Lush Food & Drink

Buying Guide ·Water

Best Bottom Loading Water Dispensers for Hot and Cold Drinking

The deciding specification is the actual water temperature, and only one of these five publishes it.

By the Lush Editorial Team·Researched & Compared

  • Researched & ComparedSpecs pulled from the manufacturer listing
  • Like-for-LikeSame measures across every model
  • No Paid PlacementsNobody pays to appear here

I compared published water temperatures, power draw, noise, cabinet materials and bottle sizes across five bottom loading dispensers, using each maker's own listing text only.

Our shortlist

Five products, one set of published numbers.
  1. NEWBULIG Bottom Loading Water Dispenser for 5 Gallon...
    Best for knowing what you will actually get

    NEWBULIG Bottom Loading Water Dispenser for 5 Gallon...

    The only listing here with temperature figures, 200 F hot, 58 F cold and a 98 F middle outlet, plus a stated noise level under 50 dB.

    • NEWBULIG
    • 12.2 x 12.3 x 41.3 inches
    • 23.15 lb
  2. Avalon A4BLWTRCLR Bottom Loading Water Cooler Water ...
    Best for certified and measured running

    Avalon A4BLWTRCLR Bottom Loading Water Cooler Water ...

    The only published power draw, 420 W heating and 100 W cooling, with UL and Energy Star approval and a BioGuard coating on contact areas.

    • Avalon
    • 3 or 5 gallon bottle
    • 38.1 lb
  3. Brio Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser for 5 Gal...
    Best for households with young children

    Brio Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser for 5 Gal...

    A two step lock on the hot spout, an LED display with an empty bottle alert, and a cabinet that takes a 3 or a 5 gallon jug.

    • Brio
    • 41.4
    • 40.5 lb
  4. Manastin Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser
    Best for a metal body and top mounted buttons

    Manastin Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser

    The only aluminum alloy body claimed in this group, with controls on the top of the unit and a low water reminder built in.

    • Manastin
    • Weight not listed
  5. Tehanld Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser
    Best for a low shelf or a tight alcove

    Tehanld Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser

    Fields giving 38.21 inches, clearly under the other four, with a named R134a compressor, metal side panels and a ventilation design.

    • Tehanld
    • Weight not listed

Side by side

Blank means the maker does not publish it.
ModelBrandSize (capacity)WeightBest for
NEWBULIG Bottom Loading Water Dispenser for 5 Gallon... NEWBULIG 12.2 x 12.3 x 41.3 inches 23.15 lb Best for knowing what you will actually get
Avalon A4BLWTRCLR Bottom Loading Water Cooler Water ... Avalon 3 or 5 gallon bottle 38.1 lb Best for certified and measured running
Brio Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser for 5 Gal... Brio 41.4 40.5 lb Best for households with young children
Manastin Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser Manastin not published not published Best for a metal body and top mounted buttons
Tehanld Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser Tehanld not published not published Best for a low shelf or a tight alcove

Each pick in detail

What the listing says for it, and against it.
1 Best for knowing what you will actually get

NEWBULIG Bottom Loading Water Dispenser for 5 Gallon...

The only listing here with temperature figures, 200 F hot, 58 F cold and a 98 F middle outlet, plus a stated noise level under 50 dB.

  • For it
  • The only listing in the pool to publish water temperatures, 200 F, 58 F and 98 F
  • The only published noise figure, stated as under 50 dB
  • Dual thermal protection and grounding protection both stated
  • Publishes its own dimensions in words, 12.2 by 12.3 by 41.3 inches, matching its fields
  • Against it
  • Calls a 98 F outlet room temperature, which is close to body temperature
  • A body of ABS and PP plastic with iron side panels, not a metal cabinet
  • Stated for standard 5 gallon bottles only, with no 3 gallon option mentioned
2 Best for certified and measured running

Avalon A4BLWTRCLR Bottom Loading Water Cooler Water ...

The only published power draw, 420 W heating and 100 W cooling, with UL and Energy Star approval and a BioGuard coating on contact areas.

  • For it
  • The only power figures in the group, 420 W for heating and 100 W for cooling
  • UL and Energy Star approval, the only certification claimed here
  • A stainless steel cabinet rather than a stainless accent
  • A built in nightlight over the spouts and an empty bottle indicator
  • Against it
  • Its listing never mentions a child lock on the hot spout, which the other four all do
  • No temperature figure for hot, cold or room water
  • Publishes no noise figure and does not name its compressor
3 Best for households with young children

Brio Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser for 5 Gal...

A two step lock on the hot spout, an LED display with an empty bottle alert, and a cabinet that takes a 3 or a 5 gallon jug.

