WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.280 If you’re a human person, one of those things  you’re gonna wanna do with some regularity 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.119 is boil water. 00:00:07.119 --> 00:00:11.376 We do it for lots of reasons,  from cooking to cleaning and disinfecting 00:00:11.376 --> 00:00:13.441 to... other things probably. 00:00:13.441 --> 00:00:18.962 And one of those other things is preparing hot beverages such as tea. 00:00:18.962 --> 00:00:21.338 Maybe you’d file that under cooking, I dunno, it doesn’t matter, 00:00:21.338 --> 00:00:26.185 anyway this is such a common practice in  the daily lives of humans across the planet 00:00:26.185 --> 00:00:31.510 that purpose-built water-boily-poury things,  called kettles, are quite a common sight. 00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:36.720 But they’re a little less common here in the US  than they are in many other parts of the world,   00:00:36.720 --> 00:00:39.320 particularly the electric variety. 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:43.696 Actually, I think it’s fair to say they’re a lot less common. 00:00:43.696 --> 00:00:49.938 One often cited reason is that our 120V  electrical supply just doesn’t have the gusto 00:00:49.938 --> 00:00:51.901 to make electric kettles worth it. 00:00:51.901 --> 00:00:54.239 Look, here it’s cited three times! 00:00:54.239 --> 00:00:59.780 But by the end of this video, I hope you’ll learn,  as I have, that this just… 00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:01.482 isn’t true. 00:01:01.482 --> 00:01:06.053 Electric kettles are, even though they are a lot slower  on this side of the Atlantic, 00:01:06.053 --> 00:01:10.047 still significantly faster than their stovetop counterparts. 00:01:10.047 --> 00:01:13.949 At  least, for now - spoiler alert, there’s a twist. 00:01:14.160 --> 00:01:16.759 I’ll begin with some testing and demonstration. 00:01:16.759 --> 00:01:22.171 As a note, the times I’ll be referencing in this video came from off-camera tests. 00:01:22.171 --> 00:01:27.236 I’ll replicate some of the tests on-camera but the results will probably be slightly different. 00:01:27.236 --> 00:01:30.396 This is my stovetop kettle. 00:01:30.396 --> 00:01:31.930 It’s red! 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:37.920 And it has a wide, flat bottom which is helpful for doing tests  because it’ll work great with any stove. 00:01:38.880 --> 00:01:43.202 Throughout this video, I’ll be bringing this much water to a boil. 00:01:43.202 --> 00:01:45.050 Yes, this is a SodaStream bottle. 00:01:45.050 --> 00:01:46.089 It was convenient. 00:01:46.089 --> 00:01:49.805 Anyway, this is pretty close to one liter, but not exactly. 00:01:49.805 --> 00:01:53.285 The most important thing is I’m being consistent with each test. 00:01:53.285 --> 00:01:57.154 The water will come straight from the tap and will  go into a cold kettle, 00:01:57.154 --> 00:01:59.621 and we’ll time how long it takes to boil. 00:01:59.621 --> 00:02:04.093 For this kettle, I will consider it  done when I hear the first peep from its whistle. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:12.142 On this gas stove’s “normal” burner, it took a  glacial 7m:40s to come to a boil. 00:02:12.142 --> 00:02:16.400 This stove does have a higher-power burner  available, but we’ll get back to it in a bit. 00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:20.087 Not everybody has a gas stove, though. 00:02:20.087 --> 00:02:25.774 And if you don’t, you might wanna consider yourself lucky but that’s a topic for another day. 00:02:25.774 --> 00:02:30.446 I brought the kettle and my measury bottle along with me for a visit with my parents. 00:02:30.446 --> 00:02:34.105 You see, they have a glass-ceramic electric cooktop. 00:02:34.105 --> 00:02:41.826 I don’t know what the exact power output is of the burners but I do know that the entire thing is 8.8 kW all together, 00:02:41.826 --> 00:02:49.074 and with these burners being the “average” size of four I think 2 kW is probably pretty fair. 00:02:49.074 --> 00:02:54.384 This burner, from cold, brought the kettle to a boil in six minutes flat. 00:02:54.384 --> 00:02:56.583 Which actually surprised me. 00:02:56.583 --> 00:03:00.846 I figured it wouldn’t be as fast as my gas stove but it actually beat it by nearly two minutes. 