Boiler - an electrical appliance consisting of a heating element, pads and a power cord with a plug, simple and compact. It appeared in Germany in the early twenties of the 20th century: engineer Theodor Stiebel showed a prototype in 1924, which greatly impressed the visitors of the Leipzig spring exhibition. However, at home, his invention was quickly forgotten, switching to more advanced technologies, but in the USSR the device took root.

It is believed that the first boiler was brought to the Soviet Union by the milk merchant Alexander Chichkin, who returned from exile. Traveling with Anastas Mikoyan across Siberia by train, Chichkin demonstrated a miracle of engineering and brewed tea right in the compartment, which impressed his companion a lot. Mikoyan told the authorities about the device, and soon the first Soviet boiler plant was built near Krasnoyarsk.

In the thirties, the boiler had already gained widespread popularity, which spread along with the electrification of the country. The simple design made it easy to use, effective and practically indestructible. The power could be different: boilers from 0.3 to 1.5 kW were produced, the cost depended on it - an average of 1-3 rubles (in the eighties a 0.7 kW boiler cost 3 rubles 50 kopecks).

The device made it possible to boil a glass of water in a couple of minutes and took up very little space (some boilers were even sold complete with a compact case and a heat-resistant glass), so they took it with them on every trip, whether it was a vacation or a business trip. After all, the opportunity to drink coffee or tea in a hotel room is a special luxury that one could arrange for oneself solely by one's own efforts.

Not all hotels allowed guests to use boilers due to the fire hazard: an immersion boiler, left turned on unattended, quickly evaporated the liquid and then was like a forgotten iron. Appropriate signs were hung up, and the device itself was confiscated from violators. But inventive Soviet citizens knew how to make boilers with their own hands - from razor blades and wire. The people called the self-made boiler "bulbulator", and there were legends about its danger to life, but people continued to build such structures, especially in the army and places of detention.

Even the boilers were extremely energy-intensive. Actor Yuri Stoyanov recalled the tour of the BDT in Japan in 1988: “If we all connected our stoves and boilers to the network at the same time, the lights in the hotel would start flashing on all 30 floors. At that time, the Soviet Soyuz TM-6 was flying in space with cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov, Valery Polyakov and an Afghan citizen Abdul Ahad Momand on board. And I imagined them flying over Japan and Lyakhov asked Polyakov: “Valera! And what is there in Tokyo again flashing, what kind of illumination? ”, And Polyakov answers:“ Everything is fine, Vova. Ours are having dinner ... ”.