You can keep your Sunbeam, I love my Zojirushi 3-liter hot water dispenser. Hot water dispensers like this are used in almost every home and office in Japan. I fill it up and turn it on when I get to my office, and all day long I can have hot tea any time.
Although at home I use a Breville electric kettle, which is also awesome - it doesn’t maintain temperature, but it’s much more powerful (1500W vs 700W) than the Zo. Ours gets used at least 4 times a day, and we’ve had it for 6 years. Still works just fine.
(By the way, in that Sunbeam page under “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:”, why is there a hard case for a compound bow??)
I got introduced to the kettle by my late husband, who was British. I have one at work and one at home. I drink hot or cold tea all day at work, so that one gets used a lot. Using a microwave for heating water is NOT the same at all.
I don’t have a kettle…but I have an instant hot water system in my sink. It’s basically a little hot water heater. I have a faucet that gives me near boiling water any time I want it, suitable for tea, or for my french press coffee.
Back in January, my boss (also very good friend) and I were talking at work about how much she loved her electric kettle. I mentioned I’d always wanted one, but couldn’t really justify it. I had a perfectly good kettle for the stove top. The next week when I came in she had bought me this: Bella Tea Kettle. I love it! I have no idea how I ever lived without one.
That took me back. Apparently — I don’t know if I ever saw one working ---- British ( and I’ll assume American ) houses from say the 1940s to 70s had little mains gas supplied water heaters very similar hanging over the kitchen sink with spouts going down. Except obviously for washing water, not to drink ( I think ). And very dangerous looking too.
I have 10Amp power circuits, giving 2300W at 230 Volt.
If you have a 20Amp power circuit to the kitchen, giving 2300W at 115 Volt, then you can heat water just as fast as I can.
But actually, my electric kettle is only 800W. You use a bigger element if you want to heat more water. Using 2400W to heat 2 cups makes it more expensive, flaky, dangerous and fragile, but yes, faster. I’ve seen a single cup 2000W device.
Hover mowers and electric kettles. Two things that are surprisingly rare in the US, apparently. As others have said, the difference in mains voltage could be part of it.
Actually, and despite the fact I loathe gardening and maintaining lawns instead of natural rough grass, a hover mower held by the wrists and cushioned on a bed of air would be a lot more adaptable for hilly ground than either type of rigid mower pushed around.
A goat would be better still.
No argument about the goat but my lawn mower propels itself uphill and can be used at a right angle to the hill. A hover mower can do neither. Now a perfectly level lawn would be fine for a floating mower.
They’re very common over here. In previous discussions of this topic, people have conjectured that electric hover mowers wouldn’t sell in the US market due to lower voltage, or safety risks (people mowing over the electric cable, their own feet, etc.). I’m not sure how plausible these explanations are. We have lots of heath and safety regulations here too. Maybe the lack of self-propulsion is a valid reason.
Lawns and lawncare are surprisingly dangerous. Amongst read about deaths I remember, one was a police officer set on fire by a petrol mower; and one was a teenage girl dancing in the wet grass the morning after her birthday, where there was a live electric cable. Both a long time ago.
Actually, I’ve got an electric one hanging over the sink at work. And it’s only for drinking–it’s too hot for any other use.
But yes, the gas heaters I was familiar with were not for drinking. They were instant-heat, which only switched on when there was a good flow, which meant that if they were hot, there was too much water, and if you only tried to fill a cup, it wasn’t hot. The maxium temperature wasn’t boiling, and the mininimum temperature was cold.
This. It keeps a tank of water hot at all times (you can put it on a timer so it shuts off for X hours, e.g. at night). Cup of tea NOW, no waiting for water to heat up. It’s insulated, so it can do this with minimal daily average power consumption. Great for tea, or for mixing boullion to make soup stock, or anything else that needs boiling hot water.
