Some more Kettle Thoughts (including; Microwaving Water!)

Yep. There's a video out there that this one is a follow-up to. It's also like a week late. Anyway, here's the original video:
• Why don't Americans us...

[@TechnologyConnextras]

You might be able to tell that I intended this to go on the main channel. Through a combination of just... not being very happy with it, other stuff getting in the way, and sheer laziness it's ended up on this channel. Hooray!

[@CryptoRoast_0]

We forgive you ❤

[@dang495]

I demand a heat pump kettle!

[@buzzknudson5675]

Climate towns video on gas stoves may be interesting if you haven't already seen it

[@timteecvhn]

I wanna say towards the part where you mentioned some people using spoons, I think they might've meant by wooden/non-metal ones. (tho why you'd do that still when there are other options such as just a simple wooden stirring stick or anything wooden that is properly sealed to be safe from contaminating the water, idk.)

[@gormster]

I think it’s a good follow up from the main video, so it feels like it belongs here. I’m glad you included the alternate take with the coffee makers - I’m sure a lot of my fellow Australians (we also are a bit nuts for coffee, you might have heard) were thinking “ok but… what do you use to boil the water for coffee”. Unlike the US, dedicated coffee machines are not common here - the most common tool we use for making coffee at home is a plunger, which I believe you call “French press” (fancy!). And yeah, of course, that needs a kettle to boil the water first. I guess because tea is also a common drink we just use the same tool for both? Only the very dedicated have an actual coffee machine, and it’s almost universally making espresso, not filter. (Yes, your knock-off Nespresso from Aldi is still making espresso, even if it’s not the best quality product.)

[@mjlagrone]

The reason I had an electric kettle in college had nothing to do with tea and everything to do with ramen. :D

[@quassin443]

Exactly!

[@mcorrade]

exactly

[@bknesheim]

And instant coffee.

[@TheChrisSimpson]

Honestly, this is what I associate them with... I've never owned one but everyone I knew who did, used them for ramen lol. Also makes me wonder if there's some cultural carryover, again personal bias here but most of the people I've known who owned one were also from an immigrant family from a country that DID use them (China, Japan, and UK immigrant friends of mine had them basically, tea drinking countries)

[@redsquirrelftw]

That tends to be what I use mine for the most tbh. Or when I feel fancy and want to use the french press instead of the coffee machine.

[@petervanderwaart1138]

Mythbusters looked into superheated water in microwaves. They concluded the big risk was when water was heated to boiling, forgotten and allowed to cool, and heated again. The boiling got rid of dissolved gases which made for good nucleation.

[@JallenMeodia]

That makes sense. Make a cup, forget about it. Think "oh that's going to be cold now" and then instantly reheat it.

[@LoneEagle2061]

I believe I read an article in New Scientist on the subject, which suggested a different mechanism. The problem is suggested to be nucleation rather than gas. When the water is first boiled the vessel’s surface imperfections provide nucleation sites in almost any practical situation; however as the water cools the seed bubbles at these nucleation sites may collapse and the “scratch” is filled with water, preventing it from acting as a nucleation site for the second boiling. The best way to induce an eruption is apparently to add sugar to the beverage after this (don’t try this at home) as that introduces vast numbers of nucleation sites in a ver compressed time frame… One of the suggested methods for ensuring that your vulnerable skin, and particularly your face and eyes, are not in the path of such an eruption is simply to sharply tap the vessel on a hard surface such as the microwave’s platter. Bubbles are weird…

[@petervanderwaart1138]

@@LoneEagle2061 The Mythbusters were guessing, after all. The real solution is quite interesting.

[@hastypete2]

@@LoneEagle2061 I've done this at home inadvertently. I thought it was odd that the water spontaneously boiled when I put the sugar in. Didn't think much of it.

[@gnic76]

It can happen just by having the microwave run a bit longer than is needed. Turntables in microwaves help, as it agitates the water slightly while being nuked. Bumping the vessel the water is in before taking it out can also release the air if its in a locked state.

[@channelsixtysix066]

_"That humming, hissing, or buzzing sound is probably not coming from your induction cooktop but from your cookware. Heavy, single-piece cast iron skillets and Dutch ovens are less prone to being noisy than multi-ply stainless steel pans and pots."_ - Home Cook World

[@jrpstonecarver]

We have a bunch of Ikea cookware and it never rattled on our old induction cooktop. But I am sure some will. I've read that warning somewhere as well. Well made stuff will probably avoid the issue. I want to get back to an induction cooktop as soon as possible. It will be years, sadly, but someday. The more conventional electric burners are just awful to use, and I have zero desire to include a gas stove in my home. I know people love them, but the exhaust gasses are simply unacceptable.

[@dstinnettmusic]

@@jrpstonecarver good electric stove or induction for everything. Cheap electric is the worst and gas is mid-tier stove experience

[@TheMrAlien]

Yep. This seems to be the answer. On my induction cooktop my cast iron skillets don't make the noise but my frypans and pots with attached bases do. It seems to me the ossilating magnetic feilds vibrating the variouse joints against each other on pans with attached bases. I have an aluminum pot with a metal base full of holes that the aluminium is cast into and it's the cheapest and noisest of all my pots, it sound like every one of the holes is vibrating agains the aluminum just enough to make noise but not fall off.

[@MikeLeitner]

Yes it’s not the induction cooktop, the IKEA cheap cookware here in Germany does the same.

[@wobblysauce]

Bingo.

[@asdlkfians]

The sound from (some) of your cookware on your induction burner is a defect in your cookware. It happens when you have a pan or pot with multiple laminated layers of metal. In cheaper cookware, those layers can become (slightly) separated (at microscopic scale). The sound is the two layers of metal vibrating against each other where they are separated. You can test this with cheap vs expensive cookware, or, simply a single-metal solid cookware like a cast iron pan or grittle or a simple piece of plate steel. Pro tip: you can use your non-induction cookware on an induction stove by simply putting a 1mm thick silicone mat with a 1/8 to 1/4 inch steel plate or cast iron plate/dish, then put your other cookware on top.

[@Okand2]

The manual that came with my induction stove had a line in it mentioning that this could happen.

[@chippercorgi2247]

Thanks for explaining this! I recently got an induction stove and found *some* of my cookware (obtained randomly fro different sources) made a horrific screeching noise. I'd worked out that it was the cookware and not the duxtop that was causing the trouble.... but it's nice to know the actual cause!

[@adriankoch964]

@@chippercorgi2247Noise can also happen if your old cookware is not perfectly flat at the bottom. Using them on gas stoves or torturing hot pans by rapidly cooling them down with cold water does that (this can also cause non-stick pans to delaminate over time).

[@chippercorgi2247]

@@adriankoch964 thanks for the extra info! The pot and pan I bought are brand new, but I appreciate the advice on how to take care of my cookware all the same :-) I actually returned the first induction cooktop I bought 'cause I thought *it* was the source of the noise... I feel like there's room for a technology connections style "how to induction cook" type video.

[@pietervanzyl732]

@@adriankoch964 Thank you for the info. Been using my pots mostly on gas, but I do some times use it on my induction plate when I run out of gas. Had no problem luckily thus far in 10 years of use.

[@EntropicTroponin]

About the noise: when you use a pot on gas the bottom may warp slightly due to uneven heating. This may cause the pot to vibrate slightly on top of the stove generating the noise you hear. Cheaper cookware may be warped straight out of the factory. The general advice I've heard is: don't use your induction cookware on gas, or you may not be able to go back.

[@ToolkiT73UK]

Agree, the same effect can happen with cheap pans on the highest mode on induction too.. we replaced a few for this reason.. if the bottom is too thin it can warp.. on induction a warped bottom will vibrate and be noisy...

[@TheRich464]

Sometimes the resonance can be mitigated with keeping the lid on.

[@AshrakAhmed]

Most multitop cookware (cheaper variety to save manufacturing cost) usually has sandwiched ferrous metal layer to make it work on IH. It could be simple issue of the metal layer is not as tightly integrated/bonded? When the magnet starts to resonance at certain frequency maybe it start to vibrate and make noise? Maybe if you test the same pot on a different IH stove or different metal pot in this one we might get a clear picture. PLus anyone else who has the same IKEA pots maybe able shed some lights.

[@fritzit]

@_____ My (non-cheap) induction cooktop also makes this kind of noise (mic didn't pick it up very well it seems), and the manual even says that some cookware does, and it's not a defect and nothing to worry about.

[@diynevala]

Induction cookware will work even if they are a bit warped. You can lift your kettle a few millimiters above induction stove and it will still work. Contact with the stove surface will only cool the kettle down as the heat is conducted on the glass.

[@Martcapt]

I love how much off the rails this was. Never thought I'd be watching a grown man look perplexed at a mini stove top and find it entertaining! Absolutely brilliant!

[@fnorgen]

Sometimes you just know that you are dealing with a disgruntled machine spirit that's only acting up to spite you.

[@mrtechie6810]

It's not a stove -- which is a large unit that stands on the floor. It's called a cooktop or "burner".

[@Martcapt]

@@mrtechie6810 get a life

[@collin4555]

"If you're overloading a circuit, and a breaker trips, they're just doing its job" Oh don't worry, I reserve my resentment for the nonsensical circuit layout, the breaker is of course my hero in the scenario

[@BeezyKing99]

also cause more damage to the breaker over time, repeated tripping can pit the contacts to the point it's no longer usable.

[@RobertHancock1]

Bigger concern is from repeatedly overheating wiring or outlets on the circuit. The breaker is rated to interrupt brutal short circuits of 10,000 amps or more, a few trips at double the rated amperage is not likely to upset it much.

[@shadowtheimpure]

@@BeezyKing99 Replacement breakers are extremely cheap, even from name brand manufacturers. If your breaker wears out, replacing it is extremely easy.

[@jen204]

Unless it's an !@#$^ AFCI in which case tripping just means you need an older circuit breaker. OK, a bit flippant, but AFCI would make for an interesting Technology Connections.

[@JoBroProducitons]

The second half of this video watching you slowly spiral into madness was really funny. Thanks for sharing!

[@ColinHuth]

The Alec says “intended for the main channel“ but the not-yet-flowing lava lamp screams “it’s Connextras time, baby”

[@confuseatronica]

hah good spot- video lava lamp forensics

[@nightbringar7558]

The script he read from was intended to be on the main channel but I think only a very limited portion of the recording was done for the main channel

[@matthewparker9276]

He filmed it, and was happy with it, but then saw the lava lamp wasn't flowing, so realised it had to go on the second channel.

[@ololh4xx]

i think the lamp might be onto something, this time - the Alec sometimes gets confused ... its a human model, mind you

[@PWN_Nation]

Damn you...can't un-see it now...lol

[@ryangeddes7277]

Tell a British person their neighbour doesn't have a kettle and I'm pretty sure they'd immediately go buy their neighbour a kettle.

