Under kitchen surface hot water storage heaters

May 02, 2014 3 Replies

Just come back from a trip where there was no kettle only an extra, small hot tap, lever operated, mounted alongside the regular tap on the sink. It did work extremely well. However, to get the water hot enough for drinks, it was necessary to fill the cup with hot water, let it stand, then tip the water away before adding a tea bag and refilling the cup. My reservations were twofold:- 1) You would need a water softener to avoid limescale in some areas. 2) It was easy to forget which tap you were operating if distracted! Ouch. Just an experience. I prefer a kettle.


It should be marked very clearly boiling *HOT* water. The health and safety implications of a scalding hot water supply are serious.

You will find in Japan that there are thermos kettles that essentially are like the things we keep hot coffee in at conferences and plug into the mains to keep ~2L of water close to boiling continuously. You have to remember to top them up from time to time as they take a while...

The local electric wiring would fuse with a 3kW kettle load. The Aircon and washing machine being on at the same was close to the breaker limit.

We have an instant hot water thingy, bought from Aldi. Cup underneath, press switch, boiling water perfect for tea.

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