REVIEW – Pets are family, and just like family we love them and yet they can drive us crazy. Ollie (above) doesn’t drink for a while and then empties the bow. Our beagle “DooLittle” has a super power where he waits until you get all settled on the sofa before he lets you know that the water bowl is empty. If only someone made an auto-refilling water bowl that really worked. Well Always Full sent me exactly that and it’s been filling itself since. Want to know more? Come along.
︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: from $169 (7″ bowl and bottle pump) to $199 (9″ bowl and wall unit)
Where to buy: Always Full
What is it?
Always Full is a connected pet bowl solution that auto-refills, self-filters and refreshes the water on a schedule. It’s available with either a pump that pulls from a water cooler style bottle, or from a wall unit you can attach to a water supply line. The included app will keep you notified on status and your pet’s hydration habits.
What’s included?
The bowl is available in either a 7″ or 9″ size. Always Full was kind enough to send along a pair of 9″ bowls knowing that I have two dogs. Showing one of those below along with those was one Bottle Pump and one Wall unit. Here’s what comes with each.
9″ Bowl
- Bowl base (with cleaning brush)
- Bowl (with circulation plumbing already installed)
- Wireless Control Module
- Cotton filter and Carbon Filter
- Instruction manual
Bottle Pump
- Bottle Pump
- Power and water line
- Water siphon tubing (to draw from bottle)
- AC Power adapter
- 90º and straight water line couplers
- Instruction manual
Wall Unit
- Wall unit (with dual solenoids)
- Wall pump filter
- Power and water line
- AC Power adapter
- 90º and straight water line couplers
- Instruction manual
Tech specs
Automatic Refilling: Laser technology detects water levels and refill as needed.
Triple-Filtered Water: Provides crystal-clear, debris-free water.
Self-Cleaning System: Automatically flushes out debris, keeping the bowl clean with minimal effort.
Connected App: Tracks your pet’s water intake in real-time, helping you monitor their hydration and health.
Easy Installation: Simple setup with direct connection to your water line or from a water jug.
Low Maintenance: Just change the filter every 1-2 months.
Compact Design: Fits seamlessly into your home, perfect for kitchens and utility rooms.
Design and features
The 9″ bowl is great for Ollie who’s a solid 65lb Pyrenees. He’s a bit of a messy drinker so we’ve always had a cork mat down to catch water. The Always Full bowl has a soft lip that overhangs the bowl which keeps almost all the splashing at bay leaving the mat to catch the dribble step. Massive improvement over the water bowls we’ve tried previously.
Inside the bowl is a removable section where you’ll find a stainless steel strainer basket that’s pre-installed. This is where you install either the cotton or the charcoal filters.
That one Green LED you see above can also be blue, red or yellow so the handy LED chart can come in handy.
I saw the slow blinking yellow early on when I incorrectly connected the wall unit to a water line that only worked if the tap was on. I only saw the slow blinking red for a moment when I’ve moved the bowl. Beyond that the bowl has been happily somewhere in the solid and slow blinking green and blues.
Both the Wall Unit and the Bottle Pump have their own LED and a reset button which can help to clear some errors should you encounter them.
Once you’re up and running, the app can be set up to communicate a little or a lot. Below you can see the menu, that I’ve set up a Backyard Bowl and a Den Bowl, Status for the Backyard Bowl, the different notifications you can set, and then a toggle for flush every hour along with extra features that can be unlocked with a small monthly subscription.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Let’s set up each of the components. First the Bottle Pump. Below you’ll see the USB-C port for communication and the water line out, both of which will go to the bowl. On the other side is the power port where you’ll connect the AC wall adapter. and then on the underneath is the water inlet, where you need to connect the siphon tubing.
Place the pump on top of the bottle you want to draw from being sure that the siphon tube is getting all the way down to the bottom. I was able to score an empty jug from work and ordered a silicon jug cap for a couple dollars from Amazon which allowed the pump to sit on top very securely. You can see below that I used the 90º coupler to connect the waterline. It’s nice that the two lines are pre-bundled with the steel cable jacket.
