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The short answer is, companies produce what most people are willing to buy and produces most income. That is not the same as producing best products for custome
by lmilcin 6y ago
The short answer is, companies produce what most people are willing to buy and produces most income. That is not the same as producing best products for customers.
Some companies found the way to produce most income by offering best products for customers.
I am not an expert on kettles and might of course be oblivious to some glaring obvious facts about kettle-making business.
But it seems that it is very likely that good kettles just don't differ much form mediocre ones, when put on the shelf of the supermarket or when put on Amazon against competition that can buy a bunch of fake reviews. There would be no practical reason to spend a lot more on research to produce something that would not at all bring more income for the company.
Most people will buy cheapest kettle that satisfies their basic requirements. For me this is: it keeps proper volume of water, it heats water quickly, does not smell, is easy to clean from scale. Mine is quite expensive compared to most kettles only because "does not smell" is very difficult to meet (or it was when I bought it a decade ago).
There are good kettles. These are produced by companies who found their niche producing for customers who just don't care about how much stuff costs and will buy the best of each category regardless of how expensive it is. So while they might be good mechanically, I think overall they are not as good products when comparing return on the investment.
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Now, as to filters, I would NOT buy a kettle with a filter.
Filter is something that keeps impurities and I definitely don't want that sitting hot in my kettle.
Also, filter will not prevent scale from depositing. There is no practical way to prevent scale depositing other than using distilled water which will make everything taste awful and will probably not be good for your health.
Contrary to popular opinion, "hard" water with lots of minerals is better for your kettle than water with little minerals. The scale that deposits from hard water is very porous and it practically cleans itself and is easy to remove with a little bit of citric acid.
The scale that deposits from water that has little minerals, depending on composition, can be very dense, hard and nonporous making it difficult to clean.
- yladiz 6y ago> There is no practical way to prevent scale depositing other than using distilled water This isn’t exactly true, scale builds up because of certain minerals, not just any mineral, so filtering for those achieves similar results. For example, soft water also doesn’t build up scale. Anecdotally I make tea and coffee every day and use Brita filtered water and don’t get scale build up in my kettle, whereas using tap water builds scale in only a couple uses.
- ericbarrett 6y agoSeconded. We have extremely hard water and a water softening system (the kind you fill up with 50kg of salt or potassium every few months) + under-sink reverse osmosis. Water produced by the RO system can be boiled or evaporated with no, or at least microscopic, residue. Boil a liter or two of the untreated water and you'll be scouring the pan or kettle afterward.
- lmilcin 6y agoThis is very simple. If water leaves no residue then you have an equivalent of distilled water. Normal water for human consumption should contain palette of minerals. First to taste well, second to supplement your diet (supposedly, I don't have hard facts).
- Balgair 6y agoAlso water safety issues. Flint, MI found out the very hard way what happens when you don't put that stuff in.
- ericbarrett 6y agoThis is crankery. Minerals are collected by the body from all sources. The grains, fruits, vegetables, and meat one eats are surely not fed with distilled or RO'd water. Unless your diet is extremely unusual, the trace minerals removed from water will never be a problem.
- lmilcin 6y agoWHO disagrees with you. HEALTH RISKS FROM DRINKING DEMINERALISED WATER "V. CONCLUSIONS Drinking water should contain minimum levels of certain essential minerals (and other components such as carbonates)." https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientscha...
- ericbarrett 6y ago
- dunefox 6y ago> making it difficult to clean If scale == lime then vinegar gets rid of it easily.
- koliber 6y agoYour response is great and on point. I am not OP, but the filter is not to prevent scale from depositing in the kettle. Nor is it for filtering out dissolved minerals in the water. My kettle often ends up having small grains is scale floating around freely. If I completely empty it, they go into my coffee. Such a filter would keep these bits away from my brew.
- garaetjjte 6y ago>distilled water which will make everything taste awful Huh, why? Does distilled water taste bad?
- mjbeswick 6y agoI have a reverse osmosis filter so there is never any mineral buildup in our kettle. We have a glass kettle which cost £35, and is as good as new; even after a few years of use several time a day.