Boiling Water Tap - Recommendations?

[Chris_in_the_UK]

Despite my earlier scepticism I recently spent a few days at a mate's house and he has a boiling water tap - seemed like a good thing in practice.

There are loads on the market now from one's that seem overly cheap to one's costing up to £1500.

Any feedback/recommendations? I would rather spend less than £1k if poss.

[Paddy!]

In the midst of a kitchen renovation, I wanted to oust the installed zip hydrotap as the gubbins took up a ridiculous amount of under sink room. We never used the cold water tap (swmbo still rocking carbon filtered jug) and the hot wasn't enough to make a cup of tea. I assume it is reasonably old tech now.

We opted for the quooker for the refit, with just the hot water. In a similar vain to yourself, it was after being duped into a brew at a friend's and told afterwards that no kettle was required.

[craig1912]

It was in the house when we moved in but our Quooker is used all the time. Kettle now redundant. It’s just the hot water one, none of the fancy stuff.

[adrianw]

They are floored in principle if you live in a hard water area, but our Quooker has been ok, the have a new scale control system now which lasts a lot longer

[Mj2k]

Quooker when we did the kitchen, wold never look back as it is so convenient.

Only have the filter for hard water, would have loved chilled & sparkling but the cost was almost triple.

Making a cup of tea is significantly quicker.

Add the tea bag after the water, as goes strange otherwise, a bit of white foam.

Ours broke & had to buy a kettle for 4 days, it felt like the dark ages - if you can afford it, do it!

[robcuk]

Qooker! We have the full setup with chilled and sparkling too, has been fantastic for last 3 years with a new filter every 12 months and a new CO cylinder every few months.

[bigbaddes]

neighbour had something along these lines fitted - nothing but trouble and not cheap.

on the other hand the new canteen at my last clients place had one for teas and coffees and it was fandabbydozey when it worked admittedly it did fail a couple of times in the 3 months i was there.

we have a kettle and brita filter jug at home

[Mj2k]

neighbour had something along these lines fitted - nothing but trouble and not cheap.

on the other hand the new canteen at my last clients place had one for teas and coffees and it was fandabbydozey when it worked admittedly it did fail a couple of times in the 3 months i was there.

we have a kettle and brita filter jug at home

something worked, something didn't.

Thanks for such insight.

[JC180]

Quooker, been faultless for 5+ years at home and in the office, can't recommend them highly enough.

[langdalematt]

Quooker here, wonderful piece of kit and used all the time. No more kettle cluttering the worktop

[M1011]

something worked, something didn't.

Thanks for such insight.

Bit of a strange response to someone sharing their experience of the product being discussed.

[MrLion]

What's the energy consumption like?

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[Paddy!]

What's the energy consumption like?

Various online resources quote ~10w/hr. A kettle is about 2-3kw for a boil based on 500ml (minimum amount for most kettles).

If you're asking from the angle of a direct tco compared to a kettle, a tap is likely to be more expensive, parity at best, in most homes when taking into account initial and ongoing costs. Especially when looking at £/p per cup of tea.

From a sustainability point of view, relating to the energy consumption:

- There is less water waste from a hot water tap. You "boil" just what you need.
- The actual production of metal taps is likely to have less environmental impact than most kettles, certainly when we put our old one in a skip on the driveway, I don't expect a knock on the door asking to take away the old kettle...

I don't have an energy/cost comparison, but we use the hot tap instead of using gas hobs to heat water for steaming veg etc. we are soon moving to electric induction.

Energy consumption is obviously dependant on each household. Inital cost and any decision to buy a hot water tap should be weighted towards convenience more than energy saving, in my opinion.

[Peter franks]

We have a fohen tap made in Germany its been in for nearly 2 years and it works perfectly.
Nothing fancy just normal hot and cold and boiling water.
Small tank under the sink, easy to fit.
Paid about £650
Would definitely recommend it.
For info boiling water is at 98 degrees not 100 if that makes any difference to you.
I haven't noticed any major increase in energy bills but I haven't actually checked to see what it actually costs.