00:03:01.102 --> 00:03:01.776 Go figure. 00:03:02.160 --> 00:03:05.391 Now let’s see how an electric kettle will do. 00:03:05.391 --> 00:03:08.320 This is the cheapest kettle you can buy at Walmart. 00:03:08.880 --> 00:03:14.016 And as you can see, it sports an exquisite design  and is built of the highest quality materials.   00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:19.213 Like virtually all electric kettles this sports  an automatic shutoff feature, 00:03:19.213 --> 00:03:24.827 however there’s a substantial delay between when it begins  to boil and when the shutoff is actually tripped. 00:03:24.827 --> 00:03:29.578 So, I’ll be considering this kettle “done” the moment  it’s at a roaring boil. 00:03:29.578 --> 00:03:33.412 How long does this fella take to boil that amount of water? 00:03:33.412 --> 00:03:36.383 Four minutes and thirty-three seconds. 00:03:36.383 --> 00:03:39.424 I suspect some viewers are aghast at that performance, 00:03:39.424 --> 00:03:45.263 but that’s more than three minutes faster than the stovetop kettle on a gas stove, 00:03:45.263 --> 00:03:50.096 and about a minute-and-a-half faster than  the same kettle on a glass-ceramic electric stove. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.695 Why might that be? 00:03:52.695 --> 00:03:55.023 Well the answer is pretty simple. 00:03:55.023 --> 00:03:57.959 But before we get into it with excruciating detail, 00:03:57.959 --> 00:04:02.814 let me reiterate that the cheapest electric kettle I could get my hands on 00:04:02.814 --> 00:04:07.971 is significantly faster at boiling water than  this stovetop kettle, 00:04:07.971 --> 00:04:12.229 despite being limited by our 120V electrical system. 00:04:12.229 --> 00:04:18.561 Our weird system puts a practical limit of 1,500 watts on most things which plug into ordinary outlets, 00:04:18.561 --> 00:04:21.583 although 1,800 watts is technically permissible 00:04:21.583 --> 00:04:25.582 and on a 20 amp circuit, which is fairly common  especially in kitchens, 00:04:25.582 --> 00:04:30.015 2,400 hundred watts is possible, but since it’s by no means universal 00:04:30.015 --> 00:04:32.922 (and requires a different plug to be compliant) 00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:40.867 most devices stick to a 12 amp limit, which nets  1,500 watts at a slightly optimistic 125 volts. 00:04:41.280 --> 00:04:44.365 That’s plenty of power for virtually anything, 00:04:44.365 --> 00:04:50.661 but many of you in 230 and 240 lands will find this kettle to be obnoxiously slow. 00:04:50.661 --> 00:04:55.701 I’ve also seen a few people here who have installed a 240V receptacle in their kitchen 00:04:55.701 --> 00:04:59.362 specifically to use with imported kettles, 00:04:59.362 --> 00:05:01.540 and I guess more power to ‘em. 00:05:03.332 --> 00:05:06.640 (just a reminder we actually have 240V power here, but we do it... 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.997 weird, I made a video about it if you wanna learn more). 00:05:09.997 --> 00:05:11.933 Now, hot take; 00:05:11.933 --> 00:05:14.659 all y’all tea drinkers are frightfully impatient- [said slipping into a Southern drawl] 00:05:14.659 --> 00:05:16.602 Oops, did I say that out loud? 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.600 Anyway, with the knowledge that even a cheap  little kettle with our weak little plugs   00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:25.911 is still a lot faster at boiling water than a  kettle on a stove, 00:05:26.807 --> 00:05:30.976 why aren’t they the household staple that they are in other parts of the world? 00:05:30.976 --> 00:05:34.129 What a perplexing mystery, I doubt we’ll ever know the true ans - 00:05:34.129 --> 00:05:37.285 It’s because we don’t drink tea all that  much, you guys. 00:05:37.976 --> 00:05:39.032 That’s it. 00:05:39.032 --> 00:05:40.679 That’s the answer. 00:05:40.679 --> 00:05:46.348 It’s not like nobody here drinks tea, but I think it’s  fair to say that for the majority of households 00:05:46.348 --> 00:05:52.096 tea is more of a “Ooh I’m feeling fancy today,  let’s whip out the Earl Grey!” kind of a thing. 00:05:52.454 --> 00:05:56.359 It simply is not the cultural staple for us that  it might be for you, 00:05:56.359 --> 00:06:00.165 especially in the context of, say, social gatherings. 