Brio Self Cleaning Bottom Loading Water Cooler Water Dispenser – Limited Edition - 3 Temperature Settings - Hot, Cold & Cool Water

Prior to buying this Brio water dispenser we owned a Primo brand dispenser (also purchased from Amazon) we were pretty happy with it, for the most part. Over the past few years the primo has developed a taste I didn't care for, but no one else in the house seemed to notice or care. I tried cleaning it with vinegar and water flushes and dilute bleach and water flushes but the taste remained. I figured it was just the brand of 5 gal bottles we were having delivered so I drank a lot of wasteful single serve plastic bottles to avoid the water from the Primo unit. Finally the cooling part of the Primo broke so I started looking for a replacement.I definitely wanted another bottom fed cooler. Once you get rid of that 5 gallon bottle perched on top of your cooler you'll never want to go back. Just not having to deadlift the 50 lb bottle and flip it over without spilling a bunch of water on the floor is reason enough, right? Then there is the nice clean look of the cooler without the bottle perched on the top. Anyway, the Brio is a bottom fed so it fit the bill there. I also liked the sound of the "self cleaning ozone" feature so I decided to give the Brio a try, and I'm so glad I did.This Brio is such an improvement over the Primo it replaced. Let's start with little things. The Brio pump is quieter. No one in our house cares about this but I've seen people complain about noisy bottom fed coolers and the Brio is pretty quiet.The Primo had a room temp button but the water was the nearly the same temp as the cold. It was a pointless and never used button on the PrimoThe Brio room temp button is just that, room temp water. I measured each spout and the cold is 43°F, room temp is 71°F, and hot is 178°F. Now you may already know this but 178°F is a great temp for steeping most white and green teas as well as herbal blends. Oolong and black teas want to be a little hotter (up over 200°F) but for a relaxing cup of sleepytime tea this thing s perfect. The Primo only reached 165F°. Point Brio.Also note you can turn off the hot water in the Brio if you don't want to use it and don't want to waste the energy heating water you won't use. This was the same with the Primo.Tall containers fit better in the Brio. The Brio has a full 1 3/4" (4.5cm for you non-Americans) more space under the spout than the Primo did, a full 10 inches from base to spout as well as a slightly wider perch than the Primo. I can fill my baseball stadium "big ole beer" cups, my Bubba Keg, even my wife's tall 64oz Camelback fits under the Brio nozzle no problem. That never worked with the Primo, you were always holding cups at a weird angle with your finger over the edge to feel when the water was close to the top. Point BrioThe Brio is attractive, at least in my opinion. Black and stainless fit well in most any decor. The Primo was the same color scheme so a wash there.The taste. The water from the Brio is delicious. I don't know what the deal was with the Primo, maybe it was age or some tubing they used I didn't like but I'm back to drinking water from the dispenser instead of destroying the environment with plastic single serve water bottles. I'm going to make regular use of the "self cleaning ozone" feature in hopes of keeping it that way. I much prefer being an environmentally conscious citizen but I just couldn't drink the water from the Primo, it was gross.So I guess you've figured out by now I really love this Brio water cooler and I highly recommend it. It is on the higher priced side of water dispensers but not by a lot and to me, if the self clean feature works it is 100% worth the extra money to have a cooler I will continue using for many years because the water will actually taste good.

We have had a hard time getting our water dispenser, the first one was damaged in transit and we got caught up in delay after delay until we cancelled the order and immediately went over to the beautiful Brio Bottom Load Water Dispenser - Model CLBL520SC. It arrived and the outer box was damaged, so we were concerned again, but it was a box in a box and "brava' for Brio, it was without a scratch and took just a few moments to set in place, get all the sticky stuff off the cabinet from the paper and protective film. Connected the siphon and loaded the bottle under in the lower compartment (you must close the door) and then plugged it. - Voila! We had hot, warm and cold water in no time at all! The machine is gorgeous, quiet and sleek. We purchased a thin teflon mat with raised edges to place it on - to protect the floor. We are pleased and recommend. Just realize, Amazon and other shippers really do a horrible job of packaging and they make promises to deliver, but larger, more fragile or delicate pieces are not well managed.

