I've seen some of the fallout from this, and I have apparently learnt (and hopefully Evil Matt can add something here)...
Americans don't normally have kettles? As in the electricity supply is too low voltage to run a typical kettle such as we in the UK as standard in a kitchen? Too weak, as it were... This would then exaplin why they don't really "do" tea, as they can't get the water hot enough in a practical way...
Google somewhat collaborates this as well... I'm sort of shocked I've not known this before. Do they lack other high-use items as well (toasters, for example?). When we got a Smart Meter I briefly found myself amazed at how quickly some of the common kitchen items we have immediately put usage into the red in the house (kettle, microwave, toaster...all items I had assumed were basically standard issue across the western world, until this new discovery that the USA can't do kettles!).
//added (this is important to me now, I'm invested). I mean, to put the level of UK society importance on the kettle... I've moved into my own house twice, and both times the very first thing to be unpacked and used has been a kettle. It has been literally the first thing I use. It's also often the last thing to leave the previous house...and I don't think this is particularly un-usual...most "house moving guides" will recommend kettle, tea-bags and milk as a vital moving survival pack, often ahead of family and pets. What do Americans do when they move house...shoot a neighbour?
Submitted by babychaos on Tue, 2020-06-09 12:07
I always believed that higher voltages are more common and it's largely because it's more efficient to get your Watts (volts x amps) from a higher voltage and a lower current. That's why electricity in pylons is high voltage rather than high current. I think it's because high current heats things up and that's where you get your losses.
What do Americans do when they move house...shoot a neighbour?
Dark.
But funny.
Submitted by brainwipe on Tue, 2020-06-09 14:28
Also, the lady starts:
I got a lot of questions after my last video
I believe she got a few more after this one, most of them being "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"
Submitted by brainwipe on Tue, 2020-06-09 14:30
I showed Kate. Less than impressed.
Submitted by brainwipe on Tue, 2020-06-09 14:33
You can get kettles out here (naturally it was one of the first appliances I bought when I moved out here) I don't know if that differs in other states california being quite a mix of cultures with lots of immigration from all over the world so is often a bit different from other places and especially the bay area. Of course the power here is different running 110v so maybe that's a factor I've not had any issues with the kettle personally so seems like it should work if you're electrics are up to code.
I've seen a guy do this exact thing in the UK a guy at work would make tea in a very similar manner. He used a kettle and boiled the water but other than that the procedure was similar. Hot water then add milk then briefly dip the tea bag in and done. No one wanted him to make them a cuppa.
Most of what bothers me about that is the way they put the milk in. You could boil water with a microwave (tho unless their microwave is somesort of industrial unit many times the power of a normal one a minute seems like not enough time) but then they add milk presumably cold from the fridge cooling the water even more so you have luke warm milky water they dip a tea bag in don't leave it to mash/brew/steap. So if you like luke warm milky water with sugar and maybe the suggestion a hint of a whisper of tea this is your jam.
Submitted by Evilmatt on Tue, 2020-06-09 20:25
Power wise I looked up relative power consumption and a typical "1000w" microwave uses about 1700w and a kettle is typically 1800w so I would think if you can run a microwave you can run a kettle.
It is more efficent to use a kettle as 100% of the energy gets turned into heat where as in a microwave it's more like 60% ish but that's a different issue
Submitted by Evilmatt on Tue, 2020-06-09 20:33
I checked, and our kettle is 2800w.
From some investigation US, Canada and Japan use 100/110v, and 15A max, for a total wattage of ~1500-1800w. Nearly everyone else in the world uses 240v and 13A, so 2800-3000W...so kettles work roughly twice as fast outside the US.
It's almost like it's a third world country.
Fun electrical fact...the Maldives uses UK plug sockets...literally the only place I've seen the 3-Pin plug I've grown up with used outside the UK. I found this out before I went, didn't believe it and took adaptors anyway...
Submitted by babychaos on Tue, 2020-06-09 20:47
Interesting I saw a thing on how in the US all electric heaters regardless or type mechanism size or design are all the same rating around 5000btu or 1500w because of that reason the electrical system (they were talking about how it literally didn't matter which unit you bought because they all output the same heat) and I guess since kettles are the same mechanism it follows that they are limited in a similar way.
I just checked my breaker box and the kitchen circuit is a 20amp fuse so they have a little more leyway there although i don't know how standard that is maybe they assume a kettle might need to conform to the 15a limit. I know some places here the washer dryer or AC uses two phases to get 220v (presumably because the amperage at 110 would melt any normal wires in seconds) my box has a bridged 2 fuse setup for those (two 20a circuits for the dryer two 30a circuits for the AC) so it might be the case here too.
As side note because normal power is so crap out here often people use their 220v dryer circuit for charging their EV as if you charge over normal 110 wall power you get something like 3 miles of charge per hour.
Plugs here are a joke two bent bits of metal no fuse no ground laughable.
