UK Desperately need some advice on kettles!

[Etln11]

Hi everyone, I’ve just started uni and we’ve been told that you’re not allowed kettles in our rooms. I’m really curious as to why this might be? I know nothing about kettles or electrics so I desperately need as much advice as I can get. I did ask my uni if we would be allowed camping kettles that have lower watts than hairdryers (that we’re allowed) but they still said no . If anyone could help explain whether there is a genuine reason it would be highly appreciated!
Thank you everyone!!

 

[westward10]

Could be a health and safety issue with the boiling water.

 

[buzzlightyear]

are you aloud a iron in the rooms ,cause more rooms ruined with a iron burn marks on the carpet then a kettle ,lol.

 

[static zap]

Do they have posh stainless steel ones in kitchen?
(Cheap plasticy ones are full of plasticizers )
--Probably more about a power consumption event ...
Synchronised with live TV !

 

[Marvo]

Anywhere else and I'd be thinking about electrical answers to your question but with a university it's more likely to be that making tea is considered offensive to people of ancestral heritage that was on the receiving end of British colonialism sometime in the last few centuries and the humble kettle has become a symbol of that oppression.

 

[static zap]

....it's more likely to be that making tea is considered offensive.....

(sorry iffy context)
.. An inappropriate use of energy - when beer will do !

 

[buzzlightyear]

to people of ancestral heritage that was on the receiving end of British colonialism sometime in the last few centuries and the humble kettle has become a symbol of that oppression

not with me its not ,put the kettle on darling ,if man or woman ,lol.

 

[littlespark]

I’ll ask my daughter who started at Aberdeen uni this year whether they are allowed kettles.

Do you have any cooking appliances?

 

[Marvo]

not with me its not ,put the kettle on darling ,if man or woman ,lol.

Don't worry Buzz, I also swing both ways...I mostly drink coffee but once in a while I get a hankering for a cup of tea.

 

[buzzlightyear]

I’ll ask my daughter who started at Aberdeen uni this year whether they are allowed kettles.

Do you have any cooking appliances?

are they still cooking up there around boulders with sticks in bonny Scotland .
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I not tea any more MAVO is coffee latte ,so when you go in people houses put the giga on chief , whip up a nice creamy coffee .

 

[dmxtothemax]

One possible reason could be power supply capacity,
Each kettle will use 10A @ 230/240V.
imagine one kettle in each room,
How many rooms ?
Your talking serious electrical upgrade
not to mention the chance of fire or burning
we all know how responsible college stundents are

 

[StephenRowley]

Might also be steam setting off fire alarms, also given that I know exactly how daft students can be having been one myself in the past some previous incidents

 

[Pete999]

Coz most won't be PA Tested

 

[FatAlan]

Do you have a dedicated drying room? If so, you’ll find that they’re an ideal location to set up a home brew beer production line. Managed subsidised beer at 20p a pint through my first year at Uni with £10 profit on my initial set up contribution.

 

[Andy5678]

Does it say anything about coffee machines and using the tea capsules?

 

[Midwest]

I'm with the H&S and PAT testing remarks.

If you can imagine every year each new student bringing in some dusty old kettle, then either each student turning their kettles all at one, or knocking it over and scalding themselves or others.

Isn't there a wall mounted water boiler in your kitchenette? That's if you can find it, with all the dirty plates, last nights takeaway boxes etc etc.

 

[Pete999]

I'm with the H&S and PAT testing remarks.

If you can imagine every year each new student bringing in some dusty old kettle, then either each student turning their kettles all at one, or knocking it over and scalding themselves or others.

Isn't there a wall mounted water boiler in your kitchenette? That's if you can find it, with all the dirty plates, last nights takeaway boxes etc etc.

My Wife's name is Pat and she aint been tested for a while

 

[Simon47]

I'd go with it being a loading issue - supply not capable of running loads of large appliances at once. When asked about a low wattage kettle, that will have been too complicated a question - so the answer will still be no.
When I was at uni, we had little 2A sockets - Woolies sold the plugs, and there was a trade in selling your used ones to the next year's intake. Didn't take much work to find out that the 2A sockets were on the lighting circuit which wasn't metered - while the wall mounted lecky heater and 13A sockets were metered. I found a little 500W in-cup water heater

I doubt ISITEE is anything to do with it. Just think of all the stuff most students will come with these days - games consoles, laptops, dodgy "chinese export" phone chargers from eBlag, ... None of that will have been checked

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Steam from the kettle setting off a smoke alarm seems a likely explanation for the rule. Evacuating a hall for a false alarm is a major pain* for everyone, expensive, wastes fire service time, involves the uni doing paperwork etc. So I think they (or more likely their insurers) make a blanket ban on any cooking / kitchen appliances including kettles in rooms since they are available in the kitchen, where the fire alarm system will have a heat detector rather than a smoke, to avoid false alarms.

OTOH the rule might be arbitrary and not based on any technical limitation. It may have been introduced after an accident and then introduced to pacify the insurers, or some other random reason. Yes, there is an increased possibility of tripping the S/O circuit if lots of kettles are switched on during the TV ads, but in my day watching TV, on the few occasions we had time for it, was a group activity followed by a round of teas / coffees made in the kitchen. I don't recall kettles being prohibited but we didn't have smoke detectors in the rooms.

*I have some experience of the misery of evacuating a hall from working in the SU building that was at the base of a tower block. If someone elbowed a break-glass in one of the venues during a crowded gig, we had to evacuate both SU venues (1700 capacity) and the hall too. The sleepy people in the hall were not usually best pleased.

 

[littlespark]

My daughter is in a purpose built hall of residence where there’s 5 bedrooms in a flat sharing a kitchen.
She says they’re not allowed cooking equipment in their rooms, only in the kitchen.
It has an electric cooker, kettle, toaster, microwave and whatever anyone brought in.
Must be down to the fire detection system I think.

She has been told however that she was not allowed plug in fairy lights in her bedroom, had to be battery.... and the reason was fire risk.

So, for whatever reason your uni has banned them, it’s their decision ultimately, so you just need to follow the rules.