  • For it
  • A two step child safety lock above the hot water button
  • An LED display with an empty bottle alert, so refills are not guesswork
  • The cabinet is stated to take either a 3 or a 5 gallon jug
  • Manual and care guide listed as included components
  • Against it
  • Its size field reads 41.4 with no unit while its height field reads 42.52 inches
  • No temperature figures, no wattage and no noise figure published
  • It is the heaviest of the five at 40.5 pounds
4 Best for a metal body and top mounted buttons

Manastin Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser

The only aluminum alloy body claimed in this group, with controls on the top of the unit and a low water reminder built in.

  • For it
  • The only aluminum alloy body claimed anywhere in this pool
  • Buttons on the top of the unit rather than the front face
  • A child safety button above the hot spout, described step by step
  • A low water reminder for bottle changes
  • Against it
  • Publishes no weight at all, on a listing whose main claim is its metal body
  • No temperature figures, no wattage and no noise figure
  • No size field of any kind on the listing
5 Best for a low shelf or a tight alcove

Tehanld Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser

Fields giving 38.21 inches, clearly under the other four, with a named R134a compressor, metal side panels and a ventilation design.

  • For it
  • Names its compressor, an R134a, the only listing here that names any component
  • Metal side material, argued as more durable than plastic
  • A ventilation design on the side for heat dissipation
  • A two step safety lock on the hot spout
  • Against it
  • Its own feature text names the Brio Essential dispenser, a different brand in this pool
  • Publishes no weight and no size field
  • Calls the compressor low noise and publishes no figure in any unit

Our verdict

NEWBULIG is the only pick that publishes temperatures, 200 F hot, 58 F cold and a 98 F middle outlet, plus the only noise figure here at under 50 dB. Avalon is the only one to state power, 420 W heating and 100 W cooling, with UL and Energy Star approval. Brio is the heaviest at 40.5 pounds with a two step hot lock. Manastin claims an aluminum alloy body. Tehanld names an R134a compressor.

“Three temperature settings, and almost nobody says what they are.”

Lush Editorial Team

What separates these five

Temperatures published NEWBULIG gives 200 F hot, 58 F cold and 98 F in the middle. The other four publish no figure for any outlet.
Power draw Avalon publishes 420 W for heating and 100 W for cooling. No other listing in this pool gives a wattage at all.
Noise NEWBULIG states under 50 dB. Tehanld calls its compressor low noise without giving a number. Three say nothing.
Hot spout lock Brio and Tehanld describe two step locks, NEWBULIG and Manastin a child lock. Avalon's listing never mentions one.
Bottle alerts Brio uses an LED display, Avalon an indicator light, Manastin a low water reminder, Tehanld a smart reminder.

How we chose

Priorities, not a computed score. The inputs are published specifications, so we rank by what matters most and say how much.

  1. 30% Temperature figures publishedIt is the reason to buy a three temperature dispenser, and four of the five will not say.
  2. 25% Power and certificationRunning cost and approvals are checkable facts, and exactly one listing offers them.
  3. 20% Safety and alertsA hot spout lock and an empty bottle warning are what stop this becoming a problem.
  4. 15% Materials and build namedA steel accent is not a steel cabinet, and two listings publish no weight to check against.
  5. 10% NoiseCounted last only because just one listing gives a figure to count.

How the Five Compare on the Numbers

Every one of these five sells the same headline, three temperature settings, and exactly one of them says what those temperatures are. NEWBULIG publishes hot water up to 200 F, cold as low as 58 F and a third outlet it calls room temperature at 98 F. Brio, Avalon, Manastin and Tehanld all name hot, cold and room temperature settings and publish no figure for any of them.

The published weights split the group in two. Brio is the heaviest of the five at 40.5 pounds, with Avalon at 38.1, and both of those have steel cabinets. NEWBULIG is 23.15 pounds with a body of ABS and PP plastic and iron side panels, which is consistent with the figure. Manastin and Tehanld publish no weight at all, so two of the five cannot be weighed.

