Dear Jim: My husband and I are coffee and tea drinkers and enjoy cooking. I thought a sink-mounted hot water-filtered water dispenser might be good for us. Do they use a lot of electricity to heat the water? – Pam R.

Dear Pam: Sink-mounted hot water dispensers are a wonderful convenience appliance. They are similar to microwave ovens – once you install one and use it, you will wonder how your family ever got by without it before.

Hot water dispensers are a tiny water heater tank beneath your sink with the spout and handle protruding above it. The small tank is only about one-half cubic foot in size, so it will easily fit under most sinks.

With such a small tank, there is little surface area to lose heat. They are also well insulated. The typically wattage for the heating element is less than 800 watts. This might sound like a lot of electricity, but with the well-insulated tank, the heating element is off the majority of the time.

The cost to operate a hot water dispenser is less than heating the water on an electric cooktop, but slightly more than using a microwave oven. For the slight difference in operating cost as compared to a microwave, it is much more convenient to have the hot water instantly from a hot water dispenser.

Single-handle models are hot water dispensers only. Two-handle models generally are connected to filtered cold water for drinking or cooking. If your house has a central water softener, nonsoftened water is sometimes connected to the second handle. A countertop bottled water cooler is another option.

Since it sounds as if you do a lot of cooking, you might consider one of the contemporary gooseneck spout designs. These allow you to fit a big pot under it. For just filling coffee or tea cups or smaller pots, a low-handle, European-style spout is attractive and available in many colors.

For a typical family of four, a standard one-half-gallon-tank model will be adequate. It produces up to 60 cups of hot water per hour. If you have young children, make sure to select one with a safety lever. These require some additional motion, a twist or a push, before hot water is dispensed.

Select a hot water dispenser with an adjustable temperature setting. The temperature range is typically 140 to 190 degrees, but some go as high as 200 degrees. The spout is double-wall insulated so it is not dangerous to touch.

Installing a hot water dispenser is a simple do-it-yourself job. Drill the appropriate-sized hole in the sink for the spout. This supports the entire unit. Some of the two-handle models include the filter for the cold water line. The heating element operates on standard 110-volt electricity.

Write for (instantly download – www.dulley.com) Update Bulletin No. 722 – buyer’s guide of 10 hot water dispenser and bottled water cooler manufacturers listing temperatures, tank sizes, colors, wattages, filters, features, and prices. Include $3 and a business-size SASE, and send to James Dulley, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244.