkeep is a cinch too - just change the water filter once every six month, at a cost of $25 per filter.

In the end, if you are looking to become a little more green in your office or home or are looking to reduce costs of water (or both!), this Vitapur VWD8000W comes highly recommended. It gives you everything you need, including instant hot water, at a very low price and barely anyone will notice the switch (except for the their backs now that they no longer need to change the water bottles).