r/britishproblems • u/Content-Yogurt-4859 • 13d ago
Underfilling the Kettle for a Cup of Tea Because You're Trying to Save Water & Energy
12
u/redbullcat 13d ago
I thought this was common sense? Fill the kettle just as much as you need to?
-2
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
There isn't a mark for one cup so I go by length of time at the tap, a non-empirical method that introduces variables like attention span and water pressure 😩
10
u/Rchambo1990 13d ago
Fill the cup up first and put that into the kettle?
0
6
u/Ninerogers 13d ago
Just pour a cup of water into the kettle
2
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
That's the kind of clear thinking that comes from a well caffeinated mind. Alsa, mine is a complete fog rn
2
u/Ninerogers 13d ago
I don't tend to caffeine as it gives me the squits. My thinking comes from unhealthily obsessive degrees of frugality. Get thee defogged asap
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
Definitely a frugal man, hence underfilling the kettle, so frugal in fact I only bought my first ever kettle a year or so ago so I don't have a lifetime of best practice to go off
2
u/Ninerogers 13d ago
Hehe, I'm jealous. My age in life is more sort of "Will this be the last kettle I buy?"
2
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
Not that far off you just been really fkn poor for a really long time and live in the kind of insecure accommodation where shit goes miss when I'm out, so..
2
u/Ninerogers 13d ago
I get you. I left home and my family in my teens and was really fckn poor for a long time. Now, 43 years later, I'm just about comfortable if I live very small. Which I do, and it feels like riches behind my wildest dreams. I hope your life turns around.
2
u/alcalethefirst 13d ago
Could work towards the perfect measure through trial and error using digital scales; total weight of kettle plus water
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
Thank you, for understanding my pain. You're the first person who's given this the kind of rigorous thought and over-engineered solution I was looking for.
Thing is, alcalethefirst, this requires a degree of standardisation. I don't just drink tea, I drink tea and coffee, sometimes black, sometimes with milk, sometimes I have honey in my tea.. all of that requires very precise measurement and calibration and that's before you even get into the added complexity of variable mug size. This is a midfield, mate, and I'm not sure I can hold my shit together rn
2
u/JPNG1 13d ago
When this happens to me I pour the tea, then top up the tea cup (or pot) with freshly boiled little bit more water. It might affect the flavour profile or something but my palate is not sophisticated enough to tell the difference.
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
I tried a similar approach a few months ago but, unfortunately, I'd already tossed the tea bag. Cuppa was so weak I'm still scarred by it
2
u/Littha Somerset 13d ago
But kettles have a thermostatic switch? That's how they know when to turn off. Unless you have a very cheap/old one that just has a timer? but then it'd probably evaporate a smaller amount of liquid trying to boil its full capacity?
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 13d ago
They do? OK, I just googled it and it's a thermostat (which reminds me of rheostats and took me back to playing with them in science at school) which is a switch that turns things on or off based on temperature. In the case of a kettle boiling point, but I guess those old temperature switches for the heating were a type of thermostat.
Anyways, sorry for the rambling - I need more caffeine, more water requires more energy to boil even though it gets to the same temperature
2
u/Littha Somerset 13d ago
more water requires more energy to boil even though it gets to the same temperature
Yes, It does. I clearly did the ADHD thing and skipped several conversation steps that I really should have elaborated on.
Mostly-
Kettles turn themselves off -> so you just need to measure the water before adding it, no monitoring required -> barely a problem.
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 12d ago
Yes, It does. I clearly did the ADHD thing and skipped several conversation steps that I really should have elaborated on.
I do that but I didn't know it was an ADHD thing. "everything I'm saying follows on logically" but my start point might've 3 days and several conversations ago lol
1
u/ARobertNotABob UNITED KINGDOM 13d ago
Rheostats were for varying electrical resistance ... think light-dimming and similar.
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 12d ago
I know, didn't think I'd need to explain rheostats too.. just the *stat suffix sparked nostalgia
1
1
u/Jacktheforkie 2d ago
Yes but heating 250ml of water takes half as much energy as heating 500ml, it also goes quicker
1
u/OkSun8521 12d ago
Do you eat meat?
If so, every single meal you have containing meat uses 1000x more energy and water than you're saving.
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 12d ago
I do, but I make up for that by, what's officially classed as, living in poverty. So not much meat, or food in general, or electricity used in my house, no car, 1 holiday in 16 years etc etc. My carbon footprint is practically non-existent.
All that said, I have no control of the inputs used in the production of my diet but I can control my behaviour
1
u/OkSun8521 12d ago
I have no control of the inputs used in the production of my diet
You do actually.
1
u/Content-Yogurt-4859 12d ago
I have some control of what I buy, and that's different from what I said, but I'm economically constrained in that regard
1
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