Kettles

Reply to
Dave Liquorice
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Increase the surface area available for scale deposition thus less gets deposited on the kettle.

Stainless steel wire.

Our domestic kettle has that feature. We tend to use it to get hot water for coffee or hotwater bottles. It doesn't get to quite a full boil so isn't used for tea so it may save a little energy. Trouble is it is and on or off feature it's not a one shot. So unless you remember to turn it off, the kettle will sit there turning itself on for about 30" every few minutes. A 3kW I suspect that will soon add up to canceling any saving from not heating the water to a full boil and add to the power bill. I've been wondering if it can be made one shot...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Automagically or manually? Make and model of an automagic one please.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

The kettle could just be double skinned (+vacuum) like a thermos.

Reply to
dom

What's actually happened, as with so many other appliances, is that kettles have changed from being capital purchases into consumables. Manufacturers have cleverly changed peoples' expectations, and kettles, like light bulbs, are no longer expected to last for years. This gives the manufacturers a higher and more predicably stable revenue stream. As geoff said, he chucks his when the element dies, which is a bit like chucking out your desklamp every time the light bulb dies. This is also down to consumers not being prepared to pay for long life in appliances anymore, so such products vanish from the marketplace. Strangely, they'll pay for designs which look to be long life, e.g. those with stainless steel styling, but most of these are still basically plastic under the skin.

I still have a 30 year old Russell Hobbs stainless steel kettle which just predates the conversion into consumables. I can't see any reason why it won't carry on going another

30 years. A couple of years ago, it spent a while being used as a builders kettle, and got very mucky. I decided to take it apart to thoroughly clean all the plaster etc from it, and it came up like knew.
Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

It seems to me to be more like manufacturers being able to supply cheap goods from China, but which require a volume to do so. The revenue stream tempts them as well of course and the ability to undercut on price. The gullible public then proceeds to buy on price. I don't think that most people think of it in terms of not being prepared to pay for long life, but rather that they are stupid enough to believe that they are getting something of quality and longevity but at a low price. Then when it does eventually break, they don't feel *that* screwed.

That's why I don't think it's strange. Inherently I think that people have become unable to discern quality and just look superficially and at price.

This is the kind that they made for years with the red push switch on the black handle?

An excellent product indeed. I've still got one..

Reply to
Andy Hall

tefal vitesses

*but* I just looked on comet and they don't have it anymore - and amazon says its been discontinued.
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is really nice to be able to make a cup of coffee you can sip straight away. It wasn't cheap but I got it as a pressie :)
Reply to
mogga

Like this:-

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Reply to
Frank Erskine

Reply to
Andy Hall

Same here.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

And me until recently. Only reason I changed it was to get a 'cordless' type which makes filling less of a fiddle.

I don't understand the fashion for jug types. They are less stable and more difficult to handle when full. Nor do they actually help when only a small amount of water is needed - my 'conventional' design one is perfectly happy with only one cupful of water, as it uses a 'flat' element.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

(* In 30 years.)

Reply to
Huge

People's expectations have also changed because they (largely) are money rich and time poor, so taking something to a shop to get it fixed (if you could find such a shop these days) is a far less attractive proposition than just buying a new one.

Back when I was a kid (c.1960) the corner shop sold mending kits for kettles, two washers and a nut and bolt. It would be interesting to know what a Russell Hobbs kettle cost then - a day's wages? - whilst you can now buy a kettle for what you earn in an hour.

Reply to
Tony Bryer

I've got a brushed stainles steel version, but I burned out the elephant last year (no water in it). It was easier to replace with a cheap jug kettle. I think TLC do replacement elements, I must remember to put it on next time I order from them.

Reply to
<me9

It *should* have ejected the plug via a mechanical overheat thermostat. Makes quite a noise when this happens. ;-)

7.50 quid - but marked as clearance stock so don't leave it too late.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Ooh that Russel Hobbs made me feel all nostalgic.

Morphy Richards 3.1kW, also a stainless steel jug.

75.9 seconds from 18 degrees. I think you win.

As an aside, while we're talking about watts and the like, I saw a newspaper report yesterday about a solar power station near Madrid. The capacity was quoted in 'megawatt hours per year'! I despair that my electricity usage is quoted in kWh, rather than joules, but really. MWh/year. They'll be clocking my speed in mile per hour weeks per month next...

Reply to
Rich

Not having boiled the kettle at all...

Reply to
mogga

Many items are now so complex, a sound technical evaluation is beyond many peoples ability and education. Brand name are recognised how ever devalued, packaging and style signify, a long list of features and bigger numbers (don't know what they mean, but more must be better), smaller numbers (smaller, cheaper)... Anything more complex and it is very hard to even find the information, even less so in a form that hasn't been garbled by the marketing dept. For a time the internet improved things as service manuals became available online, but now web sites have been taken over by marketing.

I remewmber my granparents having one. Grandfather always keen on the latest gadgets, like an electric kettle that switched itself off.

Reply to
djc

Yes, I suppose so!

On the other hand, that would probably make tea as I like it - one scant teaspoon of leaves in a litre of water - strained. No milk or sugar and it's good even when cold :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

[snip]

Hmph.... Have a look at the purchase price of a nightlight, (which comes with a spare bulb), versus the cost of buying a replacement 7W bulb.... assuming a 7W can be found.

I now just strip all the photocell gubbins out, and feed the bulb from a 1N4007 diode. This enormously extends the bulb life and allows a higher wattage bulb in there, if neccessary.

Yes, I have a stainless Russell Hobbs here in the workshop, and a spare switch and element, just in case. The big weakness of this kettle is that the spout is soldered on, with no extra mechanical assistance. We had a girl in the factory who would insist on filling it via the spout. That little 'clink' against the tap, several times a day, would regularly crack the joint, starting a leak. It is definitely not an easy joint to remake.

Reply to
Tony Williams

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