[@Elkott]

Can confirm, when I first moved into my flat money was tight and the nice elderly couple next door gave me their spare

[@judebrown4103]

Yep, we're all electric and used to have frequent power cuts. Our neighbours had a gas hob and would invite us to heat an enormous stove top kettle which we would bring to the boil, run home and wrap in every tea towel and oven mit we had to keep it warm for as long as possible so we'd have plenty of hot water for tea to get us through the outage. No-one ever worried about what we'd eat! 😂

[@smeghead0]

living in the UK, my flat got burnt out by arsonists, not only did the hostel i stay at have a Kettle already in, i got one as part of a home starter kit when i finally got a new place.

[@andrew_koala2974]

A PERSON is a gender-less CORPORATE fiction created in the 15th Century for the purpose of conducting COMMERCE It is a DEAD entity - and as ALL DEAD entities [CORPUS] have a name written in the ALL CAPS iteration = The PERSON im -PERSON - ates the living soul 'Man' and uses a name that sounds the same - except it is written in ALL CAPS - a PERSON is a DEAD entity. The PERSON has a FIRST NAME / LAST NAME / SURNAME - in ALL CAPS The Living Soul has a 'Given Name and Family Name -in Mixed Case Letters - You have to learn and distinguish the difference between the two. 500+ years of indoctrination and brainwashing has been successful upon the uneducated peasantry - So successful that modern day peasants cannot avoid using the word PERSON. No one is born a PERSON --- One is born one of two kinds of Man ... Man or WoMan (incorrectly written these days as Woman) Collectively known as ManKind -- Even the Word FeMale has the word Male in it. Note that CORPORATIONS are DEAD entities - and also have the CORPORATE {Legal} name in ALL CAPS === But the ZOMBIES do not notice it. When you start paying attention to detail - you will notice that all your COMMERCIAL instruments use the name of the STRAW-MAN - CORPORATE FICTION ALL CAPS PERSON NAME - All 'Private' instruments use the Mixed Case Letters. Take notice of CORPORATE {Legal} names being written in ALL CAPS APPLE - SONY TOYOTA - BOEING - AIRBUS - ARMY - NAVY - TESLA - HOLLYWOOD - and so on. All written in ALL CAPS - The ZOMBIE sheeple are blind and cannot see what they actually L00KING at. The word CORPORATION derives from the {Latin} CORPUS => meaning CORPSE / DEAD / BODY Which is how we derive the term > BODY CORPORATE < Had you studied law for over 20 years you would have learned these things -- which are quite obvious to those who are conscious and have a fully functioning brain. -- The truth is hidden in plain sight. Also know that people do not have 'children' - They have Sons and Daughters ' Children ' is pure legal terminology -- Not understanding Legal English is how you/people are screwed in COURT Explain to me how many types of English there are. I know before you even answer that you do not have a clue Next question - Can the DEAD speak to the Living ? Do you know the difference between someone and some body ? Explain the difference and write an essay on the meaning and significance of 'One' In your essay explain the meaning of SOL - SOLO - Soul and the connection between them. The arabic language equivalent is RA Guillermo Marconi beautifully combined arabic with Latin to give us words that are now common in many languages - - two words in particular -- What are those words ? COMMENT REFERENCE: Ryan Geddes.2022061420122

[@SEELE-ONE]

Back in the day, you could tell who was a spy merely by looking at their kitchen

[@YourLordMobius]

"we just don't drink tea here" No, we toss it in the harbor OR we put a ton of sugar in it and refrigerate it.

[@lethauntic]

I always thought tea tasted like dirty water

[@bcubed72]

Hey! It wasn't us! It was them savage Red Indians...ask anybody! (Yes, they dressed up in "redface" to attempt to fool the Brits. Nobody really bought it.)

[@Lishtenbird]

@@lethauntic Are you sure you weren't served dirty water under the guise of tea?

[@erink476]

One still has to brew the tea before one ices it, though, and sugar dissolves more easily in hot water. I have heard that many of you prefer homemade iced tea, so I feel like there would still be a regular need to boil water in the traditionally iced tea drinking parts? I have dabbled in attempting homemade iced tea myself in the warmer months, but bottled stuff comes in peach flavour and teabags don't, plus I keep accidentally overbrewing it, because the large amount of milk I typically put in hot tea covers up a lot of bitterness.

[@bcubed72]

@@erink476 Yeah, boil the water, brew the tea, ice it. Ideally, sweeten to taste, because it takes forever to get sugar to dissolve in cold tea! So you boil the water. Exception was a "sun tea" fad in my childhood, so...late 70s? Just let it steep facing the sun for a few hours. Seem to recall it took a lot more tea bags for the same effect...what did I know; I was a kid! I wasn't the one making it.

[@SeleenShadowpaw]

The noise you hear with the pots is probably just harmonic vibration. The bases are usually made up out of different stuff, and over time the composites can seperate or misalign due to heat stress. From then on out, your pot will pretty much literally work as an amplifier for the induction frequency you blast into it.

[@frostypickle]

Stainless has bad thermal conductivity so it typically is layered with aluminum or something else on the bottom with higher thermal conductivity. The induction cookware is being vibrated so the mismatch in material can be a problem.

[@Zcooger]

Basicaly a resonance box (or cyllinder).

[@janthran]

i was thinking about how easily those ikea screws come loose and whether that could also be a factor

[@gnif]

It's not the pot... it's the load on the device. Induction heaters use a coil of wire to create an inductive field, it's 1/2 of a transformer. Just like any transformer they vibrate at the operational frequency, which becomes amplified with larger loads, you normally hear this as a 50Hz hum on common wall wort transformers or lighting ballasts. What can happen though, as the device ages the laminations the tranformer core is made up of can separate and start to rattle against each other, when this happens they make the EXACT sound you hear in this video, it's completely harmless, just annoying. High quality transformers will have a solid core, or will pot the core with lacquer, cheaper ones (like here) just press fit and clamp it together which causes them to get noisy in short order when loaded up. The larger pots are a big load, and when he first put on the largest pot it would have been the tripping point to cause the delamination to occur, at which point, it's there forever. The reason the kettle is not making the noise anymore is likely because the unit has simply been moved/jiggled and it's not quite setting it off anymore.

[@francoisbouchard9488]

The thing I find fascinating about Alec's videos is he takes everyday, one might say 'mundane', household items and somehow makes compelling viewing out of them. He makes us realize that we're surrounded by far more sophisticated technology than many of us appreciate. Of course, his knack for dry humor and irony helps a lot. Thank you Alec!

[@andersjjensen]

I thought he was British, at first, precisely because of the humour :P

[@TodorKatsarski]

I never thought videos about kettles would make me excited (well, not exactly "never" :D)

[@adriankoch964]

Most of those everyday, mundane things stand atop an enormous pyramid of human achievements and very innovative ideas that came together to allow these mundane things happen. What we see every day is just the flat top of this pyramid, not the sharp gradient of previous generations with less sophisticated technology. Looking at and comparing to other countries helps a lot in uncovering the corners of this pyramid. For example in Japan it is extremely common (even in cities!) to use kerosene burners to heat up your home indoors. Which is INSANE once you consider the smell and severe health impact of gas contamination, especially when you know that they pretty early on the market with very reputable manufacturers of Split-AC/Heatpumps.

[@HalkerVeil]

I've never seen anyone make kettles so interesting. I could watch this guy talk about phone books and not regret the time I spent learning about something nobody uses anymore.

[@EldeNova]

Don't tempt him!

[@boogieknee3781]

I prefer the phone book to dialling the operator....or using a website. It also contains occasional jokes,made decades ago by nasty parents. Michael and Isaac,from the hunt family,and Mr.Card.....first name .....?Valentine😸

[@Gwenpool2369]

that is what I thought when he did the toaster videos

[@boogieknee3781]

@@Gwenpool2369 We watched the toaster episode whilst in a bath for added excitement.😸🤗 Being French,we raised a glass to "melba"(never in the field of weak jokes did anybody make puns as bad as these 3 in 1 sentence)

[@SeattlePioneer]

???

[@Maradiaga23]

I microwaved water for tea and instant coffee for years and never had a single issue, it took around 3 minutes for mine to heat the water enough for my taste. I then bought an electric kettle after visiting my sister and her boyfriend in the UK and seeing how convenient it looked and haven't looked back.

[@davedoe6445]

I own an induction range I can confirm that different cookware makes ringing noises under various conditions. It's really not that bad once you get used to it. It does seem that more dense/heavy pots are less prone to it, probably because they dampen the high frequency vibration.

[@ssriverss]

Ours seems to get really loud when the bottom of the pot/pan or cooktop is wet...

[@krisavi]

@@ssriverss water drops start to boil, expand and try to escape as steam

[@williamganley4739]

I wonder if the ringing pots and pans are due to the construction technique. I've seen cookware made with separate cores to distribute heat better but the layers might not be properly bonded together. I have two separate induction cooktops but only one pot that works on them. I also use cast iron skillets and none of them make any noise. I would be interested to find out if these layered pots were the culprit.

[@Naptime875]

According to Designer Appliances the noise is from mixed metal pots that may have less iron content than ideal.

[@fivish]

The hob has a fan running which is the noise you can hear.

[@athf226]

As a point in favor of the "we don't drink that much [hot] tea" point, I'm currently living in Japan, and despite having a *lower* AC mains voltage than the US, there are still a significant amount of people who use kettles here. Probably because of, you know, tea.

[@0Clewi0]

Around the last 20 years the kettles on the family house have likely been used for cooking first, instant coffee second, tea third. And consuming more tea than coffee in the country overall mostly comes down to cost. Just looking at a map the only countries on western Europe that drink more tea than coffee are on the british isles.

[@2Cerealbox]

A significant amount or everyone? Because if its merely a lot, then that actually implies that the time difference is still a major factor. If its nearly the same as Europe, then yeah - its about how much tea they drink.

[@wich1]

Actually, from my experience many Japanese use the kettle much more for non-tea purposes than for making tea. Most of it is boiling water to tip into a pan for cooking and besides that hot water for instant noodles, instant miso soup and the likes and finally hot beverages like instant coffee, hand drip coffee (surprisingly popular in Japan), and yes tea.

[@Adderkleet]

@@0Clewi0 without factoring in instant coffee (which needs boiling water), that doesn't mean much. Of course, I am Irish and drink multiple mugs of tea daily.

[@kasuraga]

I think one of the reasons they're used more in japan is space.

[@vulpes5809]

These "boring" videos are remarkably relaxing, and some of the best content on KZbin. You're doing a fantastic job with your channel, to the point that even the overflow is must watch media. Keep up the great work Alec, you're awesome

[@Volodimar]

Unintentional ASMR

[@fredtaylor9792]

The relaxing atmosphere of this channel is the reason I watch it.

[@DuncanPrice]

I'm glad I stumbled across this... i gave a lecture at a scientific meeting at Easter 2023 on "how much does it cost to make a cup of tea.." I measured the energy consumption of an electric kettle (two actually) and compared the cost of this with using a gas hob (I measured the fuel consumption using a smart meter), microwave oven, induction hob and infrared hob. Gas was the cheapest as the cost of natural gas per kWhr is 1/3rd that of electricity. An electric kettle was the most efficient in terms of energy usage and also the quickest. Microwave heating was the slowest and least efficient due to the losses in converting electrical energy into microwave power and then losses in the oven cavity itself. As someone who used to live and work in the US I found your presentation fascinating. The video of my talk is on KZbin if anyone cares to look it up.

