How Instant Hot Water Faucets Work

You've made the perfect sauce, and scents of basil and garlic waft throughout your kitchen. Everyone's starving, and the bubbling brew of tomatoes and other good food calls your family to the table.

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Except ... You forgot to set a pot of salted water boiling for the pasta, and now everyone has to wait while it comes up to temp. Or do they? With an instant hot water faucet, you can get many hot-water kitchen chores handled faster.

What Is an Instant Hot Water Tap?

An instant hot water tap is designed to deliver almost immediate hot water at a temperature that's close to boiling. The water you get from an instant hot water system in your kitchen is often hot enough to hard-boil eggs, brew a cup of tea or create al dente pasta without waiting for the stovetop to heat up.

This convenient device can reduce the amount of time and energy you spend heating up water for cooking and cleaning tasks. You can add the almost boiling water to pots when cooking eggs, pasta, rice and other dishes so you don't have to wait for cooler water to heat up, and you can add it directly to a mug to brew tea without having to fill the kettle.

How Does an Instant Hot Water Faucet Work?

Typically, these systems are installed to provide instant hot water for the kitchen sink, often as a separate small tap at that location. These systems work like many larger whole-home water heaters. Electric elements heat water up and hold it at a high temperature within a well-insulated tank. The water is then available for use at the tap on demand, a lot like hot water is available to use for a shower or washing dishes.

Aside from the size difference and the fact that this instant hot water system only supplies a single tap, there's another major difference. The hot water has very little distance to run before it exits the tap, which means it doesn't have to warm up the pipes, and a lot of cool water isn't sitting in the pipes. So you don't tend to get that first bit of cold or cool water before you get hot water from these taps.

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What Are the Parts of the System?

The major parts of an instant hot water system for the kitchen sink include:

• A small tank.

  This insulated tank holds the hot water, so it's ready to be dispensed on demand.

• A heating element.

  An electric heating element that keeps the water at the desired temperature.

• A control device.

  Usually, you can access a dial on the outside of the tank, and the control lets you change the temperature setting for the small water heater. It works similarly to the controls for your whole-home water heater.

• A tap fixture.

  A small tap is installed, often at the corner or side of the sink, and connected to the water tank. This is where you access the hot water.

Usually, you have the option to turn off the water heater so you aren't wasting electricity if you won't be using the instant hot water tap for a while — such as when you go on vacation.

The components above are the basic parts of an instant hot water tap added to a kitchen sink. Usually, the tank resides under the sink in an inconspicuous place. However, you can also add these devices to other areas, such as mud or utility rooms. Some manufacturers make fixtures that allow you to draw cold or instantly hot water through the tap via various controls.

While installing a secondary instant hot water tap for the purpose of making quick cups of tea or coffee is easy, if you plan to make larger changes to your kitchen fixtures, you may want to consult a professional. They can help you understand your options and avoid creating problems as you install new pipes and equipment.