Boiling Water Taps.. yes or no?

[Anonymousbird]

Initially I dismissed having one of these, just seemed a bit excessive. But I am coming round to the idea of instant hot water for drinks and cooking and NO KETTLE cluttering up the place.

So three questions please,

1. If you've got one, are you pleased with it, or was it really a waste of money?

2.Are they as efficient as they are promoted as being

1. Which one? I've seen Quookers (£££££) and InSinkErator (£££). My kitchen supplier is recommending ISE at around £4-500.

Thanks

Well, after all this excitement, my kitchen installer came by yesterday and said I might not have room for it as the tank will not fit under my sink with the arrangement of units and other gizmos!!!! Boo hoo, I may have to forgo my boiling water tap (and I'd just got myself all excited and willing to part with the best part of £500 to have it as well!!!!)

Am intrigued at the extent of debate this has created, I expected a couple of replies and nearly a week later, the thread is still going!!!!

mine fits at the back of the cupboard under the sink, which is a 1.5 bowl. i cant imagine why the arragement of units would affect it, unless you have a corner sink

are you sure he's not just being difficult? they don't like to do anything out of the ordinary

read this and discuss it with the plumber

I hear what you say, our guy is a bit jobsworth/sharp intake of breath/gentle shake of the head kind of guy. But we have drawers under our sink so it's not that straightforward.... However, we may be able to do something with taking out the back of the unit, so not impossible,, but he needs to go away and measure etc.

ooohh drawers under sink [sucks teeth].....

.. don't shake your head and tut, please!

It's all to do with lines...... donchano?!

ooohh too fancy for me [shoves pencil behind ear]

Oh no! Well at least that has made your mind up now? You most definitely want one!!

I've decided I definitely want one - nay - I'm having one, and DH can go whistle

I had a fight with the one at work today just to get one cup of water. I just hope it's because it isn't designed to have the amount of constant use it actually gets.

I loved the idea of them until we had this one at work there is one on each floor and having to use other floor's ziptaps is not that uncommon - about once a month and they are onl 2 years old. I blame the plannners, they kitchen layout is seriously bad so I reckon they bought the wrong taps and got domestic instead of commercial use ones

The Quooker site says it's suitable for baby formula. Most advice on baby formula says boil a kettle and let it cool until it gets to 70 degrees.
a) is it safe to put quooker water straight into a bottle for feed or is it too hot? (obviously allowing to cool before feeding)
b) is the actual water hot enough to have killed all the bacteria in the first place?

We found that contractors are notoriously bad at fitting Zip taps wrongly - but if correctly specified, fitted and maintained they work fine in a commercial environment, one of our clients uses them in all their buildings (huge portfolio) and all the ones that has had problems are down to them being fitted incorrectly or even the wrong one.

I wouldn't want one [Luddite].

I love my Quooker. DH would have to get up even earlier to make my morning cuppa if we had a kettle ; )

Parents have got one (not sure what make but it will have been researched to death knowing them!)

They never use it. They don't use it for tea as it's not quite hot enough. They don't use it for cooking water as it's not near enough to the hob (easier to carry full kettle to pan on the hob, than carry full pan from tap to hob). They don't have anything that needs sterilising.

based on their experience I wouldn't bother...

3 complaints against Quooker were upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. The following claims were deemed misleading, exaggerated, and/or were not adequately substantiated:

1. that the product was "Eco Friendly";

1. that the product was "Energy Efficient"; and

1. "Energy use only 3p a day, a saving of up to 55% against a kettle".

You can read their decision here:

www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2012/1/Quooker-UK-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_168593.aspx

A poorly conceived ad doesn't mean the product doesn't work, or isn't convenient, but as of 4 January 2012, the company can no longer make the above claims in ads.

That said, we still plan to get one.

The stats for the 'eco-friendliness' of this kettle seem to be based on the idea that we all overfill our kettles and boil up far more water than we need.

Which of course we don't, because we are responsible people who care about the environment and want a world that isn't riddled with climate change for the sake of our children..

Right? RIGHT?

Also, having had one of these things at work, I don't think tea and coffee taste nearly as good as with freshly drawn, freshly boiled water.

We have had a Quooker for 3 years and are thrilled with it. My wife loves it and wouldn't be without it. However....
After three years use I decided to have it serviced at a cost of £150. Great! The fitter told me, surprisingly enough, that there was no limescale and it didn't really need a service. During the service he noticed that the red cover screws had been over-tightened at installation time and the red cover had split. It still worked well but I ordered a new cover anyway at £99. One month later the new cover was installed and we have had nothing but problems since. The red light flashes 4 times in quick succession, then pauses and then another 4 times and this goes on and on. You would think that a regular sequence of 4 flashes would be a code but no-one seems to know (even Quooker themselves) what the code stands for. At this point it stops heating and I have to switch off at the mains and then on again at both the mains and the red Quooker switch befor it will start working again. This is almost a daily occurrence. I am told by my servicing company that it is probably the thermostat which is another £150! So, the initial cost was over £800, Service £150, new top £99 new thermostat £150 and no guarrantee that a new thermostat will fix the problem. We are on the point of throwing it out! In Summary, if it ain't bust, don't fix it! Wouldn't have another one as a gift.