To ask whether the Breville HotCup hot water dispenser is worth it?

[ElleBelleLou]

Hi all

Posting in AIBU for traffic mostly, hoping to hear if anyone uses the breville hotcup dispenser and sings it's praises?

I'm doing all I can to help my energy bills - switching everything off at the wall (even my wifi when I'm out the house!), but I still feel like I can do more.

My DF has just bought one of these, and says it'll basically pay for itself with what it saves on the bills, I think because it only boils what you need and is faster? But then, to make it faster surely it uses more energy to speed up the heating process?

This is the one I'm looking at getting: www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-HotCup-Water-Dispenser-Litre/dp/B001L5SSGQ/ref=asc_df_B001L5SSGQ/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=231909287202&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6538117289364035242&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006864&hvtargid=pla-385930872950&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Keen to hear any thoughts / opinions - is it worth it or am I just getting a bit obsessive 🙃

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I only used mine a few times, I like a good mug of tea and even on the highest setting there was not enough water so we had to work out a combination of 2 settings for one cup of tea, so if DH and I both had tea that's 4 times - quicker and easier to use the kettle was the conclusion.

No, they don't. They go up to about 96 degrees.

@CapMarvel which one did you buy?

My Nan used to have one and it was perfect for her

It will be cheaper than a kettle if it only boils the water you need (no waste).

But my guess is it would take so long to pay for itself it is hardly worth it. You are talking literally years in terms of time for the energy savings to pay for the cost of the device.

Kettles are not the enemy (unless you have a giant 10 litre one that you fill up every time and takes half an hour to boil).

My folks have a hotcup and out of curiosity one day I stuck a thermometer in it. It read 95 degrees, and it's widely reported on the internet that these devices do not truly boil water. The manufactures will claim otherwise, but in reality they don't reliably hit 100 degrees like a kettle obviously will.

Whether you are fussed about that or not is of course a different matter. For coffee it's actually a bit too hot and tea a bit too cold, but it depends on whether you notice the difference. To me tea using water out of one of these things just tastes weird.

Lifted from a metro article published last week-

The majority of kettles have a 3kW element and these appliances boil one cup of water (235ml) in approximately 45 seconds.

This means it uses around 1.28p per boil – because we go back to the 34p per kWh, and a kettle is 3kW.

As a result, if you had two cups of tea every day for a year (0.75p x 365 days), it would cost around £9.34 for the 12 months.

So basically it would take two years (plus whatever the Breville costs to run) of your four cups a day to make your money back on it. I'd skip it and just boil what you need.

My Nan used to have one and it was perfect for her

I think this is their place. For a family having several mugs of tea at the same time they are a pain in the arse. For @Livpool Nan, just having the one (anything like my own Nan that would be a small) cup, they are perfect.

We have one at work. Couldn't comment on energy usage but they are very convenient.

we Bought one of these for my father in law, not from an energy saving point of view, he has Parkinson’s and is a liability with a kettle. He thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread 😊

I've just ordered the morphy Richards one. (Have been saving amazon vouchers all year). It has variable temperature and dispensing volumes. I'm going to be gutted if its crap!

Ahhh I am so torn! I really like a proper cup of tea, so the posters saying it doesn't boil to the right temperature to make a proper cup of tea are making me think it's not a good idea.

But on the flipside, I really do love the idea of how quick (and efficient?) it is compared to my kettle? My DP has a terrible habit of filling it way more than it needs to be and it's okay when I'm at home to tell him to get a grip 🙃 but I worry about the times I'm not and he's just willy nilly heating enough water for a family of 8 to have a tea!
Also with the speed, that's a big plus for me - I'm terrible for putting the kettle on to boil then seeing a load of washing needs taking out / putting in so I start that whilst the kettle is boiling and before I know it it's cold and I'm having to reboil.

Maybe I should keep an eye out for it they go on sale to justify it a bit more?

I love mine but I have issues with grip and have dropped full kettles a number of times so they're the safest option for me.

I find they break easily though. The first one we had is the same as you linked to OP, and the button to automatically turn off stopped working so it would just boil and dispense over and over until you turned it off. It eventually gave up the ghost and tripped our electrics every time it was turned on so I replaced it.

The new one was amazing at first, variable cup sizes, so much quieter than the other one, and something has gone wrong with it and now it only dispenses about half the amount of water that it should so you need to boil it twice for every cup. The manual says it's a limescale thing but we live in a soft water area and even using limescale stuff in it didn't do a thing so I guess I need to replace it again.

Absolutely no issues with the taste or temperature of the water for either machine though.

I have the variable cup version with the built in Britain’s filter and it’s great. Suits me as I live on my own and have a tiny kitchen so saves having kettle plus Brita jug on work top.

Ahhh I am so torn! I really like a proper cup of tea, so the posters saying it doesn't boil to the right temperature to make a proper cup of tea are making me think it's not a good idea.

Try making tea when you're visiting your DF to se if his model gets hot enough?

Stop turning your Wi-Fi router on and off unless you want to knacker it. It is not designed to be on and off all the time and has to recalibrate each time.

Stop turning your Wi-Fi router on and off unless you want to knacker it. It is not designed to be on and off all the time and has to recalibrate each time.

I have always switched mine off and it's never been an issue. Not sure what it has to do with making tea though.

I have the variable one and have had it for ages and ages and absolutely love it.

It’s safe, I fill it once a day, and the tea is lovely. It’s also safe enough that I don’t mind tween DD making herself a hot chocolate or cup a soup in it. The biggest measure is a big cup. It’s enough to half fill a small hot water bottle which is about the safe level of water in one anyway.

I’ve thrown the kettle away. For the very very rare occasion I’d need a full kettle (like monthly!) I have a stove top kettle backup.

We have one and like it. Our kettle died so we replaced it with one of these. Not had any issues with it. I'm not a huge hot drink drinker though

@Hibernationsetting I have OCD and I'm obsessive about making sure everything is switched off at the wall before I leave the house (apart from the fridge) or I convince myself there'll be a fire whilst I'm away from home. I've had CBT etc but ultimately it's just easiest to flick the switches off - I've been doing this 2016 and nothing has broken as a result so far

Bought something similar for my DM as she had arthritic hands and had difficulty lifting a kettle. She loved it

@ErrolTheDragon my DF lives quite far away unfortunately and I won't be seeing him until after Christmas - though he sings its praises that much you'd think he's on commission!

I love mine. It does need descaling every couple of months or it gives half measures.

It takes the same energy to boil a cup of water however you do it. You are literally putting a quantity of heat into something. Your Breville and your kettle are both 3kW electric heaters in different containers. One will not be noticeably faster than the other for the same volume of water.

Boiling a kettle uses energy in proportion to the amount of water boiled. There's no advantage in boiling a full kettle and putting it in a flask.

"It only boils what you need"

How about .... you only boil the water you need in the kettle? I see it has an 0.5 L marking, you could add a 0.3 L marking or use your mug to measure the right amount in. If this small inconvenience is a deal breaker then maybe you do need the Breville. The embodied energy of manufacturing it will cover several years of kettle boiling I expect.

We use a hot water dispenser. The 100 degree option is definitely 100c on ours as I checked the various temp options several times for baby milk

I never use a kettle to boil water for pasta, it takes about 20 seconds to boil a while pan on the induction hob. Much more efficient, and no lifting hot water around kitchen