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[j0hnbarker]

We have a fohen tap made in Germany its been in for nearly 2 years and it works perfectly.
Nothing fancy just normal hot and cold and boiling water.
Small tank under the sink, easy to fit.
Paid about £650
Would definitely recommend it.
For info boiling water is at 98 degrees not 100 if that makes any difference to you.
I haven't noticed any major increase in energy bills but I haven't actually checked to see what it actually costs.

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We have the same one. Installed by the developer we bought the house from.

Initially I was sceptical and set up the kitchen with our new kettle on the counter. That has been used once in the 7 months we have been here. Definitely recommend one though the filters are pretty expensive if you change them every 6/12 as recommended.

[walkerwek1958]

Maybe I’m missing a trick, but I can’t see any advantage with these things. Boiling a 3 kw kettle takes less than 1 minute to prepare a mug of coffee, I can live with that. I also have concerns regarding safety and risk of scalding if boiling water is available on tap.

[Mj2k]

Maybe I’m missing a trick, but I can’t see any advantage with these things. Boiling a 3 kw kettle takes less than 1 minute to prepare a mug of coffee, I can live with that. I also have concerns regarding safety and risk of scalding if boiling water is available on tap.

You have to double press and then twist the ring, so hard to accidentally release boiling water. Also it is aerated, which magically reduces the scalding apparently, so there is less water contact with the skin. I won’t be testing it though!

[Chris_in_the_UK]

We have a fohen tap made in Germany its been in for nearly 2 years and it works perfectly.
Nothing fancy just normal hot and cold and boiling water.
Small tank under the sink, easy to fit.
Paid about £650
Would definitely recommend it.
For info boiling water is at 98 degrees not 100 if that makes any difference to you.
I haven't noticed any major increase in energy bills but I haven't actually checked to see what it actually costs.

That sounds ideal - they are now less than £400 on Amazon.

Thanks guys.

[smokey99]

Maybe I’m missing a trick, but I can’t see any advantage with these things. Boiling a 3 kw kettle takes less than 1 minute to prepare a mug of coffee, I can live with that.

I'm kind a with you. We've just had a new kitchen fitted along with the space it was going to take up the cost/value add ratio just didn't make sense never mind the issues if something went wrong.

Also I just don't need to save that amount of time when making a cuppa. There's plenty of other tea making admin to be done whilst its working its way up to full boil.

[Scepticalist]

If you cook every day, I can see the convenience and value proposition being higher (boiling/steaming veg etc). Not sure I'd want one just for the 3 cups of tea our house makes per day (I have coffee machine).

[MB2]

We have a Quooker (came with the house) and it is beautifully engineered and quickly went from "gimmick" to "would repair/replace immeditately" if it failed.

I added the water filter (which is designed for DIY retro-fit) and this gives ambient filtered water from the same tap which is a handy addition as not too big under the sink and intergrates really nicely with the tap. I have considered the scale control unit but we have a softener so this should be less of an issue.

The tank is quite big under the sink (we have the bigger tank) only real drawback is you can run out of hot water as our model is cold water feed only, so if you are going to buy one I would arrnage an appointment with a Quooker rep to understand the range properly and choose the best model for you.(our sink is very close to the DHW tank so personally I think it would have been better fed from this, that said, we have probably run out of water twice in a couple of years so not really an issue.

[adrianw]

I'm kind a with you. We've just had a new kitchen fitted along with the space it was going to take up the cost/value add ratio just didn't make sense never mind the issues if something went wrong.

Also I just don't need to save that amount of time when making a cuppa. There's plenty of other tea making admin to be done whilst its working its way up to full boil.

I assume you don’t do the cooking in your house? Hot taps save a huge amount of time, especially while waiting for kettles of water to boil, they are expensive but are incredibly convenient, unlike most pointless luxury items they are very useful

[MrBanks]

I have a Fohen. The lock button for the hot tap broke after 18 months and they sent me a new one. The filters are also pricey but otherwise it's been fine. They are excellent VFM compared to Quooker.

