Boiling Water taps. What and where to buy.

[Mulberry View]

I'll always fly the flag for Quooker. We fitted ours when our Kitchen went in about 5 years ago. It's the 7 Litre standalone one (overkill, but I got it RIDICULOUSLY cheap). Here's my DIY plumbing effort, it's fitted in it's own cupboard, along with a catering-grade filter. The cartridges for the filter are expensive, but I've changed it twice in 5 years and am still getting crystal clear Tea. I'm in the South East, where the water is terrible. It hasn't missed a beat. Not once and I'd definitely buy another if we get to go ahead with our self-build.

 

Oh, the sharp-eyed among you might spot my little plumbing trickery. I fitted a divert system. In the event of the boiler failing for any reason, reverse the positions of the 2 red taps and the domestic hot water for the kitchen sink will be supplied from the Quooker (ours was before they did the combined taps etc).

 

 

 

 

 

[ProDave]

Back to the question of making provision for two "appliance waste hoses"

 

I bought one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/McALPINE-1-Domestic-Appliance-Tee-Piece-V33S/291196199450

 

It was a bit of a punt as I didn't know if it would match the threads on the waste and trap that I have.  But it fits perfectly and goes immediately below the existing appliance connector.

[ProDave]

 

 

I finally got my Lamona / Redring boiling water tap installed today.

 

 

That's using the McAlpine additional appliance connector below the half bowl, and the standard appliance connector below it for the dishwasher.

 

I have yet to put the sink unit back together and fit the shelf in it.

 

Fitting the tap was easy as I fitted it after the worktop was in, but before the sink was fitted.  Hopefully if ever I need to change it, the large cut out I made in the rear of the unit will afford enough access.

 

There is one issue / oddity.  All the time you are running the boiling tap, some of the water discharges through the tundish.

 

Here is a (sorry very poor) picture.

 

 

The black hose is the boiling water out from the heating tank.  The braided steel hose goes off to the actual tap outlet.  The grey hose from the bottom of the tundish goes off to the drain via one of the appliance connectors.

 

Can anyone explain exactly how this is supposed to work.  If it is "normal" for some of the boiling water to go straight down the drain then that is disappointing and wasteful.  Otherwise I have some sort of problem.

 

I did as the instructions said and mounted this tundish as high in the sink unit as possible.

 

[Jeremy Harris]

Ours periodically spurts a bit into the tundish, just before the thermostat shuts off, I think.  I reduced this a bit by turning down the pressure, as ours came with a adjustable pressure reducing valve on the input.  Reducing the pressure also reduces the amount of spitting from the tap.

 

One thing I did add to ours was a time switch (just a standard immersion timer) in the supply, plus a shut off (holiday) switch high up right at the front of the cupboard.  The timer means that the boiler is only on during the day, and the shut off switch makes it easy to go around turning stuff off when we go away.

[ProDave]

I have re read the manual and it says it is normal for the tundish to "drip" during normal operation.  I definitely have a flow, not a drip.  I am going to temporarily run the discharge hose to a bucket so I can measure how much is discharging.

 

A phone call the the technical help line is called for, but not until I can find a non 0845 telephone number for them (not included in my call plan and as I found out once, VERY expensive to call)

 

EDIT: just done that test.  If I fill a mug with boiling water, about a quarter of a mug full of boiling water goes down the drain.  That does not sound right to me. 

[Jeremy Harris]

Sounds way too much to me.  Ours just lets a few drips out for maybe 10 seconds, once every hour or so, probably as the boiler comes to the boil. 

 

Is there a pressure reducing valve on yours?  On ours, this is combined with the pressure relief valve and outlet to the tundish, and is adjustable to set the required flow rate at the tap.  You can just see it in this photo, the relief valve knob is right above the tundish, the pressure reducing valve control knob is the smaller one to the left:

 

[newhome]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

A phone call the the technical help line is called for, but not until I can find a non 0845 telephone number for them

 

Here?

 

[ProDave]

^^^ Thanks.  It might not be until Friday PM before I have time to make that call.

