WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.919 Hello. 00:00:00.919 --> 00:00:02.233 It is still November. 00:00:02.233 --> 00:00:04.528 The heat just kicked on, but I don't care. 00:00:04.528 --> 00:00:09.492 And today, I'm going to make my car charging station boil water very quickly. 00:00:09.492 --> 00:00:14.647 And I'm going to do it using this British kettle which I have made work with a car charging station 00:00:14.647 --> 00:00:20.119 using this very cursed adapter I built using very cursed parts. 00:00:20.119 --> 00:00:24.386 Now, before I hear any complaints  about the effort that got put into this one, 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.560 this video is basically a repeat of that time  I made a shop heater with a J1772 connector,   00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:34.886 allowing me to use my car charging station as a  nice and convenient power cable 00:00:34.886 --> 00:00:42.885 that delivers 240 volts AC (which in case you didn't know, is all  a level two charging station actually does). 00:00:42.885 --> 00:00:49.126 But this time I put that connector onto an electrical  box and on the other side of it... 00:00:49.126 --> 00:00:51.232 is this horrible thing. 00:00:51.232 --> 00:00:53.048 But more on that later. 00:00:53.048 --> 00:00:55.663 You might wonder why I've done this. 00:00:55.663 --> 00:01:03.668 Well, you see, I have a few British friends who have all expressed frustration at how slow electric kettles are here in the US. 00:01:03.668 --> 00:01:10.701 Because of our 120 volt household power and the desire to maintain compatibility with smaller 15 amp circuits, 00:01:10.701 --> 00:01:15.551 most ordinary appliances are limited to 1,500W of power, 00:01:15.551 --> 00:01:17.783 and kettles are no exception. 00:01:17.783 --> 00:01:24.705 Put that much power into a liter of room temperature water, and it will take about 4 minutes for that water to boil. 00:01:24.705 --> 00:01:28.775 Now, personally, I think that's plenty fast 00:01:28.775 --> 00:01:34.296 but because the Brits have 13 amps of  230 volt power at every receptacle, 00:01:34.296 --> 00:01:40.100 they can shove three whole kilowatts of power into their water boily things. 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:43.794 And because they can, they do. 00:01:43.794 --> 00:01:45.563 And today, they're so used to this 00:01:45.563 --> 00:01:51.681 that the absurdity of a plastic countertop appliance sucking down more power than my home's central air conditioner 00:01:51.681 --> 00:01:53.403 just doesn't quite register. 00:01:53.403 --> 00:01:59.491 Fun fact, the BBC used to have to share when breaks in their programming would happen with the National Grid 00:01:59.491 --> 00:02:03.149 because half a million people getting up to put the kettle on all at the same time 00:02:03.149 --> 00:02:08.740 meant there was suddenly a large nuclear  reactor's worth of power draw to be dealt with. 00:02:08.740 --> 00:02:10.735 For making tea. 00:02:10.735 --> 00:02:12.603 And other hot beverages, probably. 00:02:12.603 --> 00:02:14.368 Ooh, maybe even porridge. 00:02:14.368 --> 00:02:19.473 Uh, anyway, after I made that video on the shop heater powered by my charging station, 00:02:19.473 --> 00:02:26.495 a certain slow-mo guy named Gav suggested I make a kettle that works with a car charger. 00:02:26.495 --> 00:02:28.551 That sounded delightfully up my alley, 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:31.003 so I promised I would make that happen. 00:02:31.003 --> 00:02:32.174 And here we go! 00:02:32.670 --> 00:02:40.032 First, I would need to get my hands on a kettle designed to work with the 240 volt electricity my car charging station puts out. 00:02:40.032 --> 00:02:47.812 So, I imported this British kettle, which draws the customary 3,000 watts from the wall. 00:02:47.812 --> 00:02:52.059 Next, I would need a way to power this kettle from my charging station. 