On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:46:20 GMT, spamlet wrote:

I wonder about those little bundles of wire I used to see in old
ladies kettles, that somehow stop the furring up: how do they work,

Increase the surface area available for scale deposition thus less gets
deposited on the kettle.

and what are they made of?

Stainless steel wire.

We have a kettle at work which has a "keep hot" switch on it,

Our domestic kettle has that feature. We tend to use it to get hot water
for coffee or ho****er bottles. It doesn't get to quite a full boil so
isn't used for tea so it may save a little energy. Trouble is it is and on
or off feature it's not a one shot. So unless you remember to turn it off,
the kettle will sit there turning itself on for about 30" every few
minutes. A 3kW I suspect that will soon add up to canceling any saving
from not heating the water to a full boil and add to the power bill. I've
been wondering if it can be made one shot...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail