You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Anybody got one? Worth putting in or just stick with a kettle?
Just about to re-do our kitchen so now's the time to decide!
Was talking about these with my mate the other day who's a heating engineer, I think the word he used was lethal.
Great bits of kit. If you've got children however....
We had a different brand one in my last office in attempt to reduce brew times. Very unreliable and constantly needed fixing. This is definitely a solution to a problem that never existed.
Work has them and they are great...would use one at home but I'd be making sure kids were properly warned.
I used one a few weeks ago - impressive but definitely a bit scary too. They send steam up the pipe so it condenses just before it comes out of the tap. It does remove some of the ceremony of tea too.
Literally just had one fitted and it seems brilliant. I would have thought that a kettle would be more dangerous where children are involved as there is a risk of it tipping over and spilling on them. The mechanism to get the boiling water to come out is relatively childproof, in as much as these things can be, and wouldn't be that accessible to a child.
We didn't go for the 4 in 1 tap though as refrigerated water isn't really a requirement for us.
The builder when I was having a refurb had a Quooker one and told me to get one as it was so good, but neglected to tell me when it broke shortly after and was out of action.
We have some at work and they are constantly breaking.
I didn't get one as I didn't like the idea of constant near-boiling water and what effect that might have on increasing the aluminium concentration. that might not be an issue though in reality.
In the end I bought a matching Dualit Architekt kettle and toaster as these look good in the kitchen and are cheap in comparison to the tap. You could get an expensive and good looking coffee machine as well and it would still be less than the cost of a quooker tap.
We used to have one in the house we just moved out of. I really do miss it. It will be the first thing on the list for the new kitchen
What is the power consumption of these? How much electricity compared to a kettle?
I didn’t get one as I didn’t like the idea of constant near-boiling water and what effect that might have on increasing the aluminium concentration. that might not be an issue though in reality.
The water is held in a pressurised cylinder so there isn't any increase in concentration of any element that is in the water anyway as there isn't any loss of water.
Mate over the road had one put in last year, had at least two call outs to fix since then...
We had zip taps at work, occasionally broke, but did see a lot of use.
Not sure on a domestic installation, but the work ones take up a whole cupboard under the worktop
I’ve had a Quooker and it’s faultless, would never not have one in any kitchen I own. Running costs are un-noticeable to me.
You’d have to be a bit simple to scald yourself on one accidentally, as for being lethal, give over.
We've got one at work, and I must be a bit simple as I can't get it to produce what I want consistently: Press then turn up or down then this way or that for hot/cold/room temp water this way for spurting scalding water all over the place.
Not my favourite
Take a lot of space and, however well insulated they are, surely they have to waste a lot of energy (even a small tank of water that’s being kept at 100C for 24 hours a day but only used a few times must lose a fair bit of heat to the room) unless they’ve invented some magic.
I reckon they make a lot of sense (and probably save energy) in an office environment. Very little at home. And you can buy a really nice tap and a really nice coffee machine, for the price of one.
If you want hot water quickly and efficiently at home fit a high power induction hob and use a stove top kettle
Had one for a few years and the best kitchen gadget ever. Definately not lethal, no more than a kettle, kid safe and in any case would you let a kid operate a kettle? Makes the nicest tea you’ve ever had. Expensive for sure but is a great bit of kit.
What is the power consumption of these? How much electricity compared to a kettle?
Someone worked out for me daily consumption is equivalent to 8 cups of tea and then the costs tail of into insignificance. 2 inches of water for poached eggs saves at least 30 seconds on an induction hob also. 🙂 As for heat loss mine is cool to the touch, so their can't be much. So far 2.5 years no issues.
Not lethal at all - all of them have an childproof mechanism in the tap to stop it being turned on by little / weak hands.
Otherwise very convenient, less noisy than a kettle (our kitchen is under our daughters bedroom) wouldn't go back.
Our 10 year old daughter makes a lovely cup of tea from our quooker.
Cost ?? ... XX worth of kitchen going in, if you are thinking about a quooker .... so what difference does it make how much it costs to run ??
Get one
Good luck
(touch wood ours has been faultless... but might need a service ?)
Hmm. It seems like a lot of effort/expense just for some hot water. Think I'll save my pennies and go with an induction kettle if we feel the need.
As to the reliability issue...are you sure you're referring to the a proper Qooker? They're super reliable, I've never had an issue with mine, my brother has had one for about a year longer than me and had zero issues and my dad has had one for about 3 years longer than me...guess what....zero issues. A mate got one of the new all in one taps installed in 2017 and so far zero issues. So a small sample size but randomly spread across the country across a number of years and a lot of use.
If there are reliability issues out there I would guess its with the all in one tap version. Mine and my Dad and Brothers are the separate tap one, so nothing to fail so nothing to repair. Just a tap and a pressurised flask and heating element. There is a bit more to the all in one tap version though so maybe they've had some issues....but my mates is doing just fine so far.
I'm a fanboy in case you hadn't noticed.
Wobbi ... have you or yours ever had them served ? ... seems to remember someone mentioning it when the kitchen went in 3 years ago ??
Had one in previous office. Always breaking down.
TBF, the kettles were also always breaking down too, but then the kettles didn't cost £x00
£1500 for a tap? No thanks. Still, could be worse - a Zip tap is ~£4k
Got a steam tap - love it and would always have one if I could.
People always come round and say ‘isn’t that dangerous?’ Then after a super quick cup of tea is produced they realise how great they are.