[Hobbiniho]

Ahhh i have just checked my one (redring from howdens) and i have a deffinate flow from the tundish aswell, my feeling is that it is a safety feature as i would not like boiling water coming out the tap at mains cold pressure as that could be pretty dangerous 

[ProDave]

I managed to phone them yesterday.  Having gone through a load of checks with them on the phone to confirm it was installed properly, they agreed it was wrong and have ordered a replacement drain valve thing. But they can't say when I will get it as it's presently out of stock.

 

It works okay as it is, but being a poor self builder, I don't like the thought of roughly 25% of my boiled water just going straight down the drain.

[newhome]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

roughly 25% of my boiled water just going straight down the drain.

 

There’s always an old fashioned kettle ?

 

[ProDave]

I came home from work today and the kettle was sitting on the kitchen worktop.  Yes the Lamona boiling water tap had stopped heating water.

 

A quick check of records found I bought it from Howdens in November 2019 and a phone call to Howdens confirmed it has a 2 year warranty.  They then gave me the phone number of the manufacturer who without quibble have posted a replacement water boiler unit.

 

I will keep you posted.

[Pocster]

15 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Lamona

This “ better “ than qooker ? . I can guess it’s certainly cheaper !

[Bitpipe]

Five years in and our Qooker is starting to get a bit erratic, seems to switch itself off and needs a reset at the top to rechearge.

 

I descale twice a year and the plastic housing is starting to crumble around the bolt locations, cosmetic but annoying also. 

[ProDave]

8 minutes ago, pocster said:

This “ better “ than qooker ? . I can guess it’s certainly cheaper !

Howdens own brand.  I doubt it's better than Qooker, but it was certainly cheaper.

[ProDave]

The replacement water boiler arrived today, very prompt service, and I have just fitted it and it's working.

 

For anyone reading this, it's a Lamona branded boiling water tap from Howdens, the water boiler was badged Redring, but it turns out it is made by ProBoil.  The original one was a Proboil 2 and the replacement is a Proboil 2X  Their website is here http://www.proboil.co.uk/

[Adsibob]

On 26/10/2019 at 10:19, Jenni said:

I seem to get a lot of sm adverts for this one -

https://www.qettle.com/

 

The Qettle Mini is exactly what I want, except I hate chrome. Shame they don't do brushed brass or brushed steel.

[DianeP]

Has anyone had a Blanco 3 in 1 boiling water tap installed / got any views on how it compares to Quooker?

[Adsibob]

Does anyone have a pronteau by abode?  http://www.pronteau.co.uk/4-in-1/propure-monobloc-swan/configure

 

[Adsibob]

Or a Prima: https://www.ergonomicdesigns.co.uk/product/BPR405~prima-plus-3-in-1-kitchen-mixer-tap-in-matt-black.html which isn't a bad price for WRAS approved and 10 year guarantee

[Red Kite]

We have a quettle , we went for it as you can add a water chiller. we had a built in fridge so no ice or chilled water. Only been in a few months but seems great 

[daiking]

You know when someone is popping over or due round soon and you tell them you’ll put the kettle on, what do you say when you have an instant hot water tap?

[Adsibob]

Can people really tell the difference in taste between tea made with 100 degree water and tea made with 98 degree water? The difference in price to get that extra 2 degrees is incredible. Remind me of cyclists paying extra hundreds of pounds to save grams on the weight of their bikes.

[PeterW]

7 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Can people really tell the difference in taste between tea made with 100 degree water and tea made with 98 degree water? The difference in price to get that extra 2 degrees is incredible. Remind me of cyclists paying extra hundreds of pounds to save grams on the weight of their bikes.

With really good tea from F&M you can tell if the water has been reboiled, as the oxygen in the water is what helps flavour, and you should always use water off the boil so 98°C is still too hot to make it anyway .. If you’re using PG Tips tea bags (other brands are available) then it’s reasonably irrelevant. 

[wozza]

Question for boiling tap owners:

 

Do you need somewhere to place the cup or pan whilst filling it with boiling water?

 

We are considering a Quooker flex tap, the sink that we are planning to get is 700mm wide and 250mm deep - the only tap hole is in the middle so 350mm from either side of the sink / drainer. So if filling a cup or a pan we will need to hold it in one hand (weight could be an issue if a big pan) or place it in the bottom of the sink which would be quite a bit higher than the tap, so would you consider that to be an issue? 

The only other option is to modify the sink so that the tap hole is close to the drainer so that the cup / pan can be placed there when filling.