Hot water bottles

Allsorts, IMO your hot water bottles are too old , head for the bin and purchase a new one. Better safe than sorry these are far too old to use! Hot water bottles thin with time and if you have a cover on your bottle you are not going to notice the deterioration! Please beware.

That is terrible, MadeInYorkshire. I'm really sorry that your daughter had this awful thing happen to her. It looks so painful.
I do hope she is alright now.
But after 87 years of using hot water bottles, I shall continue to.

I too, have stopped using them, I think they are risky. A few years ago, my husband's business partner had to stay the night at our house as they were both setting off early the next day to catch a flight at our nearby airport. It was a freezing night in February, so I popped a hot water bottle in his bed in the spare room. I was woken at around 3 am with him tapping on our bedroom door to say the bottle had burst and the bed was soaked (as was he!). Fortunately the water had cooled as the house was so cold! But it was extremely embarrassing! (Poor guy had to sleep on the sofa with the dog in borrowed PJs!) No... that doesn't sound quite right!!

Each hot water bottle has a flower near the head with a date, three years after that date it is recommended to throw out. You never know when the rubber could perish, it is not worth holding on to £7.99 from Boots because it doesn’t look as if it is ‘gone’.

henetha

That is terrible, MadeInYorkshire. I'm really sorry that your daughter had this awful thing happen to her. It looks so painful.
I do hope she is alright now.
But after 87 years of using hot water bottles, I shall continue to.

Me too.

Just don’t fill over 2/3 full, don’t use boiling water and change the bottle every 3 years.

I have a set of silicone hot water bottles and hopefully they will last longer than the old style with habit of rubber degrading even if not in use. Yes I swear by electric blanket for preheat and to air a bed but the bottles are brought into play for really cold nights and will still have some warmth in them by morning.

Cabbie21

I have a wheat bag, shaped like a hot water bottle. You heat it in the microwave. Works well and safer than hot water bottle.

You have to be careful with wheat bags too. I used to love them but didn’t realise you need to dampen them every now and again otherwise they dry out.
I happened to pop round to see my mother one day - she’d just taken hers out of the microwave but hadn’t noticed there was smoke coming out of it - I threw it outside in the rain where it smouldered for some time. I often wonder what would have happened if she’d taken it up to bed with her,

Frogs, my aunt woke in the night to her bedroom full of smoke, her wheat bag had smouldered and set the mattress on fire.She escaped in the nick of time. I’ve never used mine since!

I always used a hot water bottle in Winter, so I did replace them regularly. I last replaced a couple of years ago, but have never used it. Instead I bought a Night Owl duvet, it's quick and easy to wash and dry, extremely lightweight and warm enough to not need any extra heat and I am a person who really feels the cold.

I got a hot water bottle out to fill last year, it had gone completely rock hard. On my new bottle, I wrote the date I purchased on the neck. Only use in the evenings, can’t beat electric blanket

mokryna

Each hot water bottle has a flower near the head with a date, three years after that date it is recommended to throw out. You never know when the rubber could perish, it is not worth holding on to £7.99 from Boots because it doesn’t look as if it is ‘gone’.

Ahh good to know 😊

When I was in my teens I suffered burns from a hot water bottle that had perished. They were not as severe as the burns your poor daughter suffered*Made in Yorkshire*, but I needed weeks of treatment. I can still remember the shock as I jumped into bed straight onto the boiling bottle. It actually went "bang" as it exploded.
So, please, if anyone has any concerns about the condition of a bottle, please just put it in the bin and buy a new one, they are not expensive and will save an awful lot of pain and upset

Henetha like you I will continue using my hottie, that burn looks awful MadeinYorkshire
both my daughters are hot water bottle fans I supposed it’s what you are used to when I was growing up electric blankets weren’t heard of and then when they came on the scene seemed very ‘posh’
In the winter I have one for my feet, and one to cuddle I have had burst bottles but never been burnt

I have some of my Nans stone bottles and a very old warming pan (not used the I should add)

Sorry
not used by me ( I should add)

Surely hot water bottles are not made of rubber any more, but of some synthetic such as vinyl, which cannot perish.

I would prefer a "stone pig" any day of the week. Wrapped in a towel they are not too hot to handle, and if you take them out of your bed before getting into it and wrap tomorrow's underclothes round it the clothes are warm in the morning, or at least not chilled and the water in the bottle is still warm enough to wash your face in.

The electric blankets you put under your lower sheet tend to be lumpy to lie on, are all made of synthetics, which are a problem for anyone like me who is allergic to most man-made fibres and cannot be washed. Three very good reasons for not wanting one.

Can I recommend a nice warm cat? Or better still: two nice warm cats?

If you think hot water bottles are dangerous[ you would be horrified at the bed warmer my dad made just post war. He was an electrician so made a bed warmer from a toffee tin , holes drilled all over, and a light bulb fixed onto the base. It did warm the bed !!!!!!

Regrettably I have thrown my three hot water bottles and bought 2 new ones, the date on them iwas 2 years old but they were in sealed bags. Awful stories about bursting bottles and the damage they do.
Thank you a everyone for you advice.

I've just checked mine and they were made in 2009!! I rarely use them but did use them last winter to cut down on heating as bills went up so much. I think I need to replace them!
I have a wheat filled scarf which I used all through last winter too so I may get another wheat filled device as that is probably safer.

Microwaveable Bed Buddies! Many years ago I started using homemade "bed buddies." Make a fabric case (flannel, yum!) and fill it about 1/2 way with rice, sew the end. Use smaller stitches. Microwave for 2 - 2 1/2 minute (or whatever works for you). I find the first microwaving cools a bit sooner - maybe because I'm chilly? The next microwaving of the evening stays warm a long time. These last at least a couple years - often longer. If you like scent, perhaps add some dried lavender or peppermint? The hard part is they make great homemade gifts, but you can't give them every year!

Allsorts

Regrettably I have thrown my three hot water bottles and bought 2 new ones, the date on them iwas 2 years old but they were in sealed bags. Awful stories about bursting bottles and the damage they do.
Thank you a everyone for you advice.

👍🏻

You can tell if they’re too old when you empty them. Instead of the water running clear there is a residue coming out in the water.

jocork

I've just checked mine and they were made in 2009!! I rarely use them but did use them last winter to cut down on heating as bills went up so much. I think I need to replace them!
I have a wheat filled scarf which I used all through last winter too so I may get another wheat filled device as that is probably safer.

Jocork - Please have a look at my posting above about the experience I had with a wheat bag (and the posting just below mine) 😞

I read an article last year about hot water bottles so I checked mine. I also actually checked one which was given as a gift with a fancy cover. They were both out of date I went to shop for new ones guess what? The ones in two stores were well out of date so now I will not trust any I see in stores. I would sooner do without and warned my family and friends about them.

I fill my hottie from the hot tap and not from a boiling kettle.
I buy new bottles occasionally when mine feel brittle or thin.

I'm another who can't get on with electric blankets.

Those pictures of your DDs burns are so shocking madeinyorkshire I hope she recovered 🙏

Grammaretto

I fill my hottie from the hot tap and not from a boiling kettle.
I buy new bottles occasionally when mine feel brittle or thin.

I'm another who can't get on with electric blankets.

Those pictures of your DDs burns are so shocking madeinyorkshire I hope she recovered 🙏

She did recover from that and was remarkably unscarred; sadly though she took her own life nearly 2 years ago.

She would be pleased that her photos were of some use to people ...

RIP Catt