• scarabic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    16 hours ago

    You can’t. You can’t use European 240V kettles in the US because of phase differences (or something - an electrician told me so and declined the job to give me an outlet even though he accepted and performed other work for me).

    No one to my knowledge has marketed a 240V kettle for the US market. It’s a business idea for anyone who wants to pick it up.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      15 hours ago

      The issue isn’t the voltage. It is the wattage. UK kettles draw 3kW. US outlets are (typically) only rated for 2.4kW. We can easily get dedicated 30A, 120v outlets that will provide 3.6kW.

      US 240v is not the same as UK 240v.

      The UK uses a single live phase, (240v with respect to ground), and a neutral (0v with respect to ground).

      The US uses two live phases. Each phase is 120v with respect to ground, but they are 180 degrees apart from eachother. Phase to phase is 240V, but either phase to ground is 120v.

      A UK kettle expects its neutral phase to be at the same potential as ground, which can’t happen in the US without a 1-to-1 transformer

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Sounds like it would amount to much the same thing: you’d need some special wiring, and a kettle made to take advantage of it. No one has made that kettle.

        Just curious though, since you seem to understand electricity better than I.

        If it’s as you say, and all we need to do to get more energy is to raise the amps, then why do Americans still install 240V lines for laundry machines, ovens, large power tools, etc etc? Why don’t any of those just do what you said, and operate 120V at 30 amps?