[meldrewreborn]

@retrotecchie

i don’t use the microwave, in fact we still use leaf tea and not those plastic bags. Also a low powered kettle will lose heat during its more lengthy boil time. is a plastic kettle better than a metal one? What is the impact of scale on the element and separately on the inner wall of the kettle? So many considerations here, but I take comfort that my daily consumption of 5 kWh is sufficiently low that I can afford not to chase my tail over this one, although I readily confess to only filling my kettle with the amount necessary to make the drink. And doesn’t water expand when heated, so really we have to aim off a bit because of that. Where’s the painkillers?

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Good man. Bag tea tastes of, er, the bag mostly. I miss 'proper' NAAFI tea...

[JoeSoap]

@retrotecchie
This is great. Your stories are saving me a fortune on Kindle books 👍

[JoeSoap]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

…And doesn’t water expand when heated, so really we have to aim off a bit because of that. Where’s the painkillers?

It also creates steam when boiling, so then loses a bit of its volume though.

[Plantagenet]

Question, given the choice would you use an electric kettle or a kettle on a gas hob to boil water? assuming it takes the same amount of energy to boil 1 litre of water whatever the method.In your opinion would the electric kettle be energy saving with being quicker, and the gas cost saving being cheaper?

[retrotecchie]

@Plantagenet

Many experiments have been done with this. The electric kettle is the most efficient way to heat water. Gas would be cheaper per KWh of energy, but heating anything on a gas hob is only around 40 to 50% efficient at best and produces far more energy losses than an electric kettle.

With an electric kettle, the energy transfer is directly from the element to the water. With a stove top kettle, a goodly amount of heat is lost to the surrounding air, before it even heats the kettle, then you have to overcome the thermal mass of the kettle itself, before the energy reaches the water.

I'm not on the gas so no way to do any experiments myself, and the gas meter can't usually resolve to a good enough degree of accuracy to get an exact measure of kWh used to boil a kettle.

But, I'm of the opinion the electric kettle just wins.

[Plantagenet]

@retrotecchie

Thankyou I'll put the camping kettle back in its box !

[retrotecchie]

@Plantagenet

I'd be very inclined to keep it within easy reach, though. Just in case we do have any power cuts this winter. At least you can make a warm brew if the lights go out.

My emergency backup is a camping kettle and a single burner butane camping stove, but we also have a wood burner too. If we have one of our regular 24 hour power cuts this winter, all is not lost. A kettle on a wood burner takes a while though!

[retrotecchie]

One caveat with the kettle...you are a little restricted if you have a model with a visible element, for which you need a minimum water level. The old classic Russell Hobbs stainless steel kettles have a minimum capacity of about half a litre just to cover the element, and unless you have some water properly above it, you won't get the water very hot. The top of the water will boil, and turn the kettle off before convection has properly circulated around all the water.

Metal kettles also transfer more heat to the surrounding air than plastic ones, by the way.

[Plantagenet]

@retrotecchie
Came in handy back in April when the 60 plus years old electric mains in the ground blew right outside our place. Western Power very good though they were going to hook us and some neighbours to diesel generators but in the end managed to repair it in good time.