What KW power kettle do others use on site ?

We currently use a 1kw kettle in the motorhome when on site hook up (at home we have a 3kw kettle) anything below 1kw seems to take an age to boil (although we are happy with the 1kw kettle) but just thinking when we go to France is this still OK? There have been occasions when on site where without realising the water heater has been on, the Ultraheat heater, the TV, lighting, and the 1kw kettle all at once presumably this is pushing things? Do we have to be more conservative with the power say when in France?

Hi CC,

As regards to available 'amperage' ..... things have got a lot better in France of late, but I think you would be 'pushing it' a bit with a 3kw kettle ...... we use our low wattage camping (two cup) kettle ..... agreed a bit slow, but then what's the hurry ??

Brian

Hi there,

One of the great things about living in "Petal" is that we don't have a kettle and don't drink "instant" coffee.

We use one of these for great tasting coffee and without the need for EHU.

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Best regards,

We have always used a 1kW kettle in France and I do not recall ever having a problem

Going back to our tugging days we have always used 750w low wattage kettles also toaster is low wattage 750w

750w here and a 750w toaster. Its not just the site supply that you have to worry about but the capacity of the miniture circuit breakers (MCB's). You will find they vary but most 3 pin sockets are on a 10amp mcb. So using ohms law 10amp multiplied by 240v gived you 2.4kw max for all of the sockets combined and also the elctric fire or water heater could be on the same mcb.

The number of times I get called out because of overloaded motorhomes is truely amazing. You should look at your breakers and see what is connected to each one and then manage your supply accordingly.

Thanks all or the replies..... 1kw is the most we would go for in the motorhome, just wanted to check it was ok which going from the replies it seems to be providing I keep an eye on what else is running and minimise any high draw items while the kettle is on the boil


CC

We've given up with the low power electric kettles and just use gas.
I know if you've paid for ECU is doesn't make a lot of sense, but the amount of gas used is pretty small ... and we drink a lot of tea .

John

hoopman wrote:and we drink a lot of tea .

John

Hi John,

That's the main reason we use the low wattage one (to cut down on Mrs Deckie's tea consumption) ..... Chris won't use Site Loo's ...... and I'm the Cassette 'lugger'

Brian

Mine's 750W.

Yes, it's slow but, as Brian said earlier, you're on holiday so why hurry? To me it's a regular reminder to enjoy the slower pace of life...

We switched from a 750w to a 950w watt last year. It's quite surprising how much quicker that 200w makes it (and the kettle is bigger).

We use a 1kw kettle, it's sufficient for us and has only every tripped the electric once when we were on a low power site in Italy.

We also have a low power travel kettle which my wife refuses to use these days for good reason.

You see in our pre-motorhoming days, we had just arrived at our hotel in Malta and my wife filled the
kettle plugged it in and all the power went off.

I said " you did change the voltage on the kettle didn't you.?"
"No, didn't know I had too"

Well a couple months previous we had been on holiday in the Dominican Republic,
so looking at the bottom kettle I quickly changed the voltage from 240v to 110v.

"That's done it, it's still on 110v, you've blown all the electrics"
Well the look on my wife face was a picture. We went down to reception to report
it and all the electric was off in the hotel. Oh * Inappropriate Word * it's all off, you've blown all the electrics
in the hotel. I think it best we don't say anything.

Later on we went for a drive in our hire car and notice there was no electric on in the shops.
Your in serious trouble if they find out, you've blown all the entire island's electric supply.

"What just with a little kettle ?"
"Yes, 240v and 110v are not compatible".

Well a couple of hours went by before I let her off the hook.
But I can't tell you what she called me.

Zozzer wrote:
Well a couple of hours went by before I let her off the hook.
But I can't tell you what she called me.

Brian

Every electrical appliance has a label with the power used by the device. Divide the power by the site AC voltage and you get the current. Its the current we always see on information usually supplied by camp sites.  So 750watt kettle divided by 230 AC volts and you get 3.26 amps.
We have an 800watt microwave, 800/230=3.47amps, but to start a microwave it requires double that amount, so be careful.

We've had lessons on Ohms law recently , see this thread.


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Paulmold wrote:We've had lessons on Ohms law recently , see this thread.


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We use a 750w kettle which,  without the aid of Ohm's law which remains irrelevant,  takes just over 3amps. ACSI sites normally guarantee you 6 A. Your water heater takes about 4A so 750w kettle plus water heater is OK if you have 10A but not on 6A.  We switch things off as necessary and  seldom have a problem.

We use a Russell Hobbs Model # 14178
1080 watt
Very good

I seem to be agreeing with Inspiredron an awful lot..... same for us 750w but we make sure other things are turned off whilst the kettle boils if in doubt - never had a problem yet!