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As a Brit, the best thing about 230v is being able to run a 3kW kettle to make my tea. I took this for granted until I moved to the US.
by mhandley 3y ago
As a Brit, the best thing about 230v is being able to run a 3kW kettle to make my tea. I took this for granted until I moved to the US.
- the_mitsuhiko 3y agoWith induction stoves getting more popular that’s less of an issue nowadays.
- swarnie 3y agoStill, putting the stove on to make a cup of tea seems wrong.
- ThatMedicIsASpy 3y agoyeah but it is 5 times faster than a kettle
- the_mitsuhiko 3y agoThat seems purely emotional. An induction stove heats faster than a kettle at almost the same efficiency.
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoNo, it really does not. A typical induction stove has ~2kW of power on each element, and is ~20% less efficient at heating water than the resistive kettle. This makes it about half as fast at boiling water.
- oblio 3y agoYou made me check and adjust my other comment: https://www.aeg.co.uk/kitchen/cooking/hobs/induction-hob/ikb64401fb/ https://www.aeg.co.uk/kitchen/cooking/hobs/induction-hob/ikb... 3.7kW for the main element. Also, why would it be less efficient? Due to the distance?
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoNote that the 3.7kW element can only provide all that to a single vessel if it covers the entire area of the element. The resistive element submerged in the water dumps very nearly 100% of energy into the water. The stove heating the kettle has many more sources of loss, but mostly that it first heats a piece of metal, which is not fully submerged in water.
- the_mitsuhiko 3y agoIn theory, in practice the induction heating on a regular pan is faster than my kettle by almost three times. YMMV on type of kettle and induction hob used. But it generally means that if you live in the US and you have an induction hob, there is absolutely no reason to buy a kettle.
- rightbyte 3y agoYou might want to decalcify your kettle. Edit: Wait. Are you using a frying pan to heat tee water to make it faster?
- the_mitsuhiko 3y agoMy experience with US induction stoves is limited but I believe it can also deliver 3.5kW on boost. My induction stove boosts to 3.8kW for heating which beats my kettle significantly. I also measures the efficiency and it’s quite comparable.
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoWhat is the power of your kettle?
- the_mitsuhiko 3y ago2200 Watts.
- londons_explore 3y agoA British kettle on 230 volts boils enough water for a cup of tea in about 45 seconds. (3 kilowatt heater, 300 ml of water, theoretically takes 33 seconds, but slightly longer because it has to heat the body of the kettle too)
- bloopernova 3y agoI wonder if it's possible to replicate that circuit in a USA house but still stay within code. I'd love to make my tea faster!
- londons_explore 3y agoInstall an A/C socket in your kitchen. Then buy a British 240 volt 3 kilowatt kettle from eBay and wire on a US A/C plug (NEMA 6-15) - hooking the brown and blue wires from the kettle to the two line pins, and the green/yellow wire to ground. This would be both code legal, safe and functional. It would also be possible to use a clothes dryer socket (NEMA 14-30), but you should install a smaller than usual breaker for the circuit (15 amps), since the british kettle normally has a 13 amp fuse in it's plug, but a NEMA plug does not contain that.
- bloopernova 3y agoSweet, I had no idea it would be that straightforward. Thank you for the information!
- TheSpiceIsLife 3y agoI use a Panasonic flatbed microwave to heat precisely the volume of water I want by filling the tea cup(s) I want. Two minutes on high (1100 watt microwave output from, IIRC 1800 watt input) per cup. So usually two minutes for the one cup of I intend to drink. Every electric kettle I’ve ever owned has a minimum volume of at least two cups. Who bother heating two cups if I’m only going to drink one at a time. Tasmania (AU), 240v / 100amp supply to residential is standard.
- wil421 3y agoIsn’t that the traditional method with a kettle that whistles?
- CalRobert 3y agoTo be honest for the many years I lacked a proper stovetop kettle it felt wrong to not have the whistle. Though I also missed the auto-shutoff.
- googlryas 3y agoHuh? That's how people did it for all of eternity until about 75 years ago.
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoWe drink an unbelievable amount of tea. Firing up the hob each time would be silly, when you can fill a kettle to the minimum and have boiling water in an incredibly short time. Not much more than half a minute with a good modern kettle.
- rootusrootus 3y agoThat sounds like a good use case for an insta-hot tap. No filing anything, always ready to go.