[@bigflea11-ig8jr]

I couldn't believe he was so aggressively against gas. Almost seemed like electrical lobbyists paid for this. To me electrical is only the best option if your goal is to limit the amount of heat released into your home. In southwest style living you can keep some fresh water outside to give you a big headstart without filling pipes in your home with hot water. If I have to use the kettle inside it gets left outside afterwards until it cools

[@fintux]

By the magic of living in Europe, hybrid stovetops with two induction and two glass ceramic burners are already a thing :P Although they are quite rare, and usually are found in "entry level induction stovetops".

[@Gammaduster]

Also another advantage I find having one is if the power goes out, the gas burners will still work, and when the gas bottle is empty, the induction still works for the time of getting a new bottle

[@jonathanodude6660]

@@Gammaduster bottle??

[@upnorthandpersonal]

@@jonathanodude6660 Propane gas bottles. Natural gas piped to the home isn't common everywhere.

[@daboo444]

@@jonathanodude6660 yup, countryside folks are using gas cans/bottles, when they are empty you drive to local gas station or specialized place and exchange it for a fill one. In my country one bottle has around 11kg of gas.

[@Esablaka]

@@upnorthandpersonal Very common in large parts of europe. Gas stoves exist and there are quite a lot of gas heaters (that's a significant chunk of most of europes gas usage. NOT electricity production) so having gas piped into homes is quite common in quite a few countries here. Gas tanks are EXTREMELY uncommon. Either gas piped into the homes or electric stoves and heaters. The only gas appliances that might be connected to a bottle instead of a proper piped line are outside grills and some stuff for clearing weeds off pathways outside etc..

[@MrJamesonStyles]

As for whether we need faster kettles... well, my favorite feature of the electric kettle is that it shuts itself off. I put it on, walk away and do something else, and after some arbitrary amount of time has passed, I go back and make tea. Can't do that with stovetop.

[@keiyakins]

And if you really must have tea ready the instant you wake up, the Brits solved that decades ago with the teasmade. It's an alarm clock with an electric kettle that it turns on a few minutes before waking you.

[@le_brainfreeze]

For the cookwear weirdness I can confirm: Usually cheaper cookwear tends to emit more of a buzz on an induction cooktop. It seems to be connected to the way it's cast / otherwise manufactured. Interestingly enough with my purchase of an induction cooktop I've upgraded some of my pots since the old ones weren't compatbile. I chose somewhat more expensive ones and while they still buzz a little, it's not even close to what's shown here and to what I've heard at other people's houses. Interestingly enough, other pots (really old ones, inherited from my grandmother) are mostly quiet. Seems like they just don't make 'em like they used to.

[@Caristria]

I can confirm too. I have one cheap and one expensiv set of Pots, a cast iron and wrought iron pan and 2 ceramic "coated" pans. The cheaper pots and pans are making that sound too while with the expensiv ones its hardly noticable. Maybe it has something to do with the thickness of the bottom and walls.

[@Mikael.Andersen]

from Denmark here, where induction is much more common. can confirm, its a matter of cookware construction. the induction / magnetic field will vibrate the cookware in a very high pitch humm because its flipping the magnetic field constantly. in some unfortunate designs of cookware. that dosen't just introduce heat but also slight vibrations. you can sometimes feel it when touching the top parts (thats not hot yet) of the pots and pans. the reason really old stuff usually works great is because the old cookware is made out of slabs of iron/steel. and not thinner bottom or aluminium or both.

[@calmeilles]

I'd guess that it was an inferior lamination of the bottom of the pots. It's done for more even heat spreading and it's very unlikely that the kettle was laminated as hot spots wouldn't matter for just boiling water.

[@Volodimar]

I can guess that it's mostly about thickness of steel.

[@Preske]

@@Caristria I have the exact opposite. Our Tefal pots are making the noise, while our cheapish pans don't.

[@camiledionne-west6233]

I’m in Vietnam. My cooktop has one glass ceramic burner and one induction. Love the induction and only use the other one when I need two pots. ( and given I have both an electric kettle, and rice cooker, that’s almost never) Not having induction when I return to Canada is one of the things I’ll miss most when I finally move back.

[@jordanhazen7761]

My sister-in-law has a custom Frankenstein cooktop with two induction elements, one traditional curly-que resistive element, and two propane gas burners. Living off-grid, with all power coming via inverter/battery bank from solar, wind, and occasionally a backup propane generator, they use induction almost exclusively for most of the year, but balance it with propane in winter, when solar production is way down, and some extra "waste" heat indoors is welcome. The resistive element was meant for non-compatible cookware, but almost all that's since been replaced, so it's rarely used at all.

[@gubjorggisladottir3525]

My family has an Electric kettle... but none of us drink tea. Nor do we drink coffee. My daughter likes instant noodles very much and uses the kettle to heat the water for them. When I was a child we used the electric tea kettle to boil water for making coffee and to boil eggs. (Never at the same time)

[@Ben-mi8fj]

Yes. I do not drink tea myself but i always had an electric kettle. In the begining for instant coffee, now for pour over coffee. I also use water from the kettle when cooking pasta. A little bit of water in the pot and boiling the rest in a kettle. My parents use their electric kettle multiplie times daily and do have one with 3000w. Actually i do not remember to have ever boiled water on a stove, just to use it outside a pot.

[@JohnRunyon]

I have often considered getting a kettle just for ramen.

[@Josh_Fredman]

Egg Coffee you say...I am intrigued!

[@volundrfrey896]

I use my kettle a bit for tea, but mostly to preheat water. It saves a decent amount of time when making pasta, or boiling potatoes.

[@Zestric]

That's what I didn't really understand about the main video. The thought that you need a kettle mostly (or even only) for tea is weird. One thing is that a lot of people drink coffee, which you also need hot water for and secondly I'm pretty sure the main use for kettles in all of europe is to make hot water to boil eggs, pasta, potatoes, ... because you don't want to wait for what feels like an hour for your pasta pan to boil on the stove.

[@xTheUnderscorex]

Another point about microwave heating of water is that the minimum level on a kettle could easily have you heating twice the amount of water needed to make a single cuppa, whereas a microwave won't have any waste beyond its own

[@jimmym3352]

I always use the microwave for my tea. I only drink tea on my weekends, but I do drink it. Plus I don't go all the way to boiling, I prefer it a little less. 1:26for a cup of tea for me.

[@MarkUKInsects]

Tea made with water boiled in the Microwave just doesn't taste right.

[@NoOne-ef7yu]

Another advantage is that kettles tend to accumulate lime scale (which then ends up in your tea) Microwaving your water will avoid that problem. Still, I like my kettle.

[@comlitbeta7532]

@@MarkUKInsects i am almost certain that you can't tell the difference in a double blind test

[@jrevillug]

The flat-bottomed kettles allow you to boil a single mug of water, though the auto-stop doesn't work very well with so little water. Really quick to boil too.

[@mastakazam5094]

About the induction stoves ringing with a load: as you know, the induction coils produce a magnetic field to induce a (heating) electric current in the metallic cookware ... That electric current will also produce a magenetic field which then reacts with the electrically charged induction coil. If the induction coil isn't entirely and perfectly snug and secure then it can vibrate as a result of the duelling fields. As for your red kettle: I think the other cookware with the large flat bottoms makes them more ideal for having the reactive magnetic field, while the lower angle and rounded sides of the red kettle are more permissive for the electric current and magnetic field to distribute more evenly around the whole kettle, so its reactive field on the induction coil is much weaker.

[@pascal2085]

The "(heating) electric current" is called eddy current.

[@fivish]

Its the fan making the noise!

[@RAFMnBgaming]

@@fivish i think he was talking about the extra rattleing.

[@mastakazam5094]

@@fivish the internal fan makes the 'humming' sound, but there is an additional 'ringing' sound which ideally should not be happening

[@mastakazam5094]

@@pascal2085 ah yes thank you ^^

[@julienelson8162]

You are SO believable, approachable, sometimes mysteriously fallible (like all of us are), and DELIGHTFUL! I discovered you last night, and haven’t stopped. Love your presentations, reviews, and honesty. Your site is fantastic! I love your content, as well, which is very “approachable” while being technically informative - a rare combination in today’s world. Thank you, and don’t stop. Again, love, love, love your site!

[@Galerak1]

"In the UK, where having a kettle is practically a requirement of citizenship..." you're not wrong 😂😂 Also, boiling water in your microwave is a great way of cleaning all those 'spatter' accidents off the sides and roof of the darn thing. A cup of water boiled for a few minutes and that gunk just wipes away easy as pie 👍

[@wychowanek90]

Actually my conventional oven has this so called auto-clean which makes you pour water straight on the bottom your oven and let it heat it for some time. It's surprisingly effective though since even without mechanical help the water that is left at the end is sometimes surprisingly nasty due to fat, oil and other goodies.

[@Anvilshock]

I'm sure your magnetron and all the other electricals and electronics in the microwave that do end up getting somepf that steam every time really enjoy it.

[@wychowanek90]

@@Anvilshock oh I didn't clarify. It's the "normal" oven where you put a turkey or something, not the microwave. My bad

[@Anvilshock]

@@wychowanek90 That's why I replied to OP's comment, not yours.

[@DerekSmit]

Once a while I put a glass with some vinegar in the microwave and blast it for 5 minutes. After you can wipe the microwave clean in seconds.

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

I've had a bottle supercooled when I forgot it outside the tent. I unscrewed the top in the morning, and the three nerd of us looked in awe at the crystals forming and filling the bottle. That was until we remembered we were hung over and this was all of our remaining water. That doesn't really add much to the discussion, but the discussion of supercritical water made me thing of other supercritical water.

[@Ewr42]

My mom insists on leaving water bottles in the freezer drawer(even though it's a single door fridge and it gets pretty cold all throughout, even a vanilla extract froze when they put it just a step higher on the door) so almost everytime I take out water to drink, it freezes before I can even open it which is why I hide a couple water bottles down in the fridge behind stuff, so I can actually drink water instead of an ice slurry(when I get lucky, sometimes they just freeze completely)

[@DrakonIL]

I had a bottle of water in my car that supercooled. I got in, picked it up, went "sweet, cold water for my drive to work," put it down, and when I buckled my seat belt and grabbed the bottle again it was frozen. And I missed all the good part :(

[@chemistrykrang8065]

I'm going to be that guy - supercritical is a different thing. You mean supercooled.

[@boogieknee3781]

Buy 2 bottles of water. BOTH carbonated. Drink number one....refill with tapwater. Label it.....FLATWATER. .....place both into the freezer. Bottle number2 won't freeze but number1 will. ...step outside and get 2 friends to open both bottles simultaneously whilst you film them doing so. .....(focus on the bottles) ....playback the reaction.....and post it on KZbin.

[@RayquaSr.]

I could watch a full 10 minute video of just him going around the house and testing everything pot and pan with an induction heater and being perplexed by the results.