Specification NEWBULIG Avalon Brio Manastin Tehanld
Bottles accepted 5 gallon 3 to 5 gallon 3 or 5 gallon 3 or 5 gallon 3 or 5 gallon
Hot water temperature Up to 200 F not published not published not published not published
Cold water temperature As low as 58 F not published not published not published not published
Third outlet 98 F, called room temperature Room temperature Room temperature Room temperature Room temperature
Heating and cooling power not published 420 W heating, 100 W cooling not published not published not published
Noise published Under 50 dB not published not published not published Low noise, no figure
Compressor named not published not published not published not published R134a
Cabinet material ABS and PP with iron panels Stainless steel cabinet Stainless steel accent Aluminum alloy Stainless accent, metal sides
Hot spout lock Yes, child lock not published Two step lock Yes, button above spout Two step lock
Empty bottle alert not published Indicator light LED display alert Low water reminder Smart reminder
Published weight 23.15 lb 38.1 lb 40.5 lb not published not published
Height in the fields 41.34 in 41 in 42.52 in 41 in 38.21 in
Height stated in words by the maker 41.3 in not published 41.4, no unit given 41 in not published
Safety claims Dual thermal and grounding UL and Energy Star not published not published Ventilated side panel

The table cannot tell you how cold the cold water gets on four of these five, which is the single most important thing a buyer wants to know. It also cannot tell you how long a full bottle takes to cool, or how much hot water comes out before the tank needs to reheat, because no listing in this pool publishes a tank capacity for either the hot side or the cold side.

What Three Temperature Settings Actually Means

The One Listing With Figures, and Its Strange Middle Setting

NEWBULIG is the only listing here that turns its three spouts into numbers: hot up to 200 F for tea, cold as low as 58 F, and a third outlet described as room temperature water at 98 F. The first two are useful and specific. The third is worth reading twice, because 98 F is close to body temperature and is not room temperature by any ordinary definition.

What that probably means is a lightly warmed outlet rather than an unheated one, which is a sensible thing to offer and a poor thing to label. Either way it is the only dispenser in this group whose middle setting can be planned around. If you want water that is genuinely at the temperature of your kitchen, this listing does not describe it and the other four do not quantify it.

Four Listings That Name Settings Without Numbers

Brio, Avalon, Manastin and Tehanld all publish the same claim in slightly different words. Avalon calls its output crisp cold, cool or piping hot. Brio offers hot, cold and room temperature functions. Manastin lists three preset temperature settings. Tehanld names hot, cold and room temperature water. Not one of the four states a degree figure for any of the three outlets anywhere on its listing.

That matters because the word cold covers a range wide enough to include water you would call refreshing and water you would call merely cool, and nothing on four of these listings says which one you are buying. The only figure in the pool, 58 F, sits at the cool end rather than the cold end, which may be part of why the other four stay quiet about it.

Power, Noise and the Parts Nobody Names

The Only Wattage Figures in the Group

Avalon is alone in publishing what the machine draws, 420 W for heating and 100 W for cooling, and it is also the only pick claiming UL and Energy Star approval. Those two facts sit well together: a listing willing to state its power draw is usually one that has been through a certification that requires it. Nobody else in this pool publishes a wattage of any kind.

Avalon adds two things nobody else does. There is a built in nightlight to make the spouts visible in the dark, and a BioGuard antimicrobial coating on high contact areas, which is the only hygiene treatment named anywhere here. Against that, it is the one pick of the five whose listing never mentions a child lock on the hot spout, which the other four all do.

One Compressor Named and One Noise Figure Published

Tehanld is the only listing that names the part doing the cooling, an R134a compressor, and describes a ventilated side panel for heat dissipation and metal side material rather than plastic. That is more mechanical detail than the rest of the pool offers combined. It calls the compressor low noise and then publishes no figure, which is where the detail stops being useful.

NEWBULIG is the only one that gives the figure, stating operation under 50 dB and naming home offices and bedrooms as the reason. It also publishes dual thermal protection and grounding protection. Between the two of them you get a named compressor with no number and a number with no named compressor, and no listing in the group offers both.

Cabinets, Heights and Borrowed Text

Metal, Plastic and Aluminum Alloy

Avalon publishes a stainless steel cabinet and Brio a stainless steel accent, which is a smaller claim than it sounds: an accent is a trim piece, not a body. Manastin claims a body of aluminum alloy, the only listing to name that material. Tehanld says its side material is metal and argues that this is more durable than plastic, which is a comparison with the rest of this pool.

NEWBULIG is the one that admits to plastic, naming ABS and PP components with iron side panels, and its 23.15 pound weight backs that up. Heights cluster tightly: 42.52 inches for Brio, 41.34 for NEWBULIG, 41 for Avalon and Manastin, and 38.21 for Tehanld, which is the one that will clear a low shelf the others will not.

A Listing That Names a Rival in Its Own Bullet

Tehanld’s temperature bullet says, in the maker’s own text, to customize your drinking experience with the Brio Essential water dispenser. Brio is a different brand and is also in this pool. The same bullet structure and several of the same phrases appear on both listings, so the Tehanld specification text has been carried over from another product and cannot be treated as a description of this one.