Making a brew is can be stretched out to 15 mins in the kitchen away from the family
Can’t put a price on that respite form the little darlings, so I’ll stick with the kettle 😉
(We’ve got one installed in our new office kitchen refurb, jury’s out after 3 weeks as kettle gets used more. That might be due to people forgetting we’ve got it)
We have 2 in the work (zip)
Always breaking down and £150 a pop for the filter according to the maintenance man in the know !!
We have a quooker at home, needs an occasional reset but that’s no real concern.
What is a concern is the poached eggs. Poached eggs as fast as you can make toast. This is life changing.
FWIW it’s pretty safe for kids. You have to double tap to start the boiling element and it’s not obvious unless you know how.
Secondly, it’s aireated when it comes out so you can put you hand through it.
Yes I have done so. I was a might tiddled at the time but I bear no scars.
We bought the in laws one for Christmas , both have terrible eyesight .
Thier kettle was made redundant very quickly , both find the boiler thing far easier and safer to use .
Having a minor kitchen refit which includes a new sink and tap unit. Currently we use 3-4ltrs of water to get hot water and being in an open plan house we’d love to loose the noise of the kettle - so one of these seems a great idea. Any one using other makes? Or is it just the Quooker that’s recommended? Thanks Rich
Place I used to work at had the staff kitchen/canteen refitted, and had a Zip system fitted. Very impressive when it worked, but it was constantly playing up, the flow would slow up, then stop, it would be several days before an engineer would come out and fix it, which meant a kettle had to be brought back into use. Then there’s the filters, etc, especially as it’s a hard water region around here.
I like the idea of them, just putting a cup or mug under a tap and getting an instant hot drink, but the added cost, complexity and cost of maintenance is very off putting.
Lovely scalded coffee....
I think where you live might impact the reliability. A couple of friends have them up here (Durham/Northumberland) and the relatively soft water seems to suit them. Work put them in the office (Maidenhead) and they died within weeks. All furred up. They tried the Tefal desktop instant kettle things first though. They lasted 1 day!
Lovely scalded coffee….
No different than pouring an immediate boil of water out of a kettle onto it. Thats user error, not the taps fault.
Zip taps you have at work don't give you boiling water.. it's a few degrees less so tea tastes crap. Also the separate Quooker taps are not £1500...mine was £600 and its 100% reliable. The more expensive all in one taps have a bit more technology added as you can get normal hot and filtered cold water or boiling water out of the same tap, so obviously has some electronic gadgetry going on...but as I say for domestic purposes my mate has had zero issues with his - again sample size of one.
Having said that i'm not sure Quookers are specifically designed for constant use in a busy office environment really...a Zip tap is more suited to that...which is why it costs £4k. A Quooker is more designed and intended for domestic use where you're drawing water from it occasionally. It works by heating pressurised water in the super insulated flask to over 100 degrees C, so you draw a bit off, it autofills, and heats the fresh added water and that is where the efficiency is, it only heats exactly what you need and use. If you're constantly using it in a busy office then the flask never gets time to re-heat when the fresh water than is added.
Go on, as much as I love mine and would have one going forward over any other kitchen gadget as it gets the most use, its one of those things where you simply cannot justify the cost on a business case basis....they claim they're cheaper to run than a kettle and i'm sure they are if you use it in a way that they have assumed and based their calcs on in that it only boils water that you use (a bit like car MPG claims). I do know that if I were to use a kettle in the same way I use my Quooker i'd be boiling it a hell of a lot and the Kettle is one of the most power hungry things in your house. And as usual with kettle usage there is always a slug of water at the bottom of the kettle that gets boiled, cooled and re-boiled multiple times before it's used as you never just boil exactly what you need.
But lets dispel one myth...they're not unsafe at all. No more than having gas hobs with naked flames or hot electric hobs kicking about your kitchen, or sharp knives or poisonous cleaning chemicals, or electric tumble dryers that burst into flames etc. If you wanted to injure yourself with it you could, but generally most people are not out to deliberately injure themselves.
I've not tried the hand under the water trick, I wouldn't want to or recommend it, but if that is the case then even better. If you don't clean the nozzle from limescale every now and again it can get a bit spitty and if you've got your pan or tea cup many inches below the tap you might get a spot or two of hot water on the back of your hand which does hurt a bit - like a nettle sting, but just lift the cup or pan closer to the nozzle and make sure you keep on top of keeping the nozzle limescale free..it only takes a minute to clean it every few months or so, so no hardship at all.
Quooker seems to be the recommended one...
It works by heating pressurised water in the super insulated flask to over 100 degrees C, so you draw a bit off, it autofills, and heats the fresh added water and that is where the efficiency is, it only heats exactly what you need and use. If you’re constantly using it in a busy office then the flask never gets time to re-heat when the fresh water than is added.
That's interesting - I'd not seen it explained as clearly as that before. As someone's already pointed out, you're never going to justify one of these on cost saving grounds but good to know they're not a little enviro disaster. We don't drink tea so the kettle only comes out when we have visitors.
Wobbliscotts post is so accurate and concise with regard to quooker I wouldn't bother reading anything else.
Lovely scalded coffee….
No different than pouring an immediate boil of water out of a kettle onto it. Thats user error, not the taps fault.
Yeah, in the end it is user error. However Quooker market this as being a use for the tap, which annoys me.
I'd concur with the above - we've had ours about 3/4 years now and other than a replacement filter (at about £90 from memory) it has been faultless. First thing on the list when we redo the kitchen.