After a chilly start yesterday, the sun shone and the temperature climbed. My daughter suggested a walk round the next village, combined with dropping her off to collect her car, so we had a catch up chat whilst enjoying the sunshine.
Choir practice in church was at 0 degrees. There was a bit of warmth in the chancel radiators but it had little effect on the ancient stones.
Alas, one thing of the things my church is lacking is gravestones, possibly due to being in a warehouse in an industrial area with a tarmac car park instead of a graveyard.
You never know - there could be a king of England buried under it.
*I am the Elder Responsible for Ensuring our Sepulchres Remain Whitened.
That is a splendid title - if it's your own work, magnificent! If it's the church's work... also magnificent!
It's my own work. I sign off each report thusly, but that title somehow never makes it into the official record. I think I'm officially the Gravestone Bequest Convener.
Fun story - one of the gravestones which has a bequest attached was cleaned and relettered. It looked brand new afterwards. We weren't aware of any existing family. It turned out that there were descendants who lived some distance away, but who paid an annual visit on a significant date. They were astounded to see the gravestone and contacted the church for an explanation. They were even more astounded to hear that a bequest had been attached to the stone in the 1960s, and was still being honoured. And they made a very nice donation to the church as a thank-you for doing what we are legally and morally obliged to do anyway.
I strongly suspect that none of the bequests are known to the families. Generally, people only left gravestone maintenance bequests if they didn't have family to take responsibility, or at any rate if they didn't have family locally.
Wise Shipmates, are you au fait with the science of Boiling a Kettle? Can you advise?
Our kettle has a mark to show the level to fill for 1 /2/3/4 cups. I filled ours to the 2 cup level to make tea for the NE Man and myself, and switched it on. He switched it off, added more water, and switched it back on.
He explained that if you fill to the 2 cup level for two cups, then, when you have poured out the two cups, the kettle is left hot and empty. And this is a bad thing. For two cups, you should fill to the 3 cup level, so that there is a protective cupful of water left in the kettle afterwards.
My initial reaction was similar to last week, when he explained to me the correct way to use an ATM. I am fully conversant with the whole Boiling a Kettle skillset, and managed perfectly well unsupervised prior to his retirement.
But I have a niggling doubt. Is he right? I don't think he can be right, because if he is, surely I'd be killing off kettles on a regular basis? And yet, it sounds as though it could be true?
I don't know if he's right or not, but I do like to leave a little water in the kettle after I've poured out the boiling water, rather than empty it completely - but I do empty it completely when I'm boiling water for washing up (it not being worth switching the immersion heater on for that small amount of water).
I think the better question is whether using 50% more energy heating 3 cups of water rather than two is more or less harmful than the embodied energy and resources lost as a result of more frequent replacement or repair of the kettle due to damage from not leaving water in situ.
I don't see why the interior of a kettle can't cool down in air rather than water. Say you were boiling water in a saucepan - for pasta say - and you drained it, would you worry about the now empty pan cooling down?
If you accidentally turned the kettle on when empty, that would be an issue, but if it's off, no.
The element is no longer being heated by electricity. It will not get any hotter than it currently is. It will probably cool more quickly in air than water, because water has a very high specific heat capacity so the water surrounding the element would take a long time to cool down itself, and the element can't cool quicker than the surrounding water.
You are better, therefore, only boiling the water you need.
Originally posted by @Arethosemyfeet I think the better question is whether using 50% more energy heating 3 cups of water rather than two is more or less harmful than the embodied energy and resources lost as a result of more frequent replacement or repair of the kettle due to damage from not leaving water in situ.
I have no idea how that could be calculated.
Originally posted by @Firenze Say you were boiling water in a saucepan - for pasta say - and you drained it, would you worry about the now empty pan cooling down?
There's not an exposed element in my pasta pan, though.
If you accidentally turned the kettle on when empty, that would be an issue, but if it's off, no
That's not possible with our kettle; it would immediately cut out.
The element is no longer being heated by electricity. It will not get any hotter than it currently is. It will probably cool more quickly in air than water, because water has a very high specific heat capacity so the water surrounding the element would take a long time to cool down itself, and the element can't cool quicker than the surrounding water.
You are better, therefore, only boiling the water you need.
Heat won't pass from a cooler to a hotter
You can try it if you like but you much better notter
I now know a lot more about kettle elements, to wit they are composed of nickel and chromium and therefore have a relatively high resistance, causing the electricity to turn to heat. But as Karl says, if it's not powered, it's not heating. If it's not heating, it's cooling. And if it's cooling 'exposed' is neither here nor there.
