Do I need a water filter for my boiling water tap?
Do I need a water filter for my boiling water tap?
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Discussion

Le Gavroche

Original Poster:

201 posts

14 months

Wednesday 29th January
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My boiling water tap has been fitted for over 3 years now, and I have never changed the filter. I just didn't even think about it. I only thought about this recently when I noticed a slight 'fishtank water' smell from the steam off the water out of the boiling tap. A slight stagnant smell.

The label on the filter says I should change it every 6 months in a soft water area....

There is zero noticeable taste to the water, but I have immediately stopped using the tap as I am worried the filter may be full of gunk of some kind.

It has a filter that looks like this:



According to the United Utilities supply analysis data from my postcode, I live in an area of good quality soft water which is contains low levels of naturally occurring fluoride, and does not have fluoride added.

Is there any point in having this filter fitted? I have never in my life had any issues with the water. The kettle which I used for 10 years before getting the boiling water tap shows zero signs of scale of any kind, nor have I ever had any water taste issues.

I'm happy to just bypass it, but I'm not sure if I would be causing any issues?

SWoll

20,741 posts

274 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
The filters are usually cheap as chips and very easy to change, so why wouldn't you?

Le Gavroche

Original Poster:

201 posts

14 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
SWoll said:
The filters are usually cheap as chips and very easy to change, so why wouldn't you?
For 3 reasons:

1) The installer/muppet who fitted my boiling water tap has installed the filter housing too high up, against a top baton/plinth woodwork under the sink, and it cannot be hinged upwards to be changed as it bangs against the wood. I can't move the filter as you can only access the screws for it once the cartridge is removed. I cannot remove the cartridge as it cannot be hinged up to 90 degrees to be removed. So I'm kind of stuck... and I only just found this out now, 3.5 years after installation.

I have absolutely no idea how the bloke managed to install it like this. It will require me to unscrew a baton which holds the under-sink shelves to possibly be able to hinge the cartridge up and remove it or change it.

2) I hate time-sensitive serviceable items within the home, and I will forget to change the next filter I install, for several years, the same as this one.

3) The manufacturer of the tap has now discontinued these filters, moved onto a different design, and has been zero help in telling me where to buy a reputable replacement. They have basically said it's my problem to find one. I can see similar items on Ebay/amazon but are they cheap/fake rubbish stuffed with old newspapers and charcoal? I think I would rather have no filters than have my drinking water filtered by something off Ebay.

I can bypass this filter in a couple of minutes by re-routing the push-fit connectors, and avoid all the above, but I was just wondering if there may be any issues in doing this, that I haven't thought of? I just want to keep things simple and don't want something installed that needs changed every 6 months, if I don't need it.

tl:dr - I'm really lazy/busy (delete as appropriate).

IAN1967

276 posts

186 months

Wednesday 29th January
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We have a Blanco tap and the filters are over £100.

Ours have lasted about a year but both the wife and daughter fill up their massive water containers from it and it's used for boiling water.

The tap, or the box of gubbings under the sink, will tell you, ours flashes, reminds me ours started flashing the other day.

Le Gavroche

Original Poster:

201 posts

14 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
IAN1967 said:
We have a Blanco tap and the filters are over £100.

Ours have lasted about a year but both the wife and daughter fill up their massive water containers from it and it's used for boiling water.

The tap, or the box of gubbings under the sink, will tell you, ours flashes, reminds me ours started flashing the other day.
The ones I need to buy are about £30 I think, and to be changed every 6 months.

I suppose my whole point is, I always had perfect cups of tea and coffee from my kettle with no filters, so do I really need a filter for my boiling tap?

If not I can save £60 a year and not have to change filters (which admittedly takes seconds as mentioned above).

Pistonsquirter

361 posts

55 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
No the filter isnn't required by the sounds of it.

Down south i'm trying to work out how to remove dissolved metals (calcium etc) because we have very hard recycled poo water I think.

Colonel Cupcake

1,273 posts

61 months

Wednesday 29th January
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You said yourself you had no problems with the kettle. Just go back to that.

mikeiow

7,192 posts

146 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
Le Gavroche said:
For 3 reasons:

1) The installer/muppet who fitted my boiling water tap has installed the filter housing too high up, against a top baton/plinth woodwork under the sink, and it cannot be hinged upwards to be changed as it bangs against the wood. I can't move the filter as you can only access the screws for it once the cartridge is removed. I cannot remove the cartridge as it cannot be hinged up to 90 degrees to be removed. So I'm kind of stuck... and I only just found this out now, 3.5 years after installation.