00:06:00.165 --> 00:06:05.304 When friends come ‘round, putting a kettle on is not really in our cultural vernacular - 00:06:05.304 --> 00:06:08.568 but brewing a pot of coffee absolutely is. 00:06:08.568 --> 00:06:14.140 So, since most of us find ourselves boiling water for tea only occasionally (if ever), 00:06:14.140 --> 00:06:17.027 a faster, purpose-built water-boily-poury-thing 00:06:17.280 --> 00:06:20.457 is just not on the average American mind. 00:06:20.457 --> 00:06:22.392 That’s all there is to it. 00:06:22.392 --> 00:06:27.093 Yes, our electric kettles are slower than they are on the other side of the Atlantic, but! 00:06:27.093 --> 00:06:30.105 They’re still the fastest way to boil water! 00:06:30.105 --> 00:06:33.724 The trouble is that relatively few people even know to want them. 00:06:34.334 --> 00:06:39.680 So, why is this $15 lump of plastic so much faster at this whole water boiling thing? 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.249 Well, take a look inside of it. 00:06:43.249 --> 00:06:45.450 We can see the heating element. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:46.961 That’s it. 00:06:46.961 --> 00:06:48.403 That’s the thing what get hot. 00:06:48.403 --> 00:06:50.317 And when you fill it up with water, 00:06:50.317 --> 00:06:56.522 the heating element becomes submersed in and surrounded on all sides by the stuff we’re aiming to heat. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:02.640 All of the energy that this thing can pull from the  wall is getting dumped straight into the water, 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:05.889 save for whatever tiny bit is lost in the power cord. 00:07:05.889 --> 00:07:10.055 Many electric kettles don’t have an exposed heating element like you see here, 00:07:10.055 --> 00:07:15.002 but instead bond the element to the bottom surface of the kettle which the water sits atop. 00:07:15.002 --> 00:07:17.536 It’s a different arrangement, but the effect is much the same. 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:25.450 In comparison, a stovetop kettle can only try its best at absorbing heat that’s getting blasted at it from below 00:07:25.450 --> 00:07:28.518 and then transfer that heat into the water it contains. 00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:33.744 That’s just much less effective than  releasing heat directly into the water.   00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:35.950 How much less effective is it? 00:07:35.950 --> 00:07:39.056 Well, we can find out pretty easily with some math! 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:44.122 One fun thing about this universe is that Energy. Is. Energy. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:48.320 We have a lot of different names for it  and measure in a bunch of different ways,   00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:52.864 but it’s all the same thing and we can convert  between units easily. 00:07:52.864 --> 00:07:58.279 One of those units which is particularly useful for this discussion is the calorie. 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:05.956 That’s how much energy it takes to elevate the temperature of 1 cubic centimeter (or one milliliter) of water by 1 degree Celsius. 00:08:07.211 --> 00:08:11.661 ♫ lo-fi jazz plays ♫ 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:24.480 If we presume that the water from the  tap is at about 20 degrees Celsius,   00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:28.800 and we have 1,000 cubic centimeters  of water to raise up by 80 degrees,   00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:33.434 then it will take 80,000 calories  of energy to bring it to a boil. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.148 Now, we can ask a search engine to convert that  into a different unit for us! 00:08:38.148 --> 00:08:40.820 Let’s go with... joules. 00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:43.263 Agh, no, I didn’t want the kilocalorie. 00:08:43.263 --> 00:08:50.318 That’s what we commonly use for food, I just want 80,000 calories - the regular kind. 00:08:50.318 --> 00:08:56.639 Fine, 80 kilocalories is 334,720 joules. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:58.329 Why have I chosen joules? 00:08:58.329 --> 00:09:04.823 Well, here’s a fun thing; you know what the watt - the  commonly-used unit of electrical power - actually is? 00:09:04.823 --> 00:09:07.148 It’s one joule per second. 