I have to confess to probably boiling a bit more than is needed, but that's because I like to see that there is water in it, and the tell-tale on the side desn't go all the way to the bottom. Plus it's in notional cups, and we drink mugs. I think I need to calibrate it...
And then there is the question of what constitutes 'boiling'.
Mr RoS rushes to turn the kettle off as soon as the surface of the water visible in the filling guide up the side starts to tremble, I like it to get to at least what, as a jam maker, I recognise as 'rolling boil' if not actually to the point of switching itself off.
My mother got a jug kettle when they were a new thing, which she would keep topped up. On a visit home I pointed a) she was heating about 5 times more water than needed and b) it contained the remains of a well-poached bluebottle. I think it was because she was brought up with the kitchen range on which there was always a gently plumping kettle.
I tend to keep mine about half full, because the main use is for cooking water and that is a variable amount.
If there is an issue to do with cooling of the kettle element with no water, then the problem is almost certainly mechanical failure caused by differential thermal expansion somewhere. That's a thing that could certainly look different with and without water, but the details of the kettle construction are going to be strongly relevant here.
Holy cripes it's cold. Damp cold, as well. This is precisely the sort of thing I left Britain to escape.
I have been Productive. This morning I returned our dwelling to a state of acceptable hygiene, before running to the Lebanese supermarket. I went there for orange flower water and candied fruit for a galette briochée (something a bit like this) and as usual wanted to buy the whole shop. I got a hot falafel sandwich for lunch and some Lebanese nougats to share with the pianist who came round this afternoon to practise Rachmaninov together for a charity fundraising concert in the Spring. The Vocalise is going to be fine. The Sonata thus far is carnage
I assume you mean with Learning Cniht, lol. Yes, I may live with a quantum physicist (who would very much enjoy a discussion on heating elements) but I am rather more specialised in other fields.
LVER, Vocalise on the cello is one of my favourite things. The food sounds great too.
Another busy day here. I had an EDIA (equality, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility) meeting this morning as I am on the working group in my faculty, I wrote another tutorial and then marked essays for the afternoon. I’ve just finished and am having a break before contemplating food.
I have to confess to probably boiling a bit more than is needed, but that's because I like to see that there is water in it, and the tell-tale on the side desn't go all the way to the bottom. Plus it's in notional cups, and we drink mugs. I think I need to calibrate it...
I had sort-of calibrated it, but neglected to inform @Sandemaniac of the experimental data obtained Since it's got those tabs that are meant to be cups inside the kettle, if you fill it just to the 3-cup one there's enough to make 2 mugs with a tiny bit over. The tiny bit over is enough water to reduce the amount of limescale getting through the filter into the mugs for the couple of weeks between thinking it's a month since we descaled the kettle, and the point when it gets descaled again!
Originally posted by @Arethosemyfeet I think the better question is whether using 50% more energy heating 3 cups of water rather than two is more or less harmful than the embodied energy and resources lost as a result of more frequent replacement or repair of the kettle due to damage from not leaving water in situ.
I have no idea how that could be calculated.
Specific Heat Capacity of water = 4.186 J g^-1 K^-1
1 cup is approx 240 g of water, so extra energy required for heating 3 cups rather than 2 from room temperature is 4.186 * 240 * 80 = 80.4 kJ.
A typical UK kettle runs 3 kW, so your extra cup of water takes an extra 80.4/3 ≈ 27 seconds to boil (assuming no additional energy losses etc.) If you pay about 25p per kWh for electricity (roughly UK rate), you're paying about 0.5p extra per kettle boil. Even at my aunt's notoriously prodigious rate of tea consumption, that's unlikely to break the bank.
Mr Google helpfully finds me a paper entitled "Life cycle environmental evaluation of kettles: Recommendations for the development of eco-design regulations in the European Union", which doesn't directly present a single number that says "the amount of energy embodied in a domestic kettle is X", but the back of my envelope gets a number around 2.5 MJ per kettle.
If "abusing the heating element" halved the service life of your kettle from an average 4.4 years to 2.2 years, you'd spend an extra 2.5 MJ on kettles in 4.4 years. Let's assume you make three cups of tea on average per day, so you'd be using an additional 80.4 kJ * 3 * 365 * 4.4 = 387 MJ of energy on boiling water. In other words, by boiling extra water to double the lifespan of your kettle, you'd use more than 100 times the energy that you're saving.
Originally posted by @Arethosemyfeet I think the better question is whether using 50% more energy heating 3 cups of water rather than two is more or less harmful than the embodied energy and resources lost as a result of more frequent replacement or repair of the kettle due to damage from not leaving water in situ.
I have no idea how that could be calculated.
