Hybrid Water Boiler & Warmer

I have been reading other reviewers experiences, with some being very unfavorable, so I thought I would share our experience. We purchased our current 4.2 liter unit in December of 2017 (it's January 2026 now). It is the CV-DCC40XT and according to the lid, it was made in Japan. It is still going strong with no issues to the seals, boiler or plastic parts. It is plugged in all day every day so the water is always ready to go. When we remember, we will put it to sleep at night, but that probably only happens about half the time. (It should go without saying, but never, ever let this unit run out of water.) We clean the unit on a regular basis. What that means is when the interior of the pot gets a white calcium coating on it, it gets cleaned. You can see it building up against the grey color of the pot. Mind you, it's not a little amount, but it's also not a heavy crust. At this point it gets cleaned with citric acid using the machine's cleaning cycle. Depending on water hardness, the buildup can occur much more frequently than in a softer water environment. In fact, at our previous house, we would occasionally clean it twice in a row due to the very hard water buildup. When done cleaning, it should look like new. It's not hard work, you just need to run through the cleaning cycle and wait. We purchase citric acid in 5lb bags (which is way cheaper than the little packets) and use 2 tbsp for each cycle. We may clean it once a month or in the soft water environment of our current house, it will get cleaned every 4 months. It just depends on the calcium buildup. In regards to some of the horror stories I've read in some these reviews, it's hard to know the conditions in which the unit is being used. It's obviously also possible that the quality of the product's materials has changed. When I did a search on google, calcium can have negative effects on plastic. I have not experienced this. When I opened the lid on our unit today to see if there were issues, everything looked brand new. In summary, we love this unit and it's a workhorse. Keep it clean with citric acid and never let it run out of water. When our current unit dies, we will probably buy another one. Hopefully, it will work just as well and the manufacturer will not cheapen the quality of materials.

This thing is awesome! Four liters of boiling hot water (at my choice of temperature: 208, 195, 175, or 260 degrees F) always ready to dispense on my countertop. It heats up very fast to boil the water then it lets it cool to your selected temperature and keeps it there. It has insulated walls for energy efficiency. A quiet pump quickly dispenses a stream of hot water or you can remove the lid and just tip and pour out larger quantities. I use this all the time to make tea, hot soup, or anything else that calls for boiling hot water. Zojirushi is known for making top-quality reliable appliances and this water boiler is no exception! It has a self-cleaning mode and the directions tell you to add their cleaning powder (sold separately) and run the self-cleaning cycle to descale the inside. But just use citric acid crystals instead of their proprietary powder--that's the same thing, but much cheaper. And it really works! Add the crystals, run the cleaning cycle, dump out and rinse--all the lime scale is gone! A water boiler is a fantastically handy kitchen appliance and this one is the top model. It's pricier than others but remember, you get what you pay for. I had a cheap one previously that died after a couple years. This one is four years old and looks and works like the day I got it. It makes a fantastic gift, too--perfect for newlyweds, college students, anyone!

After 6 years and 4 months, I had to finally replace this. It would have lasted longer if I had cleaned it more often, I am certain. But I chose the same model and everything I wrote before remains the same. Maybe one of my top 10 purchases. Worth every single penny for reliable hot water any time. The new one should arrive today and waiting for water to boil has been very noticeable. It’s a small thing, but it saves time. Who knew how big a difference a simple, high quality appliance like this could make to our family’s quality of life! Can’t wait for the replacement to arrive today so my wife can make her herbal tea right before bed and I can wake up and just make coffee. One of my top 20 purchases of all time. We drink a lot of coffee and tea in my house and had used a Keurig for a long time. Our Keurigs, though, never seemed to make it past a year and got noisier and noisier over time. This, however, is quiet. The loudest sound on it is the beeps from the buttons (after I turned off the alarm that lets you know the water has reached the right temperature). While I would prefer it had an option to make no sounds, it has been so great I have to give it 5 stars. We keep the temperature at 195 and it has been perfect for teas and coffee in a French Press. I also use it to get a quick start on cooking. One BIG note is that by default, whenever you add more water, it wants to heat the water to boiling and then let the water temperature go down to whatever temperature you have set. Luckily, though, there is a "Quick Temp" option which turns this off. I only boil the water once every week or so to make sure things are sterile inside. Without the "Quick Temp" feature, though, we would not be able to leave it on our counter under a cabinet because it would steam and damage the cabinet finish. So just make sure you have open space for the steam OR you use the "Quick Temp" feature to prevent the steam. Zojirushi as a brand now sits alongside my KitchenAid mixer as far as my loyalty and willingness to recommend unequivocally to anyone.

The boiler took over two weeks to arrive and then once I opened it to try it the electric plug is defective and it blew up the device and obviously it didn’t work at all!! This is so disappointing from this Japanese brand as I didn’t expect that at all from this brand because we have an old one which is so good and has been working for years, we only fixed it once with a minor thing.

Muy práctico, y excelente calidad

The best replacement, for watter kettle. Save time and power, and ready hot or warm water on the fly

Works well and water heats up quickly. I like the two water modes, regular and drip mode. The drip mode works great when needed. The timer function is nice when you want to turn the unit off for a while. The resrezevoir is insulated as well as double walled making it very energy efficient. Easy to use and looks durable.

