[didroe]

In the UK and Ireland (and maybe elsewhere?), a kettle lead is actually C13. I guess you need a beefier cable/pins in the US, as you're drawing more current at a lower voltage.

Most kettles now have a base with an integrated cable though, so the name doesn't really correspond with the cable's most common usage any more.

[drbawb]

>I guess you need a beefier cable/pins in the US, as you're drawing more current at a lower voltage.

No, we just accept slow-as-piss kettles.[1] (Our plugs aren't great, either, it's pretty common for a spark to jump the gap of the leads while you're plugging it in.)

High wattage appliances here have an effective max of like 1.8kW on a single-phase 120V outlet, it makes for pretty useless space heaters and kettles. You could probably beat our kettles with an induction cooktop just by virtue of the stove being able to use two phases.

Truly it's a tragedy for those of us addicted to our hot beverages.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMMTVVJI4c

[dylan604]

>it's pretty common for a spark to jump the gap of the leads while you're plugging it in.

how are you plugging it in? Are you plugging the mains end into the wall before you plug the kettle end? That's truly bizarre to me, and goes against everything

[mplewis9z]

> it's pretty common for a spark to jump the gap of the leads while you're plugging it in

If you’re referring to seeing a spark while plugging something in, that’s just current jumping from the socket to the pin that’s entering it - it’s nowhere near possible for current to jump between the pins on a single plug (in air, at least). The distance between pins was specifically designed to prevent that possibility at the given voltages.

Not saying our plugs aren’t poorly designed, just that that’s not one of their problems.

[overstay8930]

> it's pretty common for a spark to jump the gap of the leads while you're plugging it in

Do you live underwater?

[wrs]

Indeed, our new cooktop in “power boost” mode boils water ridiculously fast. Our kettle is embarrassed.

[JdeBP]

I had a friend who was easily teased by this, but he was quite right, and you are wrong. Kettle leads in the U.K. have never been C13, and "kettle lead" for a C13 power lead is a misnomer just as much in the U.K. as it is elsewhere.

When kettle power cords weren't captive, as they are nowadays, they weren't C13. Non-captive kettle cords from the middle 20th century were round pin, for starters, and not like the (later) IEC standard at all. Here's a round-pin electric kettle from the 1960s, for example:

https://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/aibdc-02510

And "hot condition" or "high current" leads for other devices are not C13 now. Here's a high current power lead from Toolstation, for example:

https://www.toolstation.com/uk-plug-to-hot-iec-lead/p21431?u...

It's mis-labelled "C13" but it's clearly a C15 with a notch. Contrast with an actual C13 lead from Toolstation:

https://www.toolstation.com/uk-plug-to-iec-lead/p29256?utm_s...

Here's a hot condition power lead from BKA, for another example, which is again a C15:

https://www.bka.co.uk/iec-c15-hot-condition-power-leads

[quietbritishjim]

That first link doesn't support your point. No one would claim that all kettles ever sold in the UK have C13 cables. (No one would even claim that none use C15 – after all, some companies will surely just use the same design across all markets if possible.) This particular kettle is before C13 and C15 were even standardised.

The website it's from has a fair number of kettles from the relevant time period (1980s and early 90s). These two (which seem to be variants of the same model) [1,2] have an OKish view of the power connector and look more likely to fit C13 than C15 from what I can make out (no notch). This one [3] is clearly for C15 though, but as I say it's not a surprise that some exist.

[1] https://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/aibdc-001258

[2] https://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/aibdc-02488

[3] https://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/aibdc-003345

[sangnoir]

> In the UK and Ireland (and maybe elsewhere?)

I think its just the UK and Ireland where there's a demand for "high performance" kettles. The rest of the world is condemned to waiting longer boiling periods due lower-wattage kettles. I've had a British expat audibly exasperated by my kettle.