Does anyone have one?
We guzzle a fair amount of (decaff) tea each day. These things are supposed to keep permanently hot water on tap - you can choose the temp right up to 98 degrees.
They seem quite economical, not least as you are pretty much only heating water you will use as opposed to half filling the kettle for two cups.
Plus in the summer, as it is low wattage to boil, I can probably do the initial boil for free using the solar power, and if not, on the cheap nightly Octopus.
I was just wondering if anyone had actually used one.
Links to Amazon -
tinyurl.com/yckjd7b6
tinyurl.com/5d8kj45e
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If you use the kettle for 2 minutes 10 times a day that's about a kWh.So presumably you'll save a quid or so a week less whatever comes off your feed in payments.
I can do without another gadget - would you get rid of the kettle?
I suppose it's like having a non-plumbed boily-water-tap. I haven't bothered with one of those for the new house, I was warned off having one in a hard water area.
A few years ago there was a gadget that used instantaneous heating to dispense hot water. We abandoned it quite quickly.
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Can't you fill the kettle to with the amount of water you need?
Are they basically free standing burco boilers ?
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Ned Ludd’s Top Tips.
Pour 2.5 cups of water in the kettle and boil. Use 2 cups of boiling water .
Next time just add 2 cups.
I know it’s profligate but it’s the weekend:-)
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Tea should be made with freshly drawn and freshly boiled water.
Perhaps less important if you're using tea bags but it definitely makes a difference with Taylor's Yorkshire Tea.
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Yes, like Burco boilers Sooty but more kitchen-friendly (rather than designed for a canteen!)
We're pretty well trained and don't overfill the kettle, just under 1 litre does two mugs maybe 7 times a day (we're keeping count today just out of interest).
You're probably right about the kind of saving Manatee, except when the cap comes off aren't they saying power will go up by up to 50%? So maybe £1.50 a week saved, but more thanks to solar panels and Octopus Energy.
But money wasn't the prime motive really - it would seem more convenient than a kettle and of course, being me, gadgetry plays a part. The blurb suggests they are safer for older people too, though I'm not at that stage just yet!!!
I was thinking the kettle would go in a cupboard.
Not sure about freshly drawn Bromps - it's been sitting in a pipe for a while anyway! But yes, we're teabag users.
If it didn't work out it could just join the long list of other things we used for a bit but didn't work out for us, like bread makers, Rima grills, ice cream makers and smoothie makers.
Next on the agenda - air fryers LOL
(I'd still be interested if there is anyone with experience of these).
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 12 Feb 22 at 11:56
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Isn’t part of the enjoyment of having a cup of tea or indeed coffee the ritual involved, part of which is putting the kettle on and waiting for it to boil.
We got rid of the electric kettle years ago and reverted to a kettle on the gas hob. Less clutter, less noise, cheaper and because it is slower more incentive not to overfill the kettle.
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>> We got rid of the electric kettle years ago and reverted to a kettle on the gas hob.
>> Less clutter, less noise, cheaper and because it is slower more incentive not to overfill the kettle.
>>
I have an aluminium whistling kettle with a gas symbol on the whistle/ cap that was bought decades ago.
It lives in a cupboard for emergency use if there is a power source failure.
It has a wide base , deep fins on the base and a loud whistle.
No whistle trigger so a slight risk to the user
insideenergy.org/2016/02/23/boiling-water-ieq/
I was informed by an expert that the best cup of tea is made on board a modern pressurised aircraft at 10.000 feet or higher ( unless you live at 10000 feet because tea should be brewed at 95%.
However a more detailed list for you eggsperts
www.artfultea.com/tea-wisdom-1/tea-brewing-temperature-guide#:~:text=The%20proper%20tea%20brewing%20temperature,best%20flavor%20from%20your%20tea.
There must be a considerable market for non electric kettles and the range and variety on sale is quite large.