00:02:52.059 --> 00:02:54.251 Now, I could have done the sensible thing, 00:02:54.251 --> 00:02:59.081 which would be to build an adapter like this with a NEMA 6-20 receptacle 00:02:59.081 --> 00:03:04.404 and then cut the end off of this cord and connect it up to a NEMA 6-20 plug. 00:03:05.221 --> 00:03:10.779 But a while ago, someone on the internet made me aware that Leviton sells this thing. 00:03:11.567 --> 00:03:16.233 Yes, this is a real product you can buy for some reason. 00:03:16.233 --> 00:03:27.280 The Leviton BSRDP-W is a single BS1363 receptacle designed to fit into a North American junction box. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:29.167 Why on Earth do they sell this? 00:03:29.167 --> 00:03:30.637 I have no idea! 00:03:30.637 --> 00:03:34.783 There's no way this would be to code anywhere you might install it. 00:03:34.783 --> 00:03:36.803 [sudden muzak] 00:03:36.803 --> 00:03:40.194 Okay, so this instruction sheet made me dig a little deeper 00:03:40.194 --> 00:03:47.450 and it would seem that Saudi Arabia's current  SASO standards call for type G plugs and sockets 00:03:47.450 --> 00:03:48.843 (that's the British one). 00:03:48.843 --> 00:03:58.350 But it seems that in the past they and/or perhaps other Gulf countries were following NEMA standards for junction boxes, etc. 00:03:58.350 --> 00:04:01.499 This device meets SASO standards 00:04:01.499 --> 00:04:07.441 and that little symbol above the 0007 is the Gulf Conformity Mark of the Gulf Cooperation Council 00:04:07.441 --> 00:04:13.889 and so I think it is intended for use in retrofit situations in those countries. 00:04:13.889 --> 00:04:19.202 So it's got a real use case... but certainly not here. 00:04:19.202 --> 00:04:26.239 Because we use split-phase power over here, nothing you might plug into this will be correctly wired. 00:04:26.239 --> 00:04:29.934 It will function just fine - no electrical load knows the difference 00:04:29.934 --> 00:04:37.889 - but these two pins will both be live at 120 volts potential to ground, which means depending on how a device was wired, 00:04:37.889 --> 00:04:41.301 it may always be energized, even if switched off. 00:04:41.301 --> 00:04:43.446 Which might be shocking. 00:04:43.657 --> 00:04:49.840 Now, Leviton was smart enough to make sure this switch  is a double pole switch that isolates both pins.   00:04:49.840 --> 00:04:53.339 But still, this is all kinds of weird! 00:04:53.339 --> 00:04:55.981 And yet it exists. 00:04:55.981 --> 00:05:04.430 So, I threw together this adapter, which simply has the line one, line two, and ground pins of the J1772 connector 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:09.577 wired directly to the cursed receptacle on the other side. 00:05:09.577 --> 00:05:11.844 Am I showing you what's inside of here? 00:05:11.844 --> 00:05:12.980 No! 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:17.697 And to make the charging station think it's  plugged into a car which is requesting power, 00:05:17.697 --> 00:05:25.277 the control pilot pin is connected to the ground  pin through an 882ish ohm resistor and a diode. 00:05:25.277 --> 00:05:29.427 Now plugging this into my charging station causes it to go [clack] 00:05:29.427 --> 00:05:35.047 and energize this receptacle with the correct voltage but in the wrong way. 00:05:35.047 --> 00:05:36.747 It will work, though. 00:05:36.747 --> 00:05:38.871 So let's do a little test. 00:05:38.871 --> 00:05:44.411 Here's an American kettle plugged into the wall and bringing this much water to a boil. 00:05:44.411 --> 00:05:47.640 This is almost exactly one liter, but not quite. 