EDIT June 23, 2020: Hi. It still works wonderfully. I actually read the manual a few months ago and found out several things: how to clean the machine and how to turn off the Timer chime. To turn off the timer to either be a long beep or to be turned off, hold the Unlock button one or two times respectively. Speaking about cleanup, Zojirushi recommends citric acid, specifically their citric acid packs. But I highly recommend to just get some citric acid powder (either on Amazon or your bulk store or wherever) and use that instead. The Zojirushi packs are literally the same thing. Save yourself the money! I personally use two to three heaping tablespoons. To activate the cleaning mode after putting the citric acid, hold the Reboil button. I have not gotten a single rusting or coating issue since I got it. With the cleaning method above, it makes it good as new. ---- This was the first Zojirushi product we got for the house. Not only was it the first Zojirushi product, it was also the most expensive kitchen appliance I've ever bought. So, was it worth it? This water boiler keeps water hot for an indefinite period of time, as long as the unit is plugged in. This is in contrast to kettles which you usually need to turn on and then wait. This means that for this Zojirushi, it has made instant noodles, tea bags, instant coffee, hot chocolate, you name it... pretty much instant. Whenever the craving comes up, you have hot water available at your disposal. I have the 5 litre model and the first thing I have to say is: This thing is tall! If you have a small family, I definitely recommend the smaller model! With 5 litres, you have some advantages and disadvantages. As far as I know, the larger capacities have better thermal insulation since they use vacuum insulation technology. Basically, there is a little gap in between the exterior wall and the interior water of the reservoir that has as much air removed as possible, meaning very little heat can get out. Additionally, as physics will tell you, more water means more thermal energy so it will naturally cool down slowly than say, a 2 litre model. Considering both of these points, I just didn't really care about the energy costs associated with this, to be honest. The insulation is very impressive, if it is the same as the Zojirushi travel mugs. Of course, with a larger size means you won't be refilling it as often. If you have a large household, a large model might be necessary, not optional. But of course, larger capacities means it takes up more space on your countertop. (Small people might find it difficult to use, especially when refilling.) You get a pretty "industrial" product, in my opinion, versus the flowery, glossy white models of the smaller ones. And of course, (again with the physics!), more water means it needs more time to get to temperature! As with all Zojirushi water boilers, you have temperature control in Fahrenheit, from boiling 212, 208, 195, 175, 160, and no heating/vacuum only. When the device unplugs, it sticks with 195. You have the option to reboil the water back to 212 or target a specific temperature only. To dispense water, you must unlock it and then press dispense. Handy safety feature. Additional safety feature: magnetic plug. Another safety feature: Lid clamps shut. Another safety feature. A handy handle so you don't burn your hands. Obviously, the water will go up easier than go down, so plan your day for what drink you will be having, like tea day, or hot chocolate day. Dispensing water can be normal speed or slow for drip coffee purposes or for a smaller, precise dispense. You can put the boiler to sleep for a maximum of 8 hours. If you are REALLY looking at reducing energy usage, you can do this before you go to sleep. The Zojirushi doesn't do it automatically. Again, the efficiency of this device makes this a really negligible issue. Now, some caveats of the product. First, if you want a huge amount of water at one time, I honestly recommend you just boil some water on the stove. The efficiency you gain with boiling in this device will only hurt you with how slow it will dispense. (And IT IS NOT SAFE TO POUR IT OUT FROM THE LID, so don't try. ) So, this will suffice for small recipes and of course, drinks and instant hot meals. But for large batches of pasta? Keep that kettle for those instances or just boil some salted water. To dispense water, obviously, um... it has to be plugged in. I know, I know, petty point but it's true. More likely a safety feature. Water splatter. I've learned to live with it but since the Zojirushi is so tall, I don't have as much choice as to hold the cup close to the spout. So, yeah, water splatter will get on your fingers and hurt. You get used to it. Lastly, the singing. It was cute the first few times, but I will honestly say now: IT IS ANNOYING. When the Zojirushi finishes boiling, it sings a song. Honestly, you probably won't hear it too much since it is a 5 litre model, but it is especially annoying at night, the ideal time to refill it, and it makes the tune after 20 minutes. Sigh. It's a con because you cannot turn it off. --- This is the part of the review where I answer the underlying question: is this worth it? Consider all the times you use the kettle. Are you a tea fanatic? Are you a instant noodle person? I honestly recommend it if you are. If you are a single or double, maybe opt for a smaller model? If you are a Canadian, hot drinks are pretty much my preference TBH and this is even better if you drink hot drinks year round! But if you have a coffee maker and make the occasional tea or whatnot, skip this. You only buy a Zojirushi rice cooker if you REALLY love rice. This is for the hot drink enthusiasts. Not for the spaghetti boilers. Maybe keep around your kettle for that. Ultimately, you are paying for convenience from a REPUTABLE company with YEARS OF EXPERIENCE. Plus, it's MADE IN JAPAN. Not even my Zojirushi travel mug is made in Japan. This is the only Made in Japan product I own and it's the real deal. From a person who had to replace their electric water kettle over 5 times in the course of their lifetime, I have no worries that this might break on me or cause a fire or whatnot. And that is impressive because this is constantly on and has more moving parts than any other kettle. So yeah. Great product with a great function (if you use it often) from a REPUTABLE company. What else do I need to say?