Author Topic: Is it me or...  (Read 7502 times)

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Offline amyk

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #25 on: January 10, 2019, 10:26:46 pm »
The manufacturers are only thinking about your safety (yeah, sure); the shorter cables may be made with copper clad aluminum that would overheat if made longer.
That's not how it works... resistance is per unit length, so a longer cable would dissipate more power but it would also dissipate it over a larger area, so the power density and thus temperature rise remains the same.

Unless you coil the cable tightly, is that what you're referring to?
 

Online Gregg

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #26 on: January 11, 2019, 06:10:48 am »
The manufacturers are only thinking about your safety (yeah, sure); the shorter cables may be made with copper clad aluminum that would overheat if made longer.
That's not how it works... resistance is per unit length, so a longer cable would dissipate more power but it would also dissipate it over a larger area, so the power density and thus temperature rise remains the same.

Unless you coil the cable tightly, is that what you're referring to?
You are correct if the load is strictly resistive, the cable insulation can really dissipate the heat from the additional resistance and strands are not broken form the easier to break aluminum core of the wire,  However in the real world substituting copper clad aluminum of the same cross section as copper especially if the copper was already at maximum safe current limits makes whatever is being powered receive a lower voltage and some things just draw more current while purely resistive loads like a toaster will need to run longer to achieve the same results. 
Something like a mixer may draw a much higher current for a much longer time with a relatively high resistance cord and cause insulation breakdown whereas a shorter cord with less resistance may have a significantly longer interval before failure.
 

Offline Wolfram

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #27 on: January 11, 2019, 10:48:48 am »
If there is a limit on the cord length for kettles, it will be in IEC 60335-2-15, which is relevant EU safety standard. Unfortunately I don't have access to this standard, but the index of the standard is open access: https://webstore.iec.ch/p-preview/info_iec60335-2-15%7Bed5.0%7Den.pdf
 

Online Zero999

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #28 on: January 11, 2019, 12:48:39 pm »
What vitriol? I think this forum has been fairly peaceful recently. There's the odd troll post here and there but the moderators have been fairly good at dealing with it. I think people forget what this place used to be like around five years ago, when mojochan, dannyf and zapta used to spew far left and right bullshit everywhere.
 

Online coppercone2

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2019, 01:20:42 pm »
for kitchen stuff I completely hate cords unless its on something permament.

Say you have a bread machine, blender, or other medium to small sized appliance (like a vegetable chopper/salsa maker) that you don't use every day. You need to wrap the cord every single fucking time.

For a long time I have been plotting to make some kind of POWERCON or other connector on all the appliances in the kitchen and use them on a reel that hides under the cabinets.

Some devices are supposed to be time savers, say a mini-food processor that is useful for making a cup of chilli or mayonaise (working capacity about 1.5 cups). It's not useful enough to be a permament presence on the counter top, and it wins over a kitchen knife in speed. It's more cleaning but fine.

However you need to wrap a power cord around it like 10 times before you can store the thing. It's preposterous. I hate doing it. If you stow it where you need to bend down there is no good way to situate it without the cord unraveling on you and going all over the place. Something must be done.

I feel the same way about the blender wand, you need a decent long cord on it, say if you want to blend soup, but then storing it is a hassle. If you do it 100 times a year it gets really really old.
Like you came home from work, stopped at the grocery store, did the line, unpacked, sorted, etc.. now time to deal with the extension cord again. If you are tried there is a chance you will end up stopping at the deli to buy a sandwich rather then making something healthy just because you need to deal with the cord after 10 hours away from home doing all that crap.

Shorter cables on big appliances like microwaves and toaster ovens are retarded though, you want to be able to place them in a way to maximize countertop space. There is no god damn reason to put a short cord on that since no one is carrying a microwave out of a shelf every morning. I have no problem putting a adhesive cable holder thing on the back of a microwave to put a loop of wire around it after its positioned properly.

I expanded my kitchen to the god damn porch so I can have more appliances out in a easy to clean way (i.e. big mixer, pizza oven, microwave, toaster oven are all on the porch). Then I can have a blender, food processor, crock pot, electric skillet out when I need to use em with little effort. And cleaning is easier if its all spread out since you can scrub in big sweeping motions with your hand. Confined space cleaning makes me insane, your range of hand motion is restricted to like 15% of the natural movement and you can't get any momentum going on the rag or scowering pad and you end up with sore hands.