Specific Heat Capacity of water = 4.186 J g^-1 K^-1
1 cup is approx 240 g of water, so extra energy required for heating 3 cups rather than 2 from room temperature is 4.186 * 240 * 80 = 80.4 kJ.
A typical UK kettle runs 3 kW, so your extra cup of water takes an extra 80.4/3 ≈ 27 seconds to boil (assuming no additional energy losses etc.) If you pay about 25p per kWh for electricity (roughly UK rate), you're paying about 0.5p extra per kettle boil. Even at my aunt's notoriously prodigious rate of tea consumption, that's unlikely to break the bank.
Mr Google helpfully finds me a paper entitled "Life cycle environmental evaluation of kettles: Recommendations for the development of eco-design regulations in the European Union", which doesn't directly present a single number that says "the amount of energy embodied in a domestic kettle is X", but the back of my envelope gets a number around 2.5 MJ per kettle.
If "abusing the heating element" halved the service life of your kettle from an average 4.4 years to 2.2 years, you'd spend an extra 2.5 MJ on kettles in 4.4 years. Let's assume you make three cups of tea on average per day, so you'd be using an additional 80.4 kJ * 3 * 365 * 4.4 = 387 MJ of energy on boiling water. In other words, by boiling extra water to double the lifespan of your kettle, you'd use more than 100 times the energy that you're saving.
My mind is boggling from all the mathematics, but an interesting topic nonetheless.
I'm just back from spending an enjoyable evening at a social evening in aid of my political party in the next town along. We'd have won the quiz if we'd had someone from said town on our team as though we got 10/10 on the picture quiz round for our town we only got three out of ten for theirs. Oh and I crossed out Shakespeare as an answer when it turned out it was correct. We also managed to win two bottles of wine in the raffle, which was one more than we took for said raffle.
@Leorning Cniht - you're making my brain hurt.
Not a bad day here; a bit cooler but dry. I made the veggie curry when I got home, and added a few broken up cauliflower florets, which made it even nicer.
I mustn't faff about here for too long; I'm off to Dunblane in the morning for a Scottish Voices rehearsal day. Apparently St Pete's choir practice has been cancelled, so I'm feeling cheated - what's the point of a day off when I wouldn't have been there anyway? 🙃
Tea was tagliatelle with beef meatballs in a spinach and cream sauce, accompanied by a gin and tonic. We then played online games with Master Heavenly the Elder on Board Game Arena, Master Heavenly the Younger having skived off somewhere else.
Tomorrow I have to write essay no2. This is a short essay about using alternative sources to study early modern history and is based on a journal article about interpreting history using sixteenth century needlework by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick. The article has probably been chosen because it is a niche subject that no-one will know anything about so that we focus on the methodology rather than the subject matter. But I am actually quite knowledgeable about sixteenth century needlework.
Tomorrow I have to write essay no2. This is a short essay about using alternative sources to study early modern history and is based on a journal article about interpreting history using sixteenth century needlework by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick. The article has probably been chosen because it is a niche subject that no-one will know anything about so that we focus on the methodology rather than the subject matter. But I am actually quite knowledgeable about sixteenth century needlework.
That sounds like fun! I'm finding that as I get older, my interests have widened considerably. When I was an undergraduate, I would (and did) run screaming from any suggestion that I should study something outside my narrow field of interest. My eldest is studying at a liberal arts college, and is doing all kinds of interesting and varied-sounding classes. When I was young, I'd have hated the idea, but now I find myself thinking that what she's doing sounds interesting.
Following on from kettles... Just this morning I was explaining to friends why putting the milk in first in tea to keep it warm longer is supported by Newton's Law of Cooling. (The temperature of the hot tea is quickly lowered by the cool milk, so the subsequent rate of heat loss is lower).
Following on from kettles... Just this morning I was explaining to friends why putting the milk in first in tea to keep it warm longer is supported by Newton's Law of Cooling. (The temperature of the hot tea is quickly lowered by the cool milk, so the subsequent rate of heat loss is lower).
This doesn't alter your argument, but a lot of the cooling of a cup of tea is through convection and evaporation. Here's a quick experiment you can try: make two identical cups of tea, cover one cup with cling film and leave the other mug open, leave the two cups of tea on the counter for 5 minutes or so, then measure the temperature of the tea in each cup.
I like my tea hot. I’ll have drunk mine before 5 minutes is up.
Today I am being taken for afternoon tea at a prestigious venue, a delayed birthday present. My daughter-in-law chose it and offered my son as my companion- great idea. However we are having it at lunch time! Afternoon tea mid- afternoon messes with proper meal times. Tonight a Chinese take-away is on the cards maybe, as my daughter proposed it, but not yet confirmed.
