Lock-In: Fahren UK
Series 5, Episode 2
Hosted: 06/10/2021 05:45:00 pm
You might have seen a little about Fahren previously, we have launched with them over around a month now and things are beginning to heat up.
We were joined by David Such, the Sales Manager for Fahren UK, and Simon Wong the Mechanical Engineer, who was both literally and figuratively, behind the scenes.
Who Are They?
You might think “who is Fahren UK? I’ve never heard of them” That would be a fair assumption but for the last 10 years they have been designing, refining, and manufacturing other boiling water taps for the OEM market – that’s the original equipment manufacturers aka the companies producing boiling water taps in the first place.
Like anyone with a good product, they want to shout from the rooftops about how good it is. That’s why the made the decision to sell directly to the public and cut out the middleman, saving your hard-earned cash in the process.
They’ve only started their retail journey within the last year but they’re already making strides and winning over minds with their fantastic customer service and a no-fuss five-year warranty.
They might be the new kids on the block, but they’re not new to the worktop.
A Kettle is So Last Year…
And boiling taps are the future.
Does anyone remember when the microwave oven came into the kitchen, and it changed the way we cooked and processed our food?
Boiling taps are at the start of this journey now, they’re beginning to make their way into most kitchen showrooms and be offered in new build houses as an optional extra.
It might seem a bit fancy for the ordinary BTL or SA’s but those properties when you’re trying to compete in a high-value area it’s big a tick in the box for any potential tenant or guest.
Another benefit which is definitely a sweetener is the water filter, perfect for any hard water area which can leave any drink with a nasty chalk taste.
We haven’t even got into the added benefit of choosing preset temperatures, on the digital tank you can choose 75°, 85°, 90°, 95°, and 98°, which is perfect for those speciality teas or produce.
Safety First
The biggest concern with any appliance involving boiling water is the risk of scalding, Fahren realised this and built in numerous safety features.
They have designed the ‘kettle’ on a separate side, with its own handle to avoid the possibility of accidentally turning the boiling water on a mistake and risking scalding yourself.
The handle itself features a button that must be depressed to activate the boiling water and a built-in spring-back mechanism to avoid the continuous pouring of boiling water by accident.
Once you turn the tap, there is also a two-second delay until the boiling water pours from the insulated neck of the tap just in case.
We haven’t even started talking about their certifications, the biggest one to gloat about is the WRAS approval, something even Quooker doesn’t have. If you didn’t know who WRAS is, they’re an independent UK body that helps consumers choose safe products that involve water.
WRAS are serious on safety, especially when it comes to boiling water. Due to the nature of boiling taps and the process inside the tanks, something called cavitation can occur when in a low-pressure environment and approaching boiling point, this sounds a little technical but what you need to know is this can cause micro-tears in the tank and that’s something we don’t want at all, this is why Fahren made the decision to lower the temperature to a maximum of 98° and not 100° to allow for a margin of error and make their product WRAS approved.
Is It Going To Break The Bank?
In short, it’s the opposite.
We didn’t believe it either until David explained it, the tank itself only loses 2-3 degrees every 3 hours or so and only takes 10 seconds to reach the preset temperature again.
You could look at it this way, how often when making a cuppa do you fill your mug up with cold water to measure the exact amount you need? If you said anything other than never then we don’t believe you.
Like the majority, we guess how much we need and boil probably over three times the amount we need, and that excess energy used in boiling the water is just wasted away – but we still end up paying for it.
The beauty of the boiling tap system is you only use what you need and it’s there on demand, it’s a win-win, you don’t wait around for the water to heat up and you save money in the process.
What’s That Coming Over The Hill
We always look forward to getting our partners on a webinar; it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase exciting developments and new releases, and it was no different with Fahren.
We got treated to several different items, a 360° pull-out nozzle tap, the new chiller tank and a prototype on-the-go kettle.
Let’s dive into the pull-out tap first; it’s the same design as the current swan neck we’re familiar with but it’s had a growth spurt to cope with the behind-the-scenes sorcery. The pull-out nozzle is essentially like having a small hose built into your tap, perfect for those areas you can’t quite reach when doing the daily chores.
Next up was the – already teased – chiller tank, it was dressed up in a smooth black finish and matching the design simplicity and elegance of the heating tank we’re already familiar with. We’re anticipating the release early next year and with it being able to produce water from 5° and up, we’re expecting a lot of members to be adding this to their 4-in-1 taps.
The last teaser was a portable mini-kettle, something they kept in hidden in plain sight; it threw us of course at first, they just found the successor to the kettle and they go and produce a new one, it seemed backwards at first but with it being focused on resolving those nasty hotel kettles it made perfect sense.
You can expect more news and updates at the beginning of the next year, with prices and estimated delivery dates for all their new releases.
With all that being said, you can find more about Fahren UK on their LNPG partner page and enjoy our contract pricing terms.