I notice the boil performance score is the speed to boil 1L of water and shown as a percent, but the actual times are omitted from the review. If I missed it, where please. If the fastest was 100% it could be discerned one at 75% could take 1/3 more time, so that is useful, but none are 100% so that is not your algorithm.
If ‘one’ takes 2 minutes and ‘another’ 2 minutes 20 seconds it might not be interesting. If the ‘another’ took 4 minutes it might be a deal breaker compared to ‘one’.
Has oversimplification happened where useful information has been filtered out?
I don’t want to be waiting for the kettle to boil as long as some seem to be indicating by their boil score. I use a kettle when I want a quickly boiled hit of hot water, I am guessing that almost all use elements that take as much advantage of the current supplied to heat the water. Some obviously do it far better than others and yet do not rate a recommended.
Maybe a better performance measure is efficiency…namely energy/electricity consumed per litre of water. This may be more of an interest to consumers than how quick it boils water.
4,184J per kg of water per deg C temperature rise.
One litre of water at tap temperature 20-25C is approx 1kg.
To heat 1.0l of water from 20C to 100C requires 80x4184J = 334.7kJ
For a 2,000W kettle, time to boil 334.7/2 = 167.4seconds.
(IE 2 min 47 sec).
For 2l double the time.
It’s interesting in the Choice review just how long some kettles took.
The big question is whether those with low efficiency were loosing (wasting) energy, or performed with lower than specified wattage? Which is what I read several of the more recent posts to be asking. There is an energy efficiency score in the detailed test results for each kettle.
Perhaps a more detailed explanation on how the calculations were performed might be of benefit in improving understanding? In particular how the bench mark for time to boil was set. These scores do not align with the comparative time taken to boil. The relative efficiency of the majority of the kettles is in a very narrow range. Close enough to suggest that in everyday use it is minor to insignificant.
Hey @grahroll, passing on a reply from Kim, the team leader of the household department.
We realise some people have different priorities when it comes to the very important issue of making a cuppa so people can filter the scores to help them make their own decisions.
Some years ago our weightings didn’t tend to show much of a differentiation between the kettles. Most were noisy, for instance. So we decided to look at the ‘ease of use score’ as one differentiator - it’s got to score at least 80% for this, as well as high enough overall, to be recommended.
The boil performance score is based on how long it takes to boil one litre of water. The kettle with the 66% score is still an OK score, and it took 3 min 30 seconds to boil one litre with that model. As a comparison, a model that scores 80% for this will boil one litre in 3 min 7 seconds.
We test our kettles in a lab environment with regulated voltage and temperature/humidity controlled conditions so that they can be compared fairly. In reality, the time it takes to boil water will vary depending on how cold the water is when you put it in, how much is in the kettle, the ambient temperature, and even your home’s voltage. The performance score only takes up 10% of the overall score, as they’re all within a similar 30-40 second ‘ballpark’. So, you might have your water a few seconds faster, but the kettle might be awkward to hold, fill or pour, for instance, or you mightn’t be able to see the markings on the kettle etc.
Hope this information helps provide context on our scoring.
I have been a Choice subscriber for many years. I have two suggestions which I invite Choice to consider when next reviewing Electric Kettles. Two additional topics under which Kettles should be assessed:
1/ How long does it take after the water is actively boiling before the kettle automatically switches off. I suggest this is an important factor because collectively, a lot of electric power is wasted between the time the water is actively boiling, and the auto switch off. PLEASE NOTE - This time lapse is different from the time taken to boil the water.
2/ We recently bought a Sunbeam Morning Frost Glass Kettle - Model KE6200. The pouring spout at the top of this kettle is so poorly designed, that if the kettle is near full, the water must be poured quite slowly to avoid water spillage down the front of the kettle and the side of the teapot. It is clearly the design of the plastic filter in the pouring spout which is the cause of this problem. This fault causes a burn risk and benchtop mess. It would seem that a re-design of the spout filter could easily fix this irritating problem.
I merged your topic into this about the reviews since many readers may be interested in the aspects you raised, and @ChrisBarnes might reply on the feasibility or perhaps comment on why they are designed to runon beyond the boil as they are
As a consumer, if you have not yet done so, you might send Sunbeam a comment. Sometimes they listen and execute on the next product update, sometimes they explain the tradeoffs they made, and sometimes one receives happy platitudes, but nothing ventured…
I had a standard plastic sunbeam kettle with the window and red ball (which always gets mouldy) but eventually bits of plastic started appearing in my coffee cup as I poured… what was happening was that the way the window was fixed to the side of the kettle (internally) was failing, and eventually the entire thing disintegrated (internally). I was happy to lose the red ball but I worried for a while that the external window would fail so I got rid of it. I now have a 1L sunbeam kettle which is all metal with a plastic window and its noisy as hell, and burns if you touch it accidentally. Last metal one I will have.
On the matter of those fancy looking kettles with miniscule lids… how do you clean them?
I always buy the Contempo brand electric kettles from Big W . They are stainless steel and on special sell for around $20 . The last one I purchased 4 years ago and still going strong . I have a spare unopened as I purchased 2 whilst they were on special .
Once a decade you buy a brilliant product. It’s a stove top kettle it’s made by Fellow Industries. The product is called raven and it is a combined kettle where you boil the water and then a teapot - it contains a steeper. It has a temperature gauge to boil to the perfect temperature for herbal, green and black teas. It has a weighted handle with ergonomic design so if you like me have arthritis it is a dream to use. And as it is also the kettle you can get two or three perfect temperature ups of tea.
Fellow also has electric kettles. It’s not cheap at around $135 but it is worth it in my opinion. Perhaps a great gift for someone you know who could use a kettle.
I was wondering why I’d consider the product. I looked online at the brand website.
Objectively, the Fellow Raven looks like a poor choice for the average consumer. Despite the features there are other arguably more practical alternatives. We’ve several teapots including one with a removable steeper in the top and a couple of Bodun products. All cost much less and come in a wide range of sizes, for one to multiple cups.
The Fellow product warns against having the glass flame too high or choosing too large a heating element on an electric. This is for fear of damaging/melting the handle on the Raven? There are other warnings in the user manual re damage due to melting the stove top tea maker. We’ve a gas cook top and a wood fired stove. I doubt the Raven wood be a suitable choice with either.
When we have lost electrical power, the old fashioned broad based SS kettle has done standby. It’s a slow way to boil water. The most efficient way to boil water is in an electric kettle, rather than on a stove top. Which leaves one to ask whether the Raven and the other Fellow products are a wise choice for our future needs. If one has no choice induction cooktops are the most efficient of the stove top options.
It would be interesting to see how the Raven teapot kettle compares in a Choice test.
