My experience with Primo Water & why I got rid of it

2023 Update: I got this filter in 2017 but got rid of it after about a year of using it. I found I didn’t like the way it looked in the house and lugging the water bottles around were a bit of hassle, especially since I’m so petite. I also got a large bill from Primo’s new parent company six months after I had cancelled my service and couldn’t get anyone to take my phone call or reply to emails about an explanation for the charge, so I ended up paying it since they had sent me to a collections agency. Seriously.

I am still in the market for a water filter and plan to get this AquaTru filter or this Berkey filter. Both are countertop filters that don’t require large jugs of water.

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It’s hard to believe that I moved into our house almost a month ago! Granted, we had just a few other things going on with the wedding and the honeymoon! We are absolutely LOVING our house, even though it still doesn’t quite feel like home while we finish moving Tommy in and work on buying furniture. Since we both lived in one bedroom apartments less than 750 sq ft, we don’t have many things we definitely want in a home, e.g. a kitchen table, kitchen chairs, area rugs, etc. Luckily we have everything we need and it’s fun — although to be honest, also slightly overwhelming — to look at furnishing the house together. And we’ll likely enlist the help of an interior decorator for some rooms.

One thing that has been VERY nice is having extra room. I love the extra storage and countertop space I have in the kitchen, and it’s nice to be able to finally leverage our Costco membership! I never could before since I had NO storage in my last apartment (like, not even a storage or coat closet, e.g. extra toilet paper rolls lived in my pantry, Christmas decorations lived in my small bedroom closet). The other thing that’s been nice since we have more space is getting a Primo Water dispenser. Growing up, my cousins had a water fountain (like the kind attached to a wall in a school) which I thought was so cool and fun as a kid. A Primo Water dispenser isn’t quite as fun as that, but it’s close. 😉

Drinking Enough Water

I used to have no problem drinking enough water, and I easily chugged 8+ cups a day. But as I’ve gotten older, that’s changed and I struggle to get enough water, favoring coffee or kombucha instead. I think there is such a thing as too much coffee, and I really try to cap myself at 4 cups a day. And kombucha is a pretty expensive habit to keep up!

I’ve noticed when I’m at work — with a water cooler — that I drink a LOT more water than when I am at home. I think I like the temperature and taste of the purified water, and it was a good excuse to get up from my desk and walk around a bit. So when Primo Water reached out and asked if I’d be interested in partnering, I jumped on it since I knew how much I liked having a water cooler at the office and would love to have one at home. (“Water cooler” is such an office term – it cracks me up!)

Other Water Filters I’ve Tried

Over the years, I’ve tried a few different water filters at home — including the Brita pitchers — but I never really kept them up since they were just kind of annoying and slow (especially during my water-chugging days!).

I never really bought bottled water since that seemed super wasteful, so I just drank tap water. I think we have decent tasting tap water here, but I know some people HATE it. And, I’ve quickly realized that our tap water doesn’t actually taste that great by comparison. I’m ruined!

My Primo Water Dispenser

I picked out my Primo Water dispenser and went with something that would go with the kitchen – black and stainless steel, sleek and simple. They have lots of dispensers, including one with a k-cup feature, but I just wanted something that could do hot and cold water. I’ve been surprised how much I use the hot water feature. I use it first thing in the morning since I like to have hot water before I drink anything else (including coffee!), and I use it a lot to make an individual cup of tea.

I’m lucky that I live in Winston-Salem, where Primo Water is headquartered, because they do local deliveries. But, if you’re not local, they ship from Amazon and Walmart for free. Primo Water is a HUGE company and distributes nationwide, so you can find their water for refills almost anywhere, no matter where you live. They have over 4000 refill stations; I’ve seen the refill stations at Lowes Hardware and many grocery stores.

Refilling the bottles

I didn’t realize water dispensers now come with a bottom loading option; I was thinking I’d have to lift up a heavy bottle of water and tip it upside down like the filters of yore, which sounds like a total disaster waiting to happen. Nope – you just open the dispenser door and slide out the old bottle. You pull out the little tube thingy from the old bottle and drop it in the new one, and slide the new bottle into the dispenser. Super easy.

Do you use a water filter? If so, what kind?