If You Like Nice Jugs..... (Brita Acclario)

Name: Nibelung

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Product:	Brita Acclario
Date:	28/01/02 (436 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Space saving, Neat design

Disadvantages: Indistinct "on" button, Heavy if loaded with hot ANDcold water

I'VE UPDATED THIS TO REFLECT THE FIRST 3 MONTH'S USE.

AND NOW BACK TO THE PLOT....

The Brita Acclario?

OK, I know it sounds more like a kit-built British sports cars, but it's actually the latest offering from Brita, makers of portable water filtration "solutions" (God, I hate that word!).

So, Brita have brought out another water jug, so what?

Not content with the basic version of their now-familiar clear acrylic and white plastic jug, Brita then followed up with the dearer version with a liquid-crystal timer in the lid to warn of impending exhaustion of the filter (after all, we wouldn't want you to stint on buying THEIR filters, would we?), followed closely by the slim-line version for your fridge door.

In case you were wondering what on earth they could come up with next, they've managed it.

Quite a bit of lateral thinking has obviously gone into this product.

Think about it - what do you do with the water from a filter jug after you've filled it? I don't suppose many people drink it cold, except 50/50 with Scotch, perhaps.

In our house at least, there's a 99.9% chance that it's going straight into the kettle, and it's for people like us that those clever Teutonic sons-of-fun at Brita have cut out the middleman.

The Acclario is not only a conventional water filter jug but also a cordless jug-kettle, all rolled into one neat parallel-sided cylinder of understated design. Natty, eh?

Looks-wise, it is easy to grasp what it is, having somewhere to put cold (scummy*) tap water in at the top, and somewhere to boil the nice clear stuff down below.

*Well, that's Thames water dismissed in a word! Mind you, to be fair, West London's tap water goes through a great deal of scrutiny - after all, it's been "passed" by the entire population Reading for a start, before it reaches the prophetically
-named Staines, so it must be OK.

The Acclario is available in two "colour-ways" (arghhh! There I go again! Solutions? Colour-ways? Any more of this and I'll have to call in the style-police myself!), clear and white, or, wait for it, clear and grey. Sorry, no Umbrian autumn shades here.

Anyhow, back to the plot?.

Both the top header tank and the main boiling chamber are clear sided and marked out in cupfuls, which is a useful accessory for a jug kettle since it allows for the precise amount of water to be filtered and then boiled, without wasting electricity. The lid has the liquid-crystal reminder fitted so that you know when to pop another filter in. The filters are the bog-standard Brita ones.

Cheats, and other sensible people, buy the universal ones from Debenhams or John Lewis.

The boiling chamber is larger than the header tank, (1.5 litres compared to 1 litre) so you can also use tap water directly if you only want lots of hot water for non-drinking uses, like your hot-water bottle for instance.

After my initial interest in its innovative concept, I began to see what I thought might be potential flaws in the design.

This sudden spurt of scepticism was brought on by not being able to find the instruction book on the day that our "recyclers" had already called, with the ensuing "blame and counter-blame" session!

Questions like: -

1.Do I have to start from scratch every time to wait for water to filter through before I can put the kettle on for a quick "brew-up"?

2.Or could I always keep one jump ahead by allowing say, a couple of cupfuls to filter through and then close off the rest?

3.If I still have cold water in the header tank, will this spill as I pour out the hot water?

4.Will I have to keep the old filter jug just for the few occasions that I want cold water?

5.Will the new Star Trek "p
requel" upset real Trekkies?

6.Has Billy Nibbles finally lost it?

Well, here's what actually happens.

The action of turning the kettle on, to boil, turns off the flow from filter to kettle, thereby holding back the remainder, if any, of the unfiltered water in the header tank.

This is because the main switch is under a sliding panel in the handle, which must be slid up with the thumb to reveal the rubber-covered "on" button. This sliding action also seals up the header tank, not only from further filtration, but thanks to the tight fit of the lid, from spillage as the kettle is poured - I know, I've tried it with a full tank!

So there you have it. Yes, you can always keep some water in hand ready to replenish "stock" down below at the business end, and you can restart the filter process merely by making sure the kettle is fully turned off with the slider in the down position.

Mind you, it is theoretically possible for the combined contents to amount to 2.5 litres of water (also 2.5 kilos in weight), so anyone with a limp wrist, watch out!

As it happens, the filtration takes place pretty quickly, so after boiling and pouring out, say, one mug-full, it only takes about 20 seconds to let the next quantity into the kettle - oh yes, and if I want cold water, here's the ingenious bit, I JUST DON'T TURN IT ON!

As for Star Trek and my sanity - these will have to go un-opined for now!

The cordless base is very neat, and the concealed electrical connection is in the middle, so that you can put the kettle down in any direction, as long as it is central.

The mains lead can be stored under here in a circle, so that you only deploy as much as you need for safety and neatness.

The heating element is 2000 watts, and being a jug kettle with a relatively small floor area, the boiling of small quantities of water, i.e. for a couple of mugs at
a time, is very rapid. Under these circumstances, the kettle starts making very business-like roaring noises almost straight away.

The manufacturers give you a two-year warranty and it cost £36 at Debenhams, which, if you are in the market for a filter jug AND a kettle, is cheap bearing in mind that it includes the first filter cartridge.

There is also an "Acclario Premium" model, which has a leak-proof opening for adding cold water at the top without having to remove the lid completely.

NOTE: Not one single part of this apparatus is dishwasher proof. I'm not sure I needed to state that, but there's always going to be SOMEONE who stares hard at Orange Juice cartons just because it says "Concentrate" on the front!

If your kitchen work top is starting to look a bit crowded, and if all of your filtered water goes into the kettle, and if you STILL haven't found room for vital items like the "Naked Chef's Cordless Melon-Baller**" that Granny gave you for Christmas, then this could be the space-saving gadget for you!

** Anyone ACTUALLY working in the nude had better make sure the safety catch is on before one of these balls more than just your melons!

If I have one small criticism of the Acclario (apart from the fact that there was nothing wrong with our "old" kettle, AND the fact that it ISN'T a sports car) is that the rubber "on" button has no feel to it.

This means having to rely on the orange neon at the base of the kettle itself to confirm that it is in action, until of course, it starts making those "business-like" noises I mentioned.

This would be no good for those that reach round the kettle to turn it on without looking up from their Play Station! They might not notice that the kettle didn't boil until the game is over. By then, they won't need the caffeine-fix quite so urgently!

EXTRA FINDIN
GS AFTER 3 MONTH'S USE

I stand by everything I've previously said, but there are two minor cosmetic details that leave the Acclario in slightly less than showroom condition.

One is an accumulation of condensation (on a kettle, Billy? Whatever next!) between the hot and cold parts of the kettle. This might not seem like much, but in a fully transparent kettle, it shows, and it's difficult to wipe dry without separating the two chambers.

Secondly, and even less attractive, although again, not harmful, is the way in which the full transparency gives you a front row seat to all the drying marks left by London's somewhat hard (or is that scummy water). The filters obviously only work against certain minerals, not all.

Other than that, it's been fine. Cuppa, anyone? Well put the kettle on then!

Summary: