Quooker tap - anyone had theirs removed?

[ginghamstarfish]

Just buying a house which has one of these, proudly listed as a selling point. I'd like to have it removed and replaced with a normal tap - anyone had this done? Is it fairly straightforward given all the gubbins under the sink?

They are child safe - it's a very specific action needed to get the boiling water flowing, that young children wouldn't be able to manage.

How can a quooker tap make a shite cup of tea 😂? It’s a tap that boils water same way a kettle does.

I love ours. It also generates the hot water which is blended for the hot water at our kitchen tap. We've had it 6 years, had it serviced one and replaced the descaler ourselves once (dead easy). So you could remove it but check that there is a hot water supply first? (We did it as the kitchen tap is at the end of our pipes so to get water from the boiler to it means it has a travel a crazy distance because of the previous owners unusual plumbing design)

Do you live in a hard water area? Mines been serviced twice in 11 years and had a new spout. That’s it. The filters were changed at the service.

soft water area here though.

if I got rid of mine I would have a large hole in the granite, what do you do with it?

Try it op, you might be surprised. They are great and it's better than having a kettle cluttering up your worktop!

It's so much quieter than the kettle. And quicker. And I only drink 2 cups a day. But for cooking too it's awesome.

Rather than remove it (resultant hole left in worktop), you could just turn it off at the power socket, and turn off the water supply to it, and drain it. Or whatever - ask Quooker their advice.

Then no hole in worktop & can be resurrected if/when you come to sell.

Can't you just turn off the boiler and use it as a standard tap?

Live with it for a month OP and see what you think.

I was like this with dishwasher trays. Ridiculous idea, can I remove it and have a basket please. Now a total convert. Same with induction hobs, wanted gas until the 11th hour, last minute U turn, now so glad we went for induction. We also have a quooker which I absolutely love.

Give it a chance … there’s a reason they are so popular.

Yes will try living with it as a normal tap if I can turn off the power. I think it could easily be replaced with a standard tap though as it's the only one there. We looked at another offplan newbuild which had one of these specified, asked what reduction there would be to not have it and was told £1000! I don't get it at all.

If you're a fussy tea drinker they dont make good tea, the water isnt quite boiling

I'm not really a tea connoisseur but apparently these boiling water taps aren't fully 100% which won't let the tea leaves infuse properly. Also, because the same water gets boiled again and again, the oxygen is boiled out of the water which I think makes it taste different.

Though personally I doubt I'd be able to tell.

100degrees not 100%

I’ve had one for 6 years.
Never serviced it, never descaled it, never seen anyone get scalded, never had a crap cup of tea

i would love to see the explanation for how it can ‘boil the oxygen out of water’ 😂😂😂 and perhaps have a quiet word with that person’s chemistry teacher

I think a lot of the worlds energy problems would be solved in a stroke of water could be converted to liquid hydrogen with an under-sink tank that costs 3p a day to run 😂😂😂

The cheaper boiling water taps only heat water to 96/97 degrees, the posher ones - franke, quooker etc heat to 100 - I spent far too long researching them before I got my Franke one installed.

It needs to be freshly boiled water for tea not sat around for ages heating, so drawn from a normal tap and boiled. On the other hand water for coffee should not be boiling so I set my kettle at about 90-95c for that.

We have a quokker and they are the only brand that heat to 100 , cheaper than the quettle too

We drink a lot of different teas at home so a Quooker would be no good for us, many teas only want 80C water so in our case a variable temperature kettle is better, DH won't drink tea with old water so we would have to have a kettle as well just for normal tea

Our Quooker is fantastic.

OP. They operate as a normal cold/warm/hot water tap too.

You have to perform a specific 'donk/donk/twist' action to get boiling water out.

I have tea that I want non-boiled water for. I put an inch of cold in first before the boiling water.

I don't like the idea of a Quooker either - I like the little routine of putting the kettle on - I usually empty my dishwasher whilst it's boiling and it gives you something to do when people come round before you get into whatever conversation you're going to have!

I think I'd give it a chance before ripping it out though if I inherited one.

I was dubious before DH persuaded me to get one a year ago when we replaced our kitchen and I am also a total convert, we too have it for the normal hot water because our tank is so far away. It does keep it fresh at 100°C, the water doesn’t actually boil till it leaves the tap, as it is held at a higher temperature under vacuum. I do the same as a PP and put a splash of cold in first for drinks needing a slightly lower temperature. I don’t miss the routine of the kettle at all, you still get a few moments while you get out cups, strainer, tea, spoon etc. I let my tea brew while I empty the dishwasher or whatever.

I am also a convert to induction rings after having had a gas hob but still hate the dishwasher tray with a passion, I’d have my basket back like a shot.

Other benefits of a Quooker than just water for your tea/coffee, filling a pot for pasta or rice. And it is boiling, other hot water taps are hot water. Quooker is a boiling water tap. I love it.

But hands down best thing about my Quooker is turning on the cold tap, activating the boiling water and having instant very hot water to wash up items. The alternative is to run perfectly good drinking water down the drain (unless you collect it) until it becomes the hot water you require for washing up, rinsing something etc. That is a massive waste to me. Even more so now when we are going to have hosepipe bans and people are literally pouring water down the drain until it runs hot.

Yes, that's brilliant, it used to take a good minute for the water to run through hot from our main hot water tank.