[snowman]

A symptom of the instant gratification culture.

Expensive for what a kettle costing under £20 does, IMO.

Seems to be the latest way for kitchen companies to fleece people.

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[adrianw]

A symptom of the instant gratification culture.

Expensive for what a kettle costing under £20 does, IMO.

Seems to be the latest way for kitchen companies to fleece people.

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You haven’t seen how much commercial hot taps cost, we bought ours from the manufacturer, Shan did you last look at the price of posh kettles?

[snowman]

Who needs a posh kettle?

They all boil water

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[craig1912]

Who needs a posh kettle?

They all boil water

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Who needs a posh watch?

They all tell the time.

Seriously though they just make life a little easier and every little helps😊

[walkerwek1958]

You have to double press and then twist the ring, so hard to accidentally release boiling water. Also it is aerated, which magically reduces the scalding apparently, so there is less water contact with the skin. I won’t be testing it though!

If its aerated and cooled it won’t make good tea. The golden rule when brewing tea is to hit the leaves (or tea bag) with water as close to boiling point as practicable.

Nothing I’ve read on this thread convinces me that I should’ve installed one when I refitted my kitchen last year. Fortunately we live is an area where the water isn’t too hard so there's no benefit from filtering.

[walkerwek1958]

A symptom of the instant gratification culture.

Expensive for what a kettle costing under £20 does, IMO.

Seems to be the latest way for kitchen companies to fleece people.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

+1, buy the cheapest 3kw kettle and bin it when it breaks. I checked mine by timing it and doing the calculation to confirm it really was 3kw.

[wileeeeeey]

Something I always dismissed as unnecessary but now suddenly am interested in. Classic TZ thread.

[Wolfie]

Qettle gets excellent reviews…. And claims 100c water…. £545 (5% off on eBay too)

I should have had one in my recent kitchen update, but ended up simplifying things to get it all done…. I may go back and snag one if I can get a deal…. Seems like a self install job too

[smokey99]

I assume you don’t do the cooking in your house? Hot taps save a huge amount of time, especially while waiting for kettles of water to boil, they are expensive but are incredibly convenient, unlike most pointless luxury items they are very useful

Yep I’m active member of the cooking cohort in the house. We just run the tap until it’s hot and that saves plenty enough time.

But we cook a lot of curries and stir fried which generally don’t require hot water.

As per the point about making a drink it’s the same with pasta or steaming vegetables. There’s enough going on to not to have to save that time with a £1,500 tap.


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[Maris]

I have a Fohen. The lock button for the hot tap broke after 18 months and they sent me a new one. The filters are also pricey but otherwise it's been fine. They are excellent VFM compared to Quooker.

Had a Fohen for a couple of years, cost £450 and has been 100% reliable.
if you get one you’ll spend a lot more on tea bags especially if you’re retired or work from home, I have a cuppa after everything I do now.

[Mj2k]

If its aerated and cooled it won’t make good tea. The golden rule when brewing tea is to hit the leaves (or tea bag) with water as close to boiling point as practicable.

Nothing I’ve read on this thread convinces me that I should’ve installed one when I refitted my kitchen last year. Fortunately we live is an area where the water isn’t too hard so there's no benefit from filtering.

I will measure the temp tmrw when I’m making one. It is weird - they claim safety due to the aeration, but I’m with you on the thinking of aeration = cooling. They claim boiling, and would believe they’d have had to withdraw this if not the case.

Our represented such a small percentage of the kitchen costs I just wanted it. It also means I have something else not visible cluttering the worktop, same reason the Dualit went to my sister in law.

[Mj2k]

Had a Fohen for a couple of years, cost £450 and has been 100% reliable.
if you get one you’ll spend a lot more on tea bags especially if you’re retired or work from home, I have a cuppa after everything I do now.

Interesting that - since we had ours I drink more tea whereas before I was nailing 10 Nespresso pods a day. I now also have so much on my Nespresso balance it is rather worrying.

