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A comment on Context switching costs more than we give it credit for. Parent comment

Re:Context switching costs more than we give it credit for by wongarsu on Monday January 18, 2021 @06:17AM (#25820568)
In Europe kettles typically use around 2300W, since homes are typically wired with 16A breakers (and you don't want the kettle to pop the breaker as soon as you add another device). But US homes are wired similarly, typically with 15A breakers. So you get kettles that typically use 1500W, much less than the European equivalent.

Sure, you could use powerful kettles in the US on a 20W outlet, or on a 230V circuit, but nobody is going to do that. A typical kettle that you can just buy and plug in wherever is less powerful in the US just because you use halve the voltage but don't wire for double the current.

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Re:Context switching costs more than we give it credit for by colonwqbang on Monday January 18, 2021 @06:24AM (#25820621)
Ok, that makes sense! I guess I just assumed that US wiring would typically be rated for higher currents to compensate for the less efficient transmission.

It didn't occur to me that Americans would settle for having less power than the rest of the world, it seems uncharacteristic somehow :)

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Re:Context switching costs more than we give it credit for by marcosdumay on Monday January 18, 2021 @08:16AM (#25821473)
We choose wiring gauge mostly by the "how large can it be while still moving well inside a wall?" factor. So, it's not surprising different places use the same one.
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Re:Context switching costs more than we give it credit for by colonwqbang on Monday January 18, 2021 @03:00PM (#25825905)
On the face of it, it would be equally unsurprising if wiring was dimensioned to fit the needed power output. But you are right of course.
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Re:Context switching costs more than we give it credit for by bregma on Monday January 18, 2021 @07:42AM (#25821212)
I'm sure 1% of Americans have 30 amp circuits in their kitchen and the help can boil water at twice the rate. Most Americans support this because they consider themselves just temporarily embarrassed by low-powered kettles.
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Re:Context switching costs more than we give it credit for by mulmen on Monday January 18, 2021 @06:56PM (#25828232)
Americans have 240v to the house. My dryer and oven are 240v. Just the general utility outlets are half that.
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