Page 263 - Electrician - TT (Volume 2)

ELECTRICIAN - CITS

5 Electric kettle
The electric kettle consists of a container, handle and an element. The element is made of a long, flat nichrome
wire arranged in a zig-zag manner and fitted between the two sheets of mica. The element is properly fitted
under the base of the kettle and is covered with a metal plate (which acts as a pressure plate) fitted with nuts.
In some cases, the heating element is embedded in a brass chromium plated tube and insulated from it with
some insulating material. Such a type of element is known as an immersion element and the kettle in which it is
used is known as, an immersion-type electric kettle, as shown in Fig. This type of kettle is more efficient because
the whole length of the immersion heater is dipped in the water and thus the heat loss is minimum. In this kettle
a thermal plunger is also provided in the socket. When the kettle boils dry, the plunger is released by the trip
lever. Due to excessive heat on this the plunger in the socket of the kettle pushes back the female connector
socket and thus disengages the connector socket from the element. This lever does not permit the making
of contact again. The contact of the female connector socket can only be made again by pushing the plunger
inward to its original position when the element of the kettle has cooled down again.
The power taken by the electric kettle (heater type) is 450 W at 230 V and for the immersion-type electric kettle,
it is 600 to 1500 W

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CITS : Power - Electrician & Wireman - Lesson 101-103