Looking for a QUIET jug (kettle)

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#1268132 26-Mar-2015 09:40

Dulouz:
DS248: We have a Breville BKE590 "Quite Boil Technology" kettle (photo below).

Much quieter than a 'normal' electric kettle

Stainless steel.

I have had two of these, both were extremely loud.

WHAT????

DS248

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#1268135 26-Mar-2015 09:42

I see Briscoes still sell it ($69.99)
http://www.briscoes.co.nz/kitchen/appliances/breville-bke590-17-litre-quiet-boil-comfort-kettle-1036542
(hope it is OK to include that link!)

Just wait until they have it on 30% - 60% off!

Dulouz

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#1268138 26-Mar-2015 09:44

kiwitrc:
Dulouz:
DS248: We have a Breville BKE590 "Quite Boil Technology" kettle (photo below).

Much quieter than a 'normal' electric kettle

Stainless steel.

I have had two of these, both were extremely loud.

WHAT????

Try turning your kettle off and you'll hear me.

Amanon

mdf

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#1268141 26-Mar-2015 09:46

I know it's a thread about boiling water, and you would think that would be self explanatory, but I'm going to ask for more info...

What do you boil the kettle for?

If it's coffee, you could try a stovetop coffee maker (Moka pot). They're not silent (there's a little sort of gurgling noise), but because you're only boiling the (smallish) amount of water that you're actually going to use, there isn't much of a boiling sound and what there is doesn't last long. Briscoes has the knockoffs for cheap and the real things for expensive. I find the "6 cup" size about perfect for a decent sized cup of coffee.

If it's for green tea (or even white tea) you could try a kettle for tea that has a variable thermostat. You're not supposed to use boiling water for green tea, so the kettle actually cuts out at about 70 degrees. Again, it's not silent, but much quieter as you're not vigorously boiling a whole lot of water to get it up to 100 degrees. I had one a few years ago, but can't remember the model sorry. At the risk of angering the GZ secret service, Briscoes seems to have a Russell Hobbs one.

If it's for black tea, can't help sorry.

Stu

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#1268166 26-Mar-2015 10:00

The Geekzone Secret Service are going to ignore that one mdf, as it doesn't appear to be a whisper model warned of by the OP

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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#1268484 26-Mar-2015 15:29

andrewNZ:

If anyone suggests a Russell Hobbs Whisper Kettle, I'll have the geekzone secret service deal to you

We've had one of those for a few years now.

It was incredibly quiet for about three weeks.

Now, it's the loudest kettle we've ever owned, but it boils quickly, so we make do.

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khull

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#1268492 26-Mar-2015 15:49

DS248: We have a Breville BKE590 "Quite Boil Technology" kettle (photo below).

Much quieter than a 'normal' electric kettle

Stainless steel.

This one exactly - it is so quiet it has a bell that goes ding when it is done boiling.

Reality is you just need to clean the kettle. All of them will become loud eventually because of hard water deposits. Invest in a $6 kettle cleaner or use vinegar (lots of it) first before you go out and find a new one

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Tinshed

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#1268494 26-Mar-2015 15:51

It is threads like this that make Geekzone such a great place :-). We have a Russell Hobbs Ascot 3050 and really like the feature/button that allows you to keep the water just below boiling point. This means boil once, push button on and then have near boiling water "on tap". Of course there is a power usage involved in that but it does mean you can have a cup of coffee without boiling the jug and thereby having noise.

Tinshed
Wellington, New Zealand

richms

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#1268497 26-Mar-2015 15:56

My metal one actually sounds like someone bashing away when it gets near a boil.

Putting it on a rubber mat helped a lot.

I got a glass kambrook one that used to be $100 then waited for a half price warehouse sale so got it for $50. Now they are $129 which sucks if you pay full price. But you are an idiot to do that at the warehouse.

Its better but there is becoming to be some brown gunk on the bottom of the glass vessel. Its also not the full 2400 watts so will be somewhat slower.

Richard rich.ms

JamesL

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#1268557 26-Mar-2015 18:15

I don't think there's such a thing as a quiet kettle tbh, I've been through many and any that claim to be quiet is BS.. Quiet vs a jet engine maybe?

