Electric kettles may also be used to boil water without the necessity of a stovetop. The heating element is typically fully enclosed, with a power rating of 2–3 kW. This means that the current draw for an electric kettle is up to 13A, which is a significant proportion of the current available for many homes: the
main fuse of most homes varies between 20 and 100 amps. In modern designs, once the water has reached its boiling point, the kettle automatically deactivates, preventing the water from boiling away and damaging the heating element. the first confirmed electric kettles were designed in 1891 by an American company,
Carpenter Electric Co., In 1922, Leslie Large, an engineer working at
Bulpitt & Sons of Birmingham, designed an element of wire wound around a core and sheathed in a metal tube. The element could be immersed directly into water which made the kettle much more efficient than stovetop kettles. In 1955, the newly founded British company
Russell Hobbs brought out its stainless steel K1 model as the first fully automatic kettle. A
bimetallic strip, heated through a pipe by the steam produced as the water comes to the boil, flexes, and cuts off the current. As little steam is produced before boiling occurs, the bimetallic thermostat is set to activate well below , thus this design works even at higher altitudes where the boiling point is significantly lower. The design has since been widely adopted by other manufacturers. == Whistling kettles ==