Resolutions at the Water Cooler – how to meet the New Year with gusto

Resolutions at the Water Cooler – how to meet the New Year with gusto

by | Jan 9, 2019 | Water Boilers, Water Coolers

Firstly, our very best wishes to all of you from all of us here at AquAid Water Coolers for this New Year of two oh one nine.

One of those wishes is that you, unlike me, don’t go through most of January scratching out ‘8’ on the date every time you write it.

I’ve noticed that resolutions for a new year don’t seem to be as prevalent or popular as they may have been in the previous decade of the 21st Century – not sure what that’s about – but I, for one, am frankly quite grateful – the reality being how many of us are there that actually get past Day 2 of our intended ‘good behaviour’ and then end up feeling awful about the lapsed resolutions?

If, however, you are one of those amazing souls who make resolutions and sticks to them past Week One, more power to you – you’re an example to us all.

Whichever category you fall into, there is one resolution I encourage you to implement and stick with. If you’re sceptical here are just a few good reasons why:

The health benefits are numerous.

Minimum effort equals great reward.

Increased concentration and productivity at work or at leisure.

Reduces lethargy, tiredness and dehydration.

Boosts the immune system.

It may seem like all these benefits from one source aren’t feasible, but I assure you, they are. This is a New Year’s resolution of the simplest sort – and the great reveal is:

Drink your water.

If you’re unsure about how much water you should be drinking, you can refer to our handy drinking water chart.

If you’re in need of a water delivery system, whether you’re at home, work or for your school, speak to us at AquAid – we have a wide range of high-quality water coolers, dispensers and boilers.

Here’s to a guilt-free, easy resolution 2019 – cheers!

AquAid Water Boilers – productivity preparation at its best

AquAid Water Boilers – productivity preparation at its best

by | Nov 23, 2018 | Water Boilers, water cooler

Being spontaneous is all fair and well enough in certain aspects of our lives: switching up where you take your holiday or buying a luminous yellow cover for your iPhone or Android where you usually stick with a discreet grey for example.

When it comes to your pocket, health and well-being though, preparation and planning ahead is usually the wiser choice.  ‘Be prepared’ after all is the call sign of the Scouts and Guides and who doesn’t appreciate a person who’s prepared for any eventuality!

It’s the same when it comes to your cooler weather drinking water habits. In this regards, though, you needn’t worry: AquAid have you coolered.

But are there real benefits to installing an AquAid Water Boiler? As it turns out, there are plenty, but for the purposes of this article, we’re highlighting just a few:

A water boiler is extremely cost effective, both from an operational and time-saving perspective.  Many hours of productivity are lost waiting for the kettle to boil.

The water is kept at the optimum temperature, safe enough that it won’t scald, but hot enough to brew up your preferred hot drink.

Each machine in the range is designed so that you get the most out of your water boiler – from the smaller AquAid Eco Compact Water Boiler through to the larger AquAid Eco Wall Fit LargeFlow Water Boiler.

With the cooler weather now upon us and the temperatures dropping as we head towards the end of the year, it makes good sense to install the right-fit water boiler in your premises as soon as possible – wherever your location or whatever your workspace.

Speak to us at AquAid today.

Stormy Weather, Water and Doris

Stormy Weather, Water and Doris

by | Feb 6, 2017 | Water Boilers

I was reading up about weather storms and wondered why it is that most storms are named after women. I couldn’t seem to find a definitive answer though – some sites indicated that a few decades ago it was usual to assign female names to hurricanes but no other storms (heaven only knows why); however if you look around the globe, storms in the West Indies used to assign the names of Saints to their bad weather, e.g. Hurricane Santa Ana and after a book by about a storm named Maria by novelist and historian George R. Stewart, naming storms gained popularity.

*During World War II, US Army and Navy meteorologists responsible for plotting the movement of storms across the western part of the Pacific Ocean began to use names for cyclones in their forecasts.

In 1953, meteorologists in the United States began using female names for hurricanes. A quarter-century later, meteorologists began naming storms with both male and female names, first in the eastern Pacific Ocean, followed by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico one year later.

Today the World Meteorological Organization is responsible for the lists of names used for hurricanes across the globe in the five oceans.

Then, in 2015, the UK Met Office and Ireland’s National Met Services collaborated to experiment with a new way to name windstorms expected to affect the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This brings us to an expected storm predicted to hit our shores soon – and they’ve named her Doris.

Now, I don’t about you, but when I hear the name Doris (and the UK has quite a few famous people named Doris), it doesn’t really conjure up the idea of a wild storm, lashing the coastline and creating watery havoc.

Now that I’ve read up a bit more about the how and why of how wild weather is named, I do understand the method, but honestly, Storm Doris? Brings to mind more crumpets and tea indoors I’d say.

Anyhow, with the approach of Doris, it would seem best to batten down the hatches, and make sure your water boiler’s switched on and ready to provide you with a continual supply of hot water for the aforementioned tea and hot drinks that you should have with your crumpets or elevenses.

*excerpts from an article at CNN.

How to land yourself in hot water

How to land yourself in hot water

by | Jan 19, 2017 | Water Boilers

I’m a little nervous as I write to you – as I think that perhaps this topic could land me in a bit of hot water.

Then again, I don’t see that I should be nervous, as I’m sure that the food police aren’t out to get me.

The topic for discussion is all about Marmite. This has been spurred on by the recent #Marmitegate which has been trending in the UK.