00:05:47.640 --> 00:05:52.002 The important thing is I'm using the exact same amount of water with every test. 00:05:52.002 --> 00:05:56.904 The water was 63.7° F or 17.6 C. 00:05:56.904 --> 00:06:05.743 And with the kettle pulling about 1,460 watts, it took 4 minutes and 5 seconds to hit my subjective definition of boiling. 00:06:05.743 --> 00:06:12.651 And for a slightly less subjective definition, the kettle switched itself off at 4 minutes 17 seconds. 00:06:12.651 --> 00:06:15.944 But I had a second American kettle to test. 00:06:15.944 --> 00:06:18.656 This cheaper model has an exposed heating element. 00:06:18.656 --> 00:06:22.612 And since it becomes completely submerged when filled with water, 00:06:22.612 --> 00:06:28.035 there are absolutely no heat losses to the air below the kettle. 00:06:28.035 --> 00:06:33.746 That doesn't matter very much,  but you'll see why I also tested this one later. 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:39.550 This one was filled with water at 63.1° F or 17.3 C. 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:46.416 And after a failed start because it wasn't seated properly, it drew 1,420 watts from the wall 00:06:46.416 --> 00:06:51.747 and required 4 minutes and 15 seconds to hit my subjective definition of boiling. 00:06:51.747 --> 00:06:55.800 And it switched itself off at the 4 minute 35 seconds mark. 00:06:55.800 --> 00:07:02.427 So, both of these kettles require about 4 minutes of time to boil about a liter of water. 00:07:02.427 --> 00:07:06.921 And now it's time to see how much faster a right proper kettle is. 00:07:06.921 --> 00:07:12.572 This time the water was at 61.8° F or 16.6 C. 00:07:12.572 --> 00:07:14.860 And I want you to notice something here. 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:17.773 This is just under 1 liter of water. 00:07:17.773 --> 00:07:24.077 And when I placed it in this kettle, the water line went up to about the 4.5 mark. 00:07:24.077 --> 00:07:25.586 That doesn't make any sense. 00:07:25.586 --> 00:07:29.648 So this is 4.5... what exactly? 00:07:29.648 --> 00:07:31.386 Oh, I found the answer. 00:07:31.386 --> 00:07:34.792 And having found it, I simply cannot resist pointing out 00:07:34.792 --> 00:07:40.741 that every kettle I have ever used here in the US tells you its capacity in liters. 00:07:40.741 --> 00:07:46.435 Yet, this British kettle has markings for, and I swear I'm not making this up, 00:07:46.435 --> 00:07:48.616 breakfast cups. 00:07:48.616 --> 00:07:52.397 Not an ordinary British cup, which is six imperial fluid ounces, 00:07:52.397 --> 00:07:59.643 but a British breakfast cup, which is eight imperial fluid ounces or 7.69 US fluid ounces - 00:07:59.643 --> 00:08:03.832 That's right, our ounces, pints, and gallons aren't the same, in case you didn't know, 00:08:03.832 --> 00:08:06.789 or 227 milliliters. 00:08:06.789 --> 00:08:12.821 So, the next time any of you out there who speak metric get annoyed that I forgot to include a conversion for you, 00:08:12.821 --> 00:08:18.960 I want you to remember this little adventure  where we all learned what the [bleep] a breakfast cup is. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:26.341 Now, in fairness, I can't be too annoyed about  this thing using a weird non-standard cup 00:08:26.341 --> 00:08:31.503 because for us Yanks, although 8 ounces defines our standard cup, 00:08:31.503 --> 00:08:35.280 a cup of coffee is only 6 ounces. 00:08:35.280 --> 00:08:40.495 If you've ever wondered why your coffee pot has smaller than a cup cups, that's why. 00:08:40.495 --> 00:08:47.197 So, we've also got our fair share of strange customary units  for hot beverage purposes hanging around. 