A bottled water cooler works without plumbing: all it needs is a power socket. You choose between 18.9 or 19-litre bottles, 10-litre packs or ordinary bottles. For an office of eight, a litre costs 0.70 to 2.24 euros in our calculation, depending on the option and the shop.
Which water cooler works without a water connection?
Three options, all three with a power socket as their only connection.
The bottled water cooler is the classic unit with a large bottle on top. Culligan uses 11 or 19-litre bottles and rents out its bottled coolers with no commitment: "stop uw huur op elk moment" (stop renting at any time). In Belgium, the pack dispenser is mainly the SPA Fountain, which only takes the 10-litre SPA Reine pack. And then there are ordinary bottles, with no cooling and no unit.
If there is a tap nearby, a bottleless cooler on the mains is also an option. That comparison is in mains-fed water cooler or packs.
What does a litre cost with a bottled water cooler?
Between 0.70 and 0.93 euros for the water, if you buy the bottles yourself.
Culligan does not publish prices for its bottles. Watercoolergigant, an online shop that according to its own footer is part of Culligan, does. An 18.9-litre Clair'Oise bottle costs 17.50 euros each in a box of 6 (104.99 euros) and 13.25 euros in a delivery of 40 (529.99 euros). Back to the litre: 0.93 to 0.70 euros. Shipping is free from 65 euros. Whether the prices include VAT is not stated.
You buy the cooler separately. The Indigo Wit costs from 185 euros, cools to about 10 °C and measures 99 by 31 by 33 centimetres. Written off over three years, our assumption, that adds 4 cents per litre for eight people.
Renting is also possible. Quote platform Bobex mentions "zo'n 15 euro per maand" (around 15 euros a month) for a unit for about ten users and 0.60 to 0.90 euros per litre for the bottles. With 126 litres a month, that gives 0.72 to 1.02 euros per litre. No date or brand comes with those averages.
And with a SPA Fountain and 10-litre packs?
Between 0.96 and 1.01 euros per litre at the supermarket price, twice that at the wholesale price.
The SPA Fountain compact costs 18.50 euros a month to rent or 490 euros to buy, excluding VAT, with three months' notice. Delivery, installation and technical support are included. You buy the packs separately, "bij de winkel van uw keuze" (at the shop of your choice). On Supercompare, the 10-litre pack was listed on 1 November 2026 at 8.09 euros at Jumbo (promotion until 3 November), 8.55 euros at Delhaize and 8.65 euros at Carrefour. Wholesaler Bruneau charges 20.95 euros per pack, or 17.95 euros from three, excluding VAT, for the reference in stock. A cheaper reference (11.95 to 13.49 euros) is shown as sold out.
In the small print: we simply add the rent excluding VAT to the supermarket price including VAT, as they would appear on your bill. Where best to order the packs is covered in ordering 10-litre SPA Reine packs.
Bottle, pack or small bottles: which option for which office?
| Office situation | Option | Cost per litre (126 L a month) | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large team, someone who can lift 19 kilos, room for full and empty bottles | Bottled cooler, bottles bought yourself | 0.74 to 0.97 euros, unit included | VAT not stated at Watercoolergigant; check the water's origin per brand |
| No investment, everything from one supplier | Rented bottled cooler | 0.72 to 1.02 euros (Bobex averages) | Culligan publishes no price: ask for a quote |
| Nobody wants to lift heavy bottles, mineral water wanted, short contract | SPA Fountain compact with packs | 0.96 to 1.01 euros (supermarket), 1.94 to 2.24 euros (Bruneau) | Still water only; packs to fetch and store yourself |
| Few drinkers, no free socket | 1.5-litre bottles | 0.59 euros (average market price) to 1.17 euros excluding VAT (Bruneau) | No cooling; many small bottles |
The two bottle prices come from Test Aankoop (SPA Reine 1.5 litres, average market price 0.88 euros, undated) and from Bruneau (6 bottles of 1.5 litres at 10.49 euros excluding VAT).
Culligan writes that its bottles save you "tot wel 50 keer" (up to 50 times) compared with supermarket bottled water, without a calculation. With the prices we read, a litre from a Clair'Oise bottle costs more than a bottle of SPA Reine at the average market price.