Submitted by Evilmatt on Tue, 2020-06-09 20:59
I was vaguely aware that the US had "high voltage" circuits in their house...I think for a long time I think I thought the UK had the same, and the circuits in the house had a power level based on what you'd plug in (so the kitchen circuit would have a higher voltage...it's only really since I've had my own places I've had a better understanding about how a house is wired up, though I still can't do lighting circuits well...). I like how the "solution" is to gaffa tape 2 circuits together to power bigger items.
I generally find 2-prong plugs unsatisfactory. I totally accept the good old UK 3-Pin is a big, clumbersome beast, but it's chunkiness is satisfyingly secure, and I've never been worried about touching a pin as I plug it in or remove it.
While we are discussing US utilities, and now I realise that all my assumptions may be wrong, what is the normal hot water process out there? I have it in my mind that gas is a very european thing...I suspect most people here have some version of a gas boilers (combi boiler or condenser boiler probably), maybe in combination with a hot water tank.
Submitted by babychaos on Tue, 2020-06-09 21:20
I've got a gas boiler in my flat I'm not sure what type it's pretty large so I assume it has a hot water tank in it
Submitted by Evilmatt on Tue, 2020-06-09 22:05
Are we concluding that the reason Americans don't drink tea is because they're limited to 15A @ 110V?
Submitted by brainwipe on Wed, 2020-06-10 07:43
Yes, I think we are. Well, I am, and I'm taking that as an executive-level decision, with a valid quorum of 1.
I was actually trying to think of other common household items that regularly hit this UK ~3000w power draw. Until (comparatively) recently vacuum cleaners were all about the watts...now they are all moving over to li-po batteries, but before that I guess American vacuum cleaners...sucked? But didn't suck all that well. Matt's already said heaters...in the UK a 3000w Fan Heater is a fairly common buy.
Irons often use 3000w draw. Is it harder to iron clothes over the pond (I haven't used an iron for several years now, so can't comment on how long using one takes)? Toasters seem to be in the 1500w range over here...is that because economies of scale mean they sell them in the USA as well?
HAS THE US SYSTEMATICALLY CRIPPLED OUR TOAST-MAKING FACILITIES FOR YEARS???
A ~1000w "high power" microwave draws about 1500-1600w from the wall. Have we been stuck with weak microwaves due to our "cousins" and their anaemic plugs? Should we have been having 2000w microwaves, and having bad meals in seconds?
(note, we have an industrial 1750w microwave at work, and the bloody thing is lethal...stuff boils over so fast!)
I demand that ALL electrical devices use 3000w. All the time. Just to shove it to Johnny Foreigner. Coming over here, weakening our toasters.
Submitted by babychaos on Wed, 2020-06-10 08:18
Yes, I think we are. Well, I am, and I'm taking that as an executive-level decision, with a valid quorum of 1.
The years pass but nothing truly changes. :D
I want a 3000W toaster because I need fucking toast RIGHT NOW. I would accept that toast is evidence of intelligent design.
Comments
I've seen some of the fallout from this, and I have apparently learnt (and hopefully Evil Matt can add something here)...
Americans don't normally have kettles? As in the electricity supply is too low voltage to run a typical kettle such as we in the UK as standard in a kitchen? Too weak, as it were... This would then exaplin why they don't really "do" tea, as they can't get the water hot enough in a practical way...
Google somewhat collaborates this as well... I'm sort of shocked I've not known this before. Do they lack other high-use items as well (toasters, for example?). When we got a Smart Meter I briefly found myself amazed at how quickly some of the common kitchen items we have immediately put usage into the red in the house (kettle, microwave, toaster...all items I had assumed were basically standard issue across the western world, until this new discovery that the USA can't do kettles!).
//added (this is important to me now, I'm invested). I mean, to put the level of UK society importance on the kettle... I've moved into my own house twice, and both times the very first thing to be unpacked and used has been a kettle. It has been literally the first thing I use. It's also often the last thing to leave the previous house...and I don't think this is particularly un-usual...most "house moving guides" will recommend kettle, tea-bags and milk as a vital moving survival pack, often ahead of family and pets. What do Americans do when they move house...shoot a neighbour?
I always believed that higher voltages are more common and it's largely because it's more efficient to get your Watts (volts x amps) from a higher voltage and a lower current. That's why electricity in pylons is high voltage rather than high current. I think it's because high current heats things up and that's where you get your losses.
Dark.
But funny.
Also, the lady starts:
I believe she got a few more after this one, most of them being "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"
I showed Kate. Less than impressed.
You can get kettles out here (naturally it was one of the first appliances I bought when I moved out here) I don't know if that differs in other states california being quite a mix of cultures with lots of immigration from all over the world so is often a bit different from other places and especially the bay area. Of course the power here is different running 110v so maybe that's a factor I've not had any issues with the kettle personally so seems like it should work if you're electrics are up to code.
