On Tue, 08 Mar 2016 19:45:27 -0000, "Mr Macaw" wrote:


They don't seem beefy to me. I don't see why a small electric motor at 240V
would use 5 amps.

They just do. They're rated at around a kW. Decent ones more than that. We haven't used pathetic little 350W motors for about 40 years.

The typical vacuum here is rated at 2HP with some kind of phony rating
system but they usually do pull 10a or so. That makes it comparable to
what you are talking about. Some actually approach that maximum 1440w
that you can legally put on a 15a circuit.
Since these things are manufactured for an international market I bet
they perform about the same. They do make special cords that are
"vacuum rated" and I think that is basically that they use higher temp
insulation rating since it is still a pretty small cord. They do run
warm to the touch.

A 1 hp motor uses about 7. Even my shop type
vac has a cord that I'd say is about the size of a pencil.

I had a shopvac, it was at least a kW.

I have had a number of shop vacs and, side by side, there are plenty
of canister vacs used inside the home that are stronger and blow
harder than the 2 shop vacs I have (what I was testing). That is the
same thing though, since this is still just an air pump.
That shop vac is only special because of the bigger hopper and that
some can handle a bit of water.


Or they take a minimal gauge cord and plug 6 things into it.

Never heard of a fuse?
They do not fuse plugs here, except for cheap asian christmas lights
with wire that is less than a mm (20 ga)

Or they string together
several short ones, that aren't in the greatest shape, etc. Plus
they are a trip hazard. Plugging a hot plate or similar in on an
extension, you could trip on the extension and have a hot pot of
water land on you.

Don't people watch where they're going anymore? When did this silly phrase "trip hazard" get invented? If you're going to claim to have evolved to walk on two feet, you need to watch where they go.

This is becoming a nanny state. You can' do anything without bumping
into laws about helmets, seat belts, guard rails etc. A damned ladder
has to have about 15 labels warning of bad things that happen if you
actually climb up it.

240 equipment is generally going to be fixed in place anyway.

I will say that in my travels I was impressed with the 240v tea
kettle, if you really make that much tea.

So what are your kettles? 110 volts and 1.5kW? That would take an age to boil. Or do they have a 30 amp flex?

~1.5KW is what they are. I would agree, 240V for that would be real
sweet. Still the 120V electric kettle can heat it faster than using
the range and more efficiently.

I find the 3kW one too slow if it's full.

I can see that. The 120V one here I used to heat about a liter of
water to make coffee or tea. If I need more water than that, I do
it on the stove. I agree having a 240V electric kettle would be a
very handy thing. I never thought about it until you brought it up.
Maybe we can get something started here, put in 240V receptacles for
new kitchens. I'd like it.

Nothing to stop you putting in 240V sockets in your kitchen, then buying a UK kettle from Ebay etc.


Absolutely true. I admit, if I was actually boiling that much water, I
would do it. We can buy a duplex outlet that has 240 and 120 in the
same device and the 240 side would not even have to be GFCI (RCD).
Since it is required to have two 120v circuits serving the counter top
it would be trivial to bring that from both sides of the center tap
with a neutral and split it right there for your two required 120v
circuits.
I was impressed by the 240v kettles in New Zealand but once I got
home, I realized, we don't drink tea. Coffee makers work fine on 120
and most do not even approach the 1440w available. A drip maker can
just "drip" so fast without overloading the filter pan. Even the big
commercial units are still 120v and commercial kitchens always have
240 available.

I guess the bottom line is this side of the pond is 120v and it is
going to stay that way. We seem to get by.

OK now explain why you drive on the wrong side of the road ;-)