And I will tell you why they put short cords on heavy appliances, cost, its plain as day. I replaced the cable on my toaster oven so I can use the old one in my shop as a parts heater and I instantly noticed it was short but they had to legally use heavy gauge copper. When I just randomly picked up a replacement cord off the shelf it was twice as long an weighed about as much as the 3 foot cord on the toaster oven. They don't want to pay for copper. Had to search far and wide to find a cord of similar quality but longer length to the one they put on the oven.That thing is all about cost, in order to clean it without being a fucking ant-eater I had to make custom tools like little dowels with steel wood that straps on to them to actually clean it nice around the heating element shields which are like stamped sheet metal pressed into the chassis. I don't think it was even possible to clean without taking the back of it off and using special tools to poke at it with at it with strange angles. 

I don't like making money at the expense of my hands in regards to ergonomics. I know too many people with messed up hands from digging or even fine repetitive work like crimping. Same thing with heavy grease scrubbing. It's like you are making or saving money at the expense of your ligaments and joints (its not even the muscles that are taking the beating). Otherwise wives would have jacked hands.

Yes most people would freak out when they see how many very similar precise looking fine hand tools like pliers and cutters I own. If its not the major muscle groups like quads and triceps that hurt after a hard days work then your probably not equipped with the correct tools.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2019, 01:45:03 pm by coppercone2 »
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #30 on: January 11, 2019, 06:46:49 pm »
I hate short cords, I regularly replace the original cord with nice long ones. I'm not worried about kid safety as I don't have kids, if I did I'd just tuck the cord back out of the way.
 

Offline fourtytwo42

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #31 on: January 11, 2019, 07:41:42 pm »
Careful what you wish for or someone will develop wireless worktops for power transfer frying our minds with several Kw of RF, OTH could be suitable treatment for said trolls  :-DD
 
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Offline radar_macgyver

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #32 on: January 12, 2019, 05:17:50 am »
Careful what you wish for or someone will develop wireless worktops for power transfer frying our minds with several Kw of RF, OTH could be suitable treatment for said trolls  :-DD

Oh I dunno, my induction cooktop effortlessly transfers 1.8 kW of power to my frying pan and I haven't grown any extra limbs. Yet.
 

Offline G7PSK

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #33 on: January 12, 2019, 02:42:46 pm »
Not just kitchen equipment every power tool seems to have shorter leads these days, even soldering irons leads are getting to short for ease of use. Maybe that is to push you into buying cordless tools but the chargers on those have shorter leads now,also just got two new vehicles and both those have smaller fuel tanks reducing the range to just under 300 miles on one and just over 260 on the other,is this a conspiracy to remove range anxiety on the forthcoming electric versions, I cannot see me buying an electric truck as it wont have the range I need and takes too long to recharge.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #34 on: January 12, 2019, 07:47:35 pm »
I think the cords on most things are getting shorter for the same reason food products are magically shrinking, a "gallon" of ice cream isn't really a gallon anymore, they shrink just a tiny amount every now and then to hide cost increases, blame marketing types for that, personally I notice and find it insulting but whatever.

260-300 miles doesn't sound unusual, that's about the range I get from my Volvos and they're 1984 and 1990 so I really doubt EV range anxiety was on their minds at the time. A more likely reason for the smaller tanks on newer vehicles is fuel economy mandates. To get the economy they make efforts to shed weight. Fuel is heavy so by making the tank smaller they can reduce the weight of the vehicle. Surely you can still get models with larger tanks though, my friend's work truck has two tanks, I believe the second one was an option they ordered it with.
 

Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #35 on: January 12, 2019, 10:03:44 pm »
Careful what you wish for or someone will develop wireless worktops for power transfer frying our minds with several Kw of RF, OTH could be suitable treatment for said trolls  :-DD

Oh I dunno, my induction cooktop effortlessly transfers 1.8 kW of power to my frying pan and I haven't grown any extra limbs. Yet.

