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Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

U. K. 240v vs. 120v in the U. S., twice the voltage == twice the amperage (EDIT: oops, wattage, for the same amps) == half the time to boiling. I will note that doubling the voltage will still not make it "instant". For that I think you need liquid oxygen[0].

[0] https://improbable.com/2018/10/26/a-look-back-at-george-gobl...

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Twice the voltage == half the amperage for the same wattage. Are UK kettles higher wattage?

Actually yes, around double the wattage. It's one of the things English people notice when they move to the US (true!).

3000 glorious watts

US circuits are about 15 amps; UK ones similar - but twice the volts.

So a US kettle is about 1500 watts, a UK one 3000.

You can get commercial water boilers in the US if you need.

or just use an insta-hot tap which is infinitely faster than an electric kettle. or a plain old kettle on an induction cooktop which will also be faster than a single purpose electric kettle.

You can also simply keep water near boiling.

All the time? That's very inefficient, especially when running your boiler outside heating season and without a vacuum flask.

The actual solution is to boil small quantities of water. I can boil one cup in 90 seconds or so, even with the 120v handicap.

Sure, but efficiency wasn't the goal here. Anyway I use hot water enough (~6-10 times daily) that I don't mind spending extra for it

Or boil a larger quantity and fill it into a thermos. Perfectly fine for instant coffee throughout the day. (And without the coffee stains in the thermos.)

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