00:09:07.148 --> 00:09:10.720 And, since our electric kettles typically run at 1,500 watts, 00:09:11.216 --> 00:09:16.301 That means they can put 1,500 joules of energy into the  water every second. 00:09:16.301 --> 00:09:20.962 So if we divide 334,720 (the number of joules we need) 00:09:20.962 --> 00:09:25.651 by 1,500 (the number of joules we can add to the water every second), 00:09:25.651 --> 00:09:32.266 we will find out how much time it should take for an electric kettle in the US to boil a liter of room temperature water in seconds. 00:09:32.266 --> 00:09:35.229 That answer? 223. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.440 In the real world, though, it took about 22%  longer than that. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:45.488 Our theoretical speed is 223 seconds, but the observed time was 273 seconds. 00:09:45.488 --> 00:09:48.111 What’s the cause of the discrepancy? 00:09:48.111 --> 00:09:49.785 Well actually there are two causes. 00:09:49.785 --> 00:09:53.360 First, this thing doesn’t actually pull 1500 watts from the wall. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:59.200 It’s a resistive electrical load - the heating  element is just a giant resistor, after all,   00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:04.431 so the actual power it consumes will depend on  the voltage at the receptacle. 00:10:04.431 --> 00:10:08.613 In my test it was drawing only 1,430 watts. 00:10:08.613 --> 00:10:14.888 Knowing that this was the real power output, our theoretical time should be revised to 234 seconds. 00:10:14.888 --> 00:10:19.014 Our observed time, though,  was still about 16% longer than that - 00:10:19.014 --> 00:10:20.549 why? 00:10:20.549 --> 00:10:22.383 Well, it’s not just the water that we’re heating. 00:10:22.383 --> 00:10:28.080 The body of the kettle itself gets warmed up through the water, and that thermal mass slows us down a bit. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:32.177 Plus, of course, some energy escapes into the room before the water boils - 00:10:32.177 --> 00:10:36.000 both through the sides getting warm and a bit escaping out the top. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:42.358 Still, though, only 16% more time  compared to literal perfection ain’t bad. 00:10:42.800 --> 00:10:44.495 Let’s switch things up a bit. 00:10:44.495 --> 00:10:47.143 Remember, Energy. Is. Energy. 00:10:47.143 --> 00:10:54.139 And we can convert the 80,000 calories it takes to lift a liter of water by 80 degrees celsius into watt-hours. 00:10:54.139 --> 00:11:02.914 Joules are fun and all, but since we tend to measure power output in watts it’s usually easier to conceptualize energy in watt-hours. 00:11:02.914 --> 00:11:05.669 Plus you get much smaller  numbers which is helpful. 00:11:05.669 --> 00:11:11.349 80,000 calories is about 93 watt-hours according to Google’s converty thing. 00:11:11.349 --> 00:11:13.840 How many watt-hours did our kettle use? 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:19.191 Well, 273 seconds divided by the 3600 seconds  in an hour 00:11:19.191 --> 00:11:28.810 and then multiplied by the 1,430 watts the kettle was actually pulling tells us that we consumed 108.4 watt-hours which is…   00:11:29.280 --> 00:11:32.044 whaddya know, about 16% more than 93. 00:11:32.044 --> 00:11:33.498 Ain’t this fun? 00:11:33.920 --> 00:11:35.631 Let’s do a little more math! 00:11:35.631 --> 00:11:37.907 Through the Magic of Buying Two of Them, 00:11:37.907 --> 00:11:40.878 I have a second, slightly-fancier kettle! 00:11:40.878 --> 00:11:44.442 And this one sports RAPID-HEAT technology! 00:11:45.040 --> 00:11:48.213 Which is funny because it’s only rated 1,100 watts. 00:11:48.213 --> 00:11:55.641 This one has the embedded heating element design - rather than a big curly thing getting hot, the bottom surface is what gets hot. 00:11:55.641 --> 00:12:01.534 Given what we’ve learned, we should be able to predict  how long this will take to boil a liter of water.   00:12:01.920 --> 00:12:10.286 Let’s see, 334,720 joules divided by 1,100 watts  is 304 seconds, or just over five minutes. 