Lot of talk about the effects of the bottled water shortages just now, and it is quite often said that the water from the street dispensers is OK to drink. Some months ago, I remember seeing an article which said that some of the product had been tested in various machines around Pattaya, and some of the results were pretty poor, although not really disgraceful. However, having been involved in the desalination of water on ships and offshore oil rigs, I wondered how often the machines filters were changed. We used, on different vessels, Reverse Osmosis, Vapour compression and Vacuum machines, but we still had to change the filters at the outlets regularly. It was pretty uncommon for bad results to show up after the weekly tests were carried out, but from time to time we had to do some remedial works.

Myself and the lady of the house have never seen anyone from the council or wherever at the nearest machine, which is 2 doors away (who owns these machines)

As anyone else seen any maintenance staff at them?

Can some kind moderator please move this to the Pattaya Forum?

They are very well maintained when they are first connected to the mixed water pipes - after that like most things in Thailand, they build it, wait for it to fall apart, then build something else on top of it.

thought there was a red light for when the filters get blocked /dirty ?? but no, i've never seen anyone changing filters or anything...

Even a lot of water delivery companies work out of converted shop-houses so not sure of the quality of them either.

in my vicinity here on Samui those water dispensers are in a sad state - way, way beyond being hygienical drinking water dispensers, in the real world those things would be shut down, business closed by the public health authority! TiT!

The one near my house is "serviced and cleaned" every month with a large sticker showing individual results for that cleaning etc.

It is up to the owner etc.

in the real world..... TiT!

LOL! This IS the real world - a world where people are responsible for their own health and aren't treated like babies.

I used to live in Soi Korpai and a water-vending machine was right under my balcony.

At least once a month the machine was cleaned, checked and emptied.

Ours do indeed have a red light - and shut down when the filters need to be maintained. I have never had a problem drinking the water from our machines in 5 years.

One can only assume they are taken care of as well as everything else is taken care of around here.

That said, I won't be drinking any.

I have been getting my water from one of these machines for a year....no stomach problems ...the water looks clear and on the machine there is an sticker showing when it was last inspected.

Somebody must come regularly to empty the coin box.

I guess that they are also instructed to do whatever is necessary to keep the machine clean.

Should the water become so bad that infection results the word would soon get around.

It is in the company's interest to keep them hygienic.

I got bad diarrhea from drinking the water out of the one my girlfriend was getting the water out of. Solid bowel movements resumed after buying bottled water again.

I have been getting my water from one of these machines for a year....no stomach problems ...the water looks clear and on the machine there is an sticker showing when it was last inspected.

I've also been using water from one of these machines without a problem - for three years. I use the water for boiling (for tea etc) and for washing fruit.

For pure cold drinking water I usually use bottled water, just to be on the safe side - although I wouldn't worry about drinking the machine water too much.

I'm not in Pattaya right now but if I was and there was a bottled drinking water shortage I wouldn't worry too much about drinking water from one of these machines.

Not strictly relevant but kind of related: I'm back in the UK right now and I have noticed yet again that the occasional slight queasiness I get when I'm staying in Thailand is entirely absent when I'n in the UK. As far as I'm concerned the slight queasiness needn't necessarily be anything to do with the water - it could be to do with the food.

And having said that, I've only ever had food-poisoning or a serious upset stomach once in over five years in Thailand.

Water machines out in the streets are just fine , I drink from them all the time.

They change the filters so dont worry about the maintenance,.

Not strictly relevant but kind of related: I'm back in the UK right now and I have noticed yet again that the occasional slight queasiness I get when I'm staying in Thailand is entirely absent when I'n in the UK. As far as I'm concerned the slight queasiness needn't necessarily be anything to do with the water - it could be to do with the food.

Probably more to do with the heat / humidity.

i use them for 7 years

cooking coff tea

never problems