High powered kettles & vacuum cleaners plan to ban them in EU stalls

Feb 28, 2016 194 Replies

Yup, so a 1 - 2kW electric fire could be switched by a local transmitter triggered by the supplier.

If not voluntary, I know many will go for it for the benefit of the masses and others won't because no one is forcing them to and they are ok (Jack).

What would be nice is smart meters that if they don't detect some level of reduction at the required times (assuming a usage above a certain threshold etc) they cut *all* the power off. ;-)

Those affected won't care as they will already be out ... in the pub and parked in a disabled or parent and child bay.

Cheers, T i m

My kettle has clear markings, and I know from regular use how much is required to fill a mug or either of the teapots we regularly use. It isn't that hard.

Chris

Ok, our current one doesn't and I'm not sure our previous ones have had any markings that directly relate to our demands. ;-(

Maybe I should pay more attention but I'm 'just making tea', not undergoing a carefully managed science project. ;-)

No, but it is often 'safer' to put in more than you need than run short and that I imagine is what most people (assuming they don't fill the kettle to the top every time), do.

I guess it can also be down to the demand. We are often varied in number, might have different drinks at the same time and use a range of mugs that also range in size.

So, for *us*, a kettle that stores the heat from any surplus water stored would be 'a good thing'. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

The advantage of the plastic bodied jug kettles is that they have a window with markings so that you can easily see how much water is in them.

In message , T i m writes

I was thinking *at load* detection and control. You have the information actually at each individual load. Say an immersion heater... the manual switch is on, the thermostat is calling for heat and the 50Hz supply is at or above nominal then allow. If the supply is below 50 indicating the generators are struggling then deny.

Understood, I was just putting the load sensor in a central location per household making all the devices just slaves (cheaper / easier)?

But a problem could be what you would regulate under those conditions. Ok, an immersion heater dropped to say 50% power could be an acceptable item, as would a 3kW kettle, but could you apply the same to say an electric shower and if so, would it be allowed to go back to full again when the supply recovered?

Maybe it should only be triggered above a certain current draw per household (although I don't know if a big house would have a higher threshold than a smaller one or a single occupant would have less power than 5 people)?

Cheers, T i m

Our metal kettle has a window with markings. (Admittedly not a jug kettle.)

Our metal jug kettle has a window with markings.

In message , T i m writes

I think the loads could only be those that did not significantly inconvenience users. Various examples have been suggested here. Immersion heater is obvious, air con perhaps, resistive heating, fridge/freezers, electric car charger maybe. Not too many items in the home but supermarket chiller cabinets might help.

You'd need to define a 'full kettle' then too.

Most hold more than most will use at once. Assuming a pot of tea for 4 is a sort of average.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

At risk of restarting the Dualit discussion.... you must cover the element.

In our house, teapots have been consigned to the back of a dark cupboard. All tea is made with one tea bag per cup. Partly preference for different flavour/strength tea partly extravagance brought on by hotel room beverage provision.

>

As does our plastic one, but do the markings adapt somehow to whatever size of cup / mug you are using?

One of our regular visitors only has 'half a cup' so if the Mrs has a std mug and I have a larger one then do I fill the kettle to 1/2 + 1 +

1.5 or 2?

So, because we have more interesting / important things to worry about, what we a actually do is fill it to what we imagine should be enough plus a bit ... . ;-)

Cheers, T i m

For the purposes of this new std / exception it would have to be 'worst case' I would imagine?

So ... if we doubled that then that would probably be ok.

Cheers, T i m

I assume it'd still be OK to use the kettle to heat water for the bath if the gas is off and there's no electric shower - after all, it's the natural thing to do :)

En el artículo , Tim Streater escribió:

I assume the viability of taking apart and rebuilding the decommissioned, tried and tested, German nukes here has been considered and discounted.

How much is HPC costing again? 25bn quid? How many used nukes could we buy for that?

En el artículo , Tim Streater escribió:

+1.

Just replaced two 500W halogens outside (way overkill, inherited with the house) with 15W LEDs. Yes, a bit dimmer, but the light level is now appropriate to the area they're illuminating. And over thirty times less energy used.

WE have no German nukes here.

WE have British designed and built Magnox and AGR designs

And basically they are getting beyond repair.

Boilers have cracks, reactor vessels embrittled by neutron bombardment etc etc.

has been considered

HP may never be built. It's more likely we will build Jap BWRs instead

You can't have been that worried about the energy costs, as 80 watt halogens which are a direct replacement have been around for ages.

En el artículo , The Natural Philosopher escribió:

FFS, read what I wrote, moron.

I'm speculating on whether it would be financially viable to take apart the nukes in Germany that they are shutting down and rebuilding them here.

In article , Davey writes

If you analyse what's on offer you can then make estimates based on predicted usage. E.g. prediction based on last year usage +10% or -10%. Energy switching sites have very little credibility due to the basis on which they make their claims. Also it is often not clear if the rates they are quoting do or do not include VAT. - the figures on your bills always exclude it. The cheapest suppliers are often not on the switching sites.

Now, try evaluating new suppliers without using the Internet.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required