I have absolutely no idea how the bloke managed to install it like this. It will require me to unscrew a baton which holds the under-sink shelves to possibly be able to hinge the cartridge up and remove it or change it.

2) I hate time-sensitive serviceable items within the home, and I will forget to change the next filter I install, for several years, the same as this one.

3) The manufacturer of the tap has now discontinued these filters, moved onto a different design, and has been zero help in telling me where to buy a reputable replacement. They have basically said it's my problem to find one. I can see similar items on Ebay/amazon but are they cheap/fake rubbish stuffed with old newspapers and charcoal? I think I would rather have no filters than have my drinking water filtered by something off Ebay.

I can bypass this filter in a couple of minutes by re-routing the push-fit connectors, and avoid all the above, but I was just wondering if there may be any issues in doing this, that I haven't thought of? I just want to keep things simple and don't want something installed that needs changed every 6 months, if I don't need it.

tl:dr - I'm really lazy/busy (delete as appropriate).
Blimey. Sounds stressful for you!
Either don't bother, or perhaps adjust the fitting for the filter to let you change it.
If you CBA to change it, then....don't.

We have hard water, so we ought to do something with our one....but since our Quooker died, we are awaiting our plumber to drop over to install the new ProDuo one....

rdjohn

6,739 posts

211 months

Wednesday 29th January
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We inherited a Quooker tap in our current home, I think that only the cold side has a filter

For the cost of those filters, plus CO2 bottles, we could drink copious quantities of San Pellegrino for less money. It is however very convenient.

Chumley.mouse

723 posts

53 months

Wednesday 29th January
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Just unscrew the baton? You must be really busy/ lazy if you can’t find time to do that.

Le Gavroche

Original Poster:

201 posts

14 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
Chumley.mouse said:
Just unscrew the baton? You must be really busy/ lazy if you can’t find time to do that.
I'm going to have to in either case I think. To either replace the filter or remove the filter system altogether.

Not the end of the world. Just slightly irritating that someone would be so stupid as to fit a filter system that cannot be changed (as required regularly) due to where they put it.

Le Gavroche

Original Poster:

201 posts

14 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
Pistonsquirter said:
No the filter isnn't required by the sounds of it.

Down south i'm trying to work out how to remove dissolved metals (calcium etc) because we have very hard recycled poo water I think.
I just had a look inside my trusty stainless steel Morphy Richards kettle, which I used for about 8-10 years before having the boiling water tap, and still use occasionally now, and it is like new inside. No trace of anything in there.

I work for a company down south/London area, and my colleagues sometimes talk about limescale and their regular battle to descale things, and it's just not something I have ever come across before living where I do.

A friend of mine at work with was telling me how she nearly killed herself due to limescale. She needed to do a de-scale on her kettle one day while working from home. She put the acid tablets (or whatever they were) in the kettle, filled it with water, boiled it, got busy with work again, forgot about it. Then boiled it later and made a cup of tea with it. She kept thinking the tea tasted very strange and metallic, but kept drinking. Then remembered what she had done.

She called 999 and they told her over the phone that it was incredibly serious, they were dispatching an ambulance to her house, but told her to go and unlock/open her front door in case she collapsed before the ambulance got there. She was understandably terrified.

Thankfully she survived unscathed thanks to the A&E department.


Colonel Cupcake said:
You said yourself you had no problems with the kettle. Just go back to that.
Boiling water taps are so convenient though. Once you have used one, you don't want to go back to a kettle for making cups of hot drinks.

AyBee

10,908 posts

218 months

Wednesday 29th January
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I was thinking about my own tap just the other day - I've lived here for 4 years and not changed it (also UU's supply area) and the water doesn't taste odd, hence not changing. I keep meaning to though (but then mine isn't installed in an awkward position, it's just not very often that I'm opening the cupboard underneath the sink so it's not front of mind).

netherfield

2,903 posts

200 months

Wednesday 29th January
quotequote all
Ours says six months, I usually leave it around two years, we have very soft Yorkshire water here.