College Of Product Knowledge: Instant Hot Water Dispensers
This is an updated version of the product training course introduced by SUPPLY HOUSE TIMES in 1979, authored by Don Arnold.
This product has the same function as the everyday tea kettle, providing hot water for instant beverages, soups, hot cereals, for thawing frozen foods, etc. Unlike the tea kettle, of course, this product is always ready to go. You activate the handle, and there it is - steaming hot water. Most models have a storage capacity of about two quarts. Even folks who understand the concept and purpose of an instant hot water dispenser, however, are sometimes puzzled about its construction. Why, for instance, if the dispensing valve is designed to handle a single fluid, are there often three or four different tubing connections involved in the process of hooking it up? The answer is related to the water's high temperatures. Without some means of handling the expansion of superheated water, a simple tank would act as a locked chamber, creating a dangerous situation. The solution is to provide a tank in which the heated water can be stored without being pressurized. Such a system necessitates routing the incoming supply water first through a valve in the dispensing head (above the counter). When activated, this valve permits water to pass down into the bottom of the storage tank, where it displaces heated storage water. This heated water then passes up through the tank's outlet tube to the spout where it is dispensed. In other words, as long as the activating valve remains off, there is no supply pressure on the tank; but once the valve is activated, water is permitted to flow through the tank and out to the spout.