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoIt does in theory. There are a few taps in the UK that are marketed as being able to produce essentially boiling water (which is what our typical tea bags require). Though we tend not to put quite so much money into our kitchens. And we would wear those things out, I swear! :-) I think Americans think British people drink tea out of poshness, when it is the opposite. Most of us also like a posh tea now and then, some of us drink expensive leaf teas... but the majority of what we drink is optimised for fast brewing off boiling water: tea that goes black in the mug in thirty seconds in boiling water. There is a concept here of "builders tea" -- the kind of thing a builder drinks -- which is sort of the functional equivalent of cheap electric coffee-pot coffee. That is, it's the kind you know isn't the best, but you will still drink it, and that cuts across all class lines. [0] There is a parallel thing: the "tea urn", which is like an enormous samovar with a lever -- that you still will see in industrial canteens and at church coffee mornings and at gatherings that aren't at cafés or restaurants. Those things actually need a different kind of tea, which brews more slowly and at slightly lower temperatures. The end result is a bit like builders tea. But we wouldn't bother with them at home. [0] We do absolutely drink coffee at home, but aside from appalling instant coffee we tend to skip over the coffee-pot coffee in the UK, to slightly more expensive ways of making coffee or to dreadful Nespresso machines. You'll see more of those or Bialetti mokas here; old style electric coffee pot percolators are now rather unusual. But Alan Adler's Aeropress particularly caught on here among coffee nerds, because that is really compatible with electric kettle life.
- ikekkdcjkfke 3y agoNobody heard of Quooker?
- mhandley 3y agoWe have an induction stove too and it's great. But the kettle is still significantly faster at boiling water.
- oblio 3y agoI'm kind of surprised by this. An induction stove turns the entire kettle into a resistive element so water boils super quickly. At least with EU induction stoves, so 230V.
- mhandley 3y agoOurs is a Smeg model. The two large rings are 2.3kW, with a outer booster ring to 3kW. The problem is if I'm just boiling water for my tea with a saucepan, only the inner ring is triggered. I can put a large pan on there and get 3kW to match the 3kW kettle, but then I've got to warm a large metal pan too, whereas the kettle has very little thermal mass and is lightweight and easy to fill too.
- brewdad 3y agoA properly sized tea kettle would solve that but since you already have the electric kettle there’s no sense in buying a new stovetop vessel until the electric kettle burns itself up.
- rootusrootus 3y ago> At least with EU induction stoves, so 230V. US induction cooktops/stoves are almost always 240V, unless you get a little countertop burner. > I'm kind of surprised by this. As am I. The first time I put a small pot of water on my induction cooktop and turned it on maximum power, I laughed out loud. If I'm only doing enough for a cup of coffee or tea, it starts boiling so fast you don't want to step away.
- oblio 3y agoOne small thing I'd like to add, I actually forgot about this. > US induction cooktops/stoves are almost always 240V, unless you get a little countertop burner. EU induction cooktops/stoves are actually 380/400V. It doesn't change much, because the amperage might be lower, I don't know. I just wanted to add that bit of trivia :-)
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoAn induction stove is still really inefficient at heating water, compared to an electric kettle with the resistive element in the water and 3kW of power.
- andersa 3y agoThey should make turbo kettles that hook up to 3 phase power like a stove. That seems like it would be fun. Why stop at 3kW, when you can have 11?
- kccqzy 3y agoNow I want a kettle designed for a J1772 EV plug. Why stop at 11kW when you can have 19kW?
- the_mitsuhiko 3y agoThere is a small difference but not much. I compared my 230V Kettle with my 400V induction stove and it’s within 5% or so. Obviously it depends a bit on what pot you use. I’m guessing most losses come from the lack of insulation on the metal pot.
- oblio 3y agoWhy? I'm not sure I understand the logic. For example this: https://www.emag.ro/plita-cu-inductie-aeg-hob-hood-60-cm-ikb64431xb/pd/D0BF69MBM/ https://www.emag.ro/plita-cu-inductie-aeg-hob-hood-60-cm-ikb... (in the EU), at max power can supposedly reach 7.3kW. Edit: Checked per element, max 3.7k, more than enough anyway.
- vel0city 3y agoFor the induction cooktop, there's circuitry to drive the induction system, which then creates magnetic fields, which then interacts with the metal pot, which gets hot and heats the water on one side while radiating heat into the air on the other. There's a lot of stages for losses here. On an electric kettle, there's just a heating element, often directly bathed in the hot water. There's absolutely less losses with the electric kettle, so for a 3kW kettle and a 3kW induction cooktop the kettle is slightly more efficient. Slightly.
