you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 51 points 2 years ago (5 children)

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%28specific+heat+of+water%2912.8K%281+gallon+*+water+density%29

200kjoules of heat must be removed from a gallon of water to cool from 55F to 32F (out of the ground down to pleasant drinking temperature).

Assuming a COP of 2 for your compressor (conservative), that's 100kjoules or 1/36 of a kWh.

High price for a kWh of electricity is $0.25 in the US. So for your $2 subscription, you can pay for 8kWh per month or enough to cool 288 gallons of water or roughly 9 gallons per day. More than anybody would rightly use.

What a fucking ripoff.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Not to mention that, in a place like a public park, 55F water is totally fine. It isn't the coolest most refreshing drink of all time but it's damn good from a public fountain on a 90F day.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You’re also paying for the installation of a refrigeration system right at the point where you want water.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Sure, but if everyone drinks a half gallon a day (still a lot for a normal person), that’s still 95% revenue which will absorb the installation cost quickly, and maintenance is minuscule on something like this.

    Not to mention that since its subscription based, a broken dispenser is actually more profitable in the short term.

  • source
  • parent