Club 80-90 Forums

Will my Westy's electric hook up take an electric kettle without burning my van to the ground? Going to a site at the weekend where they have hook ups included in the price, so I thought I'd save a little gas by running the fridge and brewing up on it. If possible. Other than testing the hook up at home to see if it works, I've never actually tried one in the field, so to speak, so forgive my ignorance.

All depends on the wattage of the kettle. Your Westy has a 10A protection RCD unit, so if you try to get more than that through the system it will trip out, as may also the campsite hook-up post (some sites have 10A, some 16A but the Westy is wired for 10A max)


watts = amps
volts

So if your kettle is 2000 watts, divide that by 240V and you`ll get the number of amps it will use. That`s 8.3 amps, so it doesn`t leave much for anything else to be switched on, like your fridge before it will trip the switch. Also some appliances have a higer start-up current that then drops down once started (microwaves do this), best to try it out at home if you`ve not had it hooked up yet. I would stick to using the gas for the kettle.

Get a cheap low wattage toaster, I did and it works great, makes good Westy toast

We're gonna get one of them sandwich toaster things. Tesco's did one for a fiver a few weeks ago. And anyway, I though it was against the law to cook toast in a Westy
PS.Mines an 81 Westy and I can't find an RCD on it.

Some people seem to have no respect for the laws of toast making.

It is a little known fact that since the 1940's our German cousins have been prevented from making toast by order of the United Nations Security Council, hence Westy's cannot make toast.

Not sure where bringing a good British toaster into a Westy would stand in international law. I can only assume that a British owner making toast for personal consumption on a toaster of non-German origin in a British registered Westy, would be OK. If, however, a German national were to consume some of said toast (whether inside or outside Germany) I dread to think what would happen.

Best not risk it.

If you are in a Westy, just say NO to toast.

We bought a 2 cup 240v travel kettle from Argos 3 years ago and it works a treat when we're hooked up - I'd well recommend one and of course you save a bit on gas. We also have an electric toaster - far better than the gas grill for toast. We've never had them on together, not deliberate it's just we always have the tea made b4 we get to the toast stage! When away for a while we take our 240v beer cooler fridge and that runs 24-7 with the kettle or toaster on at same time. This year we bought an electric bbq hot-plate from Lidl and that must draw the most but again no prob with the fridge on at same time.
I think if you're sensible and don't want a cuppa with your bbq and a bit of toast at same time whilst your wife is using a hair-dryer you'll be fine with a travel-kettle!

Like Brookie we got a travel kettle from Argos for £2

Bit crap though as it's corded and has no boil cut off so we may upgrade it

Changed our minds and just bought a sandwich toaster from Tesco's instead. £4.97 of China's finest quality electrical produce, rated at 750 watts. If you see a green Westy on fire in Church bay this weekend, it could be me! Cooking marshmallows!
I'm not too tight to buy a new gas bottle by the way, it's just that it's still on the German brown/red bottle(colour blind)and I'm trying to prolong it until I have to change the connector and get a UK bottle instead. Every little helps and all that!

thegamwellsmythes wrote:Some people seem to have no respect for the laws of toast making.

It is a little known fact that since the 1940's our German cousins have been prevented from making toast by order of the United Nations Security Council, hence Westy's cannot make toast.

Not sure where bringing a good British toaster into a Westy would stand in international law. I can only assume that a British owner making toast for personal consumption on a toaster of non-German origin in a British registered Westy, would be OK. If, however, a German national were to consume some of said toast (whether inside or outside Germany) I dread to think what would happen.

Best not risk it.

If you are in a Westy, just say NO to toast.

Pure class, thanks for writing this!