Oh, I do like afternoon tea. The best place, but expensive, for posh afternoon tea in Cambridge is Parker’s Tavern, a hotel restaurant. I think a trip might be in order - I need to find an ‘occasion’.
We'd have won the quiz if we'd had someone from said town on our team as though we got 10/10 on the picture quiz round for our town we only got three out of ten for theirs. Oh and I crossed out Shakespeare as an answer when it turned out it was correct. We also managed to win two bottles of wine in the raffle, which was one more than we took for said raffle.
I went on Thursday to a "social" arranged by the Parish Church. Our table tied for first place in the quiz but won on the tie-break - hurrah!
We went yesterday to an excellent "Viennese" concert by Welsh National Opera's orchestra; we were in the front row, within touching distance of the cello section, so had a wonderful time hearing all the inner complexities of the pieces. Apart from the encores of the "Blue Danube" and "Radetsky March", the programme finished with a splendid rendition of the opening number of Kalman's operetta "The Gypsy Princess" - largely unknown in Britain but we love it and saw it some years ago in Budapest.
We took my mum to an afternoon tea at lunch time one Christmas and I think we all enjoyed it much more than if we'd gone at tea time. Have fun @Puzzler. A friend of mine has recommended somewhere near here so I might suggest that for my birthday assuming they can come up with a vegetarian afternoon tea.
@Leorning Cniht If ever I regretted the loss of the "not worthy" emoticonthingy it is now.
If "abusing the heating element" halved the service life of your kettle from an average 4.4 years to 2.2 years, you'd spend an extra 2.5 MJ on kettles in 4.4 years.
We bought our current kettle in May 2021. We'll know if it reaches its average lifespan in September this year.
Let's assume you make three cups of tea on average per day
I'll have to count, but I think the kettle is boiled to make tea or coffee about 8 times a day.
I don't drink tea or coffee at home these days, but my Auncient Kettule (it is large, and Blue) is occasionally pressed into service, mostly for the occasional visit from my sister, who likes Fruit Teas.
I only put enough water in it for one or two mugs, and boil it on the Dragon's hotplate (in winter) or on the gas (in summer).
A dull and misty day in Arkland the Grey, and a little colder than of late. There is a nice GAMMON STEAK for lunch - I shall pan fry it, and pop a bit of Mustard on it first - with some CHIPS.
My lunch of Afternoon Tea was most enjoyable. Opting for one traditional, one savoury was a good idea. We split the savouries between us and brought most of the cakes home, though my son had half of the fruit scone with jam and cream, and we split the cheese scone, though he had the chutney. Scotch egg, pork pie, haslet and sausage roll replaced cakes on the savoury version, and each of us had two finger sandwiches and a small smoked salmon bagel. They also do vegan, vegetarian and gluten free versions, so would suit you @Sarasa. Over 12 different teas are available, with no charge for refilling the pot. Service was efficient and friendly.
We walked some of it off on the estate ( having brought our boots) though the house and grounds were not open today.
Sorry for double post.
I still don’t know what I’m eating tonight. Daughter has just got back from a trek in the Peak District and hasn’t mentioned the Chinese take away again. My son gave me two frozen meals which each look enough for two days, and a freshly made spag bol and I also made bolognese sauce this morning, divided into three single portions ready for the freezer, so I have plenty of choices.
Mr Nen and I drove out this morning to one of the many (fairly) local park run venues where he ran the run with a friend and the friend's wife and I had a mooch about and finished up in a coffee shop, to be joined by the runners once they'd finished.
This afternoon I've been mostly fiddling about on the internet and trying rather unsuccessfully to do some paperwork sorting. Paperwork is my real problem when it comes to organising and clearing and there are some things, like letters from my mum (RIP), which I've decluttered and have always regretted doing so. I remembered, however, that I have some files of her writing (she loved to write and was part of a creative writing class for some years) which I was gratifyingly able to lay my hands on without much trouble and in amongst them were some letters from around 25 years ago which I had for some reason kept. I'm grateful to her for leaving her pieces of writing and grateful to a younger me who kept at least a few of her letters. We have a family situation at the moment that I so much want to talk to her about, and reading those things gave me a sense of nearness to her that I'm treasuring and finding reassuring.
Cold and grey here. Stir fry for tea because Saturday.
A grey and cold day here. Mr Heavenly managed to put on the base coat on half of the new office and I wrote my essay. I now have 2 completed essays and just need to do the referencing. I might do this tomorrow morning so I can submit them and get them out of my mind.
I have treated us to a Chinese takeaway for tea.