I've seen a guy do this exact thing in the UK a guy at work would make tea in a very similar manner. He used a kettle and boiled the water but other than that the procedure was similar. Hot water then add milk then briefly dip the tea bag in and done. No one wanted him to make them a cuppa.
Most of what bothers me about that is the way they put the milk in. You could boil water with a microwave (tho unless their microwave is somesort of industrial unit many times the power of a normal one a minute seems like not enough time) but then they add milk presumably cold from the fridge cooling the water even more so you have luke warm milky water they dip a tea bag in don't leave it to mash/brew/steap. So if you like luke warm milky water with sugar and maybe the suggestion a hint of a whisper of tea this is your jam.
Power wise I looked up relative power consumption and a typical "1000w" microwave uses about 1700w and a kettle is typically 1800w so I would think if you can run a microwave you can run a kettle.
It is more efficent to use a kettle as 100% of the energy gets turned into heat where as in a microwave it's more like 60% ish but that's a different issue
I checked, and our kettle is 2800w.
From some investigation US, Canada and Japan use 100/110v, and 15A max, for a total wattage of ~1500-1800w. Nearly everyone else in the world uses 240v and 13A, so 2800-3000W...so kettles work roughly twice as fast outside the US.
It's almost like it's a third world country.
Fun electrical fact...the Maldives uses UK plug sockets...literally the only place I've seen the 3-Pin plug I've grown up with used outside the UK. I found this out before I went, didn't believe it and took adaptors anyway...
Interesting I saw a thing on how in the US all electric heaters regardless or type mechanism size or design are all the same rating around 5000btu or 1500w because of that reason the electrical system (they were talking about how it literally didn't matter which unit you bought because they all output the same heat) and I guess since kettles are the same mechanism it follows that they are limited in a similar way.
I just checked my breaker box and the kitchen circuit is a 20amp fuse so they have a little more leyway there although i don't know how standard that is maybe they assume a kettle might need to conform to the 15a limit. I know some places here the washer dryer or AC uses two phases to get 220v (presumably because the amperage at 110 would melt any normal wires in seconds) my box has a bridged 2 fuse setup for those (two 20a circuits for the dryer two 30a circuits for the AC) so it might be the case here too.
As side note because normal power is so crap out here often people use their 220v dryer circuit for charging their EV as if you charge over normal 110 wall power you get something like 3 miles of charge per hour.
Plugs here are a joke two bent bits of metal no fuse no ground laughable.
I was vaguely aware that the US had "high voltage" circuits in their house...I think for a long time I think I thought the UK had the same, and the circuits in the house had a power level based on what you'd plug in (so the kitchen circuit would have a higher voltage...it's only really since I've had my own places I've had a better understanding about how a house is wired up, though I still can't do lighting circuits well...). I like how the "solution" is to gaffa tape 2 circuits together to power bigger items.
I generally find 2-prong plugs unsatisfactory. I totally accept the good old UK 3-Pin is a big, clumbersome beast, but it's chunkiness is satisfyingly secure, and I've never been worried about touching a pin as I plug it in or remove it.
While we are discussing US utilities, and now I realise that all my assumptions may be wrong, what is the normal hot water process out there? I have it in my mind that gas is a very european thing...I suspect most people here have some version of a gas boilers (combi boiler or condenser boiler probably), maybe in combination with a hot water tank.
I've got a gas boiler in my flat I'm not sure what type it's pretty large so I assume it has a hot water tank in it
Are we concluding that the reason Americans don't drink tea is because they're limited to 15A @ 110V?
Yes, I think we are. Well, I am, and I'm taking that as an executive-level decision, with a valid quorum of 1.
I was actually trying to think of other common household items that regularly hit this UK ~3000w power draw. Until (comparatively) recently vacuum cleaners were all about the watts...now they are all moving over to li-po batteries, but before that I guess American vacuum cleaners...sucked? But didn't suck all that well. Matt's already said heaters...in the UK a 3000w Fan Heater is a fairly common buy.
Irons often use 3000w draw. Is it harder to iron clothes over the pond (I haven't used an iron for several years now, so can't comment on how long using one takes)? Toasters seem to be in the 1500w range over here...is that because economies of scale mean they sell them in the USA as well?
HAS THE US SYSTEMATICALLY CRIPPLED OUR TOAST-MAKING FACILITIES FOR YEARS???
A ~1000w "high power" microwave draws about 1500-1600w from the wall. Have we been stuck with weak microwaves due to our "cousins" and their anaemic plugs? Should we have been having 2000w microwaves, and having bad meals in seconds?
(note, we have an industrial 1750w microwave at work, and the bloody thing is lethal...stuff boils over so fast!)
I demand that ALL electrical devices use 3000w. All the time. Just to shove it to Johnny Foreigner. Coming over here, weakening our toasters.
The years pass but nothing truly changes. :D
I want a 3000W toaster because I need fucking toast RIGHT NOW. I would accept that toast is evidence of intelligent design.
[deleted]