The hot test: teapots by degrees

“What kind of tea do you like?? Black, green? We have a white one, too, and it’s exclusive!”- clearly expecting a tip, asks the waitress at the restaurant where we celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday. Looking at the price of drinks, and it would be desirable to say: “Anyway, you have it all golden!”

Of course, we have to put up with it in such a place, we have not been dragged there by force, but some people drink the real “golden” tea of their own free will even at home.

Of course, from “golden” teapots, which can measure the temperature of water and make tea by themselves, except that they do not wash cups after you..

However, there is always an alternative: you can find a modern, functional model beyond the so-called premium class.

Why do we need a super kettle for the price of a washing machine??

Little Housefly Kuzya was shary of modern technology, but gradually got used to it, because he was, if you remember, “domovit and bashkovit. A busybody, in other words, he is a businessman and he cannot be defeated by pure PR, unlike you and me.

Once, outraged by the impertinent introduction of “miracle vacuum cleaners” sellers into my life, I tried on the pages of our publication to dispel the myth about exclusivity and amazing efficiency of this equipment, the price of which starts from four thousand dollars see “The price of a vacuum cleaner” . “BT” № 2/2009 .

And now, having come across super kettles with different temperature modes at super prices from 9,990 to 14,990 Dollars, we wanted to understand: THIS IS WHAT WE NEED?

After all, the so-called exclusive – a kettle with a thermostat – is in fact not such a rarity on the small equipment market. Similar models are produced by different manufacturers, recently it is a real trend, but not everyone sets the price of a washing machine on the kettle, even if it is beautiful and multifunctional. However, demand creates supply, so think for yourself..

“I asked for four hundred drops, and here are four hundred and two!!!”

Accuracy is the politeness of kings, it’s been known for a long time. Would you be upset, like another cartoon character, if the device, which should heat water to 60, 70, 80 ° C, heats it to 55, 75 or 84 ° C?? You probably will not notice the difference, but you must agree that it would be a shame to pay much more for this function and not get what you want. So, this time we checked the teapots themselves for accuracy, and the most courageous, who not only provided their models, but also were not afraid of the publication of producers – on politeness.

How we tested?

We set for each model all the modes set by the manufacturer and measured the water temperature immediately after reaching the desired temperature and turning off the kettle or after switching it to a mode of maintaining heat using a standard thermometer, the maximum temperature of which is 100 ° C. The kettle was filled to the maximum level.

Besides, we checked how well the temperature maintenance system works as a rule, it is designed for 30 minutes of operation, only Polaris PWK 1783CAD model has this time of 4 hours . We set the devices to maintain a temperature of 85 ° C and then checked whether it was maintained after 30 minutes. And of course we were evaluating the ergonomics of operation and design at the level of ordinary users, and the criteria were simple: “convenient – inconvenient” and “clear – incomprehensible”.

We wanted to boil some?

Teapots with electronic temperature control have an advantage, for which these models were developed and not for a relatively honest robbery of money from the population! . It’s about environmental friendliness, such an important component for the majority of manufacturers.

The idea is that by selecting the right temperature you can save energy, not always bring water to the boil, but only for certain drinks, like black tea, while instant coffee and cocoa are quite enough for 80 ºC, green or white tea 85-90 ºC, etc.d.

But there is a reasonable question: it turns out that in order to save energy, will have to drink unboiled, raw water? Perhaps in Europe, where the first such models were developed, this is irrelevant: there, in many countries you can drink water directly from the tap without fear of consequences. But for people in America, it is not safe to drink water that is heated but not boiled.

We all know about factors that negatively affect water quality: uncontrolled runoff from household facilities, abundant snow melting in spring, old worn-out pipes, strong chlorination. So, all we have to do is “economize” by heating up the water which has already been boiled.

By the way, the double boiling is not useful, and certainly in this case and nothing to say about the economy of electricity. That is why for us such teapots are rather elements of prestige and fashion.

Additional functions of some of them long boiling, temperature maintenance can be useful and convenient, more interesting design – nice, but what it was all designed for..

Conclusions

The main thing that became clear: a deviation of 2-4 ° C is undesirable for models where the “step” between the temperature modes is 5 ° C: all the meaning of such “accuracy” of the kettle is lost. But for appliances with the interval between modes of 15-20°C such error is insignificant, and sometimes it is even admissible, even according to the manual, within 5°C.