I've had a very useful and enjoyable Rehearsal Day with Scottish Voices; most of the music we sang was quite sublime (apart from the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B minor by Blair*, which I'd never sung before; I vaguely remember David mentioning it in unflattering terms, which would explain why he never did it. I suppose it might have some merit, but to me it was lumpen and more difficult than it was worth).
Enjoyable socialising afterwards, and the other half of the veggie curry when I came home.
* not the former Prime Minister, but some bloke from the 19th century
This afternoon we had some people round for a galette (Epiphany) party. Knowing that at least one guest doesn't like frangipane, I had volunteered to make a brioche. Not having time to start on it before, I found myself making dough at 10 o'clock last night, intending to leave it to rise in the fridge overnight. Only trouble was that I chose a rubbish recipe. Six eggs is far too many for that much flour. I now seriously wonder if it was a typo. And there I was in my kitchen at 11 pm with a sticky, gloopy mess, having a bit of a meltdown. I was finally persuaded by husband en rouge to give up and go to bed.
This morning I returned to it, and while it wasn't a lost cause, it was never going to make a crown shape. I stuck it in a loaf tin, left it to rise all morning and baked it, and I think it should be quite nice. But it didn't solve my galette problem. Realising that (a) I needed to start over and (b) I didn't have enough flour and (c) the wretched thing needed time to rise, I stuck on a pair of jeans and my coat, and ran to the supermarket over the road basically still in my pyjamas. Fortunately no one seemed to notice The resulting brioche (with a different recipe) turned out quite well and met with general appreciation, at least. It was named the galèrette (galère = a colloquial word for having a nightmare with something).
Seemed a bit colder round here today. I didn't go outside to check, but Mr RoS did, and he said it was definitely colder.
Spent the day mostly doing nothing. Watched several episodes of Pie In The Sky on TV during the morning, because I was a bit of a fan of the late Richard Griffiths.
Lunch was leftover mashed potatoes mixed with leftover cooked leeks and grated cheddar, heated through in the microwave then browned under the grill and accompanied with grilled tomato. Cold weather comfort food!
Dinner was boiled ham, potatoes and a mix of peas, broad beans and corn kernels and a generous amount of parsley sauce.
The sauce was made with parsley from a pot outside the kitchen, which is flourishing in spite of the recent frost and snow.
Anyone know if there is some reason for setting fireworks off this w/e? Someone round here had themselves a 10minute display about 11pm.
Anyone know if there is some reason for setting fireworks off this w/e?
I was going to suggest Chinese New Year, but that's not until the 29th.
It's a bit cooler round here too; it was -1° when I woke up around 8 o'clock, but it's dry and pleasant enough just now.
The church was well-filled this morning; we had an adult baptism (a lady who attends the mid-week Eucharist - I'd never met her before), so I'm assuming some of the unknown faces were friends or family of hers.
Cold and grey here as usual. I went for a walk earlier and then spent a few hours editing the essays and doing the references, and the assignment is now submitted. I don’t usually work on a Sunday, I like to have a complete break for at least 1 day a week, but getting this out of the way will mean one less deadline to worry about next week which is busy enough with marking, and I can also have the satisfaction of submitting 4 days early.
Mr Heavenly is again braving the cold to paint the primer on to the shed. Then it is church in the early evening.
Cold and grey here in Arkland the Glum, where very few of the denizens seem to be up and doing. I've taken my daily exercise by walking to the car, and starting the engine in order to charge the battery. A new battery is needed, and will be ordered later this week, hopefully from a firm which will come and fit it here.
The recent cold snap has, so I'm told, killed the current battery, which may well be the original - and the car is nearly 10 years old! At the moment, it will start the engine if the temperature is 7C or above, but otherwise I have to use my handy little booster thingy. I found it in Mr E Bay's Most Useful Emporium - the pack is not much bigger than a Smart7phone, has two hefty clips to fit onto the battery terminals, and is topped up by using a mobile phone charger. Very convenient!
Not sure how things were at Our Place this morning, as my Spy is away for a few weeks whilst she recovers from eye surgery, but each week sees an urgent plea from FatherInCharge for someone to attend the daily Mass in her place.
The weekday congregation has been depleted in recent months by death or illness, but there are few people willing to go to a cold church in winter at 8am (Wednesday), 530pm (Tuesday) or even 10am (the other days). That said, there are some who, unable to attend on a Sunday, will occasionally come during the week instead.
Our church was very full this morning. Recently the rows of chairs (2 rows behind the fixed pews, on either side of the aisle) have been extended from 8 per row (which is the number bodies usually accommodated in a pew without rubbing elbows) to 9, which leaves no gap at all between them. Not sure what will happen if the attendance carries on increasing, it is going to become very cosy!
