5 ms·

Interesting images and a very well put together page. But a little off topic, I was struck by this: > With the powerful 1200 W heating element A typical Euro

Interesting images and a very well put together page. But a little off topic, I was struck by this: > With the powerful 1200 W heating element A typical European kettle is at least 1800 W, comfortably less than the power deliverable from a 10 A, 230 V circuit. A typical UK kettle would be more like 3000 W, such as this one (it seems that all the kettles on that website are 3 kW): https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9363195?clickPR=plp:1:72 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9363195?clickPR=plp:1:72

cjrp 3y ago
> …the kettle reaches optimal temperature very quickly — in under three minutes That’s too long to wait for a brew.
- blamazon 3y ago
  Any amount of time feels like too long to wait for a brew ever since I got one of these: https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/water-boilers-warmers https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/water-boilers-warmers (To answer the question an inquisitive reader may ask: the keep-warm setting of the model I have uses about 25-60 watts average at room temp 73degF/23degC depending on volume and selected water temp) [1, pg5] [1]: https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_pdf/cd_lfc_eng.pdf https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_pdf/...
- exabrial 3y ago
  Reduce the pressure! :)
- p1mrx 3y ago
  If you fill to the minimum line (0.5L) instead of the maximum (1.7L), it will boil in under 1 minute. When buying a kettle, the most important specs are the minimum fill and wattage (ideally 1500W in the US.)
- c_o_n_v_e_x 3y ago
  I once met the guy who owned Zip in Australia. Sold out for big $$$ apparently. https://www.zipwater.com/for-home https://www.zipwater.com/for-home
cjs_ac 3y ago
UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power rating of 2,990 W. Kettles are consequently amongst the highest-drawing household appliances in the UK. Back when there were only three television channels, the National Grid planners used to pore over the Radio Times, looking for popular programmes like the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special (21 to 28 million viewers in 1977), so they could prepare for the demand surge of the entire nation putting the kettle on at the end of the programme.
- quartz 3y ago
  Related HN discussion about UK power demand surges due to millions of kettles being simultaneously turned on during TV breaks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5018560 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5018560
  - AdamN 3y ago
    TV Pickup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup) also leads to the political issue where one of the drivers of Brexit was that the 'EU' wanted to 'take away' traditional kettles because there was a proposal to embed a warm up cycle of a few seconds into the heating element so it didn't have spiky power consumption which caused very large amounts of simultaneous draw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCAzalhldg8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCAzalhldg8
- Lapha 3y ago
  >UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power rating of 2,990 W. Nominally, anyway. When the EU standardised mains voltages they mostly did so on paper by fudging the tolerances, UK's 240v +/- 3% became 230v -6/+10%. 28 years later and I still see the mains voltage in the 240-250v range more often than not.
- jcul 3y ago
  I remember discussing this during a lecture as part of my electronic engineering degree, speaking about planning for demand during half time of big football matches when everyone went and boiled the kettle at the same time.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
crazygringo 3y ago
I'm not sure what the point is you're trying to make? I'm sure you're aware that US sockets are 110-120V. The power required by a European kettle would too often trip someone's circuit breaker in the US, especially if any other equipment were also plugged in (you usually want to stick to max 1500 W on a circuit). Clearly the "powerful 1200 W" is in the context of equipment designed for American residential sockets -- the page is produced by an American company after all. (Which is why Americans don't use electric kettles nearly as much as Brits/Europeans, of course.)
- beojan 3y ago
  A heating element is basically just a resistor, right? Which means if you run one on half the design voltage it'll draw half the current it's meant to and produce ¼ the power.
  - dgfitz 3y ago
    Half the voltage = 2x the amperage draw, not half, if I’m not mistaken.
    - beojan 3y ago
      P = (v^2)/R. It's R that stays constant, not P.
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  The point is that 1200 W in the context of many of the people reading this is not a lot.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
I checked, across the pond (here in NL) most kettles are up to 2200, maybe 2400 W; the 3 kW ones are the "dispense instant boiling water" type things. I suspect the UK power standards are a bit more beefy, the plugs sure are. It's probably a wide safety margin, you should be able to run an electric oven, a hob, and a kettle at the same time on a single fuse group nowadays. Or a kitchen should have separate groups.

