Avalon A3F Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser with BioGuard-3 Temperature Settings-UL-Filtered

Edit: Avalon reached out and sent me a new unit. Much happier with them now! 2 years. That’s how long this water cooler lasted, and even in that time it had issues. Last night it started making weird noises and now it doesn’t dispense hot water. 2 days ago it wouldn’t dispense cold water. If you’re looking for something to last a short time, go for it. If you want something that lasts, avoid this product. Also, I got the one with the filters.

I made the mistake to order this product thinking that the added filtration will be a benefit. However it turns out exactly the opposite. I have spent nearly 15-20 minutes flushing the filters (as described by the owner’s manual) where you keep pressing the buttons continuously for to dispense water for 5 to 10 minutes. So first of all - after minute 3.5 - the pump shuts off. The product is unable to continuously pour water for 5 minutes. I use such device for all water needs and this machine can’t even fill a large pot full of water!!! Second of all - the room temperature setting has no pressure behind it. It pours water at a much slower rate than the hot and cold water buttons. Third - no matter how much you flush the water through the filters - it still tastes like the carbon filters. I wasted 3 five gallon Primo water bottles doing the flushing and the water still tastes like carbon. Forth - the machine is loud. When the pump is working you can hear from afar. When the cooler is working you can hear it as well. Fifth - the space in the bottom compartment barely fits a standard 5 gallon bottle. The Primo bottles from Walmart fit but you can’t close the door without putting some work into it. Sixth - I tried researching if you can bypass the filters completely. The manual is ambiguous and points to the site, the site points to the manual, yet no real information exists. I am not going to try figuring it out on my own because I will not damage my hardwood floors with water. I will return this product promptly.

This is our second attempt at using a water dispenser. The first highly rated Brio self-cleaning model was sent back. I couldn't get the nasty tasting water to stop even though I read the instructions. So, I read the instructions, assembled it and flushed all (3) nozzles, not just the hot and cold as it states. I ran about 2 quarts of water thru all (3) nozzles until it was clear and tasteless. I tried the hot water one with hot chocolate and it was HOT! I had to let it cool a bit before I could drink it. It was hotter than our Keurig coffee maker. The cold water was almost as cold as our KitchenAid refrigerator water dispenser. The problem with the KItchenaid for water, is the cost of the cartridges. $57.37 with tax every 5 months. We and our dogs drink a lot of water. Anyways, the driving decision to buy this Avalon dispenser was because of the filter system and the use of tap water. Not knowing, I bought an $8.99 + tax 5-gallon bottle of water, which is going back today because, Avalon supplies the water bottle with the unit. Brilliant! It took me about 30 minutes to unwrap and install the unit. Again, I flushed all (3) nozzles and there is no nasty taste. Obviously, this is brand new, so time will tell. Just the savings on the bottled water is a plus. Our daughter has a dispenser and spends between $15.00-$22.00 a week on bottled water for a family of 4 and 2 dogs. Our filters are rated for 1,500 gallons or 6 months. At 15 gallons a week (which is on the high side) or 60 gallons a month. See there are savings. Even if we changed the filters every 12 months at $99.00. It still saves money. I'm hoping that they last longer than that, but, then again, time will tell. So, hot is hot, cold is cold enough. Room temperature is good for cooking. I call this a Win-Win. I am not a spokesperson for Avalon, just a happy customer at this point. By the way, I also bought the Amazon (4) year extended warranty. Last, make sure you tighten the filters with (2) hands. Make sure to slide the bottle all the way in, otherwise the door will not shut. Also, pull the water line to the side so you don't trap it against the bottle like I did, it will make a horrible noise. Good luck. Hope you have a positive experience. I will wait a few months and will update my review. Fingers crossed; I'm hoping it will be as positive then as it is today. January 2024 Update: We had an issue with the filter light flashing red. I contacted CS and they were very responsive and got right back to me. I ended up replacing the filters, figuring that there was an issue with them. I bought the Avalon filters from Amazon, replaced them and that's when I realized that I might not have pressed the red button 3 times as it states in the directions. That was in September 2023. No problems since. This unit is the best!! Clean tasting and always, hot, cool and cold! And, I bought the 4 year extended warranty from Amazon, just in case. Happy New Year!!

Great product very convenient to have. Only issue is, it's built for the bottle to fit in the bottom, but when you get the one with the filters the bottles don't fit as correctly as they should, so you'll have some issues closing the door. More consideration should have gone into this.

This is a great option if you can’t run a water line. To the reviewer that said you can’t close the door with the bottle in there, pivot the filters so they’re on the ‘shoulders’ of the bottle, then the door closes fine. When you first turn the machine on it takes 5 to 7 minutes to fill the tanks for the first time, before you can start flushing the filters. To fill the tanks and flush the filters, you’ll use nearly the entire 5 gallon bottle, so be prepared to fill it twice at initial set up. As other reviewers have stated, the pump is loud to fill the water tanks. The water chiller sounds like a mini fridge, so the machine does make some noise, but the water tastes great and I am super happy with this purchase.

Looooove it. Not terribly hard to set up.

just purchase the avalon a3f water cooler looks awesome nice looking stainless on the front i purchased the one with the filtration system ordered it about a week ago had to send it back and had another one set the next day. not sure what i did wrong because it's a pretty simple procedure to turn on a water cooler plug it in and then turn on your little switches on the back. so both units came it didn't have any problem heating up for hot water but either cooler would give me cold water it was the same as room temperature water what a waste of money.

5 stars: The filtration system is excellent. We use it with well water that is so rusty it is cloudy coming out of the tap, but coming out of the cooler it is clear and tastes very good. It is also very convenient to use our own water rather than having to buy bottles, then stir both the full and empties (no water delivery where we are). 1 star: the pump system is very finicky. If we wait until the red empty light comes on to refill the bottle, most of the time the pump will not run. It takes repositioning the bottle and the intake hose, priming the pump, slamming the door shut to engage the pump switch, pushing that switch manually multiple times, unplugging the unit overnight, prayers to the water cooler gods, or any combination of the above to get the pump to run. If we pay attention and refill the bottle when there are still a few inches of water in it, then it's fine.