00:08:47.197 --> 00:08:53.180 And I suppose it's a fun coincidence that we've got 8 oz standard cups and 6 oz coffee cups 00:08:53.180 --> 00:08:59.664 while the Brits have 6 oz standard cups and 8 oz... breakfast cups. 00:08:59.664 --> 00:09:07.379 Actually, it's only through figuring out what this unit is on this kettle that I learned British cups are 6 ounces. 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:12.488 What's going on there? You have 20 cups in an imperial gallon? 00:09:12.488 --> 00:09:16.240 At least our customary  units consistently work in powers of two. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.482 ...until you get down to the teaspoon - 00:09:19.482 --> 00:09:21.549 Anyway, enough about strange units. 00:09:21.549 --> 00:09:25.931 How long does it take this British kettle to boil that water? 00:09:25.931 --> 00:09:30.645 Well, we have twice as much power going into this thing, so if the maths work out, 00:09:30.645 --> 00:09:32.969 it should only take about 2 minutes. 00:09:32.969 --> 00:09:33.958 And whaddya know! 00:09:33.958 --> 00:09:38.770 It took 1 minute 55 seconds to hit my subjective definition of boiling. 00:09:38.770 --> 00:09:42.921 And it switched itself off at the 2 minute 10 second mark. 00:09:42.921 --> 00:09:46.683 That sure is quite a lot faster than what the other two can manage. 00:09:46.683 --> 00:09:52.602 And I suppose if you're a big tea drinking culture, it would be nice to shave a couple of minutes off the boiling time. 00:09:53.769 --> 00:10:03.210 But I still think it's kind of bonkers that shoving 3 kilowatts into a cheap plastic kettle is just a normal thing over there. 00:10:03.210 --> 00:10:04.964 But then I thought... 00:10:04.964 --> 00:10:09.121 what if we shoved 6kW into a cheap plastic kettle? 00:10:09.121 --> 00:10:14.409 Because you see, if I were to hook up an American kettle to 240 volt power, 00:10:14.409 --> 00:10:20.781 Ohm's law would dictate that it will consume twice as much current than it will from a 120 volt supply. 00:10:20.781 --> 00:10:23.845 And by also having twice as much voltage, 00:10:23.845 --> 00:10:31.726 that means its power draw will quadruple from 1,500 watts to 6,000 watts. 00:10:31.726 --> 00:10:34.585 And that's why I made this other adapter. 00:10:34.585 --> 00:10:36.671 This is a NEMA 6-20, 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:42.199 one of the various 240 volt receptacles we have here, but which are rarely ever seen. 00:10:42.199 --> 00:10:49.280 And with a matching plug and a little bit of choppy choppy,  I can send 240 volts through these cheap kettles.   00:10:49.280 --> 00:10:52.961 And my charging station can supply up to 7.5 kW. 00:10:52.961 --> 00:10:58.611 So, it should have no trouble at all dealing with the 6 kW kettle I'm about to make. 00:10:58.611 --> 00:11:03.270 Now, obviously, don't do this at home for lots of reasons. 00:11:03.270 --> 00:11:07.220 One, I will be overloading the NEMA 6-20 slightly. 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:13.147 The kettle's gonna draw about 24 amps when the receptacle and plug are only rated for 20. 00:11:13.147 --> 00:11:18.710 But even worse, the wires going to the kettle are going to be overloaded by quite a good deal. 00:11:18.710 --> 00:11:23.954 This is only 16 gauge wire, which should only really have 13 amps pushed through it, 00:11:23.954 --> 00:11:26.453 but we're doing 24. 00:11:26.453 --> 00:11:31.479 Now, honestly, the kettle should only run for about 1 minute before the water boils. 00:11:31.479 --> 00:11:37.883 So, I won't be overloading it for long at all, and I doubt any of the electrical connections are going to get very warm. 00:11:37.883 --> 00:11:43.894 But, I'll be shoving a stupid amount of power through a very small heating element inside a plastic kettle. 00:11:43.894 --> 00:11:46.913 So, you know, stuff might go wrong. 