Culligan is one of the names UK facilities teams already know. 85 years in water treatment, active in 90+ countries, and operating here as Culligan since the Cooler Sense business took the name. The range splits cleanly: mains-fed or bottled, countertop or freestanding, with the C7 Firewall as the countertop flagship. Up to five water options, patented purification, BioCote antimicrobial protection. Good equipment, well supported.
What's changed is what a workplace asks of that footprint. Teams want functional flavours, vitamins, and something worth reaching for instead of the vending machine, not just chilled water on tap. This comparison puts the Culligan C7 Firewall next to the Aquablu REFILL+ Series 2.
Multi-barrier filtration (3 layers: mechanical, chemical, biological)
Cold, sparkling and hot water (2 temperature levels)
10 flavors, all with vitamins
Sugar-free & sweetener-free options
AURA dashboard: consumption, maintenance, sustainability reporting
Remote monitoring with proactive maintenance notifications
6 flavor slots, 60 liters/hour
Payment system (optional)
Pay-Per-Drink, no hidden costs
Red Dot Design Award '24
🇳🇱 Made in the Netherlands
Patented Firewall purification
Up to five water options, including ambient, sparkling, and extra-hot
BioCote antimicrobial surface protection
Carbon filtration
Full-colour display
No flavoured water or vitamins
No dashboard or consumption insights
Rent or buy, pricing on quotation
UK operation formerly Cooler Sense
🇺🇸 Made in the USA
aquablu vs Culligan
We put the Aquablu REFILL+ Series 2 and the Culligan C7 Firewall next to each other on every metric that matters. Here's where they align, and where they differ, letting the specs speak for themselves.
See the full office water dispenser range.
Key differentiators
The C7 Firewall pours clean, safe water, and Culligan has spent 85 years getting good at that. But filtration is one job. When hydration also has to cover wellbeing, operational load, and cost, filtered water is where the work starts.
Functional flavours and vitamins
The biggest gap between Aquablu and Culligan isn't filtration. It's what happens after the water is filtered.
The REFILL+ Series 2 pours six functional flavours, every one of them carrying vitamins as standard, and for something with caffeine you can select FOCUS. The Charlie's line adds sucralose-free options at zero grams of sugar. That's 60+ combinations from one countertop unit. More on flavoured water with vitamins.
The C7 Firewall pours filtered water. Chilled, sparkling, ambient, hot. No flavours, no vitamins. If the goal is to retire the vending machine and the crates of bottled functional drinks, Culligan leaves that job to somebody else.
Three jobs, one system
Most UK offices run a mains-fed water cooler, a vending machine, and a supply of bottled functional drinks side by side. A C7 covers the first one well.
The REFILL+ Series 2 replaces all three. Sparkling, chilled, flavoured, and functional drinks from a single footprint. Fewer suppliers, fewer devices, fewer maintenance contracts. If you're still weighing up formats, we've broken down the types of water dispenser separately.
One thing Culligan does that Aquablu can't: bottled units for sites with no mains connection. If part of your estate has no plumbing, that's worth knowing.
Proactive maintenance, not service calls
With a traditional water cooler you find out something is wrong when it stops working. Then comes the ticket, the wait, and the engineer visit.
AURA monitors every REFILL+ remotely and continuously. Filter status, CO₂ levels, and technical alerts get flagged before a fault, not after. Your team swaps flavour boxes on site. For a facilities manager running multiple sites, that's less downtime and a maintenance schedule you can plan around.
Cost
Aquablu
Runs on Pay-Per-Drink.
No capital outlay.
Hardware, installation, CO₂ service, and maintenance are all included.
Culligan
Offers rental or purchase on the C7 Firewall. Renting means a fixed monthly fee covering installation, sanitisation, and filter changes. Buying means an upfront investment with a service agreement on top. Pricing is on quotation, and no per-serving cost is published.
TRIAL IT FIRST
Some suppliers want six months to prove a water dispenser works. Two weeks is enough, because the difference in taste lands fast enough that teams stop wanting to go back.
95% of companies that trial the REFILL+ Series 2 keep it, most of them inside two weeks. Culligan runs a 14-day trial too. The difference is what you're testing: filtered water, or a full flavour and vitamin system.
Want to know whether Aquablu fits your team? Schedule a free on-site demo.
We bring our mobile demo unit to your office, free of charge. No obligations.
Taste all 10 flavors and then decide.
Bas Drogtrop
Country Manager & Partner, Insider
aquablu vs Culligan
01
Who is Culligan UK?
Culligan is an international water treatment company with 85+ years of experience, active in 90+ countries. In the UK it supplies mains-fed and bottled water coolers, countertop and freestanding dispensers, boiling and chilled taps, and bottle filling stations to businesses, available to rent or buy. The UK operation previously traded as Cooler Sense.
02
How does a Culligan water dispenser work?
A Culligan mains-fed water dispenser connects to the water supply and filters the water before pouring it. On the C7 Firewall, water passes through carbon filtration and Culligan's patented Firewall purification, then the unit chills, heats, or carbonates it, with up to five water options including ambient, sparkling, and extra-hot. Culligan also supplies bottled units for sites without a mains connection, which need only a power socket.
03
How much does Culligan cost?
Culligan prices on quotation and does not publish rates. Renting means a fixed monthly fee covering installation, sanitisation, and filter changes. Buying means an upfront investment with a service agreement as an option. The figure depends on the model, the site, and the agreement. For comparison, Aquablu charges per drink, with hardware, installation, CO₂ service, and maintenance included in that price.
04
Can Culligan pour flavoured water?
No. Culligan pours filtered water: chilled, ambient, sparkling, and hot depending on the model. Flavoured water, vitamins, and vending alternatives aren't part of the range. The Aquablu REFILL+ Series 2 combines filtration with 60+ functional drinks in one system.
05
What's the difference between Aquablu and Culligan?
Scope. Culligan filters and chills water. Aquablu filters water and turns it into 60+ functional drinks with vitamins, tracked through the AURA dashboard. Both filter to a high standard through different technologies: the C7 Firewall uses carbon filtration with patented Firewall purification, the REFILL+ Series 2 uses multi-barrier filtration across three layers. The difference isn't filtration quality, it's what happens after.
06
Is Culligan better than Aquablu?
It depends on what your workplace needs. Culligan is a strong choice if filtered water with proven purification is the whole requirement, and their bottled range covers sites with no plumbing. If you also want functional flavours, vitamins, and a replacement for the vending machine, Aquablu covers more ground from one unit. Book a free demo and taste the difference.
07
What if we already have a Culligan water cooler?
That's a common starting point. Book a free on-site demo so your team can taste the difference between filtered water and functional flavours with vitamins. We'll help you plan the timing and make the switch smooth when your current agreement ends.
08
How does maintenance compare?
With a traditional water cooler, maintenance is reactive: something breaks, you report it, an engineer visits. Culligan schedules sanitisation and filter changes as part of a rental agreement. AURA monitors every REFILL+ remotely, flagging filter status, CO₂ levels, and technical alerts before a fault. Your team swaps flavour boxes on site. Less downtime, a schedule you can plan around.
Want to know how Aquablu stacks up against other office water dispensers, water coolers, and office water taps?
Check out these comparisons:
Filtered water
with natural flavors.
Smart hydration
alongside a hot water tap.
Smart hydration
alongside a filtered water tap
Reliable and affordable water solutions
Our mobile demo unit comes to your office. Try all the flavors, see how the system works, then decide.