Outdoor water bottle refill stations

Which outdoor model fits which spot

Street Tap for places where people carry a bottle: sidewalks, transit stops, campuses, bike routes, sports fields. It is a bottle filler only, which keeps it simple and keeps lines short.

Park Tap for places where they often do not: playgrounds, dog parks, beaches. The side spout is a drinking fountain, so nobody needs a bottle to get a drink.

Extended Park Tap when the fountain has to be reachable from a wheelchair. The longer arm leaves room to roll up to it. It is listed as ADA compliant on our price list. Ask us for the technical drawing if you need to check it against a state or local accessibility code.

Street Tap + Drip Tray on finished paving where runoff is a problem, for example in front of an entrance or on a terrace.

Outdoor Cooler Tap if the brief says chilled water outside. It is a different animal: a full cabinet with a cooler inside and a power connection. Most outdoor projects do not need it.

Frost, heat and winter

The stations are designed to freeze and thaw without damage. You do not have to drain them or shut them off in the fall. There is no electricity involved, so there is nothing to short out either.

What frost can do is stop the flow for a while. In a hard freeze the water in the supply line and the tap housing turns to ice, and the station works again when it thaws. If you need water on tap through deep winter, heat tracing can be added to the supply. It adds real cost, so we only suggest it where winter use matters.

At the other end of the scale, the same model stands outside in Dubai, where summer air reaches 122°F (50°C), and in Abbotsford, British Columbia, where about thirty of them go through months of frost every year.

What goes in the ground

An outdoor station ships with its foundation: a concrete base that is buried, and a cast iron base plate that ends up level with the paving. The post bolts to the base through the plate. The drain is part of the base plate, and a drain pipe of about 6.5 feet (2 m) carries spilled water into the surrounding ground. No sewer connection is needed.

As a guide to size and weight, a Street Tap measures about 16 × 20 × 48 inches (410 × 500 × 1228 mm) and weighs roughly 430 lb (195 kg) with the standard concrete base, or 290 lb (130 kg) with the small one. The installation page walks through the trench, the connection and the check valve.

Built to be left alone

• AISI 316 stainless steel, the grade used near salt water, under a powder coat.
• Self-closing push button. It cannot be left running. Two locking screws hold it in place.
• No electronics. Nothing to reset, update or replace after a storm.
• Parts on the shelf. Tap housings, buttons and valves ship from stock, usually within days.

Colors and signs

Black and white are stock finishes at the same price and the fastest to deliver. Any other RAL color is possible from €350, and so is brushed stainless steel from €395. Custom colors take a little longer.

Most public stations get a "drinking water" sticker on the post (€95). Cities often add their crest or a sponsor name. If you combine a custom color with stickers, take the clear top coat (€200): it protects the print from sun and weather. A Braille drinking-water plate in English is available for €95.