The kettle debate

maxmycardagain

Would a higher wattage kettle boil faster than a low wattage?

maxmycardagain

Which boils fastest

Tap water
Peckham spring water
Rain water

maxmycardagain

Does the actual mains voltage make a difference (220-240v UK)

Do EU 110v kettles boil slower

Effician

maxmycardagain said:

Which boils fastest

Tap water
Peckham spring water
Rain water

Holy water , but only when squirted on vampires.

I think this latest kettle fest has run it's course. no doubt another kettle thread will be along soon for folks to debate it all over again.

markin

maxmycardagain said:

Does the actual mains voltage make a difference (220-240v UK)

Do EU 110v kettles boil slower

EU is 230v, USA is 110v

JohnnyB70

Section62 said:

Phlik said:

Anyone who tells you different wasn't paying attention in their physics lessons

Or was a grade 'A' physics student and an engineer, or something like that.

How so? I’ve actually been a physicist, and agree with the view that boiling more than you need uses up more energy, even if you keep it warm and re-boil the excess later.

JohnnyB70

maxmycardagain said:

Would a higher wattage kettle boil faster than a low wattage

Another one for the “didn’t pay attention in physics classes” column there.

Astria

Putting 400V through a standard 240V kettle is fun  

Well, until it popped.

Olinda99

markin said:

maxmycardagain said:

Does the actual mains voltage make a difference (220-240v UK)

Do EU 110v kettles boil slower

EU is 230v, USA is 110v

depends on the current drawn as well

Gerry1

markin said:

Also found when googling.

As a result, when working out how much energy electric kettles use, many people reference electric kettle maximum ratings or simply use Npower’s statement that notes: it takes 3 minutes to boil 1.5 litres of water (i.e. what an average kettle holds), which results in approximately 0.1 kWh of electricity consumed.

https://ecocostsavings.com/electric-kettle-running-costs/

That's a hopeless site.

It's well out of date (the link to the defunct Npower site is a clue).  They think the UK electricity price is only 22¢ (17.5p) per kWh but Statista are now showing 28¢ per kWh (and that figure dates back to September).  Relatively few people in the UK will be lucky enough to be paying a mere 17.5p/kWh when they boil an electric kettle.

At the Ofgem average capped price of 28p/kWh that's 2.8p (25¢) per 0.1kWh use, so the true cost is more than 50% above the 16¢ that EcoCostSavings are claiming.