I am a farmer with giant water pumps and center pivots that run on 3 phase 480 volt power. One of my pumps has 85 horsepower. I wonder if I could wire up some sort of custom made tea kettle and get water to boil in five seconds?
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In Finland we do it every day and have done decades already.
Those who may not know electric stoves have been about fifty years common use at least in urban environments. Stoves have anything from three, one in each of three phase current used heating elements (resistor coils) 400V 6-8 kW power draw commonly in small house stoves and 2-3 times that swimming baths saunas stoves.
While sitting topmost sauna benches bathing, we throw fresh water from bucket with a sauna laddle (saunakauha) water to stove(s) anything from small drippings to a pint with trying to little spread it out. This is to get steam and make it pleasant relaxing 'löyly' as we call it.
The stove is usually heated about an hour or so before starting bathing to get temperature somewhere 70°-100°C (158-212°F).
It's not advisable to have stove showing those red hot glowing elements peeking out behind stones, but it does happen if stones were not laid properly. But even if water gets directly to elements those will not break or get any damage as they are made intentionally to resist that.
So boiling water practically immediately does happen, it's not particularly dangerous when applied in circumstances where equipment is made to withstand that is nothing miraculous. And that really happens millions of times each day in Finland and some other places where that kind of sauna culture is practised both at people private homes and also public swimming baths saunas alike.
I will be observing it next time about in 14 hours from this writing as I'm going swimming as usual tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. when pool opens early tomorrow, and then likewise twice more (Wed, Fri). Also once more (Thu) evening sauna reservation slot i've got this flat I live.
There is a quite good english page about Finish sauna in Wikipedia, but to get a glimpse what modern sauna and stoves look Harvia a long time stove manufacturer web pages you get some sense what I'm writing about.
Some firm hissing, minor clanking noise from stones is normal and even bit sharper noise when a stone cracks is what water use on stove causes when stones get old and are used lot. Stove should be cleaned periodically when it's cold depending on how much it's been used and there is need to replace stones or even all of them if it's been long time and there is some sand accumulation stove bottom grill or plate, whatever it has to hold stones falling trough. Family houses cleaning perhaps 1/yr and public saunas open 6 am to 8 pm 300 plus days a year, they will do stove maintenance every or every other month.
And yes, getting good amount of steam of course is what's been whole goal in this kind of sauna use and what we prefer. Some other places where they have begun to call it sauna too, they may not even allow to use water nothing but as drinking water and usually they don't warm up that 'sauna' as hot as we tend to do or if they do it's more like Turkish bath type then.