What water is in a bottle and in a pack?
What ends up in the glass depends on the bottle, not on the unit. Watercoolergigant's Clair'Oise is spring water from France, in PET. About its own bottles, Culligan only writes that the water is "extra gefilterd" (extra filtered), with no origin or type. The pack holds SPA Reine natural mineral water, according to the pack's page.
The difference between those kinds of water is explained in spring water vs mineral water.
How much space and weight does each option take?
More than the brochure shows. For eight people, 126 litres of water go through the office each month: around 7 bottles or 13 packs.
Five points to check before you sign:
- a full 18.9-litre bottle weighs about 19 kilos and has to be lifted onto the unit; a pack weighs 10 kilos according to Spadel;
- the bottled cooler needs a floor area of 31 by 33 centimetres, the SPA Fountain compact 31 by 53 centimetres on a worktop;
- full and empty bottles both take up space until the next delivery;
- an opened pack keeps for up to 4 weeks, according to spafountain.be;
- Culligan cleans and disinfects its rented bottled coolers at least once a year; for the SPA Fountain, Spadel says no hygienic maintenance is needed, only occasional cleaning and emptying the drip tray.
What happens to empty bottles and packs?
Culligan collects its empty deposit bottles at the next delivery, cleans them and refills them up to 50 times. The deposit amount is not on the page. Watercoolergigant does not say whether the Clair'Oise bottles are taken back. You sort the pack yourself: the box with waste paper, the bag in the PMD bag, according to spafountain.be.
Bottles for heavy drinkers, packs for those who won't lift
Back to the litre: in our calculation, a purchased bottled cooler with bottles is the cheapest chilled option without plumbing, provided someone can lift 19 kilos and there is room for the stock. The SPA Fountain costs more per litre, especially with wholesale packs, but the pack weighs half as much, natural mineral water ends up in the glass and you are tied to three months' notice. Still water only, packs to fetch and store yourself. For teams of up to about twenty people, the units are compared side by side in the SME ranking.
Sources
Consulted on 1 November 2026.
- Culligan, bottled coolers for businesses (11 or 19-litre bottles, no-commitment rental, maintenance at least once a year, deposit bottles reused up to 50 times): culligan.be
- Culligan, bottles for water coolers ("extra filtered" water, deposit, savings "up to 50 times"): culligan.be
- Watercoolergigant, Clair'Oise spring water in 18.9-litre bottles (prices per 6, 12, 25 and 40 bottles, shipping): watercoolergigant.be
- Watercoolergigant, Indigo Wit bottled cooler (price, dimensions, cooling temperature): watercoolergigant.be
- Bobex, price guide for water coolers and dispensers (rental and price per litre of bottles, undated): bobex.be
- SPA Fountain, compact product page (rental, purchase, VAT, notice period, dimensions, compatible pack, maintenance): spafountain.be
- SPA Fountain, 10-litre pack page (weight, shelf life after opening, sorting, water type): spafountain.be
- Supercompare, SPA still natural mineral water 10 litres (prices at Jumbo, Delhaize and Carrefour): supercompare.be
- Bruneau, 10-litre SPA Reine pack, reference 832-1467 (in stock): bruneau.be
- Bruneau, 10-litre SPA Reine pack, reference 793-286 (sold out): bruneau.be
- Bruneau, Spadel mineral water (SPA Reine 6 bottles of 1.5 litres): bruneau.be
- Test Aankoop, SPA Reine 1.5 litres, average market price: test-aankoop.be
- CallMePower, price per m³ at De Watergroep, updated 20 May 2026: callmepower.be
- Our own calculations: consumption (8 people, 0.75 litres per working day, 21 working days, 126 litres a month), number of bottles and packs, cost per litre, write-off of the unit over 36 months.
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The Beste Waterkoeler editorial team compares office water coolers and drinking water using public sources: product pages, price lists, technical sheets and official figures. The articles are written with AI and reviewed by the editorial team. Every price and figure is shown with its source and the date we read it. We do not test the machines ourselves.