00:11:46.913 --> 00:11:49.457 Only one way to find out, though! 00:11:49.457 --> 00:11:51.620 I had a fire extinguisher at the ready 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:58.758 and filled this kettle with my standard  not-quite-liter at 65 Fahrenheit, 18.3 C. 00:11:58.758 --> 00:12:04.020 The power switch did not latch correctly, so the start  wasn't perfect, but even still, 00:12:04.020 --> 00:12:08.471 this thing got the water boiling in just 55 seconds. 00:12:08.471 --> 00:12:11.446 Not such a slow kettle anymore, huh? 00:12:11.446 --> 00:12:14.652 You'll notice the water is boiling quite violently. 00:12:14.652 --> 00:12:18.902 I'm not sure it would be safe to actually fill this thing up all the way. 00:12:18.902 --> 00:12:21.182 But boy is it quick! 00:12:21.182 --> 00:12:29.139 And sure enough, it was powered for such a brief period of time that the power cord had barely warmed up at all to the touch. 00:12:29.139 --> 00:12:33.823 Now, I decided to do this again with a cleaner start and with colder water. 00:12:33.823 --> 00:12:39.165 This time, the water was 60.8 F, which is exactly 16 C. 00:12:39.165 --> 00:12:43.876 And well, if the colder water made a difference, it wasn't enough to tell. 00:12:43.876 --> 00:12:50.010 Because again, it was violently boiling by the 55 second mark, and the kettle switched itself off about 7 seconds later. 00:12:51.241 --> 00:12:53.279 So, we learned a few things. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.761 One, this does indeed work to make a stupidly fast kettle. 00:12:57.761 --> 00:13:01.570 Two, it's probably not safe to fill this up with any more than a liter of water, 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:04.261 or else it'll probably throw boiling water out of itself. 00:13:04.261 --> 00:13:08.164 And three, it survived long enough to do the test twice. 00:13:08.164 --> 00:13:10.580 But then I noticed something. 00:13:10.580 --> 00:13:12.609 Long after it had switched off, 00:13:12.609 --> 00:13:19.627 this steady stream of bubbles was coming up from where the heating element is bonded to its little support bracket. 00:13:19.627 --> 00:13:25.796 These bubbles kept going for several minutes, but there were no signs of an external leak. 00:13:25.796 --> 00:13:31.580 I thought it might be possible that a pinhole leak in the heating element had formed. 00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:35.838 See, everywhere else on the heating element is completely submerged in water, 00:13:35.838 --> 00:13:39.734 which will do a great job taking heat energy away from it. 00:13:39.734 --> 00:13:47.590 But that little connection point there might have stayed dry enough for the heating element to melt a small hole in itself. 00:13:47.590 --> 00:13:54.000 And those bubbles might be the result of air inside the heating element being displaced with water. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.842 And if that is a leak, it would be very dangerous to use again. 00:13:58.842 --> 00:14:03.797 I decided to let this sit overnight full of  water so I could investigate this later. 00:14:03.797 --> 00:14:06.681 For now, I had another kettle to test. 00:14:06.681 --> 00:14:13.608 This one has its heating element bonded to the bottom of its stainless steel interior, which is a very common design. 00:14:13.608 --> 00:14:17.545 It can apparently handle 3 kW without an issue. 00:14:17.545 --> 00:14:20.035 But what about six? 00:14:20.035 --> 00:14:24.563 Well, again, only one way to find out! 00:14:24.563 --> 00:14:29.392 This kettle also only needed about 55 seconds to get the water boiling, 00:14:29.392 --> 00:14:33.696 but the water inside was boiling much more violently than the last kettle. 