Re: British (european?) kitchen counter electric outlets

On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 11:03:54 +0100, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:

KevinJ93 <kevin_es@whitedigs.com> wrote:
>
[...]

The US uses the antiquated British Thermal Units (BTU) for gas billing.

>
Be careful when comparing historic matrial.  A BTU was Board of Trade
Unit which was equivalent to a kilowatt-hour, the BThU was the British
Thermal Unit.
>
When BTUs were phased out in favour of kWh, the redundant abbreviation
'BTU" was repurposed as an alternative to "BThU".  So depending on when
it was written, "1 BTU" could mean either 1 kWh or 1 BthU.

The classic US units were fun. A "barrel" might be different volumes
or masses, depending on what stuff you were selling.

I once calibrated a hot-water thermal  metering system for a giant
building in Moscow, that uses the city hot-water system. I guessed
that a "barrel" was 42 gallons from memory, and calibrated the
flowmeter and wrote it up. The authorities accepted that and I guess
the hotel is still paying the city based on my math. [1]

How much is a "pinch" of tarragon? Probably not enough.

Popular units of measurement here are "football fields" and "Olympic
swimming pools."

[1] Most buildings in Moscow were unmetered. When a room got too hot
in the winter, people just opened a window.