On that note, as someone from a commonwealth nation, I was deeply appalled during the height of the pandemic when kettles couldn’t be purchased here as they weren’t considered ‘essential items’.
Porcelain has very good temperature shock resistance, stoneware quite good, earthenware bad. Your standard mug should be stoneware and take it just fine. There’s even stoneware pots.
The issue is rather that you shouldn’t use standard electric stoves with too small pots, on gas I guess that’s half-sensible but you’d be left with a charred mug that’s way too hot.
One reason that some Americans microwave water rather than use a kettle is that our electricity is half the power of UK electricity. It takes a lot longer for an electric kettle to boil here. That said, I do use a kettle when boiling water for tea.
What a bullshit excuse. I’m in Canada with exactly the same 110v power, and it takes very little time to kettle water. People say this all the time as some sort of justification, but it just isn’t.
Wow, that was a little strong given the subject. I’m not sure what I did to deserve being cussed at when I was just talking about electric kettles. Especially since I said I do use a kettle myself.
When I went, if I ever saw one it was the equivalent of those cheap travel kettles. I think the average person there just doesn’t use it enough to justify getting a good one.
We have a Zojirushi. 120V does limit it somewhat, but it’s fine.
The water in our area of country is also hard as shit. We have undersink RO now, but before then, mineral buildup in the kettle was bad. Crusted like concrete if we didn’t stay on top of it.
…softeners are essential in aquifer country; our zojirushi served us well for a decade but after our whole-house filter blew out a couple of years ago i’m starting to see iron deposits despite the softener…
US water softeners are usually only on the hot pipe. They tend to add sodium to the water, and it’s not recommended to make it your primary drinking water source.
…nope, we installed ours on the full water supply: it’s essential here or plumbing fixtures will fail…a properly designed softener won’t add significant salt to your potable water since the brine flushes clear after each recharge cycle…
Do microwaves have some magic efficiency trick that lets them produce heat faster from the same exact energy? Like, how do they manage to be more than 100% efficient?
Microwave magnetron efficiency is around 65%. Since a kettle turns electricity directly into heat, it’s basically 100% efficient.
A caveat is that microwaves will heat water directly and won’t lose as much to its surroundings. This is similar to why induction stoves are more efficient; they’re less efficient on paper than direct electric heating or burning gas, but they heat the thing you want in a more direct way.
Even so, a microwave isn’t great for this task. If you’re short on space and don’t want even a small travel kettle, I can see why you’d take this option. Otherwise, no.
I’m British the entire conversation is deeply offensive to my people. Microwaving??? Putting mugs on a stove??? I am appalled!
On that note, as someone from a commonwealth nation, I was deeply appalled during the height of the pandemic when kettles couldn’t be purchased here as they weren’t considered ‘essential items’.
That’s a travesty, they’re the backbone of the country
I don’t even understand how that could work, surely a standard mug would break one way or another if you just stick it on the stove?
Porcelain has very good temperature shock resistance, stoneware quite good, earthenware bad. Your standard mug should be stoneware and take it just fine. There’s even stoneware pots.
The issue is rather that you shouldn’t use standard electric stoves with too small pots, on gas I guess that’s half-sensible but you’d be left with a charred mug that’s way too hot.
How about a fucking $15 electric kettle? I don’t understand the need to complicate things so much.
OK so the mug acts like a small pot, but isn’t the handle also crazy hot then?
Just thinking about it makes me want to go and lovingly stroke my kettle
One reason that some Americans microwave water rather than use a kettle is that our electricity is half the power of UK electricity. It takes a lot longer for an electric kettle to boil here. That said, I do use a kettle when boiling water for tea.
What a bullshit excuse. I’m in Canada with exactly the same 110v power, and it takes very little time to kettle water. People say this all the time as some sort of justification, but it just isn’t.
Wow, that was a little strong given the subject. I’m not sure what I did to deserve being cussed at when I was just talking about electric kettles. Especially since I said I do use a kettle myself.
When I went, if I ever saw one it was the equivalent of those cheap travel kettles. I think the average person there just doesn’t use it enough to justify getting a good one.
We have a Zojirushi. 120V does limit it somewhat, but it’s fine.
The water in our area of country is also hard as shit. We have undersink RO now, but before then, mineral buildup in the kettle was bad. Crusted like concrete if we didn’t stay on top of it.
…softeners are essential in aquifer country; our zojirushi served us well for a decade but after our whole-house filter blew out a couple of years ago i’m starting to see iron deposits despite the softener…
US water softeners are usually only on the hot pipe. They tend to add sodium to the water, and it’s not recommended to make it your primary drinking water source.
…nope, we installed ours on the full water supply: it’s essential here or plumbing fixtures will fail…a properly designed softener won’t add significant salt to your potable water since the brine flushes clear after each recharge cycle…
Our electricity is 120v here in the US, so kettles take forever
For extremely small values of ‘forever’
US outlet is 120V@20A = 2.4kW UK outlet is 230V@13A = 3.0kW
It’s a 15% difference based on possible power draw.
Anecdotally the stove will still take many times longer. Even compared to induction my kettle is faster.
My guess is that in the UK/EU it’s not common to have powerful microwaves?
Most residential outlets in the US are going to be a 15A limit. You also have to reduce that by 20% for a continuous draw.
UK might be able to get away with the full usage because their plugs are designed to have a fuse built in. Not entirely sure on that, though.
That said, kettles are still a better option most of the time. Technology Connections has real world tests of this.
Yeah, makes sense. The statement that “half the voltage is half the power” is what started me from another reply. Then this was the next one.
Do microwaves have some magic efficiency trick that lets them produce heat faster from the same exact energy? Like, how do they manage to be more than 100% efficient?
Microwave magnetron efficiency is around 65%. Since a kettle turns electricity directly into heat, it’s basically 100% efficient.
A caveat is that microwaves will heat water directly and won’t lose as much to its surroundings. This is similar to why induction stoves are more efficient; they’re less efficient on paper than direct electric heating or burning gas, but they heat the thing you want in a more direct way.
Even so, a microwave isn’t great for this task. If you’re short on space and don’t want even a small travel kettle, I can see why you’d take this option. Otherwise, no.
Microwaves are designed to heat water molecules. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven
They are, in fact, designed to resuscitate frozen hamsters.
…i don’t think you should drink that; it looks bad for you…
They don’t, kettles just aren’t that much more efficient at 120v. Like a kettle will still be faster, just not by enough for people to care.