First of all there are real risks to boiling water in the microwave, but I get why most people ignore them. Second of all, not ALL of us have microwaves (I don’t), third of all, it’s not “one more thing” if it’s an appliance used every day for multiple reasons. You seem to have an odd hate towards kettles.
Comment on Why don't Americans use electric kettles?
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 3 weeks agoBut one more thing to own, store, manage, for a little convenience.
I can boil 2 cups of water in the microwave in 5 minutes. Or 4. Takes about the same amount of time.
CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
psx_crab@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Power usage might be different though.
not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Five fucking minutes OMFG. Just get a 240V outlet in the kitchen so you can plug in a proper kettle.
scarabic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You can’t. You can’t use European 240V kettles in the US because of phase differences (or something - an electrician told me so and declined the job to give me an outlet even though he accepted and performed other work for me).
No one to my knowledge has marketed a 240V kettle for the US market. It’s a business idea for anyone who wants to pick it up.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
The issue isn’t the voltage. It is the wattage. UK kettles draw 3kW. US outlets are (typically) only rated for 2.4kW. We can easily get dedicated 30A, 120v outlets that will provide 3.6kW.
US 240v is not the same as UK 240v.
The UK uses a single live phase, (240v with respect to ground), and a neutral (0v with respect to ground).
The US uses two live phases. Each phase is 120v with respect to ground, but they are 180 degrees apart from eachother. Phase to phase is 240V, but either phase to ground is 120v.
A UK kettle expects its neutral phase to be at the same potential as ground, which can’t happen in the US without a 1-to-1 transformer
scarabic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sounds like it would amount to much the same thing: you’d need some special wiring, and a kettle made to take advantage of it. No one has made that kettle.
Just curious though, since you seem to understand electricity better than I.
If it’s as you say, and all we need to do to get more energy is to raise the amps, then why do Americans still install 240V lines for laundry machines, ovens, large power tools, etc etc? Why don’t any of those just do what you said, and operate 120V at 30 amps?
AA5B@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I was tempted. If 240v kettles or other small appliances were generally available, I would have