The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[ian]

I know not whence emerged this myth that Leftpondians don't do anbaric kettles.  I've been in a Target in El Paso with a greater variety of 'em than you'd find in the average BRITONS horriblemarket and I've encountered them in hotel rooms in Canuckistan.

I always had a hob (stove top!) kettle when I lived in the USA. That said, if I recall the cooker connections to the lectrics had spare socket for high current electrical items like kettles and toaster ovens. Or I may have imagined that.

Next you'll be telling me that Americans have stopped making fridges you can park an F350 in.

[T42]

Chums at uni used to have one that ejected the power lead if you left it to boil too long.

That's just a standard "boil dry" feature AFAIK. That's when the cable plugs directly into the kettle, as opposed to plugging in to a base that the kettle sits on.

Yup. Could be entertaining when it happened, depending on what it was pointing at.   A base that ejected the kettle could be quite entertaining too.

[Beardy]

We’ve got a posh,kettle, but it is going rusty. Who makes consumer products used for water and steam out of a material that reacts with water? 

[Giraffe]

Got a Lidl kettle with a 'stat - useful for black instant coffee. It's about 6 months old and the On button needs more of a press. 3 year warranty, but now it's not a free call or e-mail of course but some high-rate number.
Microwave oven shed it lamp - no probs, 70p for a 15W one. Oh no, £4.25 (buying 2 from ebay) 'cos it's in a molded base and it's 20W due to some brain-dead shit-head deciding that the inside of the oven should be black (same as the present case for the PC - black box, black mobo, black connectors so with enough lighting for an oil refinery I can just about make out the details.

[hellymedic]

Chums at uni used to have one that ejected the power lead if you left it to boil too long.

I think our first electric kettle in the 70s was a Swan that did this.

You needed the strength of a gorilla to replace the plug!

[T42]

Was that the one with mouth-organ reeds instead of a whistle?

[Kim]

I know not whence emerged this myth that Leftpondians don't do anbaric kettles.  I've been in a Target in El Paso with a greater variety of 'em than you'd find in the average BRITONS horriblemarket and I've encountered them in hotel rooms in Canuckistan.

Yeah, but they're still limited to about 1500W, unless you do something unsporting like wire a euro-kettle into a 220V cooker/dryer/etc outlet (for the full Photonicinduction effect, do this with a leftpondian kettle).

At which point the gas option (or indeed heating pans of water to boil things in from cold on the hob, which my USAnian correspondents inform me is a perfectly normal thing to do) seems like a reasonable alternative speed-wise.  And avoids the shoddier side of kettle engineering, which can't possibly be improved by the addition of those crappy little shaver plugs and an optional approach to grounding.

There will obviously be exceptions where there isn't a gas hob available, like hotel rooms and workplace kitchens.  No idea if USAnian landlords routinely do the all-electric thing to avoid having to have gas installations inspected, but that must happen too.

[andrewc]

An American friend thought my kettle was quaint, and said everyone she knew had wall mounted hot water boilers/dispensers.

[Kim]

An American friend thought my kettle was quaint, and said everyone she knew had wall mounted hot water boilers/dispensers.

Is that the thing that occasionally blasts you with superheated steam but somehow fails to dispense water hot enough for a proper cup of boiled leaves?

[BrianI]

Mudguards...    They either crack at the rear brake bridge (I'm talking about you, SKS Bluemels), or the assorted brackets required to fit them are too bulky (I'm talking about you, Bontrager NCS  Mudguards) so that they'd only really fit using 10mm width tyres...

Bike (a 2014 Pinnacle Dolomite 2), is rated for 25mm tyres & guards... 

[ian]

I know not whence emerged this myth that Leftpondians don't do anbaric kettles.  I've been in a Target in El Paso with a greater variety of 'em than you'd find in the average BRITONS horriblemarket and I've encountered them in hotel rooms in Canuckistan.

Yeah, but they're still limited to about 1500W, unless you do something unsporting like wire a euro-kettle into a 220V cooker/dryer/etc outlet (for the full Photonicinduction effect, do this with a leftpondian kettle).

At which point the gas option (or indeed heating pans of water to boil things in from cold on the hob, which my USAnian correspondents inform me is a perfectly normal thing to do) seems like a reasonable alternative speed-wise.  And avoids the shoddier side of kettle engineering, which can't possibly be improved by the addition of those crappy little shaver plugs and an optional approach to grounding.

There will obviously be exceptions where there isn't a gas hob available, like hotel rooms and workplace kitchens.  No idea if USAnian landlords routinely do the all-electric thing to avoid having to have gas installations inspected, but that must happen too.

Don't Americans do something strange with their dilute electricity to make cookers work? I seem to remember all my cookers being connected via industrial looking flex of a thickness you'd expect to find in an aluminum smelter. See also tumble driers, car charger, giant Tesla coils, etc. That's why their electric chairs are so useless.

I don't recall ever having gas in any property I rented. I'm not sure it was a thing unless you had your own LPG or propane.

[Kim]

Don't Americans do something strange with their dilute electricity to make cookers work? I seem to remember all my cookers being connected via industrial looking flex of a thickness you'd expect to find in an aluminum smelter. See also tumble driers, car charger, giant Tesla coils, etc. That's why their electric chairs are so useless.