Brio has a smaller version of the same problem. Its dimension fields give a height of 42.52 inches while its size field reads 41.4 with no unit attached. A difference of more than an inch is enough to matter under a shelf, and since neither figure appears in a sentence the maker wrote, there is no way to tell which one describes the cabinet.

Which One Fits Your Kitchen

You want to know how cold the cold water is. NEWBULIG is the only pick that publishes temperatures, 200 F hot, 58 F cold and a 98 F middle outlet, along with the only noise figure here, under 50 dB. It takes 5 gallon bottles and weighs 23.15 pounds.

Running costs and certification matter to you. Avalon is the only pick to publish power, 420 W heating and 100 W cooling, with UL and Energy Star approval, a stainless steel cabinet, a nightlight over the spouts and a BioGuard coating on high contact areas.

Small children in the house. Brio publishes a two step lock on the hot spout, an LED display with an empty bottle alert, and a cabinet that takes either a 3 or a 5 gallon jug. At 40.5 pounds it is the heaviest here, which also makes it the hardest to tip.

You care what it is made of. Manastin is the only listing claiming an aluminum alloy body, with buttons on the top of the unit instead of the front, a low water reminder and a child safety button above the hot spout. It publishes no weight.

A low shelf or a tight alcove. Tehanld’s fields give 38.21 inches, the one height in this group that is clearly under the other four, with a named R134a compressor, metal side panels and a ventilation design. Read its specification text with care.

What We Could Not Verify

Six things a buyer would want from these five listings and cannot get.

  • Four of the five publish no temperature figure for any of their three outlets, so cold, room and hot are words rather than specifications on those listings.
  • The one listing that does publish figures calls a 98 F outlet room temperature, which is close to body temperature and is not what most buyers mean by the phrase.
  • No listing publishes a hot tank or cold tank capacity, so none of them can tell you how many cups you get before it has to recover.
  • Two of the five publish no weight at all, including the one claiming an aluminum alloy body, where weight would be the obvious check on that claim.
  • Tehanld’s feature text names the Brio Essential dispenser, a different brand in this same pool, so its specification wording has been carried over from another listing.
  • Brio’s size field reads 41.4 with no unit while its dimension fields give 42.52 inches, and nothing on the listing says which figure is the cabinet height.

Frequently asked questions

How cold does the cold water actually get?+

Only NEWBULIG says. It publishes cold water as low as 58 F, which is cool rather than cold, and hot water up to 200 F. Brio, Avalon, Manastin and Tehanld all advertise a cold setting and publish no figure for it anywhere on their listings. That means on four of these five the answer is unknown before purchase, and 58 F is the only number in the whole pool to judge by.

What is a room temperature setting for?+

It is the third spout, meant for water that is neither chilled nor heated, which suits taking medication or filling a pet bowl. NEWBULIG is the only listing that puts a figure on it, 98 F, which is close to body temperature and is not room temperature in any normal sense. The other four name the setting and publish nothing, so what comes out of that spout is not specified.

Do these dispensers have a child lock on the hot water?+

Four of the five publish one. Brio and Tehanld both describe a two step lock with a release above the dispensing button. NEWBULIG states a child safety lock on the hot outlet alongside thermal and grounding protection. Manastin describes a safety button above the spout. Avalon is the exception: its listing covers three temperatures, a nightlight and an antimicrobial coating and never mentions a hot water lock.

Which of these uses the least electricity?+

The question cannot be answered from these listings. Avalon is the only one that publishes power at all, 420 W for heating and 100 W for cooling, and it is also the only pick claiming Energy Star approval. The other four publish no wattage in any form. A single figure with nothing to compare it against is not a ranking, so this page does not present one.

Do all of them take both 3 gallon and 5 gallon bottles?+

Four do. Brio, Manastin and Tehanld all state a cabinet for either a 3 or a 5 gallon jug, and Avalon states 3 to 5 gallon bottles. NEWBULIG describes sliding a standard 5 gallon bottle into the base and does not mention a 3 gallon option. In every case the bottle itself is excluded, which Brio and Avalon both spell out on their listings.

Why does one listing mention another brand?+

Tehanld's temperature bullet refers to the Brio Essential water dispenser by name, and Brio is a separate brand also in this pool. Several phrases appear on both listings in the same order, so the Tehanld specification text has been taken from another product. The mechanical detail unique to Tehanld, the R134a compressor and the ventilated metal side panel, is the part of its listing worth reading.

Specifications come from the manufacturers' own published listings. Lush Food & Drink may earn a commission if you buy through a link on this page, at no extra cost to you. How we research.