Brio Self-Cleaning Water Cooler Dispenser

The water machine stopped working after 1.5 years and the customer service received in trying to deal with this problem was incredibly slow and unhelpful. They would not offer a replacement as it was over the 1 year period. Way too much money to spend for the longevity of the product. SAVE YOUR MONEY, I do not recommend.

I had to replace my old water cooler because it quit after 5 solid years of use and no complaints. I could not get the same brand so after reading the reviews on this Brio brand cooler, I decided to pay the high price to get a good quality cooler. I am very unhappy with it. The main feature that I use on my cooler is the hot water on demand. This machine never seems to have hot water when you need it. We have to turn the button on the back off and then on again for the water to heat up and it takes way longer than our old cooler. I am thankful that I have something to compare it to. Our old cooler kept the water very hot and then all you had to do was push a button on top and within 1 minute it would be hot enough for a coffee. This Brio machine takes about 15 minutes to get the water hot enough. This is not acceptable. I can get hot water faster with my kettle. The price of this cooler is way too high for only the cold option to be working. I would not buy this brand if you are wanting hot water on demand.

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 Primo

The 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 Brio

The 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 purchased this because our water company has informed us of PFOA contamination in our water supply. We’ve not had it long so I cannot comment on reliability. It does what’s needed. The cold is cold, 43 degrees F. The hot is 184 degrees. Its nice to have hot water for tea or pour over coffee, as well as cold water without needing a pitcher in the fridge.
Its not inexpensive, but I think worth the price. Its something we will be using several times every day, I wanted something that was more than just a water dispenser. I like that you don’t have a visible water bottle, or that I have to pick it up to chest height to change.
Its quiet, about the same as our refrigerator (a lot quieter than our old one), just a low hum. You can hear a little pump noise when dispensing bit it’s not loud enough to hear outside the kitchen.
I wish the water would dispense more quickly, especially the room temperature. It takes too long to fill a coffee pot or pitcher. I don’t mind the hot and cold, you wouldn’t want them to splash.
Like quite a few other reviewers it came with a small dent. The packaging should be better if it’s to ship without additional protection.