I've heard electric kettles are slower here because of the limits of our electrical system. I do have a kettle for the stove, though. I also rarely drink tea.

[–] dan@upvote.au 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Standard outlets in the USA are 120v at 15A (1800W max peak, 1440W max continuous). In comparison, standard UK outlets are 230v at 13A (2990W peak)

This also affects other things. For example, standard electric heaters (resistive heat) can't get as hot in the USA.

Edit: Also, dryers in countries like UK and Australia don't need a special type of outlet.

[–] Ross_audio@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Due to a quirk of unifying 2 standards, Europe and the UK, the range is 216.2 volts to 253.0 volts.

That encompasses infrastructure built to a tighter tolerance around 220V in Europe and infrastructure built to a tighter tolerance around 240V in the UK (and Australia).

We expect 3150W out of a kettle most of the time. Our heaters will say 3kW.

Usually you'll find a few volts over 240 out of our outlets and that's to design spec.

[–] dan@upvote.au 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Thanks for the info! I've never actually lived in the UK so I was just guessing based on what I've read online.

I was going to use Australia as an example (since I was born there) but standard outlets in Australia are only 10A so they're not quite as powerful as the UK ones :). There's 15A outlets but they're not very common.

[–] nixcamic@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My friends just put a euro style 220 outlet on their counter and ordered a kettle online. Since they were building the house new it was basically no different than buying a 110v kettle.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You can install a European outlet in a US home? How is it compatible?

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

American wiring is center-tapped ~240V; typical 120V outlets are from line on either side of the tap to the neutral, while dryers, stoves, etc. are 240V line to line. So they would have wired it like a stove, but then put in a euro style plug instead of a stove plug

[–] nixcamic@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

You just run 220 from the panel to it. Almost every US house has 220 outlets for the dryer and stove anyhow. All you're doing is using a different shaped plug, and like, wires are wires, they fit into a euro plug the same as they fit into a NEMA plug.

[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's true, because you use a 110V based system you have less power available to the kettle. It's still a lot faster than an electric stove though. Not faster than an induction stove, probably.

[–] dirtbiker509@lemm.ee -1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

We have a 2 phase, 120v or 240v. Standard wall outlets only have 1 phase at 120v and a 15amp limit.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

Split phase; two phase is something else that's not really used because it's a massive pain in the ass compared to single or three phase

[–] hovercat@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Residential service is a single split 240v phase off of a 480V 3-phase line, while something like an apartment is 2 phase 208Y, with a single phase is 120V.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

2 phase 208Y

3 phase 208. But I imagine you know that, and just fat fingered the wrong key

[–] hovercat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah, I guess I meant that you're getting 2 of the 3 phases, which is 208V phase-to-phase, or 120V phase to neutral.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

Ah, that makes sense