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You must be single handedly keeping anazon in business ;)
I remember one place i worked in, it had a boiler with a tap above it to keep it supplied with water. It was huge probably 60 or 70 litres , god knows how much it cost to run.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 12 Feb 22 at 13:03
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>> I remember one place i worked in, it had a boiler with a tap above
>> it to keep it supplied with water. It was huge probably 60 or 70 litres
>> , god knows how much it cost to run.
Burco boilers were standard issue in office kitchenettes when I first joined the Civil Service. Never saw one that auto-filled; they needed topping up with a jug.
Quite a useful source of heat in old fashioned single glazed offices - at least the tea point was warm.
Needed to remember to empty and swill out now and then. In one place we turned up after a long weekend to find the water tasting and smelling yucky. Closer examination found globules of oil floating on top and a rancid smell. Emptying and washing out a few times sorted it.
Nobody would own up but the suspicion was somebody who made sandwiches in the office had put a pat of butter on top of the Burco (it had a lid) and it had melted.
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Daughters new kitchen has a quooker. I would have one like a shot . Tea and coffee instant, no kettle on worktop and brilliant for cooking pasta, veg etc.
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>> Daughters new kitchen has a quooker. I would have one like a shot .
Don't worry, it won't be working for long
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Blimey they're pricey!
Maybe if we have a new kitchen I'd have one.
However I guess the thing I'm looking at isn't dissimilar, maybe not quite as capable or good looking though!! It isn't just the cups of tea, there is water for cooking and (sometimes) soup etc,
Though we are using a soup maker like this tinyurl.com/2p8u5s6h at the moment, quite neat - you drop all the veg or whatever in, it chews it up and makes soup.
I get Christmas cards from Jeff Bezos Sooty. Some lovely cut-resistant gloves dropped through my letterbox about an hour ago :-)
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New kitchen 3.5 years ago - son is on his 3rd "instant Boiling Water tap.
Cannot remember the make - last time it was broken I remarked the tea was better!
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New kitchen 3.5 years ago - son is on his 3rd "instant Boiling Water tap.
Cannot remember the make - last time it was broken I remarked the tea was better!
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>> New kitchen 3.5 years ago - son is on his 3rd "instant Boiling Water tap.
>> Cannot remember the make - last time it was broken I remarked the tea was
>> better!
Ours is a Quooker that was installed by the previous occupants about 6 years ago. I'm fairly certain it hasn't been serviced in that time, as we were left the various diy service items that accompanied the tap when it was new.
As I mentioned on another thread some months ago, it makes a lovely cup of tea, and an even better cup of coffee.
Regards
L Bones
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>> Don't worry, it won't be working for long
>>
Ours works a treat. Highly recommended.
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You must have a very busy and stressful life if you don’t have time to wait for a kettle or pan of water to.come to the boil.
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Yer well, I moderate here and that keeps me busy and stressed...
Actually, far from it.... clearly have too much time on my hands browsing Amazon... :-)
Do you have a lawn mower or do you still cut it with scissors? :-)
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>> Do you have a lawn mower or do you still cut it with scissors? :-)
>>
It’s not quite the same timescale though is it? Say five minutes to boil enough water on the hob for two of cups of tea or two minutes in an electric kettle.
“ A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.”
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I sure I can find something better to stand and stare at than a kettle coming to the boil!!!
And anyway I'm already up to 7 cups today so that's a quarter of an hour saved if I get the new thing. Nearly enough time to cut the lawn, but not with scissors!! :-)
Really, saving time or money is not a key driver on this one. I wouldn't want it costing me a whole lot more though.
Even W.H. Davies doesn't mention staring at kettles!! :-) (Nice poem btw)
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
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I’m currently in Lanzarote sitting in the sun with glass of the local wine so have all the time in the world to stand (or sit) and stare.
Weather has been amazing here since I arrived 23C and clear blue skies. No lawn to mow either..
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Quookers and similar water heaters can usually work off a standard 13amp supply so rewiring only needed if no adjacent power.
Getting instantaneous hot water relies upon a storage cylinders below the sink. Whilst I assume they are well insulated, they will lose some heat. They do not eliminate power consumption - a litre of water boiled in the kettle (roughly) uses the same as another water heater.