No idea why there were so many this morning. I shouldn't think it was the offer of soup & bread afterwards instead of (or maybe in addition to) the usual tea/coffee & biscuits.
Comments
Choir practice in church was at 0 degrees. There was a bit of warmth in the chancel radiators but it had little effect on the ancient stones.
That is a splendid title - if it's your own work, magnificent! If it's the church's work... also magnificent!
It's my own work. I sign off each report thusly, but that title somehow never makes it into the official record. I think I'm officially the Gravestone Bequest Convener.
Fun story - one of the gravestones which has a bequest attached was cleaned and relettered. It looked brand new afterwards. We weren't aware of any existing family. It turned out that there were descendants who lived some distance away, but who paid an annual visit on a significant date. They were astounded to see the gravestone and contacted the church for an explanation. They were even more astounded to hear that a bequest had been attached to the stone in the 1960s, and was still being honoured. And they made a very nice donation to the church as a thank-you for doing what we are legally and morally obliged to do anyway.
I strongly suspect that none of the bequests are known to the families. Generally, people only left gravestone maintenance bequests if they didn't have family to take responsibility, or at any rate if they didn't have family locally.
Wise Shipmates, are you au fait with the science of Boiling a Kettle? Can you advise?
Our kettle has a mark to show the level to fill for 1 /2/3/4 cups. I filled ours to the 2 cup level to make tea for the NE Man and myself, and switched it on. He switched it off, added more water, and switched it back on.
He explained that if you fill to the 2 cup level for two cups, then, when you have poured out the two cups, the kettle is left hot and empty. And this is a bad thing. For two cups, you should fill to the 3 cup level, so that there is a protective cupful of water left in the kettle afterwards.
My initial reaction was similar to last week, when he explained to me the correct way to use an ATM. I am fully conversant with the whole Boiling a Kettle skillset, and managed perfectly well unsupervised prior to his retirement.
But I have a niggling doubt. Is he right? I don't think he can be right, because if he is, surely I'd be killing off kettles on a regular basis? And yet, it sounds as though it could be true?
If you accidentally turned the kettle on when empty, that would be an issue, but if it's off, no.
You are better, therefore, only boiling the water you need.
I think the better question is whether using 50% more energy heating 3 cups of water rather than two is more or less harmful than the embodied energy and resources lost as a result of more frequent replacement or repair of the kettle due to damage from not leaving water in situ.
I have no idea how that could be calculated.
Originally posted by @Firenze
Say you were boiling water in a saucepan - for pasta say - and you drained it, would you worry about the now empty pan cooling down?
There's not an exposed element in my pasta pan, though.
If you accidentally turned the kettle on when empty, that would be an issue, but if it's off, no
That's not possible with our kettle; it would immediately cut out.
Originally posted by @Priscilla
We leave water in not to burn out the element
That's what the NE Man wants me to do.
Originally posted by @KarlLB
The element is no longer being heated by electricity. It will not get any hotter than it currently is. It will probably cool more quickly in air than water, because water has a very high specific heat capacity so the water surrounding the element would take a long time to cool down itself, and the element can't cool quicker than the surrounding water.
You are better, therefore, only boiling the water you need.
Thank you!
You can try it if you like but you much better notter
I now know a lot more about kettle elements, to wit they are composed of nickel and chromium and therefore have a relatively high resistance, causing the electricity to turn to heat. But as Karl says, if it's not powered, it's not heating. If it's not heating, it's cooling. And if it's cooling 'exposed' is neither here nor there.
Mr RoS rushes to turn the kettle off as soon as the surface of the water visible in the filling guide up the side starts to tremble, I like it to get to at least what, as a jam maker, I recognise as 'rolling boil' if not actually to the point of switching itself off.
I tend to keep mine about half full, because the main use is for cooking water and that is a variable amount.
I have been Productive. This morning I returned our dwelling to a state of acceptable hygiene, before running to the Lebanese supermarket. I went there for orange flower water and candied fruit for a galette briochée (something a bit like this) and as usual wanted to buy the whole shop. I got a hot falafel sandwich for lunch and some Lebanese nougats to share with the pianist who came round this afternoon to practise Rachmaninov together for a charity fundraising concert in the Spring. The Vocalise is going to be fine. The Sonata thus far is carnage
I used fresh water in the kettle for every brew, but I use only just enough water. I boil until it switches itself off.
After walking the dogs I spent the day mop-Ing the floor and clean-Ing the windows. Then I visited the library.
So I'm feeling virtuous and it is five o'clock somewhere, so cheers! 🍻
Oh how disappointing!