Now let’s connect this to the bowl. Remove the wireless controller, by squeezing the two sides and lifting. Underneath you’ll see the inlet tube and the USB-C port. Use the straight coupler to connect the water line as shown below right. You can then clip the controller back into place.
Go ahead and download the app from your app store of choice. You’ll need to register for an account, and then the app will help you connect to power and pair the bowl with your phone.
The bowl will then magically fill and then perform its swirl rinse. The solid green LED means you’re good to go.
Now let’s set up the Wall Unit. This does require an extra component or two for which you’ll need to hit the hardware store. You’ll need a splitter off your chosen waterline to a push-to-connect style connector. I chose one with a shutoff that I could partially open to help reduce water pressure a bit. You’ll also need a length of tubing for where you want to place the Wall Unit.
We have a small wet bar in our den and I chose to tap into that water line and let the Unit sit right below. Install the self-contained Wall Filter into the socket (only fits one way), and then connect the outbound water line and USB-C cable to their requisite ports.
The water supply line pushes on to the opposite side which you can just see entering the unit on the far left below.
I then drilled a small hole in the cabinet floor to run the water and power lines down and out, as well as the AC power in since there was no outlet underneath the sink.
The result was a little more cabling showing than I wanted but it worked out pretty well. AC over and then up and then water and power back down and over.
Performance
If any of the above seemed complicated, it really isn’t. The water jug version is really straight forward. The Wall Unit is a little trickier, but just depends on where you’re going to splice off a water line.
Always Full recommends a gradual approach to introducing your pets to the new bowl. It’s more for the automated side of it and that does make sense. I skipped that part as both our dogs will drink when they need to.
Doolittle (beagle) kinda drinks quickly and then is done so there were no issues at all, even with the fact that this bowl was a couple inches taller than the one we replaced. Ollie drinks a lot, so he was a little startled the first time when the bowl started filling while he was drinking. He left for a bit and it hasn’t bothered him since, drinking right through the filling step.
There is a motor sound as the pumps kick into gear as well as the flush cycle. It’s not all that loud, but I wouldn’t put a bowl close to where I sleep. Here’s a quick vid showing the flush cycle where you can get a read on the volume level.
My wife and I both found ourselves thinking what is that noise, the first couple days, but quickly got used to it. More interesting is that the sound works as kind of a Pavlovian call for the dogs, where I’ve watched them get up and go drink after hearing it. Can absolutely guarantee both dogs are drinking more since getting these bowls.
Final thoughts
While auto-filling pet water bowls might seem a little extra, it’s made me wonder just how many times we forgot to fill their old water bowl before heading out of the house for a while. The 9″ bowl has been working great for both our dogs and the fact that it’s filtering out the usual dog slobber and keeping them hydrated is great. The Wall Unit is a great solution if you have a water line you can tap into near a good spot for where you want the bowl. The Bottle Pump solves for a whole bunch of other scenarios as long as you don’t mind looking at that bottle, or finding a way to hide it.
The App might be useful for hydration tracking for a single pet, but with multiple there’s no way to tell which pet is drinking, nor would that be an easy problem to solve.
Definitely want to say thanks to Founder/Owner Steve for being so accessible and troubleshooting on a super early prototype. All has been good.
The Bottle Pump also works as a night light although I’m not sure that was intentional. This is either a bonus or not depending on your needs.
What I like about the Always Full Pet Bowl
- Constant supply of fresh filtered water
- App with hydration data and notification on bowl status
- Super responsive company
What needs to be improved?
- Bottle Pump could be more opaque to glow less
- No way to tell which dog is drinking (not an easy solve obviously)
Price: from $169 (7″ bowl and bottle pump) to $199 (9″ bowl and wall unit)
Where to buy: Always Full
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Always Full who did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
