The Water Cooler Company is proud to announce that all our bottleless water cooler installations are now approved under the guidance and supervision of the Thames Water Approved Plumbing Scheme (TAPS). Our engineers individually hold this qualification rather than the company – as per the guidelines of the scheme.

The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, set requirements for the design, installation and maintenance of plumbing systems and water fittings.  The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) allows organisations such as Thames Water to run an approval scheme, which enables plumbers or contractors to self-certificate their own work.  This negates the need for a separate regulations inspection to be carried out by water companies who have a duty to enforce the regulations.

Similar to schemes such as Corgi, which covers gas, we check all members to ensure that they are qualified plumbers or underground workers and have achieved the required knowledge in water regulations, before gaining approved status.

Under Regulation 6, of the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, the approved contractor is required to issue a certificate of compliance.

Thames Water supplies these to members of the scheme free of charge. The forms are carbonated so our water cooler engineers can issue to the following:

Top copy – this is issued to you the customer or developer and is proof that the installation complies with the water regulations.

Middle copy – this is issued to Thames Water, as your local water company.   If you require a new connection from us, please note that unless we receive the original middle copy from the approved plumber or contractor, a regulation inspection will be required

Bottom copy – this is for the approved plumber’s own records.

The Water Cooler Company will issue this paperwork to all clients when we install bottleless water coolers after 1st April 2009 . We are audited by Thames Water every year and must produce evidence of public and employers liability insurance during this audit. We subscribe to the scheme on a voluntary basis to demonstrate the high standards to which our work is certified to. For documentation please visit the certification page of our main website.

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Bottleless water cooler shut off valve 

The shut off valve is a very important part of any water cooler installation as it allows customers to easily cut off the water supply to a water cooler in the event of a leak.

Water Cooler Shut Off Valve

The shut off valve on bottleless water cooler installations is typically a john guest fitting with a BLUE and WHITE head similar to the design shown to the left. This is typically found at the back of the cooler. When the blue head of the valve is in line with the pipework this lets water flow normally to the water cooler.

To turn off the mains-fed water supply to the cooler turn the blue head 90 degrees either clockwise or anticlockwise so that the blue head is at 90 degrees to the pipework.

Information on push fit fittings can be found on the John Guest website and purchasing a full soft-plumbing kit can be done through the purchase an installation kit page of our website.

On a hard plumbed installation the shut off valve is the black head as shown in the picture on the left which is at 90 degrees to the vertical pipework. 

When this black lever is turned so that it points vertically this lets the water flow through the pipework to the Water Cooler.

The Water Cooler Company supply hard plumbed and soft plumbed water cooler installation kits for clients who wish to install themselves – and we also can install coolers across the UK for £99 ex VAT - including time and materials. This allows for a one hour installation timescale – this is all the time we need 90% of the time. Any time over the first hour is charged at £20 per half hour. We do require that water coolers are to be located within five metres of a potable water source and there is a suitable mains power source within three metres of the proposed water cooler site.

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The Water Block is an important part of the Plumbing and Filter Kit for a mains-fed water cooler. It is highly recommended on all installations. The Water Block is a backflow prevention device. It also prevents large scale flooding by limiting the amount of water (dependant upon the setting) that passes through in one flow. Therefore it is important that the Water Block is connected at the mains supply, vertically and not any further down the water cooler installation.

If your plumbed-in Water Cooler does not have a water block it is of uptmost importance that one is installed as soon as possible.

Water Cooler Water Block

To set the flow meter on the Water Block use the white key provided to move the arrow to number 1 on the inside of the rim. This will limit the flow to 4.5 ltr. If the arrow points to 2, the flow will be limited to 9 ltr. Each incremental number raises the flow limit by 4.5 litres.

In the event that the water block shuts the water off the pink button in the centre of the block will pop out. Simply depress the button to reset the water block.

Some more modern water blocks have a mechanism external to the water block which resembles a red push switch – to reset these water blocks you simply have to push this switch back in.

Water Cooler Installation Mains fed Water Coolers, water block, Water Cooler Installation