How to choose the best drinking water filter tap for your business
Workplace | 05-05-26
Installing a filter tap to supply your workplace with cleaner, safer water is a priority for many modern businesses. However, it can be difficult to know where to begin. We've put together this guide to help you navigate the process of selecting the best filter tap for your business or commercial project.
When it comes to choosing a filter tap, there is a huge range of options available from leading brands. Whether you're a specifier, facilities manager, or business owner looking for a drinking water solution for your workplace, this guide will help you identify what to look for so you can make an informed decision.
Hydration solutions for a healthier, happier workforce
Since the pandemic, hybrid working has become the norm, with many employees continuing to work from home. As such, when people do come into the office, their expectations around health and wellbeing are higher than ever.
Employees now expect more than just basic access to drinking water and a supply of tea and coffee. Research shows that Gen Z, in particular, value employers who prioritise convenience and wellbeing, and provide high-quality facilities for daily use, making the commute worthwhile.
Effective hydration is just one part of workplace wellbeing – but it's an important one. Integrating easy-to-use instant boiling taps and filtered water taps in the workplace is an easy, effective way to build hydration into employees' daily routines, boosting productivity and general health.
So, where should you begin when choosing the best drinking water filter tap for your workplace?
What filtered water options do you need?
Start by considering what options are required for your specific workspace or project.
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Do you need a boiling water tap, or one that also provides filtered chilled and sparkling water?
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What flow rate and capacity are required – how many cups per hour or per day?
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Will the tap also be used regularly for washing up? If so, unfiltered hot and cold water may be needed.
The Zip HydroTap is a sleek, advanced filtered water tap that's available in 3-in-1, 4-in-1, and 5-in-1 models, offering different water types and features depending on your requirements.
What level of filtration is required?
All filter taps are designed to reduce contaminants and improve water quality. However, some environments require enhanced levels of hygiene and protection. UltraCare, for instance, offers our highest level of protection, combining filtration with UV light and antimicrobial additives to deliver enhanced hygiene, particularly suited to healthcare and aged care environments.
If you're located in a hard water area, you may want to consider limescale filters, which can often be purchased alongside your tap. Don't forget to check how much replacement filters cost, and how often they need replacing, to ensure long-term performance and value. Or let us handle it – with HydroCare we'll take care of any hard water requirements for you.
How will your tap fit into your workplace?
Most filter taps require access to mains plumbing and electricity. Thanks to flexible installation options, HydroTap can be installed at a sink or over a font or drip tray, allowing it to be located anywhere with access to water and power.
It's also important to consider accessibility. HydroTap includes a range of optional accessibility features, including larger buttons, levers, and remote controls. With the recent addition of a new and improved Accessibility Controller, users can access and operate the system independently, allowing them to make their own drink, just the way they like it.
Filter tap technology
Understanding how filter taps work will help you choose the best model for your needs. The best filtered water taps use advanced filtration to reduce contaminants and impurities and remove the chlorine taste often found in tap water.
Expert filtration for purer-tasting water
When you're considering what kind of filtration you want from your tap, look for systems certified to reduce contaminants like PFAS, also known as 'forever chemicals'.
Different technologies play different roles:
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Activated carbon improves taste and removes chlorine and chemicals
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UV light helps deactivate bacteria and viruses at the point of dispense.
HydroTap's market-leading filtration is 25 times more effective than the average pitcher filter. This is a result of our 0.2 micron, 8-in-1 MicroPurity™ filtration technology, which is independently certified to reduce the eight most harmful contaminants in drinking water:
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Chlorine taste and odour
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Sediment
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Lead
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Limescale
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Bacteria
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Microplastics
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PFAS
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Asbestos.
Water quality with goodness locked in
There is a key difference between purified water and filtered water, which is worth considering when choosing the best water filter tap for your workplace.
Reverse osmosis is considered the best for maximum purification, removing almost all impurities. However, this process also removes beneficial minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, which support healthy bones and well-regulated blood pressure when consumed in drinking water.
Filtered water taps like HydroTap, on the other hand, reduce harmful bacteria and impurities like heavy metals, but retain important minerals in the water, ensuring your drinking water remains healthy without compromising on hygiene.
HydroTap consistently produces exceptional results and a superior taste. During a blind taste test, 92% of people preferred our filtered chilled water to ordinary tap water, while 89% said they'd drink more if they had access to filtered drinking water.