00:12:10.286 --> 00:12:14.339 I’ll go ahead and presume the same 22% overall discrepancy  from the cheap kettle 00:12:14.339 --> 00:12:20.000 (accounting for both a slightly lower-than-advertised power level and  also the energy needed to heat the kettle itself) 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:26.421 and predict it should take about 371 seconds,  or six minutes and eleven seconds. 00:12:26.421 --> 00:12:29.189 Let’s see how long does it actually take? 00:12:29.189 --> 00:12:31.556 Oh good, blue LEDs. 00:12:31.556 --> 00:12:33.010 My favorite. 00:12:33.010 --> 00:12:37.375 And it actually took; six minutes and thirteen seconds, 00:12:37.375 --> 00:12:41.830 proving once again that energy is energy and water is water. 00:12:42.400 --> 00:12:46.532 So now, let’s take a look at the gas stove and stovetop kettle again. 00:12:46.532 --> 00:12:50.730 The burner which took 7 minutes and 40 seconds to bring this to a boil 00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:54.452 is rated 9,500 BTUs/hour. 00:12:54.452 --> 00:12:56.780 Oh good, another unit! 00:12:56.780 --> 00:13:01.251 Now, in this context, as is often done with the BTU for whatever reason, 00:13:01.251 --> 00:13:08.625 the manufacturer is using a unit of energy to convey power which is a bit confusing but it is what it is. 00:13:08.625 --> 00:13:14.663 I don’t have a way to verify its performance unfortunately, but if we assume the burner is performing to spec, 00:13:14.663 --> 00:13:24.000 the 9,500 BTUs/hour can be converted to instantaneous wattage and thus this burner outputs 2,785 watts at full-power. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:28.478 You may already see the absurdity here but let’s  keep going and work it out. 00:13:28.478 --> 00:13:33.288 It should take only 93 watt-hours to bring a liter of water to boil. 00:13:33.288 --> 00:13:38.974 This electric kettle, with a modest loss, took 108.4 watt-hours to do it. 00:13:38.974 --> 00:13:43.852 The second electric kettle with a lower power rating did take longer to do the job, 00:13:43.852 --> 00:13:47.723 but required a nearly identical amount of energy. 00:13:47.723 --> 00:13:57.334 This thing, sitting over 2,785 Watts of Fire manages to take more time to boil than either electric kettle; 00:13:57.334 --> 00:13:59.040 7 minutes and 40 seconds. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:04.633 That works out to 356 watt-hours of energy consumed. 00:14:04.633 --> 00:14:06.590 That’s astoundingly bad. 00:14:06.590 --> 00:14:09.333 Nearly quadruple what’s theoretically required, 00:14:09.333 --> 00:14:12.243 and more than triple what the electric kettles need. 00:14:12.400 --> 00:14:14.532 But it’s not really surprising, is it? 00:14:14.532 --> 00:14:18.994 I mean, this is just a cold object over an open flame. 00:14:18.994 --> 00:14:25.280 Of course the bulk of the energy being released as  the fuel combusts is just going around the kettle. 00:14:25.920 --> 00:14:32.686 If you’ve ever used a gas stove you’ve undoubtedly  felt how hot the air is above the… pot or whatever. 00:14:32.686 --> 00:14:37.360 That’s all the heat from the flame which  isn’t ending up in what you’re trying to heat. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:44.160 Sure, some of it’s making it in there, but in the  case of this kettle apparently not even a third. 00:14:44.160 --> 00:14:50.746 This stove also sports a “quick boil” mega-burner  which outputs 17,000 BTUs/hour 00:14:50.746 --> 00:14:54.019 or 4,985 watts. 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:58.720 This thing is so powerful  flames lick up the sides of the kettle. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:04.880 On this mega-burner, the time-to-boil  decreases to 4 minutes and 32 seconds   00:15:04.880 --> 00:15:10.560 which as it happens is exactly one second faster  than the time recorded by this electric kettle.   00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:15.398 But, that time savings comes with even less efficiency, 00:15:15.398 --> 00:15:24.480 as the total amount of energy needed to boil a liter of water on this burner climbs slightly from 356 to 376 watt-hours.   00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:31.760 Oh and by the way, 376 watt-hours isn’t just a  lot of energy to spend boiling a liter of water,   00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:36.713 it’ll also make your kitchen quite a bit warmer which is GREAT on summer days. 00:15:36.713 --> 00:15:44.177 Oh, also the heat from the flames licking up the sides makes the handle too hot to touch with bare hands so that’s fun! 00:15:45.278 --> 00:15:51.196 There’s been a lot of talk lately about how gas stoves are  just… well kinda bad for lots of reasons 00:15:51.196 --> 00:15:54.367 and I gotta say this is revealing yet another reason. 