[@whyyoulidl]

+1 😆

[@jamiej3776]

from 10:00 to 15:00 is my favorite part of this video thank you for including it

[@moonsvc]

my favourite ♥

[@brucebrown6249]

My only IKEA pan does "scream" when set directly on my induction burner. Most likely caused by resonance or perhaps the magnetic core is not perfectly bonded to the stainless exterior. The fix for this is a silicon mat (similar to a silpat) Works great to get rid of the sound. Just make sure not to use temperature mode as the mat insulates the pan and it may overheat. For non-induction cookware they make magnetic bases (some with handles, some without) that you put on your burner then put your cookware on. But then again you loose efficiency due to heat escaping up the sides of your cookware.

[@BCThunderthud]

My OXO kettle was annoyingly loud on the stove too.

[@jasonreed7522]

The scream is definitely a result of the cookware being multiple layers stamped/"glued" together interacting with the high frequency oscillations of the induction stove. (Ideally you have 1 homogenous hunk of iton to induce eddy currents in and you get mostly even heating as high frequency AC pulses the heat too fast to notice) but the laminated pot is probably having weird AC expansion/contraction which makes the scream and then the pot shape resonates and projects the sound up into the room.

[@renakunisaki]

I wonder if an especially cheap/worn out pot could shake itself apart?

[@mrclown7469]

The "we don't drink tea" argument misses one huge point. I'm Australian, and I've honestly never had a cup of tea in my life. In fact the vast majority of people here prefer coffee to tea. Yet we all own kettles and use them every day. Why? Because over 75% of cups of coffee brewed in Australia (and NZ) are instant coffee. I will concede it may be a case of chicken or the egg. Since kettles are already ubiquitous in Australia perhaps instant coffee is the path of least resistance to making a cup of coffee. You could also argue that the reason kettles are ubiquitous in Australia is because of the historical colonial British influence of tea drinking. But the assertion that kettle ownership is solely due to tea consumption really doesn't hold up in modern times in countries that aren't Britain. Yes, Americans don't drink tea, but not everyone in "kettle owning countries" drinks tea. Americans having an aversion to instant coffee plays a huge part in their aversion to kettles.

[@JaidenJimenez86]

I said this in the other video, but may as well raise the point again, that a lot of 'instant' foods require you to pour over boiling water (cup noodles, packet mixes, powdered soups, etc). Although I guess you could just pour cold water then nuke them? idk. Americans preferring fresh coffee over instant is a bit of a surprise though, the country that gave us the TV dinner.

[@grahamleiper1538]

Scottish, can't stand tea. Instant coffee, cup soups, ramen noodles, and heating water quickly for pasta all good reasons to have a kettle.

[@L83467]

yes, i was thinking the same thing

[@mwwoggy]

@@JaidenJimenez86 totally agree with you and MrClown on your points, I just have to ask: is having a pot of coffee that's been standing on a heating element for the last hour or so still considered "fresh"? 😄

[@caboose202ful]

Also Australian, don't drink tea. But I still have a wide variety of teas in my house to offer guests. Tea is definitely 'a thing' here, at least on the East coast.

[@user-ne3ze4zz7r]

On the topic of those hybrid cooktops, in my opinion, after growing up with one, they are a classic example of "sounds good, doesn't work". Basically since the induction side is so much better than conventional, you end up just using the induction side of the stove and the conventional side hardly gets used. Shortly after getting it we regretted not just going full induction. Just my 2 cents on the topic!

[@seabream]

It sort of depends on your application. We have classic Vision pots from the 70s and 80s (the ones made of glass doped with lithium and a few other things that improve heat transfer and other cooking relevant properties) that we use for hot pot (if you're not familiar with the dish, you have a pot of broth and a bunch of ingredients, usually in small pieces, that you cook yourself as you want to eat it. Being able to see where the stuff you put in is (vs the stuff one of the other three people you're sharing the pot with is) is useful enough that I don't see us easily giving that up. That said, our kitchen has the cooktop in an island we sit around separate from the oven, so that may not be applicable to other arrangements. Of course for that use case, the heat demand isn't huge, so we could use a stand alone plug-in single hot plate unit, but that doesn't work for wok cooking the way the higher power curly electric elements in the main cooktop would. And for the kind of wok cooking we do, smoothtop isn't ideal because of the pan movements. All the induction cooktops I've been able to find are ceramic smoothtop ones, which might be inherent in the design, unfortunately. We likely will get some induction when it comes time to replace the cooktop, but it probably won't be the only type we put in even if, as another commenter did, we end up needing to get two separate two plate units side by side.

[@martinpata2899]

It really depends on what you cook or what tools you have, for example, you will never use a wok with induction. Maybe you can get a separate gas stove but buying gas tubes(don't know ho they are really called) isnt that fun. Stills I am all for fire right now

[@ChaosTherum]

@@martinpata2899 The best option for a wok is really a wood fired stove outside. Gas is second best.

[@martinpata2899]

@@ChaosTherum i truly don't use the wok that much so when I am using wood fire or coal is usually for an asado

[@jonc4403]

But that's not what anybody would want. The way to go would be induction on one side, gas on the other. Resistance electric is just crap.

[@mikei8547]

Friends brought my parents an electric kettle back from Canada in the 1970s. We've had and used them ever since. They're freaking brilliant. And yeah, I use mine to make coffee in my French press.

[@Black3ternity]

The sound is from high frequency oscillations. Dirt under the pot, an uneven surface because it's laminated in the inside or sometimes it's just a tiny bit of deflection because the base heats up. An older pan I had was "warping" the bottom so it could rock ever so slightly. When I pressed it on one side it made a real racket. The "resting" position was fine though. Edit: Regarding the Skillet you can't use on the induction stove: You can buy horrendous steel plates that act as a Transfer-Medium between your induction stove and incompatible cookware. They waste energy for sure - but you could calculate how much compared to the gas burner. Would be interested in that when you dive into the Induction video. You basically convert your induction plate to a radiation style plate with a big hunk o' metal that gets hot and transfers into the pan.

[@blackwhattack]

I think it's water on the surface of the induction stove.

[@letsgoballistic]

Yeah from what I understand you need a perfectly flat base for induction to work (silently) and if you've used the same cookware on both induction and gas you risk ever so slightly bending the base of the pots due to the more uneven heating up of a gas burner. Now I'm only a one sample size "experiment" but at least in my house that seems to be true since only the bans previously used with gas made that noise on an induction stove.

[@christianstorms3950]

Those adapter plates are horrend indeed. Bought one so my mother could use her trusty steampot. Here's the catch: Somehow those damn things become even hotter than the actual induction pot would. The transfer from the hot adapter plate to the cooking ware is bad and slow, the very hot adapter plate keeps resting on the glas of the stovetop. The stovetop has a overheat alarm and shuts off. Couldn't even keep a crepe pan hot for 10 minutes, let alone a steampot for an hour.

[@stephensaunders01]

I visited the UK several years ago and discovered the electric kettle for the first time and fell in love. When I got back to the states I immediately bought one for me, for my mom and for my sister. I think they are AMAZING! I use them for tea, my French Press and for instant oatmeal, grits, etc. Its very handy!

[@davidparsons97]

The most common use I've noticed in the UK isn't actually tea. It's often instant coffee.

[@GaryKeepItSimple]

@@davidparsons97 1 tea + 1 coffee in our UK house.

[@waqasahmed939]

My dad uses it for boiling a kettle, and filling up the rest of the bucket with cold water, for his car It's quite a bit warmer than the tap when using the "warm" thing. We ended up taking a kettle and toaster to Pakistan too, for when we wanted a more English-y tea. Mum makes tea on the hob in the proper Pakistani way, which admittedly it's a heck of a lot nicer but I don't have that kind of time in the morning Or at least, I didn't, until I worked from home

[@JamesTM]

My parents are arguing about whether they should install a properly vented stove hood. So I'm very much looking forward to that video on gas stoves and air quality. Maybe it'll help me finally push them into installing the vent.

[@Alexlfm]

It’s required by code in CA for a reason. Unvented gas appliances (both stove and fireplaces) are HORRIBLE for your health. While they technically won’t kill you (the only real requirement of national codes) it’s certainly not good for your health. They produce large amount of NoX and can significantly alter oxygen and nitrogen levels and cause cardiovascular and lung issues on top of increase risks for other issues and cancers.

[@fredericksiu4434]

While gas stoves probably introduce an additive amount of particles to alter air quality, as an induction user over the last 10 years with a wide variety of items cooked (random sampling of usual items : scrambled/fried eggs, steaks, asian porridge), basically anything that will produce some amount of smoke will trigger my Air Quality sensors, with scrambled eggs being the lowest at around 50 AQI, and a full on 2.25 min steak sear (30 sec each side and 15 sec for the small sides + flip/hesitation time) at setting 9 (max without boost induction (US/NA)) tilting the sensor at 350 AQI+ . This is with a full fan running (vents to kitchen window) and both breeze windows open, creating a good directional flow. It will usually take around 30mins - 60 mins to get back down to normal (green AQI levels) after a steak, and 10-15 mins after frying an egg.

[@rowanrobinson]

You should vent externally regardless of the cook top.

[@ettaz]

I have a gas stove and always planned to put in a vent, but it took me 5 years to get around to it. I'm also a smoker (yuck, I know) so I don't really care that much about air quality. Tell your parents that their kitchen will be cleaner! Every time I fried anything, small sticky droplets would coat the upper cabinets nearest to the stove. It is really tough to clean, especially if you have a cheaply made WHITE kitchen, the degreaser I had to use ruined the finish of my cabinets. Since I put in the vent hood, it's become almost unnoticeable

[@jeffstanley4593]

It is just common sense to "vent" away from you or why vent? Duhhh.

[@charliesimpson2974]

Near the end of the vid you said something along the lines of being surprised at how much energy the gas stove wasted. As I watched the shots of the larger pot on the gas burner and the flames were slightly wider than the pot, I was reminded of something I learned as a child. A science teacher (maybe?) told us that when the blue flames are larger then the pot/pan above the burner, the energy is being wasted. I watched my mom shooting blue flame up the sides of her pans and told her what I had learned, and she turned down the burner.

[@erickschusterdeoliveira2662]

"yeah the starting temperature is probably about 20 ºC even though I didn't test it, let's roll with it" that's some engineer thinking right there

[@renakunisaki]

"it feels like about room temperature" close enough, ship it!

[@Zraknul]

Sounds more like software development. We'll just patch it later if people realize the bug.

[@toffvs]

I rarely use my electric kettle for tea: I use it when cooking, which makes everything faster AND more energy efficient! (I typically boil 1 litre in the kettle and heat the rest on my stove). NB: Please PUT THE LID on your pot! I also have to add that you have an excellent channel! Best wishes from Sweden (Land of coffee addicts and 230 Volts)!

[@cfredtmbg]

In the US here. Just a few days ago my office was planning out what kitchen supplies and appliances we would need in our new office space. Someone asked for an electric kettle, and my boss said, "what's that?" A bunch of us, myself included, have one and we love them, but a good 1/3 of the office didn't even know what they were.