LVER, Vocalise on the cello is one of my favourite things. The food sounds great too.
Another busy day here. I had an EDIA (equality, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility) meeting this morning as I am on the working group in my faculty, I wrote another tutorial and then marked essays for the afternoon. I’ve just finished and am having a break before contemplating food.
I had sort-of calibrated it, but neglected to inform @Sandemaniac of the experimental data obtained
Specific Heat Capacity of water = 4.186 J g^-1 K^-1
1 cup is approx 240 g of water, so extra energy required for heating 3 cups rather than 2 from room temperature is 4.186 * 240 * 80 = 80.4 kJ.
A typical UK kettle runs 3 kW, so your extra cup of water takes an extra 80.4/3 ≈ 27 seconds to boil (assuming no additional energy losses etc.) If you pay about 25p per kWh for electricity (roughly UK rate), you're paying about 0.5p extra per kettle boil. Even at my aunt's notoriously prodigious rate of tea consumption, that's unlikely to break the bank.
Mr Google helpfully finds me a paper entitled "Life cycle environmental evaluation of kettles: Recommendations for the development of eco-design regulations in the European Union", which doesn't directly present a single number that says "the amount of energy embodied in a domestic kettle is X", but the back of my envelope gets a number around 2.5 MJ per kettle.
If "abusing the heating element" halved the service life of your kettle from an average 4.4 years to 2.2 years, you'd spend an extra 2.5 MJ on kettles in 4.4 years. Let's assume you make three cups of tea on average per day, so you'd be using an additional 80.4 kJ * 3 * 365 * 4.4 = 387 MJ of energy on boiling water. In other words, by boiling extra water to double the lifespan of your kettle, you'd use more than 100 times the energy that you're saving.
:applause:
And there was the work I was too lazy to do!
I'm just back from spending an enjoyable evening at a social evening in aid of my political party in the next town along. We'd have won the quiz if we'd had someone from said town on our team as though we got 10/10 on the picture quiz round for our town we only got three out of ten for theirs. Oh and I crossed out Shakespeare as an answer when it turned out it was correct. We also managed to win two bottles of wine in the raffle, which was one more than we took for said raffle.
Not a bad day here; a bit cooler but dry. I made the veggie curry when I got home, and added a few broken up cauliflower florets, which made it even nicer.
I mustn't faff about here for too long; I'm off to Dunblane in the morning for a Scottish Voices rehearsal day. Apparently St Pete's choir practice has been cancelled, so I'm feeling cheated - what's the point of a day off when I wouldn't have been there anyway? 🙃
Tomorrow I have to write essay no2. This is a short essay about using alternative sources to study early modern history and is based on a journal article about interpreting history using sixteenth century needlework by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick. The article has probably been chosen because it is a niche subject that no-one will know anything about so that we focus on the methodology rather than the subject matter. But I am actually quite knowledgeable about sixteenth century needlework.
That sounds like fun! I'm finding that as I get older, my interests have widened considerably. When I was an undergraduate, I would (and did) run screaming from any suggestion that I should study something outside my narrow field of interest. My eldest is studying at a liberal arts college, and is doing all kinds of interesting and varied-sounding classes. When I was young, I'd have hated the idea, but now I find myself thinking that what she's doing sounds interesting.
This doesn't alter your argument, but a lot of the cooling of a cup of tea is through convection and evaporation. Here's a quick experiment you can try: make two identical cups of tea, cover one cup with cling film and leave the other mug open, leave the two cups of tea on the counter for 5 minutes or so, then measure the temperature of the tea in each cup.
Today I am being taken for afternoon tea at a prestigious venue, a delayed birthday present. My daughter-in-law chose it and offered my son as my companion- great idea. However we are having it at lunch time! Afternoon tea mid- afternoon messes with proper meal times. Tonight a Chinese take-away is on the cards maybe, as my daughter proposed it, but not yet confirmed.
We went yesterday to an excellent "Viennese" concert by Welsh National Opera's orchestra; we were in the front row, within touching distance of the cello section, so had a wonderful time hearing all the inner complexities of the pieces. Apart from the encores of the "Blue Danube" and "Radetsky March", the programme finished with a splendid rendition of the opening number of Kalman's operetta "The Gypsy Princess" - largely unknown in Britain but we love it and saw it some years ago in Budapest.
If "abusing the heating element" halved the service life of your kettle from an average 4.4 years to 2.2 years, you'd spend an extra 2.5 MJ on kettles in 4.4 years.
We bought our current kettle in May 2021. We'll know if it reaches its average lifespan in September this year.
