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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,498
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Originally Posted by sparkyinak
This is an long running post of days ago but it is the first for me. I did not read through 5 pages of comment so I apologize before hand if it duplicates someone else's comment.
If I understood the OP, correctly, why would you want to even do that? European power supply is 240V at 50Hz. No telling how the heating element perform and if it has any electronics in it, what will happen to them. I'm no engineer but I would think the heating element will run a little hotter that could degrade the heating element because it may be operation out if its design element.


Keep in mind, my comments are based on only the OP

Well 240 V (US live-to-live in a 120/240 V 3-wire setup) is slightly higher than 230 V so in theory a US supply running at the upper permissible voltage limit might exceed the kettle's rating of 230 V + 10%. That would indeed cause the element to run hotter and possibly fail prematurely. However, I have no idea how much of a detrimental effect this would have. Probably none - I haven't heard of any equipment failing when the nominal voltage was increased from 220 V +/- 10% to 230 +/-10 % back in the 80s and 90s in most European countries.

Kettles usually don't contain any electronics and are a purely resistive load, so they couldn't care less about frequency, you could probably feed them DC. All that's in there is a heating element and a switched thermal cutout that shuts the kettle off once the water boils.

Actually there's a fun video of two Brits connecting a kettle to medium voltage - it lasts fine up to 8 kV instead of 230 V and only explodes at 10 kV! Water boils in an instant at 8 kV! Maybe 240 V + 10% would make your element fail after 20 years instead of 25 but to be honest the switch is likely to fail long before that.

Joined: Jul 2004
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I think the point in using these 230v tea kettles is that they do put out more than 1440 watts.

I do agree the wording could be taken two ways but it is still not unusual to see 240v receptacles in a dwelling and they leave it up to the user to decide what they plug in.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Jul 2004
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BTW I have come around/woke up and you are right, they do mean dwelling.

But I still say how would this be enforced. I can put a 6-15 in the living room or even on the kitchen counter and it is legal. Without a GFCI I am going to be hard to get along with but it is legal as far as I know.



Greg Fretwell
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 66
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Originally Posted by gfretwell
BTW I have come around/woke up and you are right, they do mean dwelling.

But I still say how would this be enforced. I can put a 6-15 in the living room or even on the kitchen counter and it is legal. Without a GFCI I am going to be hard to get along with but it is legal as far as I know.




That is true, I cant see it being enforced. But I think American manufacturers are the ones enforcing it as I have never seen an appliance less that 1600 watts with a NEMA 6-15.

FWIW they do make adapters that can be bought online that allow Schuko to go into a NEMA 6-15.


Why a risk exists running an alarm clock at 240 in the eyes of the NEC I have no idea but 6-15 can be placed anywhere, even a bedroom. GFCI and AFCI protection can pass too.

Last edited by Meadow; 12/21/14 01:50 AM.
Joined: Sep 2011
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Originally Posted by Texas_Ranger
Originally Posted by sparkyinak
This is an long running post of days ago but it is the first for me. I did not read through 5 pages of comment so I apologize before hand if it duplicates someone else's comment.
If I understood the OP, correctly, why would you want to even do that? European power supply is 240V at 50Hz. No telling how the heating element perform and if it has any electronics in it, what will happen to them. I'm no engineer but I would think the heating element will run a little hotter that could degrade the heating element because it may be operation out if its design element.


Keep in mind, my comments are based on only the OP

Well 240 V (US live-to-live in a 120/240 V 3-wire setup) is slightly higher than 230 V so in theory a US supply running at the upper permissible voltage limit might exceed the kettle's rating of 230 V + 10%. That would indeed cause the element to run hotter and possibly fail prematurely. However, I have no idea how much of a detrimental effect this would have. Probably none - I haven't heard of any equipment failing when the nominal voltage was increased from 220 V +/- 10% to 230 +/-10 % back in the 80s and 90s in most European countries.

Kettles usually don't contain any electronics and are a purely resistive load, so they couldn't care less about frequency, you could probably feed them DC. All that's in there is a heating element and a switched thermal cutout that shuts the kettle off once the water boils.

Actually there's a fun video of two Brits connecting a kettle to medium voltage - it lasts fine up to 8 kV instead of 230 V and only explodes at 10 kV! Water boils in an instant at 8 kV! Maybe 240 V + 10% would make your element fail after 20 years instead of 25 but to be honest the switch is likely to fail long before that.


The US supply tends to be very fixed in my experience. I rarely see a 120/240 supply go over 126/253 which would be considered the max limit in most cases. Generally supplies hold constantly between 116/232 to 123/246.


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