Travel Kettles

[jack]

The last time I went to Europe, I vowed I would never again to stay in a European hotel without bringing a travel kettle, because I always want tea without having to negotiate in a foreign language for it, and many hotels don't have a kettle in the room, and don't have tea available at breakfast.

However, now I'm looking online, I'm annoyed. Surely travel kettles (ones with actual plugs, not ones designed for camping) are used almost exclusively by british people travelling in Europe?

So they should all (a) be sold in England and (b) be sold with European plugs.

But that does NOT seem to be the case. Who the hell sat down to make a travel kettle, and thought "What kind of plug should it have? A UK plug!" Everyone in the UK I ever want to visit ALREADY HAS a kettle, and doesn't need me bringing 0.4 more kettles!

Non-eponymously, most small kettles don't even use a kettle lead, which more convenient, but you can't swap that out for a european kettle lead.

Or am I just using the wrong search terms? I'm going to stop ranting and buy a normal travel kettle, unless anyone has a better suggestion?

Comments

[andrewducker]

http://www.brandedandnew.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=301

http://www.amazon.co.uk/universal-travel-immersion-heater-protection/dp/B0048SY7L8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374944150&sr=8-2&keywords=Cup+boiler

(Both on page 1 of "Travel kettle european plug")

[jack]

ROFL! It seems Simon's maxim that whenever you complain you can't google for something with the obvious search term, someone else succeeds immediately. Thank you :)

[rochvelleth]

I also feel it necessary to mention the wonderful concept of the UK > European adaptor plug (which can be bought very cheaply IIRC) :) Just in case you were to find that you needed to visit a friend in the UK who :O didn't like hot drinks and didn't have a kettle, so having a UK version might be useful as well as a European version. But NB you can also get European > UK adaptor plugs :)

[gerald_duck]

But for an electric kettle, it's really, really important to get a good adapter. You want one with a genuine 10A rating and genuine earth connection (adapters don't seem to fall under the purview of any one national standards body, so cheap ones appear to get away with false claims).

Also, unlike consumer electronics PSUs, kettles aren't universal voltage, so trying to use a 230V one in the USA won't work. (Using a 110V one in Europe would be even more of a pity, of course.)

I see andrewducker has found some plausible candidates already, but what I'd do if I wanted a travel kettle with a CEE7/7 ("Schuko") plug is go to mainland Europe and buy a travel kettle. (-8

That's how I have a Europlug Nokia charger, for example.

Another option is to buy whatever kettle one most likes then cut off the plug and fit a European one. Or, if one is going to have a "kettle" lead when traveling anyway, maybe an IEC C14 plug.

[gerald_duck]

Oh — a safety addendum. If using a kettle in Germany or other CEE7/4 countries that wasn't originally designed for them, whether through a travel adapter or by replacing the plug, be aware that the plugs and sockets aren't polarised so there's a 50-50 chance you'll be running the kettle with live and neutral swapped.

What with globalisation and all that, most kettles will have been designed to be sold in such markets anyway, but there is a risk that the thermostat will be cutting neutral rather than live, leaving more of the kettle's innards live when "off" than expected. This can't be a big deal, since the kettle's expected to be safe when entirely live, but if in doubt it's worth being a bit careful — unplugging it when not actually in use, etc.

[corrvin]

If it helps any, most US hotels now have a single-serve Keurig-style brewer in the room-- which either dispenses hot water through a coffee pod to make a single cup of coffee, or hot water into a mug to which you can add a teabag. This is fairly new in the past couple of years, though.

Shame about the lack of teakettleosity in Europe.