And a 2020 video about different voltages in the US electrical systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4
* https://www.vevor.ca/induction-cooktop-c_10592/vevor-portabl...
* https://www.trueinduction.com/Commercial-Single-Induction-Co...
Just need a NEMA 6 plug (GFCI/AFCI per code as well probably):
If you _really_ want more than that you can go a little mental and use one with an integrated battery which can push out 10 kW [1]
[0] https://www.nisbets.co.uk/nisbets-essentials-single-zone-ind...
(Well honestly, I guess the real answer is outside of Internet debates most people probably just don't consider 5 minutes to boil a cup of water to be a problem.)
> limited by the battery's rated number of cycles
Obviously the battery should be replaceable. (It should be in most electronics, really...)
> The battery's proximity to the heat source wouldn't help.
That doesn't seem like a particularly tricky problem to me. The standard kettle already tries as hard as possible to insulate the heat. If you were really worried it'd be possible to put the battery on a separate power brick instead probably.
...
And I guess I could've solved my own problem by googling it. There are tons of battery kettles on the market, including a 1500W one by Cuisinart and a 2200W (apparently?) unit by Makita. The latter is predictably expensive but the Cuisinart is available for around $100 where I live, which is definitely pricey but seems plausible.
This is super wasteful when we can just hook up a heating element to an insulated tank and keep it hot like Quooker [0] does. Assuming the 3L tank, that would mean probably 20 minutes to heat the tank if it's entirely emptied for the US, but that's how long it would take to boil that water with an electric kettle _anyway_. If you want 5l of water for cooking, you cna use your 3L tank and fill it up with the "slightly lukewarm water that keeps coming through the tap", and then put it on the hob _anyway_. In the best case you're boiling 2L of water instead of 5 anyway.
> That doesn't seem like a particularly tricky problem to me. The standard kettle already tries as hard as possible to insulate the heat. If you were really worried it'd be possible to put the battery on a separate power brick instead probably.
Dunno what kettle you're using but no kettle I've ever used has been insulated. They're either plastic, or stainless steel. They do usually have a lid, which helps.
Also: a hot water tank is just another type of battery. If it's really well insulated, it might work pretty good, but the self-discharge rate is probably still a lot higher than a lithium ion battery. If you aren't using boiling water every day this seems like it would be very wasteful.
I don't see anything terribly wasteful about the concept of putting batteries in a few more things. They're very recyclable, and already extremely abundant. It's not necessary, but neither is pushing several kW through a kettle just to get water to boil a bit faster. So really, that might be worth interrogating first...
I decided to pull an extra 240V line to the countertop explicitly for a tea kettle, which I have not purchased yet but seem to be available from Amazon UK for ~2x the price of an ordinary US-market kettle.
The most disappointing thing so far is the short list of kettle options that ship from the UK to the US.
Also not sure if I should get a UK receptacle (this would probably offend the bldg inspector, so I might swap post-inspection), or just rewire the kettle itself with a standard US (240V) plug.
FWIW, the extra wire + breaker cost was about $100. I expect to pay another $30 or so for the receptacle or appliance wire, and a bit over $100 for the kettle (and its replacements every few years). Not the least expensive option, but not too bad.
Whether it's actually safe I though, that I am curious. Obviously the kettle can get the 240V potential it expects, but the neutral is center tapped out of the split phase transformer, right? Not sure how people wire this. (Doesn't the neutral wind up having to be one of the hots instead?)
In the US, it's 240V 60Hz, split-phase with center-tapped neutral, and an independent ground wire.
In the UK, it's 240V 50Hz, single-phase with independent neutral and ground.
Frequency difference should be within design tolerance. and if my EE memory serves, the phase difference should be acceptable -- just measured from a different zero reference point. The neutral from the wall would be unused, and the ground would be wired as usual.
I'll think this through thoroughly though, I was definitely glossing over those details, so thank you!
I also found a ton of AI-generated link spam pages purporting to be about battery-powered kettles that are all clearly not battery-powered (e.g. [1]). Some of these are 12v powered, but they still contain no batteries. Apparently the adjective cordless confuses AI just like it does people.
Side note: Boiling water takes a lot of energy. You need a big battery; not just a couple of AAs. Any truly battery-powered kettle is going to require a battery at least as big as one for a contractor-grade power tool, and that battery is going to deplete after roughly one boiled pot.
[0] https://www.acmetools.com/makita-40v-max-xgt-hot-water-kettl...
[1] https://activegearreviews.com/best-battery-powered-kettles/
I believe there master plan foresees a future where batteries are more integrated with a house for decentralized grid storage. But the additional consumer advantage is better hardware - i.e cooking time.
Given that premium kettles already sell for about $100, there's definitely room for an ultra premium kettle that boils water laughably fast for $150.
We do also have a "kitchen plug" for high-powered appliances. Those go up to 7.3kW in their regular dual-single-phase 16A version, 11kW when wired with three phases (quite common in households these days), or even 17kW with the (understandably) rarely-used 25A plug variant with three-phase wiring.
And that's not even commercial equipment, just what you'd pick up at your local Best Buy equivalent. The commercial stuff uses CeeForm, which is a three-phase 16A/32A/63A/125A plug. Or it's getting hard-wired.
I've never seen a single oven pull more than this, but devices like [1] are fairly common where you have two independent ovens in one, and it can pull 21A - this would necessitate the 25A supply.
As for three phase - https://www.howdens.com/-/media/howdens/assets/clh_asset_pro... this hob (which I have) will take 3-phase 16A, or single phase 32A. I've not come across any 32A 3-phase devices for home usage, though.
[0] https://ao.com/product/b54cr71g0b-neff-n70-slide--hide-elect...
