How to save electricity using a 1940s telephone line insulator

[wrights...]

The spring that makes the lid close on my electric kettle isn't strong enough so when the water boils the lid lifts up about one mm. This reduces the amount of steam that passes near the thermostat vent, so the kettle stays on for longer than necessary. A telephone line insulator weighs about 2lb, so if I put one on the kettle lid it closes the gap and thus reduces boiling time. This saves 0.25p every time I make a cup of tea. After 400 cuppas I have save a pound. Bill

[jkn]

But you will eat more due to the muscular effort you have put into lifting the line insulator onto the kettle lid. The extra food will cost you 0.26p for each time you boil the kettle.

[SH]

You'd save even more if you had cuppas of tap water:

savings on the tea bags/leaves, savings on the milk, savings on the sugar (assuming you have sugar) savings on washing and drying the tea pot, savings on the electricity the kettle would be using, savings on the detergent and hot water used to wash the tea pot

:-)

[Joe]

Are you sure it's for telephone lines?

A few of the houses in the roads near me still have the double glass insulators on the walls just under the eaves. One or two have telephone lines hung from them, but they were for electric power. About two miles from me, a few roads still have overhead electric cables to the houses, running to the same glass insulators.

[Andy Burns]

Within 400 cuppas the chances are that 2lb of pottery will drop on your toe and give you a subungual hematoma.

[Jim Stewart ...]

......my big toe it will

[Brian Gaff]

I can well believe that too, My old granny from Leads used to use her flat iron for the same job. Brian

[wrights...]

Damn! I suppose I could make an electrically powered machine to raise and lower the insulator. Oh, wait a minute... Bill

[wrights...]

Enthusiastic greeny though I might be, that would be a sacrifice too far. Bill

[Andrew]

haematoma. We aren't in the USA :-)

[SH]

How about this:

You can buy jars of instant tea powder now and its cheaper to heat a mug of water in a microwave than with a kettle as you are only heating 300 mL of water rather than the whole kettle.....

as its got milk powder in it, you no longer need to chill fresh milk or open cartons of UHT milk so you can get rid of the fridge and save even more leccy!

[SH]

So to borrow one of Trump's acronyms but slightly modified....

You're a GINO.... Greeny In Name Only :-)