[Mj2k]

Something I always dismissed as unnecessary but now suddenly am interested in. Classic TZ thread.

Do it.

Do it

Do it!!

[wileeeeeey]

Do it.

Do it

Do it!!

New Blanco tap for almost £400 back in Jan. Should have done it then. Still tempting though

The quintessential TZ dualit kettle lives another day

[Mj2k]

New Blanco tap for almost £400 back in Jan. Should have done it then. Still tempting though

The quintessential TZ dualit kettle lives another day

Ouch, yeah that is a hard call.

Dualit kettle - had that, our last was a Kitchen Aid to match the mixer....also with the SIL.

[Gerald Genta]

Qettle gets excellent reviews…. And claims 100c water…. £545 (5% off on eBay too)

I should have had one in my recent kitchen update, but ended up simplifying things to get it all done…. I may go back and snag one if I can get a deal…. Seems like a self install job too

I'm having a Qettle installed in the next week or so, so I will let you know how I get on with it. I was drawn to i) the price and ii) that it seems to be one of the few boiling water taps that actually produces 100c water.

[Wolfie]

I'm having a Qettle installed in the next week or so, so I will let you know how I get on with it. I was drawn to i) the price and ii) that it seems to be one of the few boiling water taps that actually produces 100c water.

I reckon it’s the one I’d go for

[craig1912]

If its aerated and cooled it won’t make good tea. The golden rule when brewing tea is to hit the leaves (or tea bag) with water as close to boiling point as practicable.
.

It’s not cooled…. Well actually it is as it is at 110C whilst in the tank and cools to 100C at the tap. It makes excellent tea.

[oldoakknives]

We have a basic Quooker one that was here when we moved in.
Kitchen had recently been done and we liked it so kept it. Thought it was a bit of a gimmick until we started using BBC it. Now boiling a kettle seems a bit old fashioned.
Bit like the dishwasher scenario. Once you’ve had one…..

[kungfupanda]

Another happy Fohen customer. Ordered from their website and I think their UK base is somewhere in Leeds. Easy enough to fit yourself if you’re a competent DIYer. Just the basic hot water tap for around £450 with a couple of filters thrown in I think. This was a couple of years ago and it’s been faultless ever since.

I don’t think we’d ever go back to having a kettle. It’s so convenient having instant hot water for drinks and cooking now.

[MartynJC (UK)]

It’s not cooled…. Well actually it is as it is at 110C whilst in the tank and cools to 100C at the tap. It makes excellent tea.

Q) So the water is pressurised in the tank to allow it to reach temps above 100C and still be a liquid? When it is released from the tap at room pressure the temp drops to 100C for the liquid water (I guess).

Hope to get one fitted when our kitchen is redone maybe next year.

[noTAGlove]

A symptom of the instant gratification culture.

Expensive for what a kettle costing under £20 does, IMO.

Seems to be the latest way for kitchen companies to fleece people.

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All that electrickery. We are still in the dark ages and have a whistling stove top kettle.

I love the simplicity and it produces boiling water at less than one-third of the cost of an electric kettle or boiling water tap.

Heating anything by electrickery should be avoided as typically it costs 35p/kWh compared to 10p/kWh for gas.

[Mj2k]

212F at the tap which is 100C.

Just checked with my Thermapen.

[yumma]

I don’t think anyone has mentioned Zip yet? I am not overly familiar with their domestic taps, but have used Zip Hydoboil wall units for decades in the offices, schools and fire stations I have worked in. Always the industry standard. I would personally be looking here first.

[mrsammyp]

We have a Quooker and Quooker Cube now for Boiling / Filtered and Sparkling. Really good. That said, twice before we’ve had a separate Insinkerator boiling hot tap (roughly £400) and actually it was probably better / less issues.

https://amzn.eu/d/4yeB1ON


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[xxnick1975]

We have one.

In the house we moved too.

Fantastic bit of kit. Defo convenient if making several cups of tea, or need a pan of boiling water for rice or pasta etc.

Arguably safer than a kettle in many ways, especially with kids around.





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