I never knew about the boil auto-shut-off mechanism and the overheat/"boil-dry" protection circuit being two different things in some kettles. In those, pouring out the entire water before the auto-off had a chance to kick in can cause a situation where the kettle stays on (due to not enough steam being present to trip it), but the boil-dry protection circuit continuously engages and disengages until somebody notices or the thing self-destroys – ours did the latter.
Now we have one with a switch at the bottom, and I'm hoping that due to that construction, the boil-dry protection will also disengage the switch if needed. (It also helps that the switch automatically disengages when lifting the kettle off its base.)
It is always fascinating to see unforeseen failure modes created by automation.
It also has a function to hold temperature for up to 30 minutes, and because it has actual logic going on inside, when you lift it off the base it knows this and won't turn back on when you put it back.
Chatgpt thinks this was threatened in 2010 then postponed in 2016 then cancelled, which vaguely aligns with my timeline of interest in tea.
[0] Energy efficiency at boiling the water. A kettle is always 100% effective at making heat.
While the amount of energy used to boil water at 2kW is not significantly different from 3kW (2kW has a tiny amount of more atmospheric losses I think), there is a difference for the impact on the grid. Same energy but more power generating and transmission line capacity needed.
Are you perhaps conflating it with the EU regulations on vacuum cleaners going in around 2017? As with all EU regulations, this of course resulted in a decent bunch of EU-bashing in UK media by the usual suspects - despite less-power-hungry vacuum cleaners being just as effective as the more power-hungry ones, and power consumption being inflated by manufacturers to market their vacuums, as plenty of people believed that "bigger number = more suck = more better".
Keep in mind that heat is constantly being transferred between things that are different temperatures, the faster something reaches the set point temperature, the less time there is to lose heat.
In the early 2010s there were reports that the EU was set to ban 3kW kettles in the anti-EU tabloid press.
The ‘plans’ were discussions, were general (about ‘high energy appliances’, not specifically kettles), and never got beyond the initial discussion stage - according to the same press because of fears they would drive Britons to vote for Brexit, although I’m not sure I believe that. As other commenters say, unlike other appliances that could be made more efficient, kettles are almost 100% efficient already, so the power draw doesn’t really matter. I still have some faith the authorities looking into home appliance energy efficiency would know that.
https://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/eu_not_banning_kettles
https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/politics/eu-pauses-p...
silexia•1w ago
4gotunameagain•1w ago
Of you can wire 240V elements directly to 480V to quadruple the power, as shown in the video ;)
namibj•1w ago
Nextgrid•7h ago
malfist•5h ago
Nextgrid•5h ago
wcoenen•1w ago
oniony•1w ago
bot403•6h ago
mesrik•6h ago
In Finland we do it every day and have done decades already.
Those who may not know electric stoves have been about fifty years common use at least in urban environments. Stoves have anything from three, one in each of three phase current used heating elements (resistor coils) 400V 6-8 kW power draw commonly in small house stoves and 2-3 times that swimming baths saunas stoves.
While sitting topmost sauna benches bathing, we throw fresh water from bucket with a sauna laddle (saunakauha) water to stove(s) anything from small drippings to a pint with trying to little spread it out. This is to get steam and make it pleasant relaxing 'löyly' as we call it.
The stove is usually heated about an hour or so before starting bathing to get temperature somewhere 70°-100°C (158-212°F).
It's not advisable to have stove showing those red hot glowing elements peeking out behind stones, but it does happen if stones were not laid properly. But even if water gets directly to elements those will not break or get any damage as they are made intentionally to resist that.
So boiling water practically immediately does happen, it's not particularly dangerous when applied in circumstances where equipment is made to withstand that is nothing miraculous. And that really happens millions of times each day in Finland and some other places where that kind of sauna culture is practised both at people private homes and also public swimming baths saunas alike.
I will be observing it next time about in 14 hours from this writing as I'm going swimming as usual tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. when pool opens early tomorrow, and then likewise twice more (Wed, Fri). Also once more (Thu) evening sauna reservation slot i've got this flat I live.
There is a quite good english page about Finish sauna in Wikipedia, but to get a glimpse what modern sauna and stoves look Harvia a long time stove manufacturer web pages you get some sense what I'm writing about.
- https://www.harvia.com/en/
buildbot•4h ago
mesrik•4h ago
Some firm hissing, minor clanking noise from stones is normal and even bit sharper noise when a stone cracks is what water use on stove causes when stones get old and are used lot. Stove should be cleaned periodically when it's cold depending on how much it's been used and there is need to replace stones or even all of them if it's been long time and there is some sand accumulation stove bottom grill or plate, whatever it has to hold stones falling trough. Family houses cleaning perhaps 1/yr and public saunas open 6 am to 8 pm 300 plus days a year, they will do stove maintenance every or every other month.
And yes, getting good amount of steam of course is what's been whole goal in this kind of sauna use and what we prefer. Some other places where they have begun to call it sauna too, they may not even allow to use water nothing but as drinking water and usually they don't warm up that 'sauna' as hot as we tend to do or if they do it's more like Turkish bath type then.
skylurk•1w ago
ahartmetz•6h ago
quickthrowman•5h ago
Just make sure you have somewhere for the steam to go, it takes up a bit more room than water ;)
Is your three-phase a corner-grounded delta service? I’ve never seen one in the wild but I hear they’re used for three-phase ag service drops that are strictly used to run motors. A and C are tapped normally on the secondary but the B phase is bonded to ground and also a line conductor, conductor color is white for B phase instead of orange.
[0] https://iseinc.com/_shop/480v-3ph-9kw-immersion-heater-47-14...
gcanyon•4h ago