Technology Connections
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 12 months, 2022–2025
24:55 · 5.3M views · Jun 1, 2022
Technology Connections explains why electric kettles are uncommon in the US, centering on 120V circuits limiting power. He tests ways of boiling water on gas, electric ranges and kettles.
HN cites it constantly in threads on voltage, gas stoves and boiling water as the definitive measured comparison, with the kettle coming out fastest and most efficient.
17 comments from Hacker News
Technology Connections did an excellent video on this: this video tl;dw -- kettles in the U.S. only take about 4+ minutes to boil a liter of water. So when you say "now" you really mean it.
I don’t know is toaster are close to max power draw, but kettles certainly are. Most places with 240V regularly have 16A sockets, allowing a maximum draw of 3840W of power. That’s the limit. Cheap fast kettles will often draw 3000W and boil 250ml of water at room tempature in 30s. Kettles in the US are often limited to 15A and thus max 1800W (usually 1500W) and take twice as long (60s) Technology Connections has a great video on this: this video
A better way to save energy is to use an electric kettle to get the water up to boiling. This is about three times as energy-efficient as a gas hob. Combined with passive cooking it could save real money… Technology Connections on YouTube has a good video about how electric kettles are the superior way to boil water: this video
Relatedly I found this video on electric kettles vs gas stove efficiency for heating water pretty illuminating too: this video The summary is that a cheap electric kettle can boil water way faster and with far less wasted energy than a stove top kettle.
Technology connections has a good video on boiling water. If you have a good way to dump energy into the water, it will boil fast. this video