In article ,
Andrew Gabriel andrew@a17 wrote:

What's actually happened, as with so many other appliances, is
that kettles have changed from being capital purchases into
consumables. Manufacturers have cleverly changed peoples'
expectations, and kettles, like light bulbs, are no longer
expected to last for years. This gives the manufacturers a
higher and more predicably stable revenue stream. As geoff
said, he chucks his when the element dies, which is a bit
like chucking out your desklamp every time the light bulb dies.
[snip]

Hmph.... Have a look at the purchase price of a nightlight,
(which comes with a spare bulb), versus the cost of buying
a replacement 7W bulb.... assuming a 7W can be found.

I now just strip all the photocell gubbins out, and feed
the bulb from a 1N4007 diode. This enormously extends the
bulb life and allows a higher wattage bulb in there, if
neccessary.

I still have a 30 year old Russell Hobbs stainless steel
kettle which just predates the conversion into consumables.
I can't see any reason why it won't carry on going another
30 years. A couple of years ago, it spent a while being
used as a builders kettle, and got very mucky. I decided
to take it apart to thoroughly clean all the plaster etc
from it, and it came up like knew.

Yes, I have a stainless Russell Hobbs here in the workshop,
and a spare switch and element, just in case. The big
weakness of this kettle is that the spout is soldered on,
with no extra mechanical assistance. We had a girl in the
factory who would insist on filling it via the spout.
That little 'clink' against the tap, several times a day,
would regularly crack the joint, starting a leak. It is
definitely not an easy joint to remake.

--
Tony Williams.