One of the things we had our eye on from the start for our kitchen was a boiling water tap.
Patented Boil
Quooker is the first name that springs to mind and the company holds a patent that means it’s the only one that’s able to produce taps that dispense actual 100°C boiling water.
We chose the Quooker Fusion Square (3FSRVS) as we loved the design and it was a great match for the rest of our contemporary kitchen. We also added the optional Cold Water Filter (CWF) to give us great tasting drinking water too.
Fitting
The tap comes with the PRO3, a 3 litre stainless steel tank which is a 15cm cylinder that’s 42 cms high and is installed under the sink. In addition to the normal plumbing you need a 13 amp power socket.
It’s easily retro-fitted to an existing kitchen too and if you are DIY savvy then you could fit it yourself (check out these Installation Videos). If you are as good as I am at ‘putting up shelves’ then you’ll get someone in who knows what they’re doing instead 🙂
In addition you can retro fit the new ‘Cube‘ add-on too. This is another under counter unit that adds the ability to dispense chilled sparkling and still water.
In Use
With the water filter installed you access drinking water with a single push and turn…
a single push and turn which when engaged will light the tap ring blue. The water passes through an activated-carbon filter which ensures the water tastes and smells better.
To get to the boiling water you need to push down the spring-loaded knurled wheel twice then twist it clockwise.
This feature keeps children safe and soon becomes second nature for the adults that use it. The water is dispensed in an aerated stream that reduces the risk of scalding should you inadvertently come into contact with it.
You quickly get used to never having to run the tap to wait for hot water for washing dishes or preparing food. Making a hot drink transforms from a five minute wait for a kettle to boil to instant gratification.
The spout itself is double skinned and that insulation means you won’t burn yourself on it even while you are running boiling water through it
The light ring turns red while the boiling water is in use and you’ll also see it light up when the system is using energy to keep the water hot.
Running Costs
Let’s face it, you don’t buy something like this to save money, it’s a luxury item after all. But at the same time you want to know that it’s not going to cost you an arm and a leg to keep that tank of over 5 pints of water on the boil 24/7.
Thankfully it won’t. Quooker uses a patented vacuum insulated vessel to store the water at 110°C. It’s also held under pressure which prevents it from boiling, making it even more efficient.
Quooker’s patented vacuum tank allows for water to be kept at 110 degrees under pressure. This technology keeps the water hot without needing to use much energy. Think of it as an electrically powered flask, from which no energy can escape. The water only boils when it exits the tap – so it is not constantly boiling inside the vessel.
Quooker say their highly energy efficient 1.6kW system means standby power consumption is just 10w. That makes the costs of the keeping the water up to temperature around 4 pence per day for us (at our current £0.17 / kWh).
Additional efficiencies come from the fact that you are only using the exact amount of water required, rather than boiling extra the way most of us do with a kettle, or re-boiling the water as it’s cooled down by the time you get back to make that cuppa. So forgetting about that initial outlay, the ongoing running costs really could be less than using a kettle.
Summing Up
The convenience of this time saving tap is fantastic and you get what you pay for here. A single spout with an elegant design, a high quality 4-in-1 tap that dispenses hot, cold, filtered and boiling water, with the option to upgrade to chilled still and sparkling water in the future too.
The Quooker Flex Square is used so many times each day in the Automated Home that it has quickly become one of the things we could never do without again. Brilliant.
Remember to check out our Instagram to follow the project, read the rest of the Automated Home 2.0 blog posts and find the links to all the products we’ve used in our self-build.
Last update on 2020-09-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