- doublesocket 3y agoMy in-laws have fried three different induction hobs boiling a kettle on them. Good quality brands too, they just can't seem to cope with frequently being set to max.
- myrmidon 3y agoAre people actually using induction stoves for tea, though? For me, a big selling point of the kettle is that you don't have to clean it and stow it after every use, so I would still use the kettle even if it was slower (maybe no longer for pasta or when cooking in general though)... edit: I guess you could just get a teapot that is induction-compatible, didn't think of that.
- PrimeMcFly 3y agoYou don't really have to clean a pot either if you just used it to boil water.
- fireflash38 3y agoMostly just descaling, but cleaning it with soap and water isn't going to do much about that - you need an acid like vinegar or citric acid.
- bowsamic 3y agoThere's no chance I'm bothering with getting out a stovetop kettle every time I want a tea. Far easier to just have a separate kettle
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y agoThose electric kettles in the US boil water _really slow_ when one is used to 230v.
- vehemenz 3y agoAs an American, I find the boiling speed of 1L in an electric kettle to be remarkably fast compared to drip coffee or boiling on the stove. Granted, that says more about my expectations than the actual speed. Generally I use an insulated 4L kettle that stays warm all day, so it heats up very quickly when needed and somewhat negates the issue.
- ianburrell 3y agoI find with electric kettle that I use the right amount of water since there are markings for volume. It also heats up to the right temp for coffee instead of to boiling. Both mean that electric kettle is faster than on stove. I like that it will maintain right temp for the second pour for coffee.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y agoYou will notice the slowdown if using kettles at 230V and then switch to using them at 110V.
- wongarsu 3y agoIt's probably the most remarkable difference. It's interesting how houses are wired for 10-20A of current everywhere, regardless of voltage. You'd assume that since European houses are mostly wired for 16A then US houses would be wired for 32A (or the other way around, if you know US houses wired for 15A, you would assume the European wires for 8A). But curiously that's not the case. Ignoring the UK with their 13A/30A rings for a moment, since their wiring is unique.
- eutectic 3y agoResistive losses are related to current (I^2 R), so you need thicker wires to deliver the same power at a lower voltage. I guess it was decided that it wasn't worth the expense.
- wongarsu 3y agoSure, obviously. But you'd expect power requirements to be more or less the same, and the ideal wire diameter to be dependent on voltage. But instead what happened is that the wire diameter is more or less constant, and Europe just uses more powerful electrical devices.
- rootusrootus 3y ago> Europe just uses more powerful electrical devices Aside from kettles? I guess maybe some people have electric heaters? What else pulls enough power that the extra voltage will matter? Vacuums maybe, but no, those are limited to 1600W.
- wongarsu 3y agoJust looking up my local (German) retailer: - Irons are commonly 2000-3200W (3200W is 14.5A at 220V) - Portable Induction Stovetops are 3000W - Deep Fryers are 2000-3000W - Hair Dryers are 2000-2500W And of course some things are connected via 3-phase 400V (3 220V phases, because of the 120° phase offset that's 400V between any two phases) - actual oven + stovetop combinations, about 7000W for the stovetop, plus 1000W for the oven - many tankless water heaters, 5000W-24000W seems common The most impactful in day-to-day use are probably kettles and hair dryers, but with stovetops and water heaters there's probably a big difference in the prevalence in gas vs electrical, and tankless vs boiler simply due to wiring.
- sph 3y agoI'm struggling to understand how the British grid works, as an Italian transplated to UK. IIRC in Italy most residential circuit breakers have a limit of 3.3 kW, so it's pretty easy to trip it with a few appliances running, and we don't even use electric kettles that much. Yet in Britain, with a 3 kW kettle, I've never managed to trip it, with a combination of laundry machine, electric oven, microwave, dishwasher. Is there no circuit breaker limit?
- jonatron 3y agoWe have ring circuits, which are typically on 32A breakers.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoThere may be several circuits, and they all have independent breakers. Certainly, an electric cooker/oven will be on its own circuit as it has higher requirements. Then, standard ring circuit is 32A, and individual sockets are limited to 13A (via fuse in plug). So you will need to have 2 kettles on on the same circuit and then add a third device pulling not an insignificant amount of power (32 - 2x13 = 6A) before the breaker trips. This will be safe if the ring circuit is not faulty as they are usually wired with two 2.5mm2 cables (two because it's a ring) that have a standard rating of 24A each...
