Avalon A7 Bottleless Water Dispenser

After more than 20 years of top and bottom loading hot/cold units I decided to go bottleless. The Avalon reviews were great and it hasn’t disappointed. So easy to hook up the direct water line which I taped off the one to my refrigerator. Instructions to flush the filters were easy and it took minutes to have the entire unit up and running. The cold water is perfectly cold and the hot is just a great for instant coffee, tea, or anything else. It’s quiet and the nightlight is a great feature. So nice to never have to lift a 5 gal bottle again. I’d give this higher than 5 stars if possible

You bet

I purchased this cooler Feb 2020, worked great until last week, water would not dispense, went through all the troubleshooting, called support, and we found the canister froze, was told to unplug for 48-72 hours. Was also told, this is a rare instance, some of these models have a "glitch". After 48 hours, thawed out and plugged back in within a couple hours started to freeze again, no water dispensing. Called support, was told the cooler MUST be unplugged for 72 hrs to reset thermostat. Since this was at a office, it was actually unplugged from Wed - Mon. All went good for 1 day and froze AGAIN! Called Avalon support again, and was told this model had a manufacturing issue but since my 1 year warranty expired, they would offer a 40% disc off a new cooler, after relaying that is BS, I was offered a 50% disc and as they called it a "Cool Off" period to decide if I want to proceed. THIS IS THEIR MANUFACTURING PROBLEM and WILL NOT EVEN HONOR. Uhm, you can keep your 50% off and freeze that!

I love this cooler. I used to have a bottle subscription from Ready Refresh and was paying like $30/month with the amount of water we drank. I found this one on sale on here (amazon) for $209 (it's regularly $250-$300) so I jumped on it. It came with instructions that were pretty clear and it was very easy to set up and install. It's very quiet and the little LED between the spouts is a nice touch. It's not too bright and points down so it doesn't really shine anywhere other than right on to the spouts and drip area. On the back, it has separate switches to turn off the refrigerating and heating of the water if you don't want to use one or the other and a switch to run the ozone self-cleaning system. And it also comes with a shut-off valve in the bottom cabinet for when you have to change the filters. The filters gave the water a bit of a weird taste for the first few gallons that you run through them (even after I primed them like it says to do before installing them) but it also could be the water in my area. All-in-all, it's definitely worth the price I paid for it and in hindsight, I'd probably even pay normal price for it if I had to buy another one.

Package arrived 9 days after ordering and upon opening, saw that the unit was damaged. Ironically, the package it came in was not damaged. Damage appears cosmetic, but I have not turned the unit on to see if it works. The unit stands but the leans slightly due to the damage. A little disappointed as I was excited to start using it as it came highly recommended by a friend who owns one at his business and one at his home. I've called avalonh2o's customer service but was directed by a recording to the website to fill out a form (possibly due to calling after hours as I didn't get home until late). Giving this review an initial 2 stars but will revisit with an update when I hear back from the seller. ***************************************** Update 1********************************* One day after receiving my damaged unit, a new replacement unit has been issued and is on the way! Avalonh2o's customer service was responsive and quickly handled the issue. They were not only quick, but also helpful and courteous. I really appreciated that they did not make the replacement process a hassle. Changing my rating from 2 stars to 4 stars. Will update again when I receive the replacement unit. ***************************************** Update 2********************************* It's been a little over 3 months after receiving the replacement unit which was installed with a water line under the sink and has worked flawlessly so far. Definitely beats having to buy packages of bottled water and refrigerating them. The water comes out cold and tastes great! We also use the hot water for tea which at 180 degrees is hot enough to fog up your glasses as well as burn your mouth if you're not careful. The night light comes in handy as my wife's mom stays with us in the downstairs bedroom. Overall, a very useful product and we're satisfied with the purchase.

The water dispenser itself is silent, I do not even know it is working, but it is. The Hot water is at great temperature and the Cold water is cold enough. The water line that is provided should easily accomodate most placements, I used about 3/4 of mine. The adapter that comes with the unit is 3/8” and my cold water line is 1/2”, so I couldn’t use it. I did not want to buy connectors to use it because then it would reduce my faucet flow, 3/8” is smaller than 1/2”. I went to Home Depot and bought a “Saddle Valve” for $10. It attaches to the copper pipe that comes out of the wall and is super easy to install, anyone can do it. The compression flange that goes into to unit’s water line expands it and makes it impossible to use the fitting. Not to worry, get some sand paper and sand the water line down a little bit at a time, checking until the fitting slides over it and can be screwed on. Having to adapt it was an extra step, but I don’t think that it can be discounted as a Star because the unit is what I bought and they can’t forsee what my plumbing consists of.

No heavy water bottles to carry

Cools very well and even better than the top-bottled dispenser. Have had it working for over 4 months without fuss. Based on our usage, we would have bought over 40 bottles since installation, which is approximately $240 plus HST already saved, plus recovery of $100 deposits on 10 bottles. As a precaution, we still have the old dispenser with two bottles as a backup since we do not know when the filter replacement will be called for.

Second attempt to purchase this water cooler. Both times they came broken and previously used. Do not buy!!!