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For today's fast-paced, dinner-in-an-hour kitchens, hot-water dispensers are the epitome of convenience, accelerating all kinds of kitchen tasks: preparing hot drinks, soups, gelatin, sauces and cereals; thawing juices; pre-heating water for cooking; warming baby bottles; even melting wax or purging berry stains from clothing. Though top-of-the-line models may cost $400, you can buy serviceable units for as little as $100.
HOW THEY WORK
Instant hot-water dispensers are simply miniature electric water heaters that serve only one faucet. A small, under-sink tank heats and holds nearly-boiling water, ready for steamy delivery through a sink-top spout that's separate from the main tap.
Unlike a conventional water heater, however, the tank never becomes pressurized. The system hooks up directly to a cold-water pipe under the sink; incoming water travels first through the body of the spout then into the tank where it's heated by an electric coil. The heated water expands, filling an expansion chamber in the upper part of the tank. When you turn on the faucet, more cold water is released into the bottom of the storage tank, displacing hot water in the tank and expansion chamber and forcing the heated water up through the faucet.
The spout delivers water slower than a typical faucet does--about one ounce per second --and the water is much hotter than a standard hot-water tap's: about 190 degrees instead of 120 degrees. The heated water arrives immediately; you don't have to wait for it to warm up.
An adjustable thermostat --factory set at 190 degrees-- controls water temperature with most models. Adjustment is needed only if the water is too cool or if it's so hot that it boils away, causing the tank to overheat. (To prevent damage, the tank should be protected from overheating by a replaceable, thermal fuse.)
Tanks vary in size and by the heating elements' wattage. Most are 1/3 or 1/2 gallon and range from 500 to 1300 watts. A 750-watt, 1/2-gallon tank will produce up to about 60 cups of hot water per hour; higher wattage tanks can deliver up to 100 cups per hour.
How much does it cost to keep the hot water ready and waiting? The usage is a little more than 1/2 kilowatt hour per 24 hours which, depending on your local electric rate, equates to about 6 or 7 cents a day.
As will any water heater, hot-water dispensers may accumulate scale in hard water areas. Some units have drain plugs at the bottom to allow you to drain the tank once or twice a year.
A MATTER OF STYLE
Chances are good that you can find a dispenser to match the look of your sink fixtures. Typical finishes include white, black, almond, chrome, and brass. Spout styles range from standard, streamlined faucets to gooseneck spouts. Some units--such as KitchenAid's and Whirlaway's--have a twist grip that releases water with a quarter turn. Others, such as In-Sink-Erator's, have a lever release. Elkay's spouts, which tout "no lead" construction, have a button on top . Franke makes the smartly-styled Little Butler (tm), which has a tall, L-shaped spout and a lever handle.
HOT AND COLD
Some manufacturers--Franke and In-Sink-Erator to name two--offer models that dispense both hot and cold water through one faucet. The cold water side can be connected to a chiller or both supplies can be hooked up to a water treatment system. This type of faucet eliminates the need for yet another spout-- the purified cold water spout-- at the sink. For sinks that don't have the needed mounting hole for a new faucet, replacing a purifier spout with one of these is the perfect solution.
INSTALLATION
To install a hot-water dispenser, the sink top must have a hole that can receive the spout. Most hot-water dispensers are installed during kitchen remodeling in new sinks that have the proper number and configuration of holes. Though retrofits can be a little bit tricky, they're not impossible. If your sink has a sprayer , you may be able to remove the sprayer and use the hole that it occupied. Or , if your sink has a separate spout for purified water, you can replace that one with a hot-and-cold model as explained above. Or check to see if the sink has an extra hole that hasn't been punched out yet. In a real pinch, you can have a plumbing contractor drill a hole in stainless steel or porcelain--though you risk cracking porcelain.
Though units sold through specifiers such as designers, kitchen shops and wholesale plumbing houses are generally installed by plumbers, those sold through home centers, major department stores and hardware stores come with complete instructions for do-it-yourself installation. With most, a "saddle valve" is clamped onto the water pipe, then the appliance is connected to this valve with 1/4-inch copper tubing, using compression fittings. Most appliances have a 3-pronged plug that you simply plug into a grounded, 15-amp receptacle (in some cases, they may share the receptacle used by a garbage disposer, but be sure to follow manufacturer's directions and honor local building codes).
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