- sph 3y agoThanks, that's incredible. I won't have to worry about tripping the circuit breaker anymore.
- awalach 3y agoObligatory TechnologyConnections reference - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c TLDR: in US it takes 2 minutes more :). Is that difference that noticeable IRL?
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoIf you were British, you would not need to ask this. Being compelled to wait two minutes more to boil a kettle for a cuppa would be enough to provoke an armed rebellion. Not even sure I'm kidding.
- creole_wither 3y agoWhy not just keep the water warm in an electric samovar?
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoTypical British teabag tea -- the stuff we consume in quantity -- is brewed with water just off the boil, and consumed often pretty quickly afterwards because cold milk gets added. (Or it goes into a teapot for brewing, and again needs to be just off the boil for that) Given that we can boil a kettle for a mug's worth of tea in not much more than half a minute, there's no reason to use them, I think.
- bemusedthrow75 3y agoAnd to follow up on this thread because a similarity occurred to me in another reply, we do use samovar-type things (electric tea urns) in other contexts (ad hoc and mobile catering), but that is about brewing the tea itself within the vessel and it requires both a different kind of tea and a noticeably different kind of scale (simultaneous volume). You do sometimes see those in company canteens though.
- mrguyorama 3y agoMost Americans drink substantially more coffee than tea, which is why we have a purpose built appliances for making coffee, and have had those for decades. The reason Americans don't have a super fast boiling kettle is that very few Americans WANT a very fast boiling kettle for large portions of water. If an American wants a cup of tea, two minutes or less in the microwave is sufficient. I don't care if you think that's bad, because I want a cup of tea, not some elitist purity contest.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- TrueGeek 3y agoThe difference really is night and day between a US and UK kettle. The worst part of the British system though (although I don’t think this has anything to do with voltage, IDK) is there is nowhere to plug-in your razor, hair clippers, hair dryer, toothbrush, curling iron, etc. etc.
- pmlnr 3y agoThat's building regulations, sadly. Sockets need to be multiple meters from splash zones, but there's an exception for shaver sockets, which have their own transformer, limited amps, and have a plug that looks very similar to the non-grounded EU plugs.
- tialaramex 3y agoYeah, both bathrooms in my (UK) home have such sockets, I don't actually use them, the electric toothbrush gets charged by this desk instead, but they exist. Regulations change over time, this home's bathrooms are all interior, with fans to evacuate moisture, and the toilets accordingly have internal overflow†, both these features were not legal when my parents home was built. † Historically for a residential toilet in the UK if the water rises above the intended maximum level in the tank, it just runs into a pipe to the outside of the building, in principle you can now see what's wrong and it's not dangerous... but, if you don't fix it promptly this results in a stain on the building exterior, as well as potentially wider water damage, plus it can freeze in mid-winter which isn't good. But wait, a toilet has a very obvious place to dump unwanted water, it's connected to the sewer and if that is broken you've got much more serious problems. So a modern toilet tank just re-uses the flush mechanism to dump excess water the same place as everything else. This elegant solution, already needed in some commercial applications, was I believe made legal in newer residential building regulations maybe in the 1980s.
- allendoerfer 3y agoThank you, now I have even more highly specific but useless information about British homes. It will sit next to my knowledge about why you guys (used to) have two faucets.
- lbourdages 3y agoI have 20 amp sockets in my kitchen (as all newly built housing has, really) but there are no 20 amp kettles on the market. I wish I could get that extra 600 watts or power :(
- brocklobsta 3y agoIn the US it is against code to have any regular appliance use more than 15 amps continuously I believe
- macrolime 3y agoYour run your kettle for hours on end?
- AlgorithmicTime 3y ago[dead]
- vel0city 3y agoA kettle is not a continuous load.
- SkyPuncher 3y agoContinuous is anything outside of a small "startup window". Appliances with motors will often have an initial surge amperage that's higher than peak. Fuses/breakers are ultimately about heat control. They can run "indefinitely" at their rated amperage, but can support short, higher loads.
- bitbckt 3y agoNo, continuous is very specifically defined in the NEC as 3 hours or more of runtime.