[@a1white]

oh wow. to someone in the UK, that is like someone saying "I don't know what a TV is" or something. So odd haha

[@smileyeagle1021]

Induction is the way of the future and I appreciate you bringing so much attention to them.

[@2lturbo]

On the point of combination hobs: typically you’d upgrade to induction when upgrading your whole kitchen. The cost of replacing your existing non-induction cookware is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of a new kitchen.

[@Mike__B]

True, and the reality is you can in fact get comparably priced products too it's just the number of choices that are available at each price point that differs between heating types.

[@Mike__B]

@@OKuusava Well they technically can be flattened if you really wanted them to work (assuming their sensitive to magnetic fields) but yeah, time for new cookware!

[@d3nza482]

That's a bit like "reasoning out" that a purchase of new living room furniture makes sense cause it is a "drop in the ocean" compared to the cost of a new 8k TV and sound system. Also, saying ceramic glasstop like it's a singular thing is a bit like saying "American stoves". Or "European bread" or something. Magnetic induction, infrared, halogen, electric resistance - all of those are flavors of stoves with a flat ceramic surface. All having very much different in operation and drawbacks. Except for electric resistance. It's the same old "power through the wire" - except far more efficiently than with the old coiled heaters. Induction cooktops ARE 10-15 percentage points more efficient than electric resistance ones - but only when it comes to speed of boiling the water. Which is NOT how we cook our food. If all you're ever cooking is an egg that needs to be runny - great. If you're doing actual cooking, induction either loses to OR is equal in efficiency to electric resistance ceramic cooktops. Which need neither new cookware NOR all them fancy lectric thingamajigs prone to going buzzy and breaky.

[@BrentFreyEsq]

9:15 It's not just for continuous loads, but also for cord-and-plug loads on a circuit where there are 2 or more receptacles, any individual cord-and-plug load cannot be more than 12A (note that a duplex is considered 2 receptacles). If you're interested, see NEC 210.21(B)(2) for more precise info. Similar idea, just different application. Thanks for the great content!

[@poiu477]

what if you split it into two separate single plugs?

[@cygwin0235]

I thought that resistive loads also get the 20% deraring according to the NEC. I don't have the book to search at the moment.

[@ashtonhoward5582]

@@poiu477 still one circuit.

[@poiu477]

@@ashtonhoward5582 ah I see, it would have to be a single plug on it's OWN circuit, correct?

[@eDoc2020]

The NEC doesn't really apply to portable loads.

[@Dinnye01]

That's a normal sound for Ikea double plated cookware. They have an inbetween induction sensitive layer (aluminium-iron-aluminium) and they sing on induction stoves. Have been using one since 7 years.

[@martinweizenacker7129]

You sure it's not "magnetic stainless steel - aluminium - regular stainless steel" (from outside to the inside)? Pots with exposed aluminium are not really a thing (anymore).

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

@@martinweizenacker7129 I have a cast aluminum pot.

[@Vortexcube]

I wonder if Ikea cookware works better with their own induction cooktops.

[@AlexanderBurgers]

They make different noises at different power levels too. Doesn't harm anything, it's just mildly annoying.

[@paulmccoy2908]

The aluminum pot is probably meant for deep frying. Aluminum is generally not used as cookware since it is dissolved by hot, and/or salty, and/or acidic foods.

[@lukeclifton4392]

As an induction cooktop user… I can say the noise is related directly to the cookware. More so the quality of the cookware and the bond between the base of the cookware and the top of the pot/pan itself. The noise is the two different types a metal reacting at different frequencies, but using a cheap single piece pan will not produce those noises, just the clicking as it heats up… as it’s a single piece of metal. But don’t let this put anyone off getting induction… it’s brilliant!

[@vulpes5809]

Even your cast offs are some of the most pleasant, comforting videos on KZbin.

[@or2kr]

11:08 the way we solved this was by just putting two two burner Miele ProLine stoves (no touch was a requirement) next to each other, one induction, the other ceramic. And sure enough, the induction one gets used the most except for incompatible stuff and shuffling around the pans and pots when cooking a lot just works fine, no idea why this isn't available in just one part. Oh btw, heating a pot of water by dumping 2.7kW of induction into it is fun :P

[@jackporter1614]

2x induction and 1 conventional burners are very common here in Korea and we chose one when we remodeled, but induction has turned out to be just so convenient that we almost never use the conventional burner.

[@danielch6662]

Otto, same in my house. The ceramic one just takes forever. Induction stovetops are just crazy fast. However, as much as I am dependent on them now, they suck at simmering. Especially anything in a pan. Because at a low enough setting, they can't bring the power that low. So they do this thing where they turn on for 3 seconds, off for 12, and repeat. Trouble is, during these 3 seconds, the contents boils, bubbles pop, out onto the counter, the wall, etc. That's the main reason we have one ceramic cooker.

[@guillaumegaudin694]

@@danielch6662 I was going to comment the same.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@danielch6662 That is interesting indeed.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@danielch6662 Exactly why, when I remodel (as the old stove is... er... showing its age) I'm likely to re-engineer something of an island with an oven and the dual-type "burner" arrangements... The ceramics are just as good for slow-simmering and braising as they can be for high/rolling boils... SO the plan would be back-ceramics where I only have to futz with them occasionally and mostly let them simmer or steep... AND induction up front because it's conveniently FAST as hell... AND I collect and keep up old cast iron anyways, so there's practically nothing incompatible in my kitchen... I do have one or two pieces of Pyrex cooking and lab-ware (Class B or C) but those aren't exactly for food... ;o)

[@ValkyrieTiara]

British inability to comprehend how much tea we don't drink will never cease to amuse and perplex me.

[@donotlendbookstome7923]

I’m a Canadian, and it blows my mind that Americans don’t use electric kettles. How do you make instant coffee? Instant oatmeal? Instant ramen? Lipton Cuppa Soup? Unclog your drains? (These questions are rhetorical, I know the answers are “gross”, “microwave”, “you’re going to get scurvy”, “that’s not even food!”, and “why don’t you weirdos have garbage disposals!?!”, but it still absolutely blows my mind.)

[@lejuanca]

@@donotlendbookstome7923 im still wondering why you guys dont have garbage disposals...

[@wanderingearthmagnet]

Excellent approach, excellent scripting, and excellent performance. It is refreshing how you anticipate questions related to your episodes and cover those as well. Keep up the great work!

[@marquisuy]

Look man thank you for this videos of kettles, im from Uruguay after seeing the othe video i bought a 2200w cheap electric kettle and i love it already, its super fast. Here we have 220v and this cheap kettle works awesome. I use it to make coffee ans tea, just i use a small filter who fit up the cup and pour the hot water in the filter with the coffee. Thanks for the content, keep the good work. Sorry for my bad English.

[@fredericapanon207]

Su Ingles no es malo.

[@elbaecc]

I have been microwaving water for about a decade now....and its weird how after all this time I still felt validation when TC here confirmed that a microwave is indeed a legit option to heat water for beverages. Its weird how the human mind works.

[@gumiennik7934]

I mean, a microwave works by agitating water molecules in food... you can't heat up dry food in a microwave, because it's literally a device explicitly designed to do one thing - heat up water, but if you take out water out of the food it's suddenly wrong? What about a soup? Or a sauce? At which point a substance contains enough water to be considered not ok for microwave? There are legit arguments against it but no one ever mentions them anyways, because "it's wrong, because it's not how you do it" - it's always some weird status quo that people don't even try to question and they feel superior about it. It may be less ergonomic, less efficient and potentially less safe, but it's not wrong. After all, using a molecular water heating machine to heat up water is, imagine that, a completely reasonable way to heat up water!

[@eaglestdogg]

@@gumiennik7934 while it does affect water, water is not the only molecule affected by microwaves any dipole will. You can absolutely heat dry things with a micro.

[@gumiennik7934]

@@eaglestdogg It surely was an overstatement on my side. What I wanted to say is, that it is targeting water with its functionality, so heating a cup of water is not abusing this design.

[@cloudkitt]

I have a kettle, but Brits' obsession with this idea that microwaves somehow boil water differently has always baffled me, so I was a little disappointed when the main video didn't take the opportunity to tease them a bit over that :P Glad to see it here.

[@Sillimant_]

freak

[@AlonAltman]

It's interesting that you mention coffee makers vs kettles, because when I grew up my parents would use an electric kettle (which was common in most households) and made coffee by just adding instant coffee to boiling water. I haven't seen coffee makers at all until much later and only very well-off people seemed to have them.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

Oooh…. That’s not coffee. :(

[@TechnologyConnextras]

There's apparently a big difference between what Americans call a coffee maker and what the rest of the world does. Our plastic drip machines are $20 commodities, and a fancy one with a timer might run you $60. Now, if we're talking like an Espresso machine, then sure. That's a fancy purchase! But our good ol' fashioned 12 cup glass carafe jobbies are a cheap staple and have been since the 1970's (OK well they're cheaper now than they were back then... once upon a time a Mr. Coffee _was_ fancy!)

[@AlonAltman]

I don't drink coffee so I can't really tell the difference, but it seems these low-cost coffee machines are a pretty rare item outside North America. I do remember unsuccessfully trying to use one of those to boil water for tea...

[@zachmiller9175]

@@DavidRavenMoon bad coffee is bad coffee, some instant coffee is actually made with good coffee and tastes good, my favorite is medaglia d'oro. I usually make espresso at home but instant is so much easier than trying to brew decent coffee on a campfire.

[@nacho90000]

@@TechnologyConnextras It's not just the machine price, the price of ground bean coffee is much higher than instant coffee. here in Chile both devices cost almost the same, but instant coffee is much more popular for price, even among people who have both devices

[@PAHighlander24]

My Scottish wife always had an electric kettle for her tea, and it was much faster than any stovetop kettle or microwave. Its auto shut off is also a great benefit. For a number of years I've been making my coffee in a French Press, so the electric kettle is now a necessity for me also.

[@A_Porcupine]

My old microwave had a whole section dedicated to microwaving liquids, and it read "DO NOT microwave liquids without a metal spoon placed in the cup".

[@martontichi8611]

Bosch puts a huge sticker on their microwave telling you to ALWAYS put a spoon in glass of water. Yes, metal spoon.

[@dstinnettmusic]

Metal in the microwave is almost always fine. Forks are iffy but only when 100% clean and crumpled foil will fuck things up, but for the most part, if you accidentally leave your knife or fork on your plate when warming it up, you will probably be fine.

[@litigioussociety4249]

@@dstinnettmusic Anything burning should be kept out of a microwave, but it is fun.

[@moconnell663]

In a bout of sleep deprivation I put a stainless steel mixing bowl in my microwave. I don't think it ran for more than 10 seconds before I realized what I had done and nothing bad happened in that time.

[@camelopardalis84]

I once put a glass jar of Nutella in the microwave to melt the small rest that was still in it. There was still some metallic foil on the jar and this definitely caused it to light up in the microwave after very few seconds. This was in 2003 or 2004. (2001 the very earliest.) It was also in about 2003 that in our school, a microwave was broken. When asked about it, some of us were able to explain that some younger pupils had put a Five Franc coin in it. I had kind of seen it myself, and noticed some sparks, but not noticed that the microwave was broken afterwards. While the Nutella foil most likely was pointy, the coin was definitely just a flat metal disk those younger pupils had put in the microwave.