00:15:54.367 --> 00:16:02.315 I mean, if it takes more than triple the energy output of a 1,500 watt electric kettle just to match its boiling time… 00:16:02.955 --> 00:16:04.573 all I can say is yikes. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.148 Let’s go back to the electric stove and see how  well it did from an efficiency standpoint. 00:16:10.148 --> 00:16:16.400 If we assume that this burner was outputting 2000 watts,  then the required time of exactly 6 minutes,   00:16:16.400 --> 00:16:22.224 which is exactly one tenth of an hour, meant 200  watt-hours were spent boiling the liter of water.   00:16:22.880 --> 00:16:26.960 That’s still much more than the electric kettle’s 108,   00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:32.750 but nowhere near as bad as the 356 required by the  slower gas burner. 00:16:32.750 --> 00:16:39.760 Putting the kettle in physical contact with the thing that gets hot seems to transfer heat energy much more effectively.   00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:43.995 For grins and giggles I timed this little hot plate. 00:16:43.995 --> 00:16:47.504 It only outputs 900 watts so it took… 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:49.066 a while. 00:16:49.066 --> 00:16:50.880 13 minutes and 8 seconds, in fact. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:52.881 Let’s do the math, though. 00:16:52.881 --> 00:16:57.613 This thing really only outputs about 870 watts according to the kill-a-watt. 00:16:57.613 --> 00:17:02.800 13 minutes and 8 seconds at that power level works out to 190 watt-hours. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:07.261 This was definitely slower than the 2 kW burner, 00:17:07.261 --> 00:17:09.315 but it was a tad more efficient. 00:17:09.315 --> 00:17:10.926 At least, I assume so. 00:17:10.926 --> 00:17:16.953 Probably because the glass-ceramic cooktop works almost like a heat lamp pointing up at the kettle - 00:17:16.953 --> 00:17:23.296 it’s blasting infrared light at it, and since the kettle is  just a little bit smaller than the total area, 00:17:23.296 --> 00:17:26.740 some energy is making its way around the kettle’s sides. 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:31.224 This burner, though, is simply gettin’ real hot thanks to a heating element inside of it, 00:17:31.224 --> 00:17:38.833 and with the kettle in physical contact a slight majority of that energy ends up getting absorbed by the kettle and into the water. 00:17:39.063 --> 00:17:39.948 Not bad. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:43.604 This probably means that the old fashioned curly-q burners 00:17:43.604 --> 00:17:49.253 might actually be the best conventional electric burner design,  at least when it comes to speed, 00:17:49.253 --> 00:17:54.998 since they have relatively little thermal mass and the  element itself stays in contact with the cookware. 00:17:55.434 --> 00:17:56.964 With everything we’ve seen, 00:17:56.964 --> 00:18:01.431 I think it’s clear that if you want to boil water conveniently and quickly, 00:18:01.431 --> 00:18:06.000 the electric kettle remains your  best option despite our weedy little plugs. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.794 But this may be about to change. 00:18:09.794 --> 00:18:15.847 Thanks to induction technology, the stovetop kettle can be even faster than an electric kettle - 00:18:15.847 --> 00:18:19.530 in fact, potentially faster than a European one. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.715 Induction stoves are the new hotness, 00:18:22.715 --> 00:18:28.582 and they work by sending high-frequency alternating current through a coil of wire beneath the cooking surface.   00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:36.118 When a suitable cooking vessel is placed above it,  electric currents are induced within the vessel’s metal base. 00:18:36.118 --> 00:18:40.299 Those currents will actually heat the  bottom of the pot or what have you 00:18:40.299 --> 00:18:43.186 just like the current flowing through a heating element. 