Would (diet) soda mess up a water cooler?

I don’t think it would damage the cooler but the soda will get flat and somewhat gross to drink.

I don’t think it will mess it up, but the cooler will probably get sticky after. If you put soda in there you’ve got to make sure to clean it very good after the soda is gone or else it may mess up some internal components. As long as you clean it good then there shouldn’t be a problem.

it will definitely go flat within a day (like leaving the cap off the bottle). the purpose of a tap is that the tap puts air into the soda when you dispense it.

@jca: yes but it would only put air in ONCE you dispense it… even 2 liters of bottled pepsi have SOME oxygen left in at the top… true it is just a little and it would require much maintenance as far as cleaning goes, the fact they have enough soda and love it enough to place INSIDE a water cooler they may be able to consume it before it goes bad. but this is all in theory…

Diet soda is not sticky and would be easy to rinse out, especially if done promptly.
For a party, it might work fine, but over a day or more, it would all go flat. There is no seal between the bottle (reservoir) and the cooler portion below it. This is not a good idea for carbonated beverages. It might be ok for ice tea without sugar, but it would leave stains from the tea.

The thing to watch out for is the carbonation. If soda’s moved around a lot it will create more gas, and thus more pressure in the container. If the water cooler’s like an office cooler, it’ll move the soda around a lot with each air bubble it makes. That might cause pressure that the cooler might not be designed to deal with.