[@tookitogo]

There are some brands that make modular (“domino”) stove units, half the width of a European standard 60cm (24”) stovetop (so about 30cm/12” per module). The idea is that you install multiple ones side by side, with your choice of electric, induction, gas, wok jet, teppanyaki grill, deep fryer, etc.

[@christianstorms3950]

nice. Sounds expensive, 'though.

[@fritzit]

@@christianstorms3950 It is.

[@berni8k]

We do have an Elektrolux combination cooktop with 2x induction 2x gas. Works great and cost about 500€

[@Ewr42]

sounds industrial

[@ReverendTed]

Superheated microwaved water explosion has happened to me, like twice. Once in a mug and once in a glass measuring cup. Each time it happened when I put a spoon in after removing it from the microwave. Each time there was a "POP" and some boiling water splashed out, so "explosion" is a bit of a strong term for what I experienced.

[@jasonreed7522]

I know the myth busters explicitly cover this phenomenon and under ideal conditions (distilled water, drop in a sugar cube) it definitely could be confused for an explosion. Because if this I'm careful when heating water in a microwave to have it have some disolved stuff in it or not reach the boiling point by doing short bursts. (Normally i just want hot chocolate and intend to immediately drink it all in about 2 minutes so brings it to a boil is wasted heat anyway)

[@c0rnd0g_19]

I've also had it happen twice. Both times I was heating Reverse Osmosis filtered water. I learned to put a dash of salt in it before heating after the second time and have been fine since!

[@IONATVS]

do you use distilled or heavily filtered water? if you do, you may want to put some contaminants (salt or sugar) in first before boiling.

[@nvrndingsmmr]

I throw a mug of kitchen sink water in there for a minute and a half, take it out, throw a tea bag in there and call it a day. I feel like heating water any longer than that is just not necessary for me lol

[@grahamleiper1538]

Done it reheating coffee. Office has a Bunn machine that makes about 20 cups - seemed wasteful of coffee to make a fresh batch.

[@CarthagoMike]

Thank you for the clarification! As a European, I was utterly confused about 'microwaving water'.

[@DarinMcGrew]

I didn't realize that a coffee press was "some other exotic way" to make coffee. :) I do use a stovetop kettle with my coffee press though. One advantage of a stovetop kettle over an electric kettle is that the stovetop kettle works when I go camping. And speaking of circuits "shared in nonsensical ways", we used to live in an old duplex unit that had fuses, and only 3 circuits for the entire 2BR unit: one for the kitchen and living room outlets, one for the bedrooms and bathroom, and one for the lights. It had a gas stove, so as long as we didn't run our microwave oven at the same time we ran our portable dishwasher, we were fine. Actually, the microwave and the dishwasher could run together, but they didn't leave any capacity for the refrigerator compressor if it came on. And did I mention that there was no exhaust vent for the stove, because the kitchen window opened and that was considered sufficient when the place was built? :o

[@dorvinion]

The stovetop kettle also works when the power is off, if you have gas of course. That said, I microwave my coffee water for the press. Once you know the necessary time its quite repeatable.

[@renakunisaki]

Was this in a place where winter is a thing? Were you expected to just leave the window open while cooking even when it's -40°?

[@DarinMcGrew]

If you're familiar with gardening zones, it was near the border of zones 9b and 10a. That means the winter low was usually around 25F. Winter there is a 2-3 month period when it might actually rain.

[@SubTroppo]

I was surprised at the standard of brewed coffee was when I first went to the US forty years ago. I can drink bad tea, but bad coffee is a different matter entirely. If it is still the same keep up with the press!

[@strawberyyicecreamdream216]

Anything outside of drip coffee is atypical. Most American coffee consumers use drip machines.

[@freedomgeek2]

As an Australian I drink about 5 times more coffee than tea but I still use my kettle all the time and can't imagine life without it.

[@esaeo]

The sound to me seems like metal on metal rather than metal on glass, so I would think that maybe the construction of the pot has a laminated base and the layers therein are not as fused together allowing them to strike each other as the wave of induction is uneven across them as it propagates through the metals.

[@peperillon]

Hello i do have the same sound with fancy coockware. To my experience you can find an alignement that optimise that sound.

[@larryadams9565]

I have learned a lot from your videos. You do a great job and telling us your failures has been great too. The learning or telling us how and why it failed. Thank you for doing these videos. Hope you make a living doing these. We fount you because we’re terrified of what will happen this winter. Gasoline $4+ a gallon. Last year the propane heater kept putting fumes into the air and got sick. Called for repair 5 times. Bought Two new ones. Each time took weeks for the plumber and ended up ants got into pressure control on out side tank and was causing fluctuations in pressure. Spent a lot of time in bed with heating blankets. So learning what we can use for heat. Your info on Coleman lanterns and Hurricane lamps was so good and well done. I am going to get more batteries and led lights. Also small solar panels. I do have propane in canisters. Old lanterns etc. but will concentrate on batteries. Don’t let complainers stop you.!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@Green_House]

Keeping a lid on pot will drastically improve boiling times. Even keeping the lid closed on the kettle spout will help.

[@AnalogDude_]

true!

[@altosack]

I always thought that, too, but I timed it and it was nearly insignificant. It _looks_ wasteful, though!

[@BCThunderthud]

I've had an electric kettle for quite a while, I had used stovetop ones for a long time to make coffee using a cone filter in a plastic holder, which didn't become a fancy way to make coffee until pretty recently. It was just the cheapest way and convenient for making a single serving. I bought my first electric kettle during a period when my stove wasn't working and I've stuck with it because it's just more convenient in every way.

[@nrdesign1991]

certainly the most convenient way is a fully automatic machine that brews an espresso type coffee (Caffé Crema) with the push of a button. Grinding, dosing, brewing and disposing of the resulting puck in one go. You can choose any coffee beans you like, get a whole range of settings to play with and get coffee that is not stale from the package but exactly as you like. Yes, they are a fair bit more expensive and there is more to their maintenance, but the better coffee more than makes up for it

[@KevinReinartz]

In my experience with induction (5 years with a 36" cooktop) the buzzing is from cheaper pans that aren't as "magnetic" as others, or the magnetic layer is farther away from the coil, or the pan is faulty. Annoying! Ikea may (should) warranty it...

[@jakass]

It still works, so it's in warranty

[@KevinReinartz]

@@jakass ikea has a 15 year guarantee that covers function, materials, and workmanship on these, they "work" but I could argue that they are not functional due to the noise. Any decent company (I consider ikea one) will honor this and swap them out to make the customer happy.

[@cliffmorgan31]

We have a high end GE 4 burner glass top induction cook top we have had since circa 1991. We LOVE it! It has been completely trouble free, heats everything rapidly on quality induction compatible cookware, and is used regularly/frequently for our domestic cooking needs. That being said, we use an electric kettle daily for coffee. It is convenient since it has several preset temperatures that are very convenient.

[@RonelynValor]

Thanks for leaving in your confusion with the induction plate. Professionals trip up. It's useful to remind people of that. And hey, science is about doing things and documenting your findings! :)

[@MemeticsX]

When Alex had the induction stove open, it looked to me like there was a spot of thermal grease in the center of the element and the contact plate. Removing a heat sink from a modern CPU disturbs the thermal grease that is applied between them to enable better conduction of heat, and in most cases when you've broken that connection for whatever reason, you need to clean the old thermal grease off both surfaces and replace it with new thermal grease (taking care to apply it smoothly so as to have an even coat and not have air pockets or whatever, enabling efficient heat transfer). So I wonder if messing up the thermal grease in his induction stove may have led to the odd noise issues he's experiencing. Probably not, but it's the only thing I noticed that he didn't address in the video.

[@DLTX1007]

that is for the temperature sensor actually

[@chuckhursch5374]

When I saw that thermal grease, it was kind of like aha. If that sensor is loose, could it vibrate at a high enough freq to cause the ringing?

[@DLTX1007]

@@chuckhursch5374 then TIM wouldn't stabilize it. You would have to epoxy it down. But in general the epoxy is extremely hard to break... I have one of those induction coils up on my wall 😂

[@nahco3994]

I doubt that's the reason. I have the exact same set of IKEA pots, and they also make weird, rhythmic humming noises on my induction cooktop. Other vessels don't seem to create noises like that, or at least not nearly as loud.

[@Inferryu]

@@nahco3994 Just to clarify, is the noise coming from the device or does it come from the pots? Also, if my understanding of induction is right, it could be a resonance thing? but I'm no engineer so it's just pure speculation on my part.

[@SkepticalCaveman]

There exist induction adapters (basically magnetic, metal discs put between the pot/pan and the stove) that makes *any* cookware possible (including glass and ceramic) to use on a induction stove. No need to buy new cookware.

[@ludicrous6380]

I use one for my aluminium Moka pot

[@element5377]

@Christopher Grant my neighbors home burned down due to a leak behind the gas stove

[@element5377]

@@OKuusava i had a freak accident where a falling plastic cutting board (cat did it) fell into the old fashioned knob and turned the cooktop on, which started a fire by roasting the cutting board. luckily i had a $50 fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

[@nickmcconnell1291]

I have had an induction stove top for over 15 years now. It gives all the instant temp control of gas stoves plus a ton of safety because the stove top itself never gets hot on its own and cools quickly. Also the elements on my stove top sense the shape of the metal object so that it does not try to heat up non-pan metal objects. Cost of induction has dropped a lot in 15 years. I recently saw a four burner Frigidaire model for 750 bucks!! FUN FACT: Put a paper towel on your induction burner then boil a pot of water on top of that. Since water boils at a much lower temp than paper does, the towel remains pristine. Note: I think the reason manufacturers do not make hybrid stove tops much is because of the heat that the standard range elements give off inside the stove itself. This heat would bake the electronics of the induction elements shortening their life. To insulate that side separately would create a lot of additional manufacturing steps and cost. However a coil stove element side might work alongside induction but the look wouldn’t be very elegant.

[@shubinternet]

Thanks for the extended shot of your CO2 sensor! I'm going to take a look at buying one of those myself.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

There's a difference between "have an electric kettle" and "use an electric kettle". My parents got one as a wedding gift in the 1980s and it's still in a box on a shelf in the laundry room.

[@Fritschge128]

i love the fact that you left in the part were you tested the noise of the induction stove. it was very entertaining!

[@FirstLast-kx1gr]

I've used an electric kettle for several years. When my old kettle needed to be replaced, I installed a 240 volt outlet in the kitchen and bought a European electric kettle. These have about 50% higher power rating, and boil the water faster. The total amount of electricity used is about the same. The time saved was worth the trouble to me.

[@Rich_123]

I am all in on having this CO2 meter. Sometimes my own breath pushes my home CO2 level over 1000 ppm, especially on stagnant summer nights with no breeze and the AC on. Now I try to keep it under 800.