I’m not joining the fray (ahaha) about this though, what I’m wondering is what everyone thinks about Marmite. And Fray Bentos. And Oxo and for those down under … Vegemite. The reason I include Vegemite is I watched an episode of Master Chef Australia recently and one of the mystery ingredient choices was to cook a dish using Vegemite – the expressions of horror on all of the contestants’ faces was a sight to behold!  I, not having ever tasted Vegemite, of course, cannot comment – although I would like to try this wonder spread.

Marmite was a staple in our house growing up – like tea – it was the solver of many problems – from warming yourself up to staving off hunger when a tablespoonful was drunk in a mug of hot water – through to spreading Marmite on buttery toast (mathematical precision was required to ensure the correct butter vs. Marmite quotient). My little world was all about Marmite.

As an adult I discovered that there were alternatives to Marmite, mainly Fray Bentos. I became a firm Fray Bentos fan and eschewed Marmite. Brand loyalty is a funny animal (although Marmite et al are all quite vegetarian ingredients, if you can Adam and Eve it), but I did think that the Marmite manufacturers would get by without me.

Now, winter’s on its way, a spoonful of Fray Bentos in a mug of hot water is calling or asking to be spread on toast … and I can’t find Fray Bentos anywhere. I’m a sad little person.

I’ve thought about rummaging in colleagues’ kitchen stashes at the office, or staking out our office water boiler when we all descend on it for our favourite hot drink break – you know, just to see whether anyone produces a jar of the good stuff – but I’ve a feeling that this would not be seen as good office camaraderie.

What’s your favourite of the savoury spreads? Are you bereft at the thought that there may be no more Marmite? Do tell!

The AquAid Compact Water Boiler vs. a Kettle

The AquAid Compact Water Boiler vs. a Kettle

by | Oct 21, 2015 | Water Boilers

Switching from a kettle to a hot water boiler not only reduces the amount of time spent waiting for a cup of hot water but the cost involved in production time and energy bills.

Obviously, each work environment is different, so this information will assist you in being able to look at your work place environment for potential savings. The essential question to ask is:

Q: How does an AquAid Water Boiler save you money?

A: You no longer have to waste time waiting for a kettle to boil.

An average 3kW kettle takes 4 minutes to boil and if all the water in each kettle is actually used, it will produce 5 mugs of hot water.

Scenario: If you have 20 staff that each have 4 hot drinks per day (80 mugs), the kettle will be boiled a minimum of 16 times. It will probably be boiled more often as no-one ever empties it entirely each time they use it. So assuming they do actually use all the water every time, the kettle is boiled 16 times a day.

… 16 x 4 minutes = 64 minutes or … let’s say an hour.

If the person, or the people, who make the hot drinks are on a salary of £20,000pa and they work a 40-hour week, their hourly wage is £9.62/hour.  You are paying £9.62 per day whilst the person waits for the kettle to boil.

£9.62 x 5 days = £48.10 per week
£48.10 x 52 weeks = £2501.20 per year
30 staff, 120 mugs a day = £3751.80 per year
40 staff, 160 mugs a day = £5002.40 per year
and so on …

Comparisons between a kettle and a hot water boiler

Energy Consumption:

In terms of actual energy consumption, there is very little difference between a kettle and an AquAid water boiler. In fact, the boiler becomes cheaper to run the more people use it; Unit of Electricity in kW/h = 12 pence (approximately). 

The Kettle: An average kettle is 3kW and takes 4 minutes (0.07 hours) to boil.

So 3kW x 0.07h = 0.21 kWh, 0.21 x 12p = 2.5p

So it costs 2.5p to boil a kettle of water. If all the water in the kettle is used it will produce 5 mugs of hot water.

Taking the same scenario; if you have 20 staff that have 4 mugs a day each, that’s 80 mugs, so the kettle is boiled a minimum of 16 times.

So 20 staff, 80 mugs, 16 boils 16 x 2.5p = 40p per day
30 staff, 120 mugs, 24 boils 24 x 2.5p = 60p per day
40 staff, 160 mugs, 32 boils 32 x 2.5p = 80p per day

and so on … 

The Water Boiler:

Standby (Idle Mode): The electrical consumption of the AquAid Compact (5 – Litre) 3kW boiler, whilst on standby is 0.07kW/h, which means it will use one unit of electricity (12p) in 14 hours (0.86p per hour), or 20.6p per day. A free timer allows you to turn off the boiler when it is not likely to be used – e.g. at night when the staff go home. 

Energy usage (when in use): The Aquaid Compact is designed so that it only boils the water that is used each time. It will run for approximately 30 seconds for each mug of water drawn-off … 1 minute for 2 mugs, 2 minutes for 4 mugs …

So for 20 staff, requiring 80 mugs, it will be on for 40 minutes (0.66 hours) throughout the day;

So 3kW x 0.66h = 1.98kWh 1.98 x 12p = 23.7p

Add this to the standby amount of 20.6p per day gives a total of:

For 20 staff, 80 mugs; 44.3p per day
For 30 staff, 120 mugs; 56.6p per day
For 40 staff, 160 mugs; 68.5p per day

Every Aquaid Hot Water Boiler is British Manufactured and WRAS (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme) approved.

Our British manufacturer has offered quality hot water boilers for several decades. While many companies opt to use kettles, AquAid’s multitude range of hot water boilers offers an appealing alternative. Whether providing coffee or tea to an office of workers or hydrating an energetic audience in a stadium, our products are a worthwhile investment.