Boiling water taps feature tanks that heat water on demand, reducing energy consumption and saving on fuel or electricity. Their design also means there’s minimal loss of heat through shorter travel distances.
Boiling water taps are child safe and feature a catch that must be depressed to release steaming hot water. This prevents any accidental release of boiling water and is ideal for homes with young children.
Easy to use
Boiling water taps can sit stylishly alongside your sink or replace your existing kitchen mixer tap and dispense instant boiling and regular hot, cold and filtered drinking water from the same lever. They look just like a standard tap and are easy to use – even if you have trouble lifting a kettle or jug.
Instant boiling water is produced by heating the water with an electric element inside a heavily insulated storage tank. This uses less electricity than boiling a kettle multiple times a day and helps to keep energy bills down.
Unlike traditional boiling water, boiling taps don’t dispense water that is at the boiling point of 100degC, but rather, it is a lot closer to this temperature which makes it perfect for day-to-day cooking and drinking. Water at this temperature kills most microorganisms that can cause harmful bacteria, so it is safe to use for food and drink purposes.
By removing the need for a kettle, boiling taps free up space on your worktop and can help to declutter your kitchen. They can also save time as they make it much quicker to prepare a cup of tea or a bowl of noodles or couscous. You can pour boiling water straight into pans to speed up cooking, or you can use it to quickly heat up a cup of coffee.
Saves time
Boiling water taps dispense hot water at a much higher temperature than a standard hot tap. This means you can boil water or heat it up for cooking, cleaning and washing up much faster. It also reduces water waste as you only pour out what you need and not the leftover water that would have been poured out from a kettle.
Using a boiling water tap also saves energy. One-fifth of household energy use is for heating water. With a boiling water tap, you don’t have to heat and reheat the water over and over again like with a kettle – this is not only a waste of energy but also a waste of water.
The Billi tap’s unique heat-exchange technology utilises change-of-state energy to absorb and store the heat that would normally be wasted in your pipes. This energy is then used to preheat the boiling water that is supplied to your tap, resulting in significant energy savings.
If you’re worried that installing a boiling water tap will be a big job, it’s actually fairly easy. The majority of boiling water taps are monobloc – they consist of just one unit, replacing your existing single tap. You will still need to remove your old tap body and adapt the plumbing so it fits the new tap. However, this is a lot easier than installing a separate hot and cold pillar tap.
Reduces water waste
A boiling water tap is a great way to eliminate the clutter of a kettle from your kitchen, while still having access to boiling water whenever you need it. They’re also ideal for workplaces, as they can reduce the time spent waiting for a kettle to boil and ensure that there is always a constant supply of hot water.
A boiling tap can also be much more energy-efficient than a traditional tap, as they use less electricity to heat the water. This is because they only dispense the amount of water that has been requested, so they are far more efficient than a kettle. Quooker taps in particular, which use a vacuum insulation mechanism and thermos technology, only require 10W of energy to maintain the temperature of the water they dispense.
While the high temperature of boiled water does kill microorganisms, it doesn’t remove all contaminants, such as metal ions or some hardness-causing salts. Filtering your water instead will be more effective for this purpose, as it can significantly reduce the amount of unwanted contaminants in your drinking water.
Leaving the tap running while you’re cooking can waste an enormous amount of water, especially if you’re washing vegetables or cleaning. A boiling water tap can help you cut this water wastage by giving you easy access to scalding hot water when you need it.
Safer to use
If your water utility puts out a “boil water notice” or you need to use a non-filtered water source for drinking, washing dishes and cooking, it can be very useful to have a boiling water tap. Using it is faster than heating up and waiting for pots to boil, and it’s also much safer.
Boiling water kills bacteria, viruses and parasites, making it safer to drink. However, it does not remove other harmful contaminants like heavy metals and chemicals.
Water pipes are made of a variety of materials, but some of them are prone to corrosion – particularly lead and zinc. When these metals corrode they can leach into the water supply, leaving behind dangerous substances that are highly toxic to drink. Hot water is much more soluble in these metals than cold water. It is therefore more likely that they will get into the water in a home with old pipes, and it is much easier for them to build up over time.
While boiling water can make it safer to drink, a better solution is to filter the water with an advanced water filtration system certified to remove hundreds of contaminants including lead and chlorine. This will help to ensure that you have healthy, safe water that is good for your body and the environment.