The cost of an instantaneous boiling water tap varies between £200 to over £1000. Fitting may cost £100-200 for plumbing and electrical connections.
It is a personal judgement whether the cost is good value against the time saved in boiling a kettle. I usually want a coffee break to relax for 15mins from whatever task I am engaged on. Reducing that to 13 mins with technological help kind of defeats the object!
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I understood tea should be made with boiling water and coffee with water at 80C.
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Black Tea of colour, yes but, when brewing white tea, I'll boil the agua and le it stand for 1 minute or 60 seconds (which ever comes thirst) before I pour it on the cha.
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A 15 minute coffee (or tea) break is all well and good but who wants to spend 5 minutes of it watching a kettle boil? :-)
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Stop work, put kettle on, have pee, wash hands, check phone, kettle boiled.
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>> Stop work, put kettle on, have pee, wash hands, check phone, kettle boiled.
Or possibly, if a resident of East Anglia, put kettle on, have a pee, wash hands, check 'phone, clean Golf, wash hands again, detect loud whistle; kettle boiled.
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To be honest the usual course of action is that I hear the words
“Would you like a cup of tea”
To which I reply “yes please” and it arrives
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Smokie I realise I'm a bit like you with TVs, solar, like tech, buy lots of stuff on AZN. That's why I like your posts here ;-)
I bought a couple of these instant water things a couple of years ago. Admittedly they were cheaper models than the ones you link to.
A few observations:
1) they both died and are probably in some horrible landfill now. They sent a replacement for one and that too died. I didn't bother with the other one because, you know, you can see the pattern here. It maybe that you have more luck with a posh model.
2) These models all heat the water on demand. This is different to the built in tap solutions like the Quooker which basically heat a few litres of pressurised water in a thermos-type cylinder to 110C as a ready resource.
3) They only use a 650W heater compared with up to 3KW for a kettle. Given the SHC of water is what determines the time to heat they are actually going to be much slower than a standard kettle for the same amount of water. I always put around just over a cup or two of water in the kettle, and even with this the kettle will be much quicker than these instant heater things.
4) We decided that having cup of tea was also about the social aspect of boiling more for those around at the time, so the kettle filling and then hissing away becomes part of the communal experience. Even asking if someone wants a cuppa and then adding additional water just for them kind of adds to the buy-in of enjoying and taking time together
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Perhaps instantaneous hot water is a solution to a problem that barely exists.
A bit like car keys. A long time ago - put the key in door, twist, get in, inset key into ignition, twist, go. Takes longer to read this than do.
We then had remote locking - some benefit over the old ways - opens passenger doors, door lock doesn't get frozen on frosty mornings.
We now have keyless to open the doors and enable the ignition. Eliminates the need to press on a small button on key fob. Starting engine - press start button instead of twisting key.
The price of automotive progress - to fix occasional failures or loss we have gone from a £5 key, through to £200+++ depending on which bit of the system has failed - key, fob, several ecus etc.
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Haha c4p - the one I ordered wasn't especially posh - less than the cost of two moderately priced kettles. They do, however, heat the whole lot then keep it warm rather than just on demand.
Anyway it turned up and is going back, without even being fully unwrapped. It's too big for the space we had in mind (in fact it does look huge, but I suppose it has to be for 5 litres) , which has highlighted potential awkwardness filling it and accessing the controls. I think I mis-measured.
Even it's smaller (and cheaper) brother is quite tall and while it would slide under the wall cabinet you wouldn't have much access to the top (for filling). Maybe that's not so important.
We'd worked out that 5l was probably a bit over the top for our daily hot drinks but 2.5l was probably not enough, Then there is cooking and other uses. There is an Addis one which is 3.5l which we are going to think about.
btw SWMBO asked on a chat room she is involved with whether anyone had experience, and mostly those who actually had one (which was quite a few) said they were great but those who didn't weren't so sure.
Thanks all for your input. I'll update if we decide to get another.
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Instant hot water dispenser aka Little Urn - Manatee
