I’m seeing that average UK socket circuits are 32A, which is nuts, I’m jealous. So that’s it right there, 32A (I know (or hope) the kettle isn’t pulling 32A) * 240v is a ridiculous amount of power, obviously more than any kettle would ever pull in a million years. My heat pumps and dryer are the only thing on the double breakers pulling 30A. Couldn’t imagine a teakettle.
That’s the max you can draw from the mains, not the single socket capacity. Sockets are wired to circuits at 13A. If you want to put a heavy duty appliance like an oven or induction hob, you put them in separate circuits with higher Amperage. Same for home EV chargers.
As soon as I started reading your comment I remembered the fused outlets of Britania. And as soon as I saw the YouTube link, I knew it was the same Tech Connections video that taught me it. I watched a video on British kettles despite being an American who drinks drip coffee.
One of the variables is the amount of water being boiled. For a given kettle, there is a roughly linear relationship between the mass of the water and the time it takes to heat it by a degree. If I get two kettles, plug them both in, and split the water between them, then don’t I get my water boiled twice as fast? Why can’t we just put two elements in one kettle?
Sure, that’s the BTU right there. You would think that if you had 100 equal elements heating 100 equally sized amounts of water (in a vacuum), that it’d go faster than one element heating one 100 times as large. I imagine you’d need some kind of separation between the elements, or they’d end up hearing one another and affecting their individual efficiencies. I’m sure Lemmy can design a more efficient kettle though, let’s get on it.
The loop of sockets could be as high as 32A but most appliance plugs are fitted with a 13A fuse.
A British kettle will pull around 3kW. What splits the wheat from the chaff is how quietly it’ll do that, for the most part. Fancy ones will let you pick a temperature, too. Tea is 100°C and poured straight on the bag, coffee is a wimp and cries bitter tears at such a high heat.
I’ve had friends from Northern Ireland (though anywhere reserves the right to claim proper tea making method) that will fuck you off if you take 10 seconds from the stop of the kettle and the contact of hot water to the teabag.
Ha, me and my family are from Jersey (New), but if you go up the chain on my mom’s side, they’re all tea drinkers from mainly southern Ireland, but some north too, and they like it piping, piping hot, to the point they will microwave it if its unsat, and with milk. Black tea, steaming hot, milk.
I drink drip coffee, black, a few drops of stevia, the closer to lukewarm the better so I can chug it down quickly. Because I’m from the east coast of the US, we’re all about efficiency. An anecdote I like to tell people is when my brother moved to SF in 2009, we noticed Dunkin Donuts’s slogan was not “America Runs on Dunkin’” out there, it was “America’s Favorite Coffee,” and we surmised it was because, on the left coast, folks enjoyed the experience more, weren’t in as much of a rush; whereas, on the east coast, and specifically NYC and it’s surrounding areas, it was much more go-go-go, where coffee was seen as more of a utility. I do think it’s changed a bit since, though.
I’m seeing that average UK socket circuits are 32A, which is nuts, I’m jealous. So that’s it right there, 32A (I know (or hope) the kettle isn’t pulling 32A) * 240v is a ridiculous amount of power, obviously more than any kettle would ever pull in a million years. My heat pumps and dryer are the only thing on the double breakers pulling 30A. Couldn’t imagine a teakettle.
That’s the max you can draw from the mains, not the single socket capacity. Sockets are wired to circuits at 13A. If you want to put a heavy duty appliance like an oven or induction hob, you put them in separate circuits with higher Amperage. Same for home EV chargers.
This is a great video about the topic. https://youtu.be/INZybkX8tLI
I FUCKING KNEW IT WOULD A TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS VIDEO. YOU CAN’T FOOL ME, LEMMY.
As soon as I started reading your comment I remembered the fused outlets of Britania. And as soon as I saw the YouTube link, I knew it was the same Tech Connections video that taught me it. I watched a video on British kettles despite being an American who drinks drip coffee.
One of the variables is the amount of water being boiled. For a given kettle, there is a roughly linear relationship between the mass of the water and the time it takes to heat it by a degree. If I get two kettles, plug them both in, and split the water between them, then don’t I get my water boiled twice as fast? Why can’t we just put two elements in one kettle?
Sure, that’s the BTU right there. You would think that if you had 100 equal elements heating 100 equally sized amounts of water (in a vacuum), that it’d go faster than one element heating one 100 times as large. I imagine you’d need some kind of separation between the elements, or they’d end up hearing one another and affecting their individual efficiencies. I’m sure Lemmy can design a more efficient kettle though, let’s get on it.
The loop of sockets could be as high as 32A but most appliance plugs are fitted with a 13A fuse.
A British kettle will pull around 3kW. What splits the wheat from the chaff is how quietly it’ll do that, for the most part. Fancy ones will let you pick a temperature, too. Tea is 100°C and poured straight on the bag, coffee is a wimp and cries bitter tears at such a high heat.
I’ve had friends from Northern Ireland (though anywhere reserves the right to claim proper tea making method) that will fuck you off if you take 10 seconds from the stop of the kettle and the contact of hot water to the teabag.
I wish I could have gotten my new kettle with metric temps instead. Really jazz up my kitchen.
Ha, me and my family are from Jersey (New), but if you go up the chain on my mom’s side, they’re all tea drinkers from mainly southern Ireland, but some north too, and they like it piping, piping hot, to the point they will microwave it if its unsat, and with milk. Black tea, steaming hot, milk.
I drink drip coffee, black, a few drops of stevia, the closer to lukewarm the better so I can chug it down quickly. Because I’m from the east coast of the US, we’re all about efficiency. An anecdote I like to tell people is when my brother moved to SF in 2009, we noticed Dunkin Donuts’s slogan was not “America Runs on Dunkin’” out there, it was “America’s Favorite Coffee,” and we surmised it was because, on the left coast, folks enjoyed the experience more, weren’t in as much of a rush; whereas, on the east coast, and specifically NYC and it’s surrounding areas, it was much more go-go-go, where coffee was seen as more of a utility. I do think it’s changed a bit since, though.