cjrp 3y ago

> …the kettle reaches optimal temperature very quickly — in under three minutes That’s too long to wait for a brew.

blamazon 3y ago
Any amount of time feels like too long to wait for a brew ever since I got one of these: https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/water-boilers-warmers https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/water-boilers-warmers (To answer the question an inquisitive reader may ask: the keep-warm setting of the model I have uses about 25-60 watts average at room temp 73degF/23degC depending on volume and selected water temp) [1, pg5] [1]: https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_pdf/cd_lfc_eng.pdf https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_pdf/...
exabrial 3y ago
Reduce the pressure! :)
p1mrx 3y ago
If you fill to the minimum line (0.5L) instead of the maximum (1.7L), it will boil in under 1 minute. When buying a kettle, the most important specs are the minimum fill and wattage (ideally 1500W in the US.)
c_o_n_v_e_x 3y ago
I once met the guy who owned Zip in Australia. Sold out for big $$$ apparently. https://www.zipwater.com/for-home https://www.zipwater.com/for-home

cjs_ac 3y ago

UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power rating of 2,990 W. Kettles are consequently amongst the highest-drawing household appliances in the UK. Back when there were only three television channels, the National Grid planners used to pore over the Radio Times, looking for popular programmes like the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special (21 to 28 million viewers in 1977), so they could prepare for the demand surge of the entire nation putting the kettle on at the end of the programme.

quartz 3y ago
Related HN discussion about UK power demand surges due to millions of kettles being simultaneously turned on during TV breaks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5018560 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5018560
- AdamN 3y ago
  TV Pickup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup) also leads to the political issue where one of the drivers of Brexit was that the 'EU' wanted to 'take away' traditional kettles because there was a proposal to embed a warm up cycle of a few seconds into the heating element so it didn't have spiky power consumption which caused very large amounts of simultaneous draw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCAzalhldg8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCAzalhldg8
Lapha 3y ago
>UK plug sockets are rated at 13 A, giving a maximum power rating of 2,990 W. Nominally, anyway. When the EU standardised mains voltages they mostly did so on paper by fudging the tolerances, UK's 240v +/- 3% became 230v -6/+10%. 28 years later and I still see the mains voltage in the 240-250v range more often than not.
jcul 3y ago
I remember discussing this during a lecture as part of my electronic engineering degree, speaking about planning for demand during half time of big football matches when everyone went and boiled the kettle at the same time.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

crazygringo 3y ago

I'm not sure what the point is you're trying to make? I'm sure you're aware that US sockets are 110-120V. The power required by a European kettle would too often trip someone's circuit breaker in the US, especially if any other equipment were also plugged in (you usually want to stick to max 1500 W on a circuit). Clearly the "powerful 1200 W" is in the context of equipment designed for American residential sockets -- the page is produced by an American company after all. (Which is why Americans don't use electric kettles nearly as much as Brits/Europeans, of course.)

beojan 3y ago
A heating element is basically just a resistor, right? Which means if you run one on half the design voltage it'll draw half the current it's meant to and produce ¼ the power.
- dgfitz 3y ago
  Half the voltage = 2x the amperage draw, not half, if I’m not mistaken.
  - beojan 3y ago
    P = (v^2)/R. It's R that stays constant, not P.
kwhitefoot 3y ago
The point is that 1200 W in the context of many of the people reading this is not a lot.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

I checked, across the pond (here in NL) most kettles are up to 2200, maybe 2400 W; the 3 kW ones are the "dispense instant boiling water" type things. I suspect the UK power standards are a bit more beefy, the plugs sure are. It's probably a wide safety margin, you should be able to run an electric oven, a hob, and a kettle at the same time on a single fuse group nowadays. Or a kitchen should have separate groups.