Electric Kettle or Gas?

rogerblack

TheBearNecessities wrote: »

electric hob v's electric kettle anyone?

Kettle.
Conventional hobs are about 50% efficient - a substantial amount goes to heating the poorly insulated base and surroundings of the ring.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/pdfs/cookgtsd.pdf I believe is useful.

Induction hobs are comparably efficient to a kettle.
In some cases, with a low-mass stainless steel pot - they may be more so.

As always - only boil what water you need - if you need half a cup often - ideally find a way that can boil half a cup.

Ben84

rogerblack wrote: »

As always - only boil what water you need - if you need half a cup often - ideally find a way that can boil half a cup.

It seems the potential savings by boiling less with flat element kettles comes at a price.

I'm still using my ~35 year old kettle, I believe it has been boiled at least 100,000 times now and I've only just replaced the original element. Still working, but heavily corroded, so time for a new one. Anyway, about the same time our roughly one year old kettle at work broke, just like the one before, and the one before that. So much for progress. These ones don't have replaceable elements either.

I did however confirm it was the element with a multimeter and took it apart to see why it had failed. The element was a thin wire inside the metal plate. Thermal stress had broken it. I imagine the number of uses for this type of element is pretty limited compared to the thicker stronger submerged elements, and it would explain why so many of our flat plate kettles just broke after about a year. More efficient in use, but annoyingly I don't now think their durability is anywhere close to the old submerged elements. Replacing the whole kettle over and over again is costly for the user and bad for the environment too.

nigelpm

Ben84 wrote: »

Replacing the whole kettle over and over again is costly for the user and bad for the environment too.

We live in throw away times sadly.

But then maybe it is economically preferable to keep the wheels of industry ticking over.

Ben84

nigelpm wrote: »

We live in throw away times sadly.

But then maybe it is economically preferable to keep the wheels of industry ticking over.

Vintage stuff is generally well made, I'm often impressed by the quality of components found in even relatively low price items from the past when compared to many expensive new items. It's also usually much more repairable too.

I think the truth behind the changes is that until around somewhere in the 80s, sales of new things were growing ok on a combination of an expanding population, growing affluence and new types of items to buy. But times change and sales now seem to be increasingly driven by the short life span of things.

Kernel_Sanders

rogerblack wrote: »

As always - only boil what water you need - if you need half a cup often - ideally find a way that can boil half a cup.

I think those marketing the overpriced so-called eco kettle I saw in Asda last night think that half a cup is the norm; they claim savings of up to 66%!

Ben84 wrote: »

I'm still using my ~35 year old kettle, I believe it has been boiled at least 100,000 times now and I've only just replaced the original element. Still working, but heavily corroded, so time for a new one.

Surely it could have been descaled? Ordinary descaler won't work if heavily affected, but isn't there a more caustic solution available?

Ben84

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

Surely it could have been descaled? Ordinary descaler won't work if heavily affected, but isn't there a more caustic solution available?

You'd really need an acid rather than caustic for descaling. However, unfortunately descaling wouldn't have helped my element as it was clean, but worn out. Corrosion had been eating away at the metal over many years and it looked pretty thin in a few patches, which can't be repaired, so I figured it was time to replace it. eBay is a decent place to search for new old stock elements, I paid about £8 for one.

MyLittleEye

I've lately switched from a high performance 3Kw 'Express boil' Electric kettle to a vintage Simplex copper kettle I discovered second hand and I won't be switching back anytime soon - Here's why:

- Looks: personal taste but I love the old look - There are all manner of contemporary alternatives.
- It's freed up a socket and counter space too: Yes it occupies the hob now but that's less of a problem.
- Whistle: I'm summoned to the kettle when it's ready, adding a special anticipation to the tea ritual - blame Pavlov!
- Whistle: Ensures the water is actually boiling as it's poured into the pot! It certainly makes a fuller flavoured cuppa.
- Durability: One might reasonably expect it to last a lifetime!
- Efficiency: Copper is the most efficient conductor, the simplex has a copper coil arrangement beneath to draw in more heat. Gas is a primary energy source. Inefficiencies in electricity occur at generation.

My 3Kw electric kettle requires a minimum level of 0.5 L
I just pour a level mug into the hob kettle 0.3 L
Under these conditions Electric takes 75s to boil and switch off.
Gas is 95s to full-on rolling boil whistle. (This on a medium ring at half gas so that the flame efficiently covers the base rather than blasting out excess heat beyond).

I've yet to see an electric kettle that can reach a rolling boil such as that achieved by a whistling kettle in full voice. It might thus be 'argued' that electrically boiled water is cooler 'by about an octave' than whistling water which is also more consistent than if you've been preoccupied elsewhere, returning to an already off electric.

Incidentally the old style kettles' spout supports an upended mug or teapot hung over it to preheat

I've concluded that whilst total energy efficiency is not significantly different, gas certainly is significantly cheaper

All things considered, what truly matters is that one's happy with ones choice. My own judgement is that a stove-top kettle delivers a worthwhile and satisfying alternative to the ubiquitous electric jug and my best anticipated cup of tea is the first one made when I get home.

:coffee:

Jaxom

Hi, I'm new to the site.
Having read this whole thread. Could some one please tell me.
Which is cheepest to my pocket. Disregarding all Eco or efficiency info.
Purly based on cost involved in heating up water of the same volume to make a pot of tea.
Which is the cheapest way to boil water, an electric kettle or a whistling kettle on a gas burner?
Thanks Jax

Dave_Fowler

Jaxom wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to the site.
Having read this whole thread. Could some one please tell me.
Which is cheepest to my pocket. Disregarding all Eco or efficiency info.
Purly based on cost involved in heating up water of the same volume to make a pot of tea.
Which is the cheapest way to boil water, an electric kettle or a whistling kettle on a gas burner?
Thanks Jax

With gas prices at about 1/3rd that of electricity, gas hob heating would have to be very inefficient for gas to become more expensive. Obviously, if you put a small kettle on a large gas ring and blasted it with heat, the efficiency could be extremely low. Likewise if you had a kettle sitting on a small flame for hours, it may never boil. The efficiency of a gas kettle is very much in the user's hands. Electric kettle efficiency is set by the minimum amount of water that can be boiled (I guess all minimum quantities would be smaller than the pot of tea you are suggesting), the length of time it takes to boil and, if it's an automatic kettle, the length of time it takes for the automatic cut-off to work.

zeupater

... and putting the kettle onto a log-burner (assuming it's already burning) consumes no energy at all, just 'borrows' it for a while ...


HTH
Z