- SkyPuncher 3y agoThis article does a good job of explaining how failure modes/alternative usages can make that definition fuzzy: https://www.csemag.com/articles/understanding-overcurrent-protection/ https://www.csemag.com/articles/understanding-overcurrent-pr... Practically speaking, any intermittent device that _can_ run continuously or can fail to a continuous needs to be considered as such for safety purposes. For example, a fridge should only run the compressor intermittently, but it has two obvious cases where the compressor could run indefinitely: * An influx of heat, like filling an empty fridge with room temperature cans. * A door being left open. In the case of the kettle, it will likely be evaluated against it's "nominal" draw after the initial startup. If the auto-off sensor were to fail, it could run continuously at the tempurature.
- CalRobert 3y agoIf you use an induction hob, a classic stovetop kettle (the kind that whistles!) will allow you to boil water quickly. The large ring on my last hob was 3kw.
- BaseballPhysics 3y agoNot worth it. A temperature controllable kettle that shuts itself off and can keep water warm is both incredibly convenient and far more safe.
- shawabawa3 3y agolots of new induction hobs have "boil detection" and auto shut off, fwiw
- BaseballPhysics 3y agoSo I just need to upgrade my current induction stove to a newer model? That seems reasonable... ;)
- rootusrootus 3y agoI have a temperature controllable "kettle" (tank) under my sink connected to a tap and I get water at 195F. I agree on the convenience. They are pretty common.
- CalRobert 3y agoBut no whistle! Good point on safety though
- iso1631 3y agoHow 1950s!
- CalRobert 3y agoI'm not in my seventies but I do have fond memories of the kettle whistling as a kid.
- greggsy 3y agoThe power companies know this, and time their cutovers from Europe with the end of Eastendets, which is when people turn on their kettle for a cup of tea before making dinner. (I’m not sure if that’s still a good hint, but it certainly was ten or so years ago.)
- seanw444 3y agoTom Scott's video on this is interesting, as a side note.
- nickt 3y agoGuy Martin did a good 3 part TV show earlier in the year https://www.channel4.com/programmes/guy-martins-great-british-power-trip https://www.channel4.com/programmes/guy-martins-great-britis...
- nickt 3y agoIt’s called “TV pickup”, and Wikipedia has a good article explaining it, especially the bit about using pumped storage to meet demand in seconds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup
- iso1631 3y agoLess important now. Back when 17 million would tune in to watch Coronation Street 3 times a week it was a much bigger thing. It's rare to get half that for legacy live TV outside of specific major broadcasts (The Euro 2020 final pulled in 30 million) -- the 10th most watched show of 2022 only got 8 million and the soaps are lucky to get 6 - inlcuding those watching time-shifted.
- dfxm12 3y agoOn the hot beverage topic, I'm jealous that the espresso gear in Europe is a little cheaper/faster. The motors that drive coffee grinders and the heaters that heat up water in the boilers work a lot easier/faster.
- amelius 3y agoFrom the article: > USA uses 230-240 VAC, too. The only difference is that we ground it in the center, creating "split" phases, reducing the peak voltage relative to ground and making it easier to interface low-power loads. But high-power loads (stoves, water heaters, clothes dryers, etc.) operate across the full voltage, reducing the current required.
- p1mrx 3y agoI would like to see a US electric range with Schuko outlets and 16A GFCI breakers on the side, but that probably violates too many electrical codes. Schuko makes the most sense because it's unpolarized, so appliances don't expect a neutral leg. You still have the 50/60 Hz problem, but something like a kettle probably won't care. Or there could be a countertop "Schuko dongle" that attaches to the screw terminals on the back of an existing range, if it weren't for those meddling codes... Though in practice, the key to boiling fast is to use less water. A 1500W kettle with 500 mL minimum fill is totally reasonable for cup of coffee/tea.
- rootusrootus 3y agoAs an American, I have a faucet at my kitchen sink that will give me water at 195F. That takes care of nearly all my needs for truly hot water. When I do need the last few degrees to get a roiling boil, my induction cooktop has a 3700W burner that will do it in a hurry.
- tiborsaas 3y agoHow many accidental burn injuries you or your guests have?
- rootusrootus 3y agoZero. The 195F tap is not the same one you use for normal hot & cold water. The normal hot water in our house is set to 140F (we do not have any small children or elderly, if we did I might dial it down to 120F).