00:14:33.696 --> 00:14:40.049 You can quite clearly see the steam which activates the auto stop feature flying out near the power switch. 00:14:40.808 --> 00:14:42.420 Uh yeah, in case you didn't know, 00:14:42.420 --> 00:14:47.757 there's a bimetallic disc down here which will snap and shut the power off once it gets hot. 00:14:47.757 --> 00:14:53.965 And it's this tube here at the top which will direct steam down to that disc once the water is actually boiling 00:14:53.965 --> 00:14:57.086 that makes the disc snap and shuts off the kettle. 00:14:57.086 --> 00:14:59.342 Steve Mould taught me that. 00:14:59.342 --> 00:15:03.275 I picked the kettle up after it shut off and felt the bottom of it. 00:15:03.275 --> 00:15:06.809 To my surprise, it wasn't really warm at all. 00:15:06.809 --> 00:15:10.201 The electrical contacts were quite hot, 00:15:10.201 --> 00:15:15.377 but it didn't seem like the plastics  had gotten any more than slightly warm. 00:15:15.377 --> 00:15:18.476 Water is really good at absorbing heat energy, 00:15:18.476 --> 00:15:25.249 but I figured the embedded heating element would direct at least some of its heat downward at the base. 00:15:25.249 --> 00:15:28.238 If it did, it was hardly noticeable. 00:15:28.238 --> 00:15:30.968 But that's where the good news ends. 00:15:30.968 --> 00:15:35.686 I tried to do this again and discovered it ain't working no more. 00:15:35.686 --> 00:15:39.070 The neon indicator in the switch was still lighting up, 00:15:39.070 --> 00:15:41.382 but no more boily boily. 00:15:41.382 --> 00:15:44.763 So, this was a very fast kettle... 00:15:44.763 --> 00:15:46.003 once. 00:15:46.003 --> 00:15:48.398 Which is honestly what I expected. 00:15:48.398 --> 00:15:53.552 I figured these things would have some sort of thermal fuse which will blow if it gets too hot. 00:15:53.552 --> 00:15:57.597 Like for instance, if you switched it on without any water in it. 00:15:57.597 --> 00:16:01.406 And since this one only has the water on one side of the heating element, 00:16:01.406 --> 00:16:07.714 it stands to reason that 6,000 watts of power simply got the fuse too hot. 00:16:07.714 --> 00:16:10.413 But I wanted to know why exactly it failed. 00:16:10.413 --> 00:16:16.190 And with the other kettle's mysterious bubbling, there were now two things to investigate. 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:21.076 First, if this kettle has a thermal fuse, it's integral to the heating element. 00:16:21.076 --> 00:16:23.366 I don't see any sort of separate component. 00:16:23.366 --> 00:16:25.915 And when I checked the heating element with an ohm meter, 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.067 it shows either open circuit or quite a few megaohms. 00:16:30.067 --> 00:16:32.756 However, it blew, it blew. 00:16:32.756 --> 00:16:38.628 The water simply couldn't pull the heat away quite as fast as it needed to, and this burnt itself out. 00:16:38.628 --> 00:16:41.832 But nothing down here seems like it got very hot. 00:16:41.832 --> 00:16:46.696 All the plastic looks undamaged, and I sure didn't smell anything during the test. 00:16:47.805 --> 00:16:53.239 That doesn't really matter as it's still broken, but honestly, I expected a little more carnage. 00:16:53.239 --> 00:16:57.951 And now to see if this heating element was actually filling up with water. 00:16:57.951 --> 00:17:03.098 I removed it from the kettle and then used a Dremel tool to cut a slice through the heating element. 00:17:03.098 --> 00:17:05.789 I found absolutely no signs of moisture. 00:17:05.789 --> 00:17:10.276 And I even heated it up with a torch to see if any steam might come out. 00:17:10.276 --> 00:17:12.803 So I was apparently chasing a phantom there. 