Let's assume you make three cups of tea on average per day
I'll have to count, but I think the kettle is boiled to make tea or coffee about 8 times a day.
I only put enough water in it for one or two mugs, and boil it on the Dragon's hotplate (in winter) or on the gas (in summer).
A dull and misty day in Arkland the Grey, and a little colder than of late. There is a nice GAMMON STEAK for lunch - I shall pan fry it, and pop a bit of Mustard on it first - with some CHIPS.
We walked some of it off on the estate ( having brought our boots) though the house and grounds were not open today.
I still don’t know what I’m eating tonight. Daughter has just got back from a trek in the Peak District and hasn’t mentioned the Chinese take away again. My son gave me two frozen meals which each look enough for two days, and a freshly made spag bol and I also made bolognese sauce this morning, divided into three single portions ready for the freezer, so I have plenty of choices.
This afternoon I've been mostly fiddling about on the internet and trying rather unsuccessfully to do some paperwork sorting. Paperwork is my real problem when it comes to organising and clearing and there are some things, like letters from my mum (RIP), which I've decluttered and have always regretted doing so. I remembered, however, that I have some files of her writing (she loved to write and was part of a creative writing class for some years) which I was gratifyingly able to lay my hands on without much trouble and in amongst them were some letters from around 25 years ago which I had for some reason kept. I'm grateful to her for leaving her pieces of writing and grateful to a younger me who kept at least a few of her letters. We have a family situation at the moment that I so much want to talk to her about, and reading those things gave me a sense of nearness to her that I'm treasuring and finding reassuring.
Cold and grey here. Stir fry for tea because Saturday.
A grey and cold day here. Mr Heavenly managed to put on the base coat on half of the new office and I wrote my essay. I now have 2 completed essays and just need to do the referencing. I might do this tomorrow morning so I can submit them and get them out of my mind.
I have treated us to a Chinese takeaway for tea.
Enjoyable socialising afterwards, and the other half of the veggie curry when I came home.
* not the former Prime Minister, but some bloke from the 19th century
This morning I returned to it, and while it wasn't a lost cause, it was never going to make a crown shape. I stuck it in a loaf tin, left it to rise all morning and baked it, and I think it should be quite nice. But it didn't solve my galette problem. Realising that (a) I needed to start over and (b) I didn't have enough flour and (c) the wretched thing needed time to rise, I stuck on a pair of jeans and my coat, and ran to the supermarket over the road basically still in my pyjamas. Fortunately no one seemed to notice
Spent the day mostly doing nothing. Watched several episodes of Pie In The Sky on TV during the morning, because I was a bit of a fan of the late Richard Griffiths.
Lunch was leftover mashed potatoes mixed with leftover cooked leeks and grated cheddar, heated through in the microwave then browned under the grill and accompanied with grilled tomato. Cold weather comfort food!
Dinner was boiled ham, potatoes and a mix of peas, broad beans and corn kernels and a generous amount of parsley sauce.
The sauce was made with parsley from a pot outside the kitchen, which is flourishing in spite of the recent frost and snow.
Anyone know if there is some reason for setting fireworks off this w/e? Someone round here had themselves a 10minute display about 11pm.
I can suggest a hellish explanation
It's a bit cooler round here too; it was -1° when I woke up around 8 o'clock, but it's dry and pleasant enough just now.
The church was well-filled this morning; we had an adult baptism (a lady who attends the mid-week Eucharist - I'd never met her before), so I'm assuming some of the unknown faces were friends or family of hers.
Laundry is laundering, and snoozage may ensue.
Mr Heavenly is again braving the cold to paint the primer on to the shed. Then it is church in the early evening.
The recent cold snap has, so I'm told, killed the current battery, which may well be the original - and the car is nearly 10 years old! At the moment, it will start the engine if the temperature is 7C or above, but otherwise I have to use my handy little booster thingy. I found it in Mr E Bay's Most Useful Emporium - the pack is not much bigger than a Smart7phone, has two hefty clips to fit onto the battery terminals, and is topped up by using a mobile phone charger. Very convenient!
Not sure how things were at Our Place this morning, as my Spy is away for a few weeks whilst she recovers from eye surgery, but each week sees an urgent plea from FatherInCharge for someone to attend the daily Mass in her place.
The weekday congregation has been depleted in recent months by death or illness, but there are few people willing to go to a cold church in winter at 8am (Wednesday), 530pm (Tuesday) or even 10am (the other days). That said, there are some who, unable to attend on a Sunday, will occasionally come during the week instead.
No idea why there were so many this morning. I shouldn't think it was the offer of soup & bread afterwards instead of (or maybe in addition to) the usual tea/coffee & biscuits.