Yes, leftpondian domestic anbarism is centre-tapped, so effectively you get two different 110V phases which can be combined to obtain 220V for appliances that need more than 1500W.  (This isn't the same thing as a true three-phase industrial supply - they have those as well, in a confusing mixture of voltages because reasons.)  They have special properly-engineered plugs and sockets for the 220V stuff (with two live pins, hence the thicker cables) so you can't get things mixed up.  This strikes me as eminently sensible, though I appreciate that one shouldn't really comment when one comes from a country that still thinks ring mains are a pretty neat idea.

Being leftpondians, this is all thoroughly incompatible with the connectors that Europe has standardised on for industrial electrickery.  AIUI the NEMA 14 connectors are roughly equivalent to the 32A Ceeform connector we're used to, so they're continuing the tradition of looking a bit on the feeble side for their current rating, though in their defence the NEMA 14 connector isn't supposed to be waterproof.

(Guerrilla charging of electric vehicles in leftpondia is, frankly, hilarious.)

[rogerzilla]

It's cheaper to boil a kettle on a gas hob anyway.  It's not as effiicient at the point of use, but gas is about 1/4 the cost of electricity per kWh.

[Mrs Pingu]

How about stove top kettles on induction hobs?

[Ashaman42]

Oh they don't use any gas.

[Canardly]

It's cheaper to boil a kettle on a gas hob anyway.  It's not as effiicient at the point of use, but gas is about 1/4 the cost of electricity per kWh.

If that is true I might just buy a new kettle.

[PhilO]

How about stove top kettles on induction hobs?

I’m not sure about that, but I was impressed to find that our shined new induction hob boils (with the right pan) a litre of water only 2 seconds slower than the electric kettle.

Which is circa 20 years old... [/smug mode]

[essexian]

An American friend thought my kettle was quaint, and said everyone she knew had wall mounted hot water boilers/dispensers.

Is that the thing that occasionally blasts you with superheated steam but somehow fails to dispense water hot enough for a proper cup of boiled leaves?

It sounds like an early version of the Nutri-Matic 

My grumble...."they" have been out again "resurfacing" roads by throwing some stones at it and running away.  The victim, Holly Lane/Clanford Lane just north of Haughton in Staffordshire.

Now, I will agree the road surface was well worn but this treatment is NOT suitable for a road which sees about 10 cars (and a considerable number of cyclists) each day as the stones simply won't bed in. Indeed, I did try to cycle down it but gave up after 10m as is the going was impossible.

Oh and while I am grumbling..."they" didn't bother to fill up the potholes as the one on the corner was still there.

So instead of taking this once lovely back lane, I was "forced" onto the "main" Long Lane which was resurfaced three years or so back. "Thankfully" the new surface has completely worn away not demonstrating that the whole thing is a complete waste of time and money.

[rafletcher]

How about stove top kettles on induction hobs?

That's what I thought - since we have an induction hob. But our (Bosch) kettle seems fine, with a a variable temperature setting and "keep-warm" function too. Only fault is, if left full overnight, it leaks from somewhere. Never does it in use, and it's easy enough just to fill it before boiling anyway.

[Kim]

My grumble...."they" have been out again "resurfacing" roads by throwing some stones at it and running away.  The victim, Holly Lane/Clanford Lane just north of Haughton in Staffordshire.

Now, I will agree the road surface was well worn but this treatment is NOT suitable for a road which sees about 10 cars (and a considerable number of cyclists) each day as the stones simply won't bed in. Indeed, I did try to cycle down it but gave up after 10m as is the going was impossible.

Ah yes, there were signs up threatening the chipseal treatment of some of my regular lanes next week.  Some of it would be an improvement if the stuff actually lasted, but the window between loose gravel hazard and the ruts setting in is about 6 months at best.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's cheaper to boil a kettle on a gas hob anyway.  It's not as effiicient at the point of use, but gas is about 1/4 the cost of electricity per kWh.

I wonder how the efficiency compares if you look at the whole system? As most electricity in the UK is now produced by burning gas... but then you've got scale in a power station. And presumably electricity is used to pump the gas to your house. But then you've got kettle lifetime and manufacturing too.

Separate from all that, a kettle on the hob seems to "boil hotter". I guess many electric kettles have thermostats that are either inaccurate or set fractionally low for safety reasons.

[Kim]

And presumably electricity is used to pump the gas to your house.

Mainly gas is used to pump gas to your house.  Typically a gas turbine (ie. jet engine) burning gas from the pipeline powers a centrifugal compressor.  As combustion engines go, they're pretty efficient.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Transmission_System#Compressor_stations

[rogerzilla]

Using a fuel-burning heat engine to pump a combustible gas is engagingly mad.  Mind you, there's little risk of an explision unless you get a leak that mixes with the air around the compressor.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The wonderful but not at all surprising thing is that Kim just knows this.

[Cudzoziemiec]

And now a grumble, just to restore this thread to its allotted grumpiness quotient. I've lost the pump that mounted in a bracket next to the bottle cage on one of my bikes. It could have fallen off while I was riding (but I think I'd have noticed – probably felt and/or seen it fall, as it was on the downtube, and heard the clunk), it could be hiding somewhere at home (but I don't remember removing it and I've looked in all the places), it could have got knocked off while parked in town (boo!), or it could have been stolen (grrrrrrrrrrrr!). Either of the last two seems the most likely. Still, I'd had it ten years and IIRC it came free with a bike (that I no longer have), so okay. But now I need a new one. Probably go for one that I can put in a pannier, as I pretty much always have a pannier on this bike. Except then it's bound to end up in the wrong pannier...