00:18:43.186 --> 00:18:48.387 In effect, it turns the pot itself into the heating element! 00:18:48.387 --> 00:18:51.395 Now, I don’t have an induction stove, 00:18:51.395 --> 00:18:55.279 but I do have this plug-in induction cooktop! 00:18:56.175 --> 00:19:01.706 This thing is not shy of pulling the full 15A from an electrical circuit, and on full-power 00:19:01.706 --> 00:19:06.072 it consumes just about the 1,800W that it claims to. 00:19:06.072 --> 00:19:10.589 Now, there’s some waste in this process - that’s why this thing has a cooling fan in it - 00:19:10.589 --> 00:19:15.315 so I don’t know exactly how much is actually getting transmitted into the kettle. 00:19:15.315 --> 00:19:21.797 But at full power, this brought a liter of water to boil in 4 minutes and 29 seconds. 00:19:21.797 --> 00:19:28.420 That’s the fastest result we’ve seen, suggesting at least 1,500 watts is making it into the water. 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:33.794 And keep in mind, this is limited to what comes from an ordinary electrical outlet. 00:19:33.794 --> 00:19:40.867 The hardwired induction cooktops you’ll  find either on their own or attached to an oven often feature a burner... 00:19:40.867 --> 00:19:47.665 or I guess a better word is emitter - that can pump out close to four kilowatts, sometimes more! 00:19:47.665 --> 00:19:51.840 With one of those, you could boil a liter of water in 90 seconds flat. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.908 Still, speed isn’t everything. 00:19:54.908 --> 00:20:00.360 One very handy feature of nearly all electric kettles is that automatic shut-off. 00:20:00.360 --> 00:20:04.000 That does give them an element  of safety which is missing from a stovetop kettle. 00:20:05.216 --> 00:20:10.298 I think there’s a certain charm in household  objects that scream at you when they’re ready,   00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:14.732 but I’ll admit a more silent option is nice. 00:20:14.732 --> 00:20:18.463 Plus, unless and until I get a proper induction stove, 00:20:18.463 --> 00:20:20.678 this remains the fastest... 00:20:21.778 --> 00:20:23.435 OK, this was a little bit faster 00:20:23.435 --> 00:20:27.883 but the most convenient and efficient option  for boiling water. 00:20:27.883 --> 00:20:33.349 Though I don’t often drink tea, I’ve kept a kettle around because it’s just too handy. 00:20:33.349 --> 00:20:41.673 Even if I’m making pasta it’s faster to fill this up, bring it to a boil, and then pour the water from it into a pot on the stove 00:20:41.673 --> 00:20:44.512 than it is to use the stove to boil the water. 00:20:44.512 --> 00:20:46.943 Which is nuts but it’s the truth! 00:20:46.943 --> 00:20:50.220 Plus the kitchen doesn’t get nearly as hot when you do that, 00:20:50.220 --> 00:20:55.232 and I don’t have to run the stove as long which is great for indoor air quality. 00:20:55.232 --> 00:20:58.999 I should make a video about that, too, it’s astounding how bad these are. 00:20:58.999 --> 00:21:03.450 It’s almost like combusting fossil fuels inside of a living space is a bad idea! 00:21:03.760 --> 00:21:05.687 Aside from that great benefit, 00:21:05.687 --> 00:21:10.237 there are also fancier kettles available which let you set them to a specific temperature. 00:21:10.237 --> 00:21:13.699 Great for certain types of tea or really pedantic coffee sno - 00:21:13.699 --> 00:21:14.975 I mean enthusiasts. 00:21:14.975 --> 00:21:19.278 And if you’re really bothered  by waiting four minutes for boiled water, 00:21:19.278 --> 00:21:23.187 there are a few solutions that are much  less involved than rewiring your kitchen. 00:21:23.600 --> 00:21:26.157 First, and here’s a wild idea, 00:21:26.157 --> 00:21:28.699 just don’t fill the kettle up all the way! 00:21:28.699 --> 00:21:33.360 It takes more time to boil more water, and  if you’re just making a cup for yourself, 00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:36.176 only fill the kettle to the minimum mark. 00:21:36.176 --> 00:21:44.080 On many kettles that can be as little as half a liter, which only takes a hair over 2 minutes to boil even with our pathetic little plugs.   00:21:44.362 --> 00:21:49.646 But watch out, as there are kettles out there  which don’t operate at 1500 watts. 00:21:49.928 --> 00:21:50.682 Like this one! 00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:57.036 It may look nicer than the cheap Walmart  kettle but it’s definitely worse at being a kettle. 