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avidiax

> electric kettles would be more popular in the US if they worked as quickly as they do on 240V

Euro standards are 8-10A 240V circuits. I have an EU kettle, and it draws max 2200W.

US standards are 15A 120V circuits. It could draw 1800W, though some kettles might limit to 12A and draw 1440W.

So a Euro kettle might have 22%-52% more power than a US, which increases a 4 minute boil to 4m53s or 6m7s worst case.

So it seems like it's not a significant factor, though it would be useful if US kettles really maximize power.

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In the UK, where almost everyone has an electric kettle, almost all are 3kW.

Our electric circuits aren't rated for 13A continuous draw (e.g. plug-in EV chargers should be set to 8A or 10A), but they are fine at 13A for the few minutes it takes to boil a kettle. 2.2kW kettles would be a major drain on productivity: millions of extra minutes spent every day waiting for a cup of tea!

Most electric circuits are not rated for continuous load at rated power. The US nominal 15A circuit can only supply 12A continuous. Thus heaters of all types and EV charging being limited to about 1.5kW.

I think 13A continuous draw is OK, as 3kW electric heaters are widely available: https://www.dimplex.co.uk/products/portable-heating/convecto...

Perhaps electric cars limit their draw below 13A as they're much more likely to be connected using extension leads.

You would certainly hope that selling 3kW heaters was an indication of that, and that's what I used to think, but what I've read about EV charging makes me think that it isn't.

In Europe the 16A Schuko (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko) is the most common socket and 230V the most common voltage, 240v is mostly used by UK. It allows for a max of ~ 3,7kW, but devices over 3.5kW are rare.

Unregulated continuous resistive load per Schuko plug is limited to 10A (2.2kW). 3kW for a few minutes at a time or with active monitoring.

The context is electric kettles. Boiling water takes a few minutes at a time.

> Euro standards are 8-10A 240V circuits.

Hrm, which country is that? Something between 13 and 16 amps is normal everywhere in Western Europe that I can think of, at 230V.

In Ireland, any random kettle that you buy is likely to be 3kW (pedantically, 2.99kW); you do sometimes see 2.2kW ones, generally _very_ cheap ones.

This was a kettle bought in Germany, then used in Switzerland.

The Swiss outlets in my recent construction apartment were 8A. The standard allows a different outlet with higher amperage but I only ever saw that in commercial settings, similar to US 20A outlets.

Random German 3kW kettle: https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_grundig-wk-6330-176647...

That said, 2.2kW kettles definitely do seem to be more common there than here in Ireland (where 13 amp outlets are standard).

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