What about a gas stove top one, assuming you have gas..

craigw

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#1268641 26-Mar-2015 20:24

We had a kettle that sounded like a jet plane and so decided on a new one. We used Consumer to see what they recommended.
The quietest they had was one called Homemaker 1.7L Quiet Boil F-743SQ. Bought from KMart for $30 It was very quiet. But after 2-3 months we started to get a funny metallic taste. And we have a water filter that we use to fill the jug.
A clean with white vinegar would help for a couple of boils but then the taste was back. And then it started getting louder.
We gave up with that and went with the Russel Hobbs Ascot 3050. Very quiet and also with the red and blue LEDs. Red when boiling and blue when sitting there doing nothing. Bright enough to light up the kitchen at night. Had that about 6 months now and still very quiet and no weird taste. It also has the maintain switch for keeping the water simmering but we have never used that feature.

richms

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#1268642 26-Mar-2015 20:26

My main thing when buying the kettle was that it turned off when lifted from the base.

The last 2 have died from being lifted off, poured and then put back on when they had been emptyd. Stupid kettles have a non resettable boil dry protection in them which combined with the bastard screws makes them too much effort to fix when that happens.

The last one that had a LED powered it from the mains directly so it was flickery and annoying.

Richard rich.ms

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#1268923 27-Mar-2015 11:05

richms: My main thing when buying the kettle was that it turned off when lifted from the base.

The last 2 have died from being lifted off, poured and then put back on when they had been emptyd. Stupid kettles have a non resettable boil dry protection in them which combined with the bastard screws makes them too much effort to fix when that happens.

A lot of people need that feature. I have adult children who turn on the kettle without checking that there is any water in it, They do this even if they were the one who last used it and emptied it only minutes before.

The only feature I've found that works is the one on me that is continually reminding them until they stop doing it.

I encourage them to fill it at least to the minimum when they finish with it. I also encourage them to let it stop boiling before they use it. Unlike the old all metal kettles, most kettles have a lot of plastic even if the outside and lid are metal - metallic coated plastic is still plastic. Even if they don't boil dry, their usable life seems to be substantially reduced if the internal base is frequently exposed when people lift off and pour so the element is hot but there is little or no water covering all or part of the base. The result for us has been that we've gone from replacing them twice a year to once every few years. Even if we used cheap kettles that's a saving of at least $50 a year and the water tastes better when the plastic is not degraded.

Dunnersfella

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#1268943 27-Mar-2015 11:31

If it's a serious issue for you, invest in a hot water tap.
Sure, you don't get pretty coloured kettle / toaster combos in the kitchen... but instant 98 degree water is pretty nice.

Hammerer

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#1268950 27-Mar-2015 11:45

JamesL: I don't think there's such a thing as a quiet kettle tbh, I've been through many and any that claim to be quiet is BS.. Quiet vs a jet engine maybe?

Apparently, Consumer and other researchers are wasting their time measuring noise levels. I guess that you'll wonder how these academics got their paper, Why does heating water in a kettle produce sound?, accepted for publication with the fanciful idea that it is possible to have a kettle that can effectively boil water silently.

Quietness is relative to the listener so it is no surprise that people have different viewpoints. The quietness of a kettle is affected by the acoustic characteristics of the location, the water level, the water quality, and residues remaining in the kettle. So it is not entirely the fault of the kettle manufacturer when they are not as quiet as expected.

In summary, Aljishi & Tatarkiewicz found that the following stages in heating fresh tap water:

silent convection
nucleate boiling where most of the noise comes from the explosive creation and collapse of vapour bubbles
- nearly silent ~40C bubbles form from dissolved air
- noisy ~70C vapour bubbles nucleate on the heated bottom of the kettle and collapse
- noisier ~90C vapour bubbles coalesce from the heated surface to create larger bubbles that can rise to the top surface to explode
- noisiest ~90-100C large vapour bubbles form throughout most of the water

They discuss that the frequency of the sound waves is affected by the shape of the container and the amount of water. They also mention resonance which can occur in a fixed container (like in an organ pipe). It appears that the drop off in intensity of the sound when the kettle boils is due to water roiling and so the water level is not constant thereby disrupting resonance effects.

Two of the methods for reducing sound independent of the kettle used are:

using deionised or distilled water moves nucleate bubble formation until just before 100C
stirring the water (they used a Teflon rod) to reduce non-uniform heating and bubble formation is equivalent to using deionised/distilled water

[Edited to fix grammar and clarity]

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