[@SPACKlick]

I'm in the UK and my home kettle is mostly used in cooking. It gets a pan of water hot quicker than it would in the pan. So if I want to boil or steam something the water goes in the kettle first, is boiled and then poured over my peas or pasta. I would have thought that use would have been enough of a time save for it to be a boon to an American home.

[@jean-pierredeclemy7032]

Have you tried putting a lid on the pan?

[@alex_ob1]

Don't boil your peas you heathen! A tiny bit of water in the bottom of the pan is sufficient to steam them.

[@SPACKlick]

@@jean-pierredeclemy7032 Yes, every time

[@SPACKlick]

@@alex_ob1 No, blanch them for 30 or so seconds in boiling water then transfer them to an ice bath. Much prefer the flavour that way. Steaming them mutes the natural sweetness.

[@jcardboard]

@@jean-pierredeclemy7032 that's still way slower. A full kettle to boiling point only takes a couple of minutes.

[@wickedest-witch]

I do think it's interesting that electric kettles are in my experience standard kitchen equipment in the Nordic countries, which generally drink about as much (if not less) tea than the US. Personally as an Icelander I don't really associate them that strongly with tea in particular. I wonder if the higher voltage plays a larger role in the difference there

[@RomanShein1978]

Maybe a coffee type is at play here. A quick check of the internet reveals that instant coffee is significantly more popular in Europe than in the US: 80% in the UK, 25% in Scandinavia vs 10% in the US (as a % by volume of all brewed coffee). Hence Europeans use electric kettles for instant coffee too, while Americans brew with various coffee makers. Like most Americans, it looks like the author drinks the brewed only. He said: "water overheating in the microwave is a rare occurrence". Personally, it isn't a rare occurrence for me, when I put the instant coffee into microwaved water or milk.

[@EricGus67]

@@RomanShein1978 try adding your sugar to the water either before or after you microwave.. let it fiz a bit as expected THEN stir in your instant coffee it wont foam nearly as much or if at all .. the sugar gives it something to nucleate on and being less /non complex than the instant coffee it wont foam.

[@RomanShein1978]

@@EricGus67 Yes, yet my main point is that the author is not seeing overheating that much because he drinks no instant coffee.

[@raedwulf61]

No one in my family in Norway has an electric kettle.

[@BossmodePictures]

I'm from Germany and am used to people having electric kettles for anything, not just tea. I've never seen someone use it for (instant) coffee but it's just much faster if you for example heat one liter in the kettle and one liter on the stove and put it together to boil your potatoes than heating two liters of water on the stove alone.

[@NunontheRun]

yeah.. I think others have said it.. but Ramen? Cup-o-soup? Hot Chocolate? pour-over coffee or french press or aeropress or instant?

[@kruks]

Some microwaves actually have illustrations advising to leave a spoon in the water. ElectroBOOM did a video about trying to get reactions from metal in a microwave and found it exceedingly difficult to get the results he wanted. He had to use crumpled aluminum foil. A metal spoon is safe. I'm also surprised that you focused so heavily on boiling water. Slightly higher-end electric kettles have the distinct advantage of heating water to non-boiling temperatures. Boiling water is useful because it's as hot as water generally gets (at atmospheric pressure, outside of superheating conditions), but that doesn't mean water at 80-95 degrees isn't useful and electric kettles are vital to getting precisely to those temperatures without overshooting

[@alexanderkupke920]

Just was looking to add to this, the manual of my microwave (yes, I read it, I tried to figure out how to set the clock and if those fancy preprogrammed settings are of any use - spoiler -if so I didn´t find it) also explicitly says to put a spoon in for that. However they recommend to not use certain types of glassware (I guess some types of glass have some metal content, in the past lead was quite popular to get a christal like glass) or anything with kind of a metal plating decor on it, it might just burn of. When it comes to temperature, isn´t the perfect temperature for tea or coffee somewhere in the realm of 96 °C? But I guess as fast as it starts to cool down, that may actually be the temperature you already reach when taking a boiling kettle of the stove until the time you pour.

[@leonardohernandez9017]

@@alexanderkupke920 Depends on the type of tea, for some variants like black tea, 90° is recommended, but for green or white tea, you should aim for lower temps, even in the 70°'s range. For coffee, yeah, 95° is kinda the sweet spot

[@alexanderkupke920]

@@leonardohernandez9017 To be honest, at the point some people "treated" their water forthe perfect chemistry to brew either coffee or tea I was out. I just remembered a recommendation for 96 °C on some Tea I had before, but who knows what type of weed clippings in paper bags that actually was (I can neither remember what kind of tea it was or if I liked it at all) But steeping different teas, probably made out of different plants or plant parts (well black white and green obviously are all tea leafs in a different state of fermentation) at different temperatures makes sense. Other than that when it comes to Tea (except maybe some fresh peppermint) I am a user of tea bags, which are commonly frowned upon by tea lovers. Just to lazy to go through the full ordeal of making a proper cup of tea in any traditional or as others consider it, appropiate way.

[@R3BootYourMind]

Some old microwaves are more delicate with metal in them. Modern microwaves are much more safe but the mentality of no metal in the microwave still persists.

[@EntropicTroponin]

@@R3BootYourMind the inherent working mechanism in the microwave hasn't changed. It cannot, because it resonates at a specific frequency needed to impart energy to water molecules. I suppose the lower number of accidents is due to people now being educated on the topic.

[@TennyGG]

When it comes to the distribution of kettles in America poll you've made, I think it leaned high because of the kind of viewers you tend to attract. People who enjoy the electrical conveniences and efficiencies.

[@ChaosTherum]

@@hhjhj393 So there is a legitimate reason to have different coffee makers, drip, pour over, french pres, phin, espresso all make different kinds of coffee. Like very noticeably different kinds of coffee. I don't own all of those just a french press, phin, and cold brew pitcher which honestly is just a glass pitcher. But the point is very different flavor profiles, some days I want a super strong cup that's what the phin is for, some days I want something lighter and sweeter french press, some days I want ice cold and not bitter that's the cold brew pitcher.

[@BlueRoseFaery]

@@hhjhj393 Yes and no, is a waffle maker a requirement for living? Absolutely not, but I vastly prefer waffles to pancakes so I own a specialized machine, not because its a shiny toy but because I appreciate what it can do. And having a dedicated machine frees up my multitasker stove top for other things, like making eggs & sausage. I also store mine away when not in use so it's not cluttering up my counter. A kettle provides a service that my microwave or stove can, but in a more convenient way. If I want to make multiple cups of tea at once I either have to put multiple mugs in my microwave, which can cause myriad issues like not enough space, too much weight load for the turntable, uneven heating, different sized mugs, etc, Or microwave a large container of water & then pour that into the mugs. My microwave isn't very tall so putting a large pitcher in isn't possible, & a large bowl usually doesn't have a handle, & even if it does is not ideal for pouring boiling hot liquids, not to mention the handle getting hot, & the wide surface area of the water produces a lot of steam, I don't want to have to leave my microwave door open & waste power with the light because it's full of steam or have someone hit the open door & possibly damage it &/or themselves, plus getting a face full of steam when I open it. And what if I want boiling water for multiple applications at once? I can boil enough water in a kettle for tea & instant noodles, soup, oatmeal, instant rice, etc, without the issues of different sized/shaped containers in the microwave or sitting there shuffling things in & out of the microwave multiple times, messing up the timing of my foods. Yes I could boil a pot on the stovetop but in this & the last video he demonstrated why that's not always the best option. For me having an electric kettle is vastly more convenient. But it does depend on your usage cases. I only bought an electric kettle this last winter, but it's fast become a regular part of my cooking routine. Some people might buy one as a cool gadget & not end up using it much, but I don't think that's the majority, even among more techie crowds.

[@MattTrevett]

Re: Superheating water. I used to make french press coffee at work every day by microwaving water from the dispenser, which happens to be very clean. The coffee press would be very clean and the water would be very clean, which is the perfect setup for superheating. And it would happen quite regularly when you add the coffee by vigoriously and suddenly overboiling the press. Never had an explosion though.. Also if you boil the water, let it cool a little, and keep heating it (repeat a few times) you can almost guarantee that clean water will superheat.

[@popenieafantome9527]

I just grab a clean spoon and touch the surface of the water before moving to agitate water without having hand over water. On occasion it will boil the moment spoon touches water if it hasn’t already. Doesn’t really splatter much.

[@Ignisan_66]

As someone who drinks a lot a black tea, (I'm not Bri'ish BTW), microwaving water for tea is just blasphemy to me.

[@The2wanderers]

Re: market penetration: A ten year replacement cycle on a kettle seems pretty reasonable. Mine is fairly heavily used and is probably twice that age. If 5% of households buy one every year, that does seem like a majority would have one, even if it's just sitting unused in a cupboard.

[@Zraknul]

I could also see it lasting longer if you don't use it a lot. I want to say the one we had growing up good at good 2 decades.

[@rodrigoaranda7029]

well depends of price, but where i live gas is cheaper so we use electric ketl when we are in an hurry. or in an office so am ketle last more than 5 years. then we ditch them because plastic looks wearn

[@codyofathens3397]

I have the exact same one he used on the video. The cheap white one. I used it every day for about a year and 2 months, and it just stopped working one day.

[@Skip6235]

Yeah, I mean, I’m American and I have two (my wife and I both had one when we lived alone), my parents have one, my sister has one, my grandparents have one. . .etc. we don’t use them frequently (which may make them last longer than people in the UK who use them daily), but we all have them

[@Schnittertm1]

@@codyofathens3397 The cheap white ones, with the heating element in the water are usually the worst choice and they usually do have a relatively high return rate. One thing to really keep in check with those, as well as with kettles that have a bottom plate, is limescale. If you are using unfiltered water, you'll have a limescale buildup on or in the area of the heating element. This limescale can prevent the heat from being transfered to the water quickly, which in turn could cause the heating element get close to overheating, which will, in most water kettles, cause the thermal protection to turn off the device. In most cases it is enough to let them cool down and remove the limescale, in the worst case you heating element got damaged and you need to replace the kettle. Therefore, if you do want to extend the life of your electric water kettle, you should either use a water filter (e.g. Brita) or regularly descale it. Same goes for many other devices that heat up water, like coffee machines. Since I make my living selling electric household appliances, I've seen quite a few cases where we had to deny the return of water heating appliances, because customers didn't descale them and that caused damage to the device.

[@codyofathens3397]

If you're considering buying a single burner just for that one pan, consider instead getting a metal plate for the induction top. They make a metal plate that sits on the induction and allows you to use non induction cookware with it. It isn't as nice as using induction directly, but it's at least as good as using a traditional electric burner, plus, it's a smooth top and not one of the curly ones that get wobbly. And then you have induction for everything else.

[@namAehT]

*Or* switch to stainless steel. IMO it's way nicer to cook with and clean and I'm not going back. Though I do keep a a non-stick stainless pan for sugary stuff, and some cast irons for meaty things.

[@codyofathens3397]

@@namAehT I bought this gorgeous set of stainless a while back, I use an induction burner like the one he used in the video, and when I bought them (Facebook find), I made sure to bring a magnet to make sure they'd work. Sadly, they all have a tiny little indented area in the middle, and it's just enough that the induction burner won't work. I was so sad, until I figured out the metal plate thing.