Ugh. When I moved I bought a new stove. For some reason I stubbornly stuck to calrod coils... I shouda bought an induction top since in general I have good quality pots and pans.
Thanks for reminding me that not only do I have a short kettle cord, but also my stove sucks....   ;)
(I mean it cooks fine, it's the clean up that sucks)
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Offline james_s

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #36 on: January 13, 2019, 06:22:47 am »
Induction is neat, if my only option were electric I'd very likely go that route. I'm a big fan of gas though, it has most of the advantages of resistance and induction, with the added advantage of working in a power outage. I can light it with a match, or power my whole house with a 2kW generator. A generator capable of powering an electric stove would be prohibitively expensive, both to own and operate.
 

Offline fourtytwo42

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #37 on: January 17, 2019, 09:29:49 pm »
How far can I stray from the OP's question ? But I love gas, I use it when we go camping and it's such a relief from the slow old electric cooker at home BUT I would never give up my favorite pot's n pan's just so I could use induction!
 

Online coppercone2

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #38 on: January 18, 2019, 03:55:35 pm »
how about microwaves? apparently one of the few safe ways to cook american bacon.
Glad I am lazy and enjoy using the microwave to heat bacon.
 

Offline langwadt

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #39 on: January 19, 2019, 03:02:34 am »
Not just kitchen equipment every power tool seems to have shorter leads these days, even soldering irons leads are getting to short for ease of use. Maybe that is to push you into buying cordless tools but the chargers on those have shorter leads now,also just got two new vehicles and both those have smaller fuel tanks reducing the range to just under 300 miles on one and just over 260 on the other,is this a conspiracy to remove range anxiety on the forthcoming electric versions, I cannot see me buying an electric truck as it wont have the range I need and takes too long to recharge.

for powertools I'd have the lead very short so it doesn't get tangled up in storage and then a single extension cord
 

Offline djacobow

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #40 on: January 22, 2019, 11:53:25 pm »
american bacon

Wait! I've been missing out on some other kinds of bacon?!?!?
 

Offline langwadt

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #41 on: January 23, 2019, 12:36:16 am »
 

Offline macboy

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #42 on: January 23, 2019, 01:51:37 pm »
american bacon

Wait! I've been missing out on some other kinds of bacon?!?!?

Canadian, American and English http://www.endlesssimmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/BaconUncooked.JPG
I've never seen "Canadian" bacon so round... that is obviously a processed product; the good stuff is made from the whole loin which is the big meaty part seen in the English style one pictured. Here, we sometimes do call it Canadian bacon, but Canada is a big country with many geographic variations in culture, so it is also frequently called "back bacon" or sometimes "peameal bacon" (when the loin is coated in cornmeal before being sliced ... so I can't actually explain why "peameal" instead of "cornmeal"). Nevertheless, good old american style bacon strips are much more common here, and the single word "bacon" always refers to that.
 

Online tggzzz

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #43 on: January 23, 2019, 02:37:12 pm »
american bacon

Wait! I've been missing out on some other kinds of bacon?!?!?

Yup. You only have the cheapest nastiest fattest "streaky bacon".

Over here the best bacon is dry cured back bacon, the same shape as a pork loin chop.
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Offline schmitt trigger

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #44 on: January 23, 2019, 04:35:38 pm »
To me, the ultimate "Canadian Breakfast" are some pancakes smothered in maple syrup, plus a pair of thick Canadian bacon slices.  :-+ :-+
 

Offline djacobow

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #45 on: January 23, 2019, 11:10:54 pm »
I want all the bacon kinds. :-)
 

Online coppercone2

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Re: Is it me or...
« Reply #46 on: January 23, 2019, 11:43:16 pm »
its about how its cured I mean. Pink generally means NaNO2 is used for curing and its bad if you apply high heat. Something having to do with industry changes in meat curing practices circa 1970.

prosciutto is supposedly good but its $$. And its way too salty for anything but a sandwich intended to be used with prosciutto (i.e. with fresh cheese and tomato).

But yea I don't see anything but american bacon working for a bacon egg and cheese sandwich. or a BLT. Apparently microwaving bypasses the formation of toxic chemicals some what. Is canadian bacon non nitrited?

i don't really get why people like pink meat anyway. It looks wrong.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2019, 11:48:26 pm by coppercone2 »
 


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