00:21:57.036 --> 00:22:00.339 Oohh but it did come with this  free loose leaf tea infuser so that’s nice! 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.400 Another option you might want to look  into if you’re particularly impatient   00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.434 is something like this. 00:22:06.434 --> 00:22:10.992 You’re right, this isn’t a kettle, but you could call it better than a kettle! 00:22:10.992 --> 00:22:12.439 These… 00:22:12.439 --> 00:22:18.022 well I don’t know what the proper name is  but boiler, warmer, and dispenser all seem like common words so let’s go with… 00:22:18.022 --> 00:22:19.324 hot water dispenser. 00:22:19.324 --> 00:22:25.935 These hot water dispensers feature an insulated tank which they will diligently keep at your desired temperature. 00:22:25.935 --> 00:22:32.834 Many also feature timer functions to allow you to set when you want them ready so they don’t waste much energy when you don't need them. 00:22:33.360 --> 00:22:37.104 Use one of these and you don’t ever have to wait for a kettle! 00:22:37.104 --> 00:22:37.906 And! 00:22:37.906 --> 00:22:40.240 They actually only need 700 watts. 00:22:41.040 --> 00:22:45.040 There might be some merit to keeping an insulated tank of water around   00:22:45.040 --> 00:22:49.040 rather than pumping 3 whole kilowatts of heat  into cold water whenever you feel like it. 00:22:49.760 --> 00:22:52.557 Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you with this video. 00:22:52.557 --> 00:23:01.682 This whole kettle discourse is so wild to me - I get it, you’ve got three kilowatts of water boiling power at any outlet! 00:23:01.682 --> 00:23:05.810 It’s gotta be kind of annoying when you make a visit to  this continent - or worse move here - 00:23:05.810 --> 00:23:10.530 and suddenly it takes a whole two more minutes to  boil a liter of water. 00:23:10.530 --> 00:23:11.760 I mean, you poor things. 00:23:12.320 --> 00:23:16.561 But like, I do want to point out that I think  it’s kinda hilarious how, 00:23:16.561 --> 00:23:18.900 aside from electric vehicle charging, 00:23:18.900 --> 00:23:25.753 boiling water quickly is about the only practical benefit to having that much power at any receptacle. 00:23:25.753 --> 00:23:33.448 This is the one thing that seems to get stuck in the craw of lots of folks regarding our electrical system which is just… 00:23:33.448 --> 00:23:35.588 well it’s kinda funny to me, that’s all. 00:23:35.588 --> 00:23:42.254 Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of objectively terrible  things about our electrical system! 00:23:42.254 --> 00:23:45.731 But even here, unless you’ve got an induction stove, 00:23:45.731 --> 00:23:48.485 this is still the fastest way to get a cuppa. 00:23:49.355 --> 00:23:52.008 ♫ scaldingly smooth jazz ♫ 00:23:53.493 --> 00:23:55.340 Which actually… huh! 00:23:57.004 --> 00:24:00.115 I brought the kettle and my measury bottle with me for a… 00:24:00.755 --> 00:24:02.429 no, that was correct! You… 00:24:02.429 --> 00:24:05.563 I brought the kettle and my [weird foghorn noise] 00:24:05.563 --> 00:24:08.362 I brought the kettle and my measury bottle along with a… 00:24:08.362 --> 00:24:09.638 *sigh* 00:24:10.841 --> 00:24:14.440 …same thing. And we can convert between units easily. 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:18.521 One… yeah I'm gonna throw... I don’t like how that went. 00:24:18.521 --> 00:24:21.280 How many watt-hours did it  take this kettle to boil? 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:27.840 But, since we tend to measure power  output in watts it’s usually easue…   00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.033 usually eazuier. 00:24:32.033 --> 00:24:33.629 It’s just not the average… 00:24:34.115 --> 00:24:35.417 *sigh* 00:24:36.902 --> 00:24:37.641 poop. 00:24:39.049 --> 00:24:43.108 There's a good deal of stuff that got cut from this script because this felt like a very pointless video. 00:24:43.108 --> 00:24:44.213 But! 00:24:44.213 --> 00:24:47.714 I've actually recorded a follow-up video which I will be editing shortly! 00:24:47.714 --> 00:24:50.445 And it contains those deleted sections! 00:24:50.445 --> 00:24:53.134 And it will go up here on the main channel! 00:24:53.134 --> 00:24:54.659 Exclamation points!