[@aleenaprasannan2146]

@@codyofathens3397 Tiny little indent might not be the issue. I use really old beat up steel utensils on induction cooktop and they work fine. As long as there is enough steel touching the cooktop it should be ok

[@aph42]

You can put a silicone mat or towel between your induction pan and the cooktop, and it'll still work. perfect flatness isn't a requirement for induction to work.

[@bigfoot2575]

I just use a worn out circular saw blade.

[@botchedeyesurgery420]

I live in New Zealand and we use the kettle or jug as we call it every day to make mostly instant coffee or if your old tea haha. but we do use it for other things like to make jelly , instant noodles or as we call them 2 minute noodles , instant soups. sometimes as a kid i remember we use to run out of hot water all the time because my sisters use to have long showers so i had to have a bath that my mum would fill with hot water boiled from the jug LOL use to take ages to fill but did the job.

[@blargl121]

Milo was one of the main things I remember using it for as a kid, too bad they changed the recipe and it now tastes awful

[@botchedeyesurgery420]

@@blargl121 oh yes how could I forget Milo 😂😂 I use to just mix it with milk

[@ArmadaAsesino]

Exactly! Same for Australia.

[@dextrodemon]

i think he's off base with the tea thing tbh, because he doesn't like the thesis that america doesn't have them because they boil so slowly. personally i think it's because they have coffee makers, so they don't drink instant coffee, idk how the do the like 15 other things you use a kettle for lol.

[@sion8]

@@dextrodemon We boil water in a pot, which ever is available that'll do the job. But kettles are also common enough as people used to use them to heat water for one of those rubber bags that people used to use when they went to sleep.

[@OldTeaHead]

American here and I have 6 kettles. 2 electric variable temperature, 1 electric travel kettle, 1 stove top with built in thermometer, 1 camping kettle with camping stove and one clay kettle with clay stove. I drink tea at least 3 times a day. Real tea, not tea bag garbage. Gongfu Cha is starting to take off more In the states. I do wish there were more people to share my tea passion with though.

[@fonkbadonk5370]

Fun fact: The word "kettle" comes from the germanic word "Kessel" which is still common in modern day German. But there it describes ANY vessel of ANY size used to boil ANYthing, even industrial scales. "Kesselhaus" (kettle house) even refers to whole buildings where a power plant boils its water to make steam. (Or other buildings that mainly house vessels for boiling stuff.) What the English speaking world calls an electric kettle is called "Wasserkocher" (water cooker/boiler) specifically. Oddly though, a stove top kettle is still called simply "Kessel". Probably to drive home the notion that in electric kettles, you're really just supposed to boil water in, and nothing else.

[@Hwyadylaw]

Kessel is the modern *German* word. The *Germanic* word that both "kettle" and "Kessel" are derived from is reconstructed as *katilaz (Or in broad IPA: /ˈkɑ.ti.lɑz/) Kittel (or less commonly Kättil) in Swedish, Kjel(e) in Norwegian, Ketill in Icelandic, and Kedel in Danish . "Kettle" can in fact refer to a wider range of vessels in English, but is typically assumed to refer to a tea kettle

[@adamcetinkent]

Mein spiced tea comes from a Kessel...

[@BarryNorton]

@@Hwyadylaw To clarify on Danish: unlike German, the same word is used for the electric version - there are kedler and elkedler.

[@iggysixx]

In the Netherlands, we have a special distinction for the gas stove type 'tea kettle' / kettle; "Fluitketel" (aka 'whistle / whistling kettle'). For the rest, I think we handle the use of kettle like all the Germanic and Scandinavian countries mentioned :) (big kettle, small kettle: everything's a kettle. Except for an electric water boiler.. That's just a water boiler ('waterkoker')) - Small question; when running through the uses of the word 'ketel' in my head (central heating unit has one; beer is brewed in massive 'ketels', etc), I find myself thinking... Current day 'ketels' seem to all be vessels that can be closed or sealed (to keep things out, or pressure in).. I'd never thought of it until now (and it's probably a dumb question..), but... Is that a requirement for a kettle? ("Must at least have a lid / be sealable to some degree"?) Seriously wondering

[@mariusvanc]

2:30 a microwave isn't just a device that is CAPABLE of heating up water, it's a device SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO heat water. It's ALL it does!

[@jonathanbuzzard6648]

Wrong it heats oxygen hydrogen bonds, which exist in compounds other than water.

[@mathieu3201]

There is actually a simpler solution than making hybrid stoves: induction adapters. You can find some for about $10~20

[@kellymoses8566]

Those defeat the purpose. It is just an normal electric stove with extra steps.

[@rx80]

@@kellymoses8566 Still more efficient than gas tho

[@xorsyst1]

@@kellymoses8566 Depends on the purpose. If the purpose is "mostly use induction-suitable pans but also be able to use the one nice non-induction piece of cookware you have and only use occasionally", then I think they are a great option.

[@kellymoses8566]

@@xorsyst1 I guess if you REALLY like the pan.

[@watsoft70]

@@kellymoses8566 Not really, it's effectively no different to many induction compatible pan sets out there, just they encase the induction media inside the base. It does exactly what @Mathieu suggests, negates the need for a hybrid stove in order to enjoy that favourite piece of cookware. Should be more energy efficient that most modern electric stoves that lose some energy to the glass/ceramic surface of the hob as it is direct contact with the pan's base.

[@apAvocado]

I ALWAYS learn something new from Alec. Didn’t realize that using the gas stove so much was adding bad stuff to our air. I’ll use the vent hood always from now on.

[@ShokaLion]

The one time I managed to get water to superheat in a microwave was when I warmed it at a low power level on the microwave - which like most microwaves that aren't pretty fancy translates to a less-than-100% duty cycle turning the power on and off, so it got to the point where it was boiling, not boiling, boiling not boiling, boiling not boiling...not boiling... not boiling. Then it eventually blew in the microwave which made a fairly terrifying bang and ended up with extremely hot water streaming out the bottom of the door. This is speaking as a brit who has a 3KW kettle on the side in the kitchen, and as a result is someone who really doesn't heat water in a microwave very often at all. I've probably heated water maybe a dozen times in a microwave in my life, and in amongst those was an instance of superheating. Entirely anecdotal I know.

[@tidenly]

This was cosmic punishment for being a brit and not using the kettle

[@mattparker7568]

Ahh, I didn't know that induction cookware would suffer from induction "coil whine." Thinner materials will be more likely to "whine" while being used as their resonant frequency, or a multiple of it, without enough mass(or equivalent) to dampen the vibration.

[@reubenj77]

I think it's a thing in the cheaper pots,. It might be a weight thing, but the cheaper pots only use a thin disc of inductive material but given the cost savings and therefore light weight make them sing a little more. I think most of the issue is him breaking the thermal paste in the centre of the hob when he opened it, adding an extra vibration source.

[@electricwheelchair]

A few thoughts on this video: - I use the kettle for more things than just tea. Instant soup, instant noodles or just heating the water in the kettle and then pouring it in a pot for pasta or potatoes (to save time). - Superheating water in a microwave is far from rare. Especially in cups it happened to me more often than not. I always put the cup down on the counter before adding something to it.

[@tissuepaper9962]

You're absolutely an anomaly. Millions of Americans boil water in their microwave every day, not to mention tens of thousands of lab techs all over the world. You have to have a perfectly smooth, perfectly clean cup, distilled water, and leave the water in the microwave for *way* too long for it to get superheated.

[@normalmighty]

Whenever I need boiling water to cook with, it's so much faster to just put a tiny amount heating in a pot while the element warms up, and filling a kettle with the rest of the water. The kettle is boiled just a little after the pot gets hot enough to maintain a nice simmer

[@grn1]

After reading a lot of comments and taking my own experiences into account it seems to depend a lot on your water supply. For most people it's extremely rare but for others it's extremely common.

[@fionathegayesttiefling9867]

It makes sense it depends on the specific person because water impurities is one of the big causes (impure water can provide nucleation sites) and that varies greatly

[@SimpleEarthSelfReliance]

This! Boiling water is useful for many things but tea. I rarely drink tea, but boil my gas stove kettle at least twice a day.

[@FuturePerfectEnglish]

Before I moved house, I had an electric ketttle in the living room and a stovetop one in the kitchen. I live in Ukraine, and we had plenty of blackouts last winter. So, whenever I had no electricity, I could use the gas stove to boil some water. The appartment I'm dwelling in now has no gas, and I don't know what to expect this winter. I use my electric kettle because it boils water much faster than the electric stove. But I bought an alcohol burner and a small solid fuel stove to use my stovetop kettle in case of emergency. Electric kettles are super convinient even if you have gas. Stovetop kettles are good too and will help you survive a war, a hurricane or a local power outage. I think it's a good idea to have both wherever you live.

[@Earcandy73]

The UK also loves instant coffee. Up until the time I moved from the UK to the US, drip style coffee makers were incredibly uncommon. Electric percolators were really only used at large public events.

[@jonashelmke2564]

Germany is huge on drip style, they're in every home and every office and are common in all sorts of sizes. Still by far the most common implement for the purpose here.

[@JustinMannn]

I was really surprised by this when I visited for the first time a few years ago. I decided it was kettle related.

[@element5377]

so.. everyone in UK bought an auto drip after you left? they waited for you to leave? those people are strange, and a bit creepy...

[@element5377]

@@jonashelmke2564 the cartridge auto drips are replacing the older paper filter and grounds basket auto drips in the US, because we americans are too lazy, and clumsy for that now. but it takes away controlling the strength of the coffee. some days i like it weak, and sometimes i want to get caffeine shakes

[@jonashelmke2564]

@@element5377 Cartdridge-based devices are also becoming ever more popular here for sure. I also don't like them at all. There's also a steady uprise of large machines with all the bells and whistles of a coffee shop in private homes as they are rapidly becoming more affordable.

[@Yotanido]

I always understood continuous load to be what the device draws while in operation. If the kettle is on and draws X amps, it has a continuous load of X amps. Some devices use significantly more power after turning on, before quickly going down to their normal operation. That initial power requirement would not be continuous. (Think of a table saw that needs to spin up, for example)

[@averywellsand888]

a continuous load is one that is 3 hours or longer according to the nec

[@averywellsand888]

Because the term “continuous load” is in more than one article in the NEC, the definition is in Article 100. It is a load where the maximum current is expected to continue for three hours or more.

[@RipleySawzen]

Anything that gets hot or builds up speed will likely have a burst load, due to the resistance increasing

[@gummybread]

Hmm like a table saw spinning up... Or even Fans; High is next to Off on purpose

[@siberx4]

Many North American hair dryers are rated 1800W, and they're definitely in the "operates for minutes, not seconds or less" region.

[@teddyboragina6437]

when I was younger, in the 90s, everyone I knew (families) had stovetop kettles; but as an adult (2010s) everyone I know has one or more electric kettles. I'm in Canada.

[@davidchristensen6908]

We have one 12 cups and heats in just over 2 mins when full. The coffee make in the room will hot water just as fast as it makes coffee. What a fun video