00:17:12.803 --> 00:17:16.575 That was probably just a nucleation site of some sort. 00:17:16.575 --> 00:17:21.506 However, cutting into this revealed that the magnesium oxide which fills the tube 00:17:21.506 --> 00:17:29.369 and maintains an insulating gap between the electrically conductive nichrome wire in the center and the steel sides of the tube, 00:17:29.369 --> 00:17:32.274 appears to have fused together. 00:17:32.274 --> 00:17:40.821 The last one of these that I cut through had the magnesium oxide escaping like sand, but here it's now all quite solid. 00:17:40.821 --> 00:17:47.775 I couldn't bend this any more than you see here because the tube seems to be filled with solid rock now. 00:17:47.775 --> 00:17:50.629 And honestly, that makes sense. 00:17:50.629 --> 00:17:56.326 The actual heat was coming from that nichrome wire in the center of this tubing. 00:17:56.326 --> 00:18:02.171 So, while the water could do a great job keeping the exterior of the tube relatively cool, 00:18:02.171 --> 00:18:06.012 the inside of the tube was getting stupid hot. 00:18:06.012 --> 00:18:11.377 Just for comparison's sake, the 7.5 kilowatt shop heater which started this project 00:18:11.377 --> 00:18:15.946 spreads those kilowatts between six heating element sections. 00:18:15.946 --> 00:18:20.123 This little coil here is about as long as just one of those, 00:18:20.123 --> 00:18:24.923 but it was producing nearly as much heat as the entire heater does. 00:18:24.923 --> 00:18:28.810 If we could have seen the insides of the tube while it was on, 00:18:28.810 --> 00:18:35.463 I'm sure it would have been glowing quite brightly, and I doubt this would have lasted more than a few more cycles. 00:18:35.463 --> 00:18:40.201 I was tempted to get another one of these kettles to see how long it might last, 00:18:40.201 --> 00:18:46.299 but that would have been effort and I already feel bad enough for murdering two of them. 00:18:46.299 --> 00:18:48.591 So, what have we learned today? 00:18:48.591 --> 00:18:52.041 Well, British kettles are indeed quite fast, 00:18:52.041 --> 00:18:57.443 but hook an American kettle up to 240 volts and it's way faster. 00:18:58.581 --> 00:18:59.662 Once. 00:18:59.662 --> 00:19:02.621 We also learned what a breakfast cup is. 00:19:02.621 --> 00:19:07.764 And we learned that Leviton makes this thing for some reason. 00:19:07.764 --> 00:19:12.915 Now if you live in North America and actually wanted to have a 3 kW kettle, 00:19:12.915 --> 00:19:20.635 one way you could do that is to ask an electrician to install one of these NEMA 6-20 receptacles in your kitchen. 00:19:20.635 --> 00:19:25.513 That's a bit easier said than done due to the requirement for GFCI protection in kitchens 00:19:25.513 --> 00:19:28.999 and the need for two free slots in your breaker panel, 00:19:28.999 --> 00:19:34.197 but with the appropriate breakers, it can be done safely and to code. 00:19:34.197 --> 00:19:39.659 That will allow you to use 240 volt appliances with a relatively normal receptacle 00:19:39.659 --> 00:19:43.151 and not one of our various terrifying monster plugs. 00:19:43.151 --> 00:19:47.746 The next part though becomes some  flavor of sketchy no matter what. 00:19:47.746 --> 00:19:52.013 I cannot find any 240 volt kettles for sale here, 00:19:52.013 --> 00:19:56.542 which means you'll have to do what I did and import a British or European one, 00:19:56.542 --> 00:20:01.327 then chop off its plug and wire it to one of these. 00:20:01.327 --> 00:20:05.999 And the trouble there is again our split-phase power. 00:20:05.999 --> 00:20:09.809 Any kettle you might import will work just fine, 00:20:09.809 --> 00:20:15.271 but the neutral wires inside of it will not actually be wired to neutral any longer. 00:20:15.271 --> 00:20:18.930 They will be live at 120 volts to ground. 00:20:18.930 --> 00:20:24.164 Whether that actually creates a safety hazard  depends on a whole bunch of factors. 