# Minimal fill levels on electric kettles **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518 "2022-06-01T19:36:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/61 "2022-06-06T13:56:37Z")
Oh yes, it’s very annoying - I buy travel kettles because I can’t lift a larger kettle, and it’s annoying paying more for worse performance. But that’s what I meant by mini kettles. Looking at Curry’s as a reasonable gauge of what powers were available, though, there are also a surprising number of full-size kettles available that are around 1400w, and cost about £12-16. Almost all of the full-size kettles were 3000w, but there are a few that aren’t. I just mentioned them to be clear about what types were available, TBH. ---
**Author:** ![Kettle1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea5d25/32.png) [@Kettle1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kettle1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/62 "2022-11-17T14:36:53Z")
Thank you for all the contributions to this thread. It answered my question “can I use the kettle with less water than shown on the scale?”. Mine is a cheap jug-kettel, 0.5l to 1.7l, simple on-off boil. Its a UK 230v 3kw model, little tube to receive steam vapours and so forth. It has boil-dry protection (usual in the UK, to protect against fire). I put in a mug of water from empty, and it boiled it, and switched it off as it should, just fine. I have measured water required for the tea pot previously; “good enough” is accurate enough. It saves me time, a very, very little money and a little CO2. However you can save more if you regularly use a limescale remover, or citric acid crystals, and this makes much the biggest difference. And for similar reasons, in a dishwasher, washing machine, coffee maker etc. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/63 "2022-11-17T14:52:10Z")
i think the closest common thing thats used like an electric kettle is a keruig type of machine ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/64 "2022-11-17T15:00:06Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > [@bob\_2](#): > > > > I know that British kettles are different (they boil twice as fast for one)… > > It’s not the kettle, _per se_. It’s that the UK uses 220 current, not the 110 that is standard here, right? Alec Watson of Technology Connections goes into this issue: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_yMMTVVJI4c/maxresdefault.jpg "Why don't Americans use electric kettles?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/65 "2022-11-17T15:12:53Z")
discussions about electric kettles on this chat site prompted me to buy one. I used to heat water on the stove in my little cast iron tea pot, and I’d just let it go until it boiled. Some water usually spilled out, which annoyed my husband. So my husband is grateful for all of you, even if he doesn’t know it. The new kettle has a thermostat, so I can set it to heat to boiling, or to 200F, or 180F, or really, anything I might want for tea or coffee. And then it holds the temp for about half an hour, and then it shuts off. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/66 "2022-11-17T18:42:05Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The new kettle has a thermostat, so I can set it to heat to boiling, or to 200F, or 180F, or really, anything I might want for tea or coffee. And then it holds the temp for about half an hour, and then it shuts off. link? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/67 "2022-11-17T19:38:31Z")
Pricier than I remembered, but it’s basically perfect. [Adjustable Temperature Pour-Over Kettle (oxo.com)](https://www.oxo.com/adjustable-temperature-pour-over-kettle.html?) ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/68 "2022-11-18T00:16:54Z")
> [@Jacob Swan](#): > > Dougal: Ted, what would happen if I turned on the kettle without putting any water into it? > Ted: Well Dougal, I’d imagine it would blow up and you would be picking lumps of metal out of your face for the next three years. Your face would become all blotchy and you would get some kind of fish lips. > Dougal: Like Father Bigley? > Ted: Exactly like Father Bigley! > Dougal: Maybe that’s what happened him. Hah! Got there before me 🐇 Kettles with an automatic turn-off are great - I’m old enough to remember the time before they were invented, and people would have to remember to turn the kettle off. It was interesting to hear of the boiling ethanol etc., experiments still tripping off an electric kettle, I always thought it was a temperature threshold trip. Maybe it is, and it’s the enthalpy of condensation that dumps enough energy in the cut-off mechanism to trip it, even with ethanol. I’m curious now, am looking it up… here we go: it seems to vary, either a bi-metallic disc spring that changes shape when heated, or a pressure-sensitive trip. Either way, these are located in the handle, so no contact with the water, but there is a steam path to the trip mechanism, and neither type works with the kettle lid open. Apparently the trip temperature threshold is quite low (hence the tripping on boiling ethanol), but without steam being generated there’s no way to heat them sufficiently to trip. In the case of someone boiling a modern kettle dry (by leaving the lid off, say) there will be a one-shot thermal fuse near the element to cut the current. This was not always the case, as Father Bigley can no doubt testify. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/69 "2022-11-18T08:35:33Z")
> [@Fridgemagnet](#): > > people would have to remember to turn the kettle off Or be reminded by the extremely loud and shrill whistling. I still have a whistling kettle (for use during blackouts) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/70 "2022-11-18T09:22:41Z")
If you go on a cruise from a British port, you will most likely have an electric kettle, mugs, etc in your cabin. When they sail from American ports the kettles ae all taken away. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518/71 "2022-11-18T11:40:56Z")
American hotels customarily supply a drip coffee maker rather than an electric kettle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minimal-fill-levels-on-electric-kettles/965518.md?page=3)