There are only two days to go before we all head off to Buenos Aires for a national conference of everybody that calls themselves part of YWAM in Argentina. As such, my time is very limited in what is still left for me to complete, so the nights are getting longer and the mornings earlier.
To support these extended days, coffee becomes a required beverage. So this morning I thought I would make myself the standard cup of coffee, as I have been in the habit of doing every morning. In this place, there are two ways to boil water. One is with gas, but this is not very convenient as the nearest gas stove is on the other property and requires that I support gas costs even with minimal use. The other uses an electric heater, just as you would find in your electric kettle or jug. Ours is not in a jug however, but instead is a low-cost, highly-portable camping-style unit. Great for any sort of heating with liquids.
The Durability of Electric Heaters
One of the problems with these things is that the cable melts after extended use. They also burnout at the head - the very part you use to hold them - quite spectacularly at times with a big noise and great sparks followed by lots of smoke. All of these behaviours generally happen while using the heater as you would expect to use it. So when one of them showed incredible stamina I was greatly impressed.
With these things burning out even while immersed in water the general expectation was immediate burnout if ever plugged in while dry. One day, needing a power socket, I unplugged the unused CD player which had a plug and cable very similar to a heater. After using the socket I plugged the CD player back in but did not realise that I had inadvertently plugged in the heater that was hanging on the wooden wall above.
Continuing with my work on the other side of the room, it took a number of minutes before I became aware of a flickering light to my side. Looking over, our wall was on fire. The heater, still plugged in, was glowing so hot that it had passed all colours of red and moved into a bright and light coloured yellow. Around it flames were leaping out of the charred wall.
I raced to disconnect it and the flames quickly disappeared once I pulled the heater away. After that display, the heater had its shiny chromed surface destroyed, a few protruding wires from its cable, and obvious melting of the plastic head. But it still worked! This was incredible.
Back to the Morning
That old faithful heater finally burnt out a few months ago, but lasted almost a year, working faithfully. Another one took its place afterwards, but burnt out very quickly. It was just the wires inside the head, and were easily fixed. But this heater obviously had a problem and kept burning out the wires in the head until I finally replaced them with wire that was four times thicker. There has been no problems since.
Boiling water with these things is reasonably quick, but often takes just a little longer than is reasonable to wait and watch. So instead, if you start it heating, then do something quick, you can return to a hot cup of water, ready for coffee. Unfortunately, at times you can get distracted and return to a cup that is boiling quite profusely. As most of my work is on a computer nearby, I hear the water boiling before it gets excessive.
Today I didn't. Music was playing loudly and I was focused in my work. Somehow I managed to be distracted just enough to see steam pouring out everywhere from my mug with the inserted heater. Racing over, I discovered that I was moments from disaster. The water was all over the bench, and very little remained in the mug.
Refilling my mug, I tried again to boil some water for a coffee but somehow managed to repeat my first mistake. The third time it almost happened again, but there remained enough water for a drink. I decided to cut my losses and make a coffee using what was left. Now I am feeling better.
It took three attempts to boil water. I often tell people that I don't know how to cook. Their response is to say that if I know how to boil water then I know how to cook.
Hmmm, I think this is pretty good proof.