00:20:24.164 --> 00:20:32.630 And to be honest, since not all plug standards in Europe are actually polarized, I feel like most designs out there would be fine. 00:20:32.630 --> 00:20:39.083 But you will be committed to using an imported, modified appliance that you stuck a different plug on. 00:20:39.083 --> 00:20:42.494 And insurance companies may not like that so much. 00:20:42.494 --> 00:20:44.489 So keep that in mind. 00:20:44.489 --> 00:20:48.768 If however you've got one of them fancy induction stoves, 00:20:48.768 --> 00:20:54.666 then any ordinary stovetop kettle (that's compatible with induction cooktops of course) 00:20:54.666 --> 00:20:58.354 can be just as fast as this British kettle. 00:20:58.354 --> 00:21:02.443 In fact, possibly faster depending on your stove. 00:21:02.443 --> 00:21:04.863 I am talking proper stoves, though. 00:21:04.863 --> 00:21:12.980 Those plug-in induction hot plates are limited to the same power as a plug-in kettle, so don't expect those to save you any time. 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:20.567 If you've got a built-in cooktop or range with induction burners, though, a stovetop kettle should be wicked fast. 00:21:20.567 --> 00:21:22.729 And you get the benefit of a whistle! 00:21:22.729 --> 00:21:24.368 What's not to like? 00:21:24.368 --> 00:21:27.954 Actually, while I know it's not really saving me any time, 00:21:27.954 --> 00:21:32.861 I have switched to a stovetop kettle which I use with an induction hot plate. 00:21:32.861 --> 00:21:38.998 I have a conventional radiant stove, which honestly I enjoy using more than my induction plate 00:21:38.998 --> 00:21:43.792 mainly because it has real knobs that are actually infinitely adjustable. 00:21:43.792 --> 00:21:49.159 But when I'm bringing water to a boil,  the induction plate is significantly faster. 00:21:49.159 --> 00:21:54.179 So, since I keep that thing next to my stove for making pasta or whatever, 00:21:54.179 --> 00:21:58.161 rather than take up even more counter space with a plug-in kettle, 00:21:58.161 --> 00:22:00.775 I just leave one of these things on there. 00:22:01.534 --> 00:22:07.478 But now, if I need to boil eight breakfast cups of water even faster, 00:22:07.478 --> 00:22:09.583 I'll just head out to the garage. 00:22:10.488 --> 00:22:12.998 ♫ anglo-saxophonically smooth jaxx ♫ 00:22:14.866 --> 00:22:16.342 Why am I doing this? 00:22:16.342 --> 00:22:20.562 ...because of our 120 volt household voltage [bong from phone] 00:22:22.313 --> 00:22:23.586 oops 00:22:23.586 --> 00:22:29.713 ...could have done the sensible thing which would be to build an adapter like this with a NEMA 6-20 receptacle 00:22:29.713 --> 00:22:32.427 and then cut the end off of this caaard 00:22:32.427 --> 00:22:34.357 coorrrd coorrd. 00:22:35.261 --> 00:22:36.000 Welp. 00:22:36.926 --> 00:22:39.226 We're having a hard time with this line today. 00:22:39.226 --> 00:22:43.161 First, if this kettle has a thermal fuse... 00:22:43.161 --> 00:22:44.972 I'm trying to pry it open. 00:22:44.972 --> 00:22:46.069 [laughs] 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:49.804 Oh, I screwed it back together. I forgot I did that. 00:22:54.328 --> 00:22:55.529 Did I not - ugh 00:22:56.317 --> 00:22:58.452 That means I have to  take it apart again to film the 00:23:00.495 --> 00:23:04.047 I will never let go of this "breakfast cup" thing. 00:23:04.047 --> 00:23:08.653 Just had to invent and standardize a whole unit based on "a cup for drinking tea or coffee while eating breakfast," huh? 00:23:08.653 --> 00:23:11.897 And you actually put that on your kettles! 00:23:11.897 --> 00:23:14.071 Never again are Brits allowed to suggest American units are uniquely arbitrary and weird. 00:23:14.071 --> 00:23:15.358 Now go eat a crumpet.