Filter water tap design
The best drinking water filter taps combine performance, ease of use, longevity, and efficiency – without compromising on design.
HydroTap's award-winning design makes it a highly flexible, beautifully designed, and effective choice for anywhere from smaller workplaces to large commercial office blocks, universities, and hospitals. A wide range of finishes are available, including Bright Chrome, Matt Black, Gunmetal, Brushed Nickel, and more.
When selecting a tap, check for certifications such as WRAS approval and sustainability criteria. Many HydroTap models come as WRAS-approved, ensuring independently verified performance and safety claims, and with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
Wellness
The best drinking water filter taps effortlessly improve wellbeing in the workplace. As well as providing delicious, cleaner drinking water, filtered water taps are convenient and quick to use – with employees filling up reusable water bottles at the touch of a button.
A good flow rate means no waiting in line, allowing people to hydrate immediately and continue with their workday. Boiling water taps save time by providing instant access to hot water, eliminating the need for a kettle, while options for chilled, sparkling, and ambient filtered water help keep employees refreshed and engaged.
How drinking water can impact employee wellbeing
The NHS recommends drinking 6–8 glasses of water per day, yet many people struggle to stay hydrated at work.
Providing easy access to high-quality drinking water can support focus, productivity, and overall wellbeing. It can also reduce reliance on plastic bottled water, delivering both environmental and cost benefits.
Creating a hydration hub for everyone
Choosing a system that offers accessible, efficient, and great-tasting drinking water to every employee will boost your business' offer to your team. But not everyone is a fan of plain water – in a study, 80% of people said they normally opt for an alternative drink.
Twist, our new flavour-enhanced water dispenser, is a modern solution that reflects evolving expectations around workplace hydration. It gives you the ability to personalise your hydration, with a twist of flavouring and an optional added sweetener to choose from.
Safe access for all
Safety is an essential consideration when choosing a filter tap. HydroTap includes:
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a boiling safety lock to eliminate the chance of accidentally dispensing boiling water
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cool-touch design
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minimal splutter, even when pouring boiling water.
These features help ensure safe and confident use across all environments.
Aftercare
When you've settled on the best filter tap for your business, remember to check the aftercare that is available to you once you've purchased it. It's a good idea to be aware of how often you'll need to carry out a filter change or a service, for instance.
HydroCare is Zip's award-winning aftercare offer. We are the only drinking water solutions provider to offer all-inclusive servicing for our products, carried out by the industry's largest dedicated network of engineers in the country.
Our engineers are directly employed by us, so they know Zip systems inside out. With HydroCare, we'll create a service plan that's tailored to you, working around your schedule to ensure your Zip products, and non-Zip products, are operating at their best for years to come. All parts and labour are included in a HydroCare service plan, so there are no hidden costs, ever.
Delivering water at its best
Putting time and energy into choosing the best drinking water filter tap is well worth it, when you consider that water is one of life's most basic building blocks.
High quality hydration solutions provide everyone in the workplace with wholesome water, and give you the security of knowing that the drinking water in your building is cleaner and safer.
Explore our HydroTap range to find your filter tap today.
FAQs
Can anyone install a filter tap?
Some simpler filtered water taps are designed to be easy to install, often requiring no professional help. In our experience, however, the best filter taps require specialist installation.
Whether you're an office manager or a specifier, our Zip engineers offer complete peace of mind when it comes to installation. They'll make sure your filter tap is working perfectly, and they'll talk you through how to use it. HydroTap even has sensors that will alert you when a filter needs changing, taking one more job off your to-do list.
How sustainable is a filter tap?
If you've got ESG targets to hit, you'll need to research energy efficiency and water wastage to find the best filter tap for you. HydroTap's energy-efficient features are good for the planet and your pocket, as is our CO2 canister recycling scheme.
Designed for efficiency, HydroTap's command centre features intuitive energy-saving modes and our patented PowerPulse™ technology to keep water at the desired temperature, while avoiding the cycle of heating and cooling that wastes energy in other models. Its innovative air-based cooling system also ensures that not a drop of water is wasted in the chilling process.
Where can I find specific product information about filter taps?
To choose the best filter tap for your workplace, you'll need to know as much information about the product as possible. Leading brands should feature product information on their websites. If you're looking at purchasing HydroTap and you'd like to know more, you can visit our Resources page for brochures, e-books, and price lists. Or download spec sheets and BIM files directly from the product pages.
