When trying to decide on a water filtration system for your home, it can be challenging to understand whether a ZIP tap or Billi tap is right for you. Given both global market leaders are proudly Australian with a track record for innovation and design, at least you’ll know that whichever way you end up choosing, at least you’re getting the best product based on that choice. You also have the confidence in quality control on your side when choosing these Australian-made products.
With both ZIP and Billi may have a lot in common, both being global competitors in the water systems industry, some significant differences could sway you from one to another. Of course, price is a factor to be considered, but the matter of pricing in purchasing decisions is personal and will be disregarded in this assessment.
Other significant factors you should consider include:
- Quality of filtration
- Tap design varieties
- Chilling and boiling capacity
- Size of the water system
- Warranties
- After sales support
- Cost of replacement filters
- CO2 bottles
Other miscellaneous considerations include whether you will need to engage a qualified service technician to assist in post-installation processes or whether the water system is easy enough to navigate on your own.
Filtering options
ZIP and Billi systems both use a single filter with two filtration options. Both standard systems comprise of a submicron filter which filters out:
- Dirt
- Chlorine
- Cysts
- Particles
- Sediment
- Bad odour and taste
A standard system is ideal for residential use, however, due to its limitations on capacity, it won’t perform as well in a heavy use environment such as an office workplace. If used in a workplace, standard systems bear the risk of the filter being blocked quickly requiring frequent changing which increases the cost of maintenance. A solution to this is to use a larger micron filter, which is provided by both ZIP and Billi, for heavier use which filters out all of the above except cysts.
To further reduce fluoride and heavy metals in your water, there is an option to add a pre-filter system to either the ZIP or Billi tap which can easily be achieved through consultations with an experienced independent water filtration company.
Style and design
With an abundance of design options such as the gooseneck style (Arc), square design (Cube) or even the all-in-one tap (Celsius) which dispenses both the mains unfiltered hot and cold water and filtered boiled, chilled, and sparkling water for convenience, ZIP systems draw quite a lot of appeal to them. Other differences in design between both brands include the stand-alone tap with a separate bench mounted drain whereby ZIP’s bench mounted drain kit is round while Billi’s is rectangular.
In terms of tap colour options, Billi now offers unique tap colours which stand out from the typical range and includes colours such as lime green, grape, matte white, and even customisable options to align with your company colours. Both brands accommodate for the popular tap colour and style options such as polished or brushed chrome, matte or gloss black and rose gold.
Which system is best for you?
If price is a factor for you, Billi taps tend to have more competitive pricing than ZIP, especially in their residential range. Some Billi water systems draw clear price advantages over ZIP such as the Billi Eco boiling & chilled which may be due to the smaller overheads resulting on savings being passed onto you.
In terms of range and variety, both brands provide an array of choice to suit a small home to a busy workplace. If heavy used combined with the need for sparkling water is a purchasing factor for you, ZIP now offers a refillable 2.6kg CO2 bottle in their commercial sparkling system range as opposed to Billi’s standard 1kg CO2 bottle. However, you can always opt in to upgrade the CO2 canister to a larger 6kg capacity if done through a water filtration specialist.
As Zip is a larger company, and perhaps still the global market leader in water systems, their warranty coverage is the best in the market providing a three-year warranty on most of their water systems and a five-year comprehensive on internal tanks. Billi offers a two-year warranty with the option to extend your warranty at an extra cost.
When it comes to after-sales service, Billi proves to be exceptional in offering personable customer service.