- tiborsaas 3y agoFair enough, my girlfriend is mad when I use the hot water and later she suddenly "burns" her hand with ~50/60°C water :)
- pimlottc 3y agoTo be clear, in the US the "instant hot" tap (when present) is separate from the main adjustable-temperature faucet. It's normally off to the side and visually distinct. It's usually much smaller and provides a limited amount of water from a pre-heated tank under the sink.
- jedberg 3y agoI have a question for you as a Brit. I live in an Asian household (my wife is Asian). We have a hot water boiler, as most Asian households do. It keeps 4L of water at "tea" temperature at all times (after boiling it). When we want tea, we just fill up the cup with the already boiled and ready water. It's super efficient because it's super insulated so it barely takes any energy to keep it hot after it's been boiled. Why don't Brits (and other tea drinking cultures in Europe) do this?
- porbelm 3y agoLegionella I kid, but there's something about "fresh" water probably?
- jedberg 3y agoThe water stays way above the temp for legionella. And the water is still pretty fresh, it ends up getting replaced every other day or so in winter. And in summer we just replace it once in a while anyway. Also it will reboil after a certain amount of time.
- davnn 3y agoAt least in the German-speaking market there exist said solutions, but they are not very common (yet?). I believe keeping 4L at near boiling temperature is still less efficient than individually heating and it takes less than a minute with 3kW.
- L_226 3y agoNow all the German speaking market needs is tea that actually tastes good.
- mhandley 3y agoAccording to Twinings tea: Always use freshly drawn (filtered if possible) cold water in the kettle. Tea loves oxygen as it helps the flavour develop. Most of us are guilty of the following... looking at the kettle seeing there is some old, used water in there and simply re-boiling. If you keep re-boiling the water in the kettle, it loses all of its oxygen and you’ll be left with a really flat cup of tea. If you boil the kettle with fresh water, you’ll have a delicious cup of oxygenated tea that tastes divine. https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/how-to-make-a-cup-of-tea-perfectly https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/how-to-make-a-cup-of-tea-p... I'm not sure how much difference this makes, but when I use the hot water boiler at work, the tea definitely tastes slightly off compared to using a kettle at home. But it's also possible the hot water boiler at work is not producing hot enough water.
- HALtheWise 3y agoHas anyone ever made a battery-powered kettle with significantly higher power than can be pulled from a wall outlet? Modern lithium batteries can deliver many kilowatts of power, and given that the total energy needed to boil the water is basically fixed, the battery size requirements might be pretty reasonable. I wouldn't be surprised if boiling water in 15s is possible even on a 120v American outlet.
- kccqzy 3y agoI think it's certainly possible. FWIW car batteries can often support 1000A especially those for large diesel engines. They aren't meant for continuously loads or deep cycles though. Marine batteries may be able to overcome this.
- jaywee 3y agoImpulse Labs, a startup, is doing lithium-backed kitchen stoves. Claims to heat-up 1L of water in ~40secs. That's at least 8.6kW. https://twitter.com/sdamico/status/1592553611879673856?s=20 https://twitter.com/sdamico/status/1592553611879673856?s=20
- adrianmonk 3y agoIt does seem feasible to equal the performance of a 3 kilowatt kettle with batteries! =-=-= Question #1: Can we get 3 kilowatts of power out of some lithium ion batteries? There are high-current versions of lithium batteries. Conveniently, they're widely available because they're used for vaping. I found a battery that looks reasonable (https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/molicel-p42a https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/molicel-p42a). Its stats: 4200 mAh capacity, 3.6V nominal, 45A continuous discharge, and retail cost $4.99. At 3.6V and 45A, each battery should output 162 watts. Rounding to 150 watts, we'd need 20 of them to make 3 kilowatts. So $100 worth of batteries. =-=-= Question #2: How long will they last? Long enough to boil water? At the 45-amp discharge rate and with 4.2 amp-hour capacity, it should take 4.2/45 hours = 6 or 7 minutes to discharge them. By my math, it takes 335 kilojoules to heat a liter of water from 20°C to 100°C. A 3 kilowatt kettle should be able to do it in 335/3 = 112 seconds. So the batteries should be able to boil water around 3 times before discharged. =-=-= Those calculations are for running on battery alone. Since you can get 1500W out of an American 120V outlet, you could make a kettle that draws 1500W from the wall and boosts it with 1500W of battery power. (I'd use two heating elements.) Then you only need $50 of batteries. The kettle is going to be a bit heavy, though. The batteries are 70g each, so 20 of them is 1.4 kg. Also, I don't know much batteries heat up when cranking out 45 amps, but I bet the answer is a lot, and you may need active cooling and/or thermal shutoff.