UPDATE #2: 8/20/2024: As I was becoming a bit desperate to find a solution, I googled up "why is my brio water dispenser not working", and was able to find a youtube video(link below) that was EXACTLY my issue. All you will need is a philips head screwdriver, and access to hot water somewhere else.This is the link that helped me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DeGiPJUWhU1.) Unplug your unit first. You're going to unscrew the 2 screws that are at the very top of the back of the unit. This will allow you to pop the top cover off.2.) Double check that each of the water dispenser buttons are aligned with the pump. Each button will have a plastic "push-down thingy"(don't know what they're called), and they should be inside their own individual spots. Sometimes they may be off, just simply place them back in.3.) If Step #2 isn't your issue, here is where you'll need patience and a bit of finger strength. You're essentially going to remove the top white plastic lid that's is connected to some rubber pipes. In order to do that, you'll need to remove just 2 of them so that you can successfully pull the entire lid off. If you're struggling to pull out the lid, that's because the culprit is a solid block of ice in the reservoir. That block of ice is blocking the hole inside the reservoir where your water cannot pass through and, thus, dispense your water for you.4.) If your reservoir has some liquid melted water, drain them out with a spoon until it's just the block of ice at the surface level.5.) Get your hot water. Boil some water, or if you have a kettle, either works. You're going to pour the hot water onto the block of ice until it completely dissolves. You may have to drain again if the reservoir is getting too full. Drain and repeat. Have patience! You won't need to spend another $200 I promise you!6.) Once the block of ice is dissolved, you may see that some water starts to flow into the hole, indicating that the passageway is clear.7.) Cap the lid, plug those pipes back in, pop the cover back on, screw the bolts back in. Plug your unit back into an outlet. Hydrate righteously. You can thank me later!I truly hope that this updated review can reach those of you who are thinking about throwing this unit away because yours doesn't seem to work. Please give this a chance, it could be the solution before you decide to spend your hard earned money on another dispenser. Brio customer service is non-existent, but I hope this will help!******************************UPDATE 8/19/24: I bought this on August 15th 2022. It worked perfectly and it was everything I ever needed for a water dispense. Fast forward to now, the unit would not dispense cold water when I needed to get my morning water on August 16th 2024. I thought maybe perhaps there is some mechanical issue that needs to be looked at, maybe I should call the customer service line that's located on top of the unit. I called, no one answered and it prompted me to leave a message. August 17th the next day, now the room temperature water button doesn't dispense. It's all come tumbling down. Haven't had water since, and have had to resort to buying those plastic water bottles from the grocery store. Today, I went on this Amazon listing to find out if other people are having this issue. Lo' and behold, I'm not the only one. It almost sounds like a coincidence. I really don't want to believe that I wasted my good hard earned money on this water dispenser that I was supposed to trust. Did Brio design this machine to mechanically fail after a certain period of time when conveniently the warranty expires!?! That's really scummy of them. Also, to this day they still haven't gotten back to me by phone after my first message.**********************************Before having this water dispenser unit, I was a former customer of one of those water delivery services (I will not name names). I had a pretty bad first timer experience being a customer of water delivery, with them having extremely terrible customer support service, overpriced 5-gallon water, other hidden fees, and knowing I was bound and at their mercy of a contract.It was hard to figure out which water delivery company was actually good unless you signed up with them and go through their services. Evidently, I can see that it was going to be a tedious and frustrating process just to have water in my house. It just wasn't worth the mental effort thinking about how am I going to get water, you know?After doing some research, I figured it was actually the best idea just having my own water dispenser(not renting), no contracts, no bs. Another big reason why this made the most sense for me is because there are 3 water dispenser vending machines outside of a grocery store that's literally 2 blocks from my place. So I purchased this Brio Water Dispenser, then went to my local Wal-Mart to buy five 5-gallon container bottles, went to my grocery store to fill up the water myself. It's definitely way cheaper to fill up the water bottles myself than to go with a water delivery company.Once I got to using my Brio Water Dispenser, I barely had to do any other work just to figure out this machine. Everything was super easy. Just turn on all the knobs behind the machine, wait 20 minutes to warm it up and get it cycling. The bottom door opens like a fridge. There is a small little ramp that allows you to easily slide your heavy water bottle (3 or 5 gallon) into the dispenser. Literally, you do not have to do ANY lifting just to get it inside the dispenser. There are 3 buttons on the top that easily tells you hot, room temp, and cold water. The night light is an option for you as well, but I like to keep it on. This product also has a self-cleaning cycle, but I haven't gotten around to using it yet.Water dispenses pretty quickly, so you're not standing there for 15 minutes to fill up your 40oz thermal bottle. The amount of water dispensing out feels pretty satisfying.Tall people like me!(I'm 6'1) This dispenser, unfortunately, is designed a bit short, so I recommend squatting/kneeling down if you're filling up a lot of water. Please don't injure your lower back over water, that would really suck.Note that when your water is running low, there will be flashing red light indicating so. But more importantly, your "room temp" button might not dispense any water if it happens. Just know that this is normal and probably designed that way on purpose(hot and cold water buttons still work when machine detects low water). Just replace with a full 3/5 gallon water, and everything should be good. Once you fill with new water, give it time for the machine to run the water cooler to ensure cold water at the push of a button.My only downside with this product is that the removeable water drip tray it comes with doesn't always feel secure when you attach it on. Like pulling a parking voucher ticket out of a kiosk, it can take the same amount of pulling force just to remove the water drip tray, so be careful.Overall, I'm extremely happy with this purchase. You do get what you pay for, so make sure you buy a decent(not cheap!) water dispenser. I would highly recommend this product for its very intuitive use and design. How you get water is up to you, so strategize that well before buying a water dispenser.