Maintaining Your Boiling Water Tap

In this guide, we'll explain how to clean and maintain your boiling water tap to ensure it runs perfectly and looks great. We'll cover:

Regularly cleaning your tap
Cleaning matt black taps
Troubleshooting issues with your tap, including limescale build-up
How to maintain a boiling water tap tank
How to replace a boiling water tap filter

Cleaning Your Tap

In this section, we'll discuss how and when to clean your instant boiling water tap.

Regular maintenance

Your tap will require very little maintenance to look its best. On a weekly basis:

Simply add a couple of drops of washing-up liquid or hand soap to a non-abrasive sponge and mix with water to create a mild detergent solution
Gently lather the tap from its base to the end
Finally, rinse off with warm water and dry with a soft cloth (microfibre works best)

Avoid using an abrasive cloth or sponge or any harsh cleaners, such as bleach. Using an abrasive material can scratch your tap and harsh cleaners can cause discolouration.

On a daily basis, you can simply use a soft sponge to wipe off any food or debris that may have accumulated around the tap or its base.

It's also worth checking the different functions on your hot water tap are working as intended: the regular hot and cold water, the instant boiling water and, if you own a 4-in-1 tap, the cold filtered drinking water functions should all be turned on for a few seconds to ensure there's no change to water flow or temperature.

Maintaining a black tap

If you own a matt black boiling water tap, you might need to clean your tap more regularly to avoid hard water stains. What's more, the finish on these taps is particularly sensitive to damage, so you should avoid:

Brillo pads or scourers
Bleach
Acid or chemical-based cleaning products
Polishes
Waxes
Putting excessive force into cleaning

Using any of the above or being too forceful could damage the matt coating. The process for cleaning is the same as our other taps, simply use a mild detergent solution and a soft cloth or sponge to lather the tap, and a dry cloth to gently buff it afterwards.

Maintaining the boiler tank

Once set up, your boiling water tank is unlikely to need much upkeep. Still, you should check the connections on a regular basis to ensure everything is properly tightened and prevent leaks before they happen - a monthly check should be sufficient.

Recommended to descale the boiler on 2nd to 3rd filter change:

Switch the boiler off from the mains and disconnect the boiler completely
Disconnect the 2 pipes which are fitted above the boiler, unplug the power cable to the side of the boiler
Empty the boiler out fully in the sink, pour Kilrock Descaler – can be purchased from any DIY stores, fill the tank up with warm/hot water and leave it disconnected for 4 – 8 hours
Empty the boiler in the sink, can be repeated twice to eliminate the contents of the descaler.
Re-connect the boiler and power it back on – Boiler will show E3
Prime the boiler by turning the handle for the instant hot water side and hold of the handle until water starts running through the tap
Once the water starts to run through the tap, keep an eye on the boiler, the temperature should start going up to it’s set temperature as the water starts to boil. Once it has reached the set temperature, the tap is ready to use.

Changing the filters

Your boiling water tap will come with one of two filters:

Our 3-in-1 boiling water taps use K5 Filter designed to remove minerals and impurities from the boiling water feed, protecting your boiler tank and the tap itself.
Our 4-in-1 boiling water taps use a K5 filter designed to remove minerals and impurities from the boiling water feed, protecting your boiler tank and the tap itself.

The filter is designed to remove chemicals, impurities and unwanted minerals from the mains water supply, preventing limescale build-up and ensuring optimal performance and the longevity of your tap and its parts. What's more, filtered water tastes better than regular tap water.

How regularly should you replace your tap's filter?

To ensure your boiling water tap runs efficiently and maintains its warranty, it's essential to replace its filter regularly. The digital display on the tank will alert you when it's time for a replacement, both by beeping and displaying a filter replacement logo. By default, this reminder is set to every 180 days (6 months).

However, the replacement frequency depends on your water hardness:

Hard water areas: Replace the filter every 3 months.
Soft water areas: Replace the filter every 6 months.

Those living in hard water areas may need to replace their filter more often to prevent mineral deposits from accumulating in the tap and its parts.

Common signs that your filter needs to be replaced include:

The flow from the spout is slow, or getting slower
The filter logo on your tank's display screen has changed
The boiler tank is beeping every 12 hours

If you need to check whether your filter should be replaced, please speak with our dedicated customer service team.

How to replace your filter

The filter itself is incredibly easy to replace.

Turn off the isolation valve on the tap
Turn off the boiling water tank at the power source
Unscrew the filter cartridge and dispose of it responsibly in your local recycling or general waste bin
Screw the new filter cartridge into place, ensuring it is tightened fully
Turn on the isolation valve
Turn on the boiling water tank
Run each of your tap's functions to ensure it is working properly
Reset your boiler tank's display by holding the 'Setup' button for 10 seconds, after which you should hear a beep and the filter logo will return to full, resetting the alarm for 6 months

You can purchase replacement filters here.

How Do Boiling Water Taps Work?

Boiling water taps come with a boiler tank, which, in most cases, is fitted below the sink and connected to the mains water supply. The tank then draws in water through a filter, heats it to a near-boiling temperature (between 75-98°C, depending on your chosen setting) and then holds it, ready to be used when the boiling water function is turned on.

Learn more about how our boiling water taps work here.

Our 2.4-litre tanks carry enough water for 5-6 cups of boiling water and can boil and reheat in less than 5 minutes. This makes them suitable for a wide range of different tasks, such as:

Brewing coffee, tea or hot chocolates
Filling hot water bottles
Cooking pasta or noodles
Blanching veggies
Sanitising chopping boards, knives or baby bottles
Mopping your floors

The biggest benefit of a boiling tap is its ability to save you and your family endless amounts of time, making life in the kitchen even more convenient. What's more, their ability to deliver instant hot water means you can kick your old kettle to the kerb. That makes keeping the worktops in your kitchen free from clutter even easier.

FAQs

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions from our customers.

Should you turn off a boiling water tap at night?

No, you should leave your boiling water tap (and its tank) on overnight. Our hot water taps are designed to be incredibly energy-efficient, with an insulated tank and parts, which means once the water is brought up to your desired temperature, very little energy is required to keep it at that temperature.

Turning your tank off at night and allowing the water to cool before reheating it in the morning will use more energy than simply leaving it on.

I'm going on holiday, should I turn the tap off then?

If you are going on holiday for longer than 10 days, you may wish to turn your tap off to conserve energy. You can do this by switching the tank off using the button on the display, and then turning it off at the wall.

Are boiling water taps safe?

We have gone through great efforts to build safety into every boiling tap we produce. Each tap comes with a child-safety spring lock, which will prevent little ones from accessing the boiling water function. What's more, the boiling water function can only be turned on if you are actively turning the handle - it will turn itself off if you step away.

Compared to kettles, which are notoriously unsafe, an instant hot water tap is a far safer investment. Unlike kettles, our hot water taps can't be moved or knocked over, and the surface of our taps has been insulated so they aren't hot to the touch.

Learn more about how we've made instant boiling water safe for families across the country.

Didn't find the answer to your question? Get in touch

Our team are on hand to offer their guidance when it comes to keeping your tap in perfect condition. Get in touch to speak with a member of our team for a no-obligation chat. Alternatively, dive into our ultimate guide to read more about the types, functions and costs associated with boiling water taps.