Instant boiling water taps for commercial offices are now commonplace – and one of the brand names getting a lot of attention at the moment is the Vivreau ViTap from Brita. But is this something you should put on your shortlist?

It is certainly true that more and more companies are waking up to the idea that staff can save time and hassle by getting rid of the kettle in the staff kitchen and replacing it with a sophisticated hot water tap. More often than not, these taps can also dispense chilled water (very welcome in the hot summer months), and at the top end, even sparkling water.

It’s a good indicator of how quickly staff feel they are ‘essential’ that if they are ever out of action for any period of time, staff are immediately up in arms about it!

Firstly, in terms of build quality, reliability and value for money, there is no doubt at all that the Brita Vivreau ViTap is up there with the best, and although it is not as widely known as the most popular brand in the market, it has recently been gaining considerable market share. This is particularly true in the financial sector, and several large banks have moved to the ViTap from other brands.

So apart from the reliability and quality, are there specific features of the ViTap which make it unique?

There certainly are, and here are the main areas you should be aware of:

Separate undersink units.

Unlike some of its competition, the Vitap comes as 2 separate undersink units – one for boiling and one for chilled. This can be of great help if there is a lack of space under the sink because they can be moved around to fit, or even to have the 2 units in different cupboards.

Scale filtration

Unlike all of its major competition, the Vitap does not deal with the problem of scale buildup by using filtration, but instead it uses an electromagnetic scale reducer on the inlet pipe. So although the replaceable filter does also help with scale reduction, it is the electromagnetic scale reducer which does most of the work. One effect of this is that there is only one filter replace compared with the 2 filters needing replacement in most of the competitive offerings – and that should make a big difference to your annual running costs.

Temperature boost on Dispense

That’s a pretty cryptic title, but it has some big benefits. Let me explain…

Rather than keep the tank of hot water under the sink at the temperature required for hot drinks, it is held at a lower temperature (80 degrees C) and then boosted at the point of dispense up to the required temperature.

This gives an obvious speed boost in terms of reheat time, because it only needs to heat the incoming water up to 80 degrees. And in terms of keeping the water at that temperature, it will also take less energy.

Keeping water at 80 degress rather than close to 100 also means that less scale is produced.

Improved recovery times and energy savings do not normally happen together!

Inclusion of font/drip tray

Unlike any of the competition, the ViTap comes with a drip tray built into the product. When comparing prices, make sure you take this into account.

This is quite an impressive list of advantages compared to the competition, and certainly means that the BRITA Vivreau ViTap shold be on your shortlist when choosing a boiling water tap for your commercial premises.

If you need any more information on the Vivreau taps, or any other commercial boiling water tap such as Zip, Billi or Illimani, please feel free to give one of our boiling tap nerds a call here at Electrical Deals Direct on 01934 2553600 or engage with us online through the online chat facility at the bottom right of our website.