It can be daunting trying to find a boiling water tap for a small office, especially once you start looking at a few different ranges by a few different manufacturers. There are almost countless different models with different features, capacities, instant draw off ability, and designs, so we understand that it can be confusing when deciding on the right boiling tap!
To keep it simple, there are 2 main manufacturers you really need to look at - Zip & Billi. The rest of the brands; Quooker, Insinkerator, Reditap, mainly focus on the domestic models and aren’t often considered for an office! (Although Quooker has a 7L model, and Stiebel Eltron have a 5L model; which could be fine for a small office depending on the number of employees.)
Zip have an extensive domestic range, and although it may be tempting to save a bit of money by purchasing a domestic tap for your office of 5-6 employees we strongly suggest you do not go for this route. This is because Zip will not validate the warranty on the Hydrotap if anything were to malfunction because of the fact that it is a domestic tap in a commercial environment – something it would not be suited to.
When choosing a boiling water tap for a small office, we are referring to 'small' as around 10-20 employees. The first thing you would need to decide is what features you require. There is a huge combination of features available – from boiling only, to boiling and ambient to even boiling, chilled and sparkling, the list goes on!
The B160G4 by Zip is the perfect boiling water tap for a small office if you're just looking to dispose of the old-fashioned kettle. It can confidently provide boiling water for up to 20 people, and could provide an initial draw off of around 10 mugs, ideal for offices who usually get their drinks in ‘rounds’. (Bear in mind if you were to fill a jug that was 10 mugs worth it may not be able to complete this in one initial draw off. This is because there would be no time for the unit to recover, unlike between each single drink being made.) There are other options for this tap, like adding a chilled feature, or even going all in and having a boiling chilled and sparkling tap, but that is up your preference and budget. You can find them all here.
Billi also have their own 'entry level' boiling water tap for a small office called the Billi Eco XL 10, however this doesn’t just include the boiling feature. It comes with the addition of chilled water too, but this particular model has a smaller tank than the Zip. The Billi Eco XL 10 is also suitable for domestic use, and acts as a crossover unit regarding domestic and commercial environments. Click here to see the details of this unit.
If you’re equipped with a tighter budget, there is also the option of going for the 7L Quooker models, but only if your office has around 10 employees. There are 4 of these and each have a different tap design. The Aquatap by Heatrae Sadia is also an option, and although there are only 3 options in the whole range, they do cover the boiling, ambient and chilled water features at a reasonable price.
After choosing your tap, you then will need to decide on optional extras, for example – if you want your tap installed on a worktop you will need a drip tray/font for the tap to sit on and dispense over. And if you are in a hard water area, you will need to look at purchasing a lime scale kit too.
All accessories vary from customer to customer, so please give us a call on 01934 253600 or chat to us online if you need any more help!
If you're wondering how 'cups an hour' works for boiling water taps, click here!