- zeroonetwothree 3y agoNow that I have a 5kw induction cooktop I can boil water incredibly fast. However I’m not sure it’s that useful since it’s not like I’m standing there watching it, so whether it’s 1 min or 5 min doesn’t matter.
- secondcoming 3y agoSometimes you need an emergency cup of tea
- fragmede 3y agoIf it took 15 seconds, you'd stand there and watch it.
- laurencerowe 3y agoI definitely notice the difference in speed between a Uk and US kettle. In the UK I put the water on then while it’s boiling get a mug and tea bag and then the kettle is boiled very soon after. In the US I generally wonder off as the kettle takes a couple of minutes longer.
- bluGill 3y agoI have a really old infrared range that takes 20+ minutes to boil a pot of water. Believe me when it takes that long it does matter. (it is on the list to replace, but there are higher priorities in this house to fix first, and only limited budget)
- kccqzy 3y agoAnd yet people have 36kW water heaters and they can't boil the water! https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-Performance-36-kw-Self-Modulating-7-03-GPM-Tankless-Electric-Water-Heater-RETEX-36/300800822 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rheem-Performance-36-kw-Self-Mod... /s
- izolate 3y agoI used to sympathize with this take until I bought a Zojirushi water boiler, which provides instantaneous hot water. Now even a faster kettle is a downgrade in experience.
- hot_gril 3y agoSomehow I've never considered my home kettle too slow in the US, even though I have tea probably 2-3 times a day. And there's an instant hot water machine at our office, so it's not like I've gotten used to slowness.
- kccqzy 3y agoIt's possible to ask an electrician to install a 240V outlet in the US and then get a UK-spec kettle. You just need to make sure the kettle doesn't care about the frequency difference (probably not), and the hot-hot vs hot-neutral difference (also probably not).
- bluGill 3y agoPossible, but the outlet will have a different plug. Most window air conditioners use that type of outlet, and some garages will have it for hobby equipment. I don't think you can legally install a UK (or EU) outlet in the US even though everything that plugs into it would be just fine on our 240V power (a few clocks won't work right, but they won't be harmed or harm anything)
- Kirby64 3y agoPresumably, you would chop off the plug on the UK/EU kettle, and replace it with your own NEMA 6-20 plug. No need to install a UK/EU plug in your house. Also works good in case you need to use some sort of weird industrial equipment that needs 240V.
- teamonkey 3y agoOr just use a travel adapter
- bluGill 3y agoDoes anyone make a.travel adapter that plugs into a us 240volt socket? Such a thing is easy to imagine, but most houses don't even have an outlet you could plug it into, so the demand would be small.
- Kirby64 3y agoI would not use a travel adapter for a kettle. They pull major current, and the quality of the travel adapters is generally not intended for that much current draw...
- dfawcus 3y agoIt's not 230, it is 240! 3000 / 230 = 13.04 3000 / 240 = 12.5 We fit 13A fuses to the plugs of kettles. At 230V the tolerance would be too close. Whereas in reality, a kettle designed to be 3kW at 240V would only be 2.755kW at 230V, or 2.520kW at 220V. You'll often find the latter pair of number printed on the base of the kettle. i.e. 2520-3000W at 220-240V.
- djaychela 3y agoThey generally don't blow at the rated current. I've reliably used a 13A fuse on something that draws 16A for a while when starting up and never had a problem. Obviously RCDs etc are more accurate, but wired / cartridge fuses are always under-rated, in my experience.
- bluGill 3y agoMost fuses are slow blow - they will allow somewhat over the rates power draw for a while before blowing. Many things (motors) take a lot more than rated current for a few seconds and this is perfectly safe so the fuse shouldn't blow. The purpose of the fuse is to prevent a house fire, if your wires are good for 13 amps that means at 100% duty cycle, you can draw 16 amps for "a while" before the wires get hot enough to burn the house down, so long as you drop under 13 amps for "a while" so the wires cool down and never get hot enough to start a fire the fuse is working. Note that the above is about safety. If you are going to draw 16 amps you should stick to a circuit rates for that, as it will have less resistance and thus waste less energy.
- myrandomcomment 3y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c The difference is 2 minutes on the boil time of 1L.
- midoridensha 3y agoThis is one thing I really liked when I visited Europe.