To use a ten year old hot water bottle?

Mine is pretty old.
I don’t honestly think I put water hot enough to scald in it though.

@Florol well I don't use one, I've got two cats that do a good job if warming the bed for me.

But as OP doesn't want to buy a new one, it's a cheap solution that would work until she's ready too and should there be a spillage keep her relatively safe and dry

why never fill from the tap @islamann

As a nurse who works in Burns and Plastics, please don't. I've seen horrific burns in both kids and adults. Use a heat pad instead. If you must use a HWB, only use if less than 2 years old and with a cover, and never fill from a tap. This is aimed at kids but adults should watch too.

I wouldn't. I had one burst and burn my thighs and feet

I didn't use to change them but now I do as one burst down DD's back. We were lucky to avoid major burns. Be careful with hot water bottles

I had a nasty scarring scald on my ankle from one earlier this year. The bottle was only about 3 years old - I'm going to change it annually from now on.

i keep mine at the bottom of my bed so am not too worried.

Always use a cover! You could and would burn yourself on bare rubber. Like when you put a bag of peas or ice on an injury you need a layer of cloth so you don't freeze burn your skin either

Yes, rubber gets old and instead of soft and rubbery it starts to perish and gets hard and brittle. This is part of the reason gas equipment needs to be checked as rubber hosing will be flexible when installed (like under your hobs for example) but over time will breakdown and split causing a leak.

If it's an old one I'd just be careful not to put a full kettle of boiling water in. Just accept the risk it could burst or leak. If you use very hot water it could be very dangerous.

Are there dates on these?

Don't last hours and hours like a h.w. bottle.

So is there more of am issue with hot water bottles that have covers?
I have know a couple burst as a child, but in a thought I wet the bed type way. We never had covers for them but they would have been decades old. The filling protocol was to fil it over the sink, put the stopper in, dry it on a tea towel and give it a really good shake upside down to check for leaks. This wouldn't be possible inside a cover.
A boy at school got horrible burns from falling asleep on a hot water bottle. Not from the immediate temperate but from it being prolonged.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/burns-surgeon-warns-check-hot-094611976.html

This article sums it up. It is the hospital that is famous for treating WW2 burns victims. I used to work here, sadly moved away, it is a lovely place and a friend still works there. She won’t have a hot water bottle in her house as she has seen the damage they can do.

We buy new ones every second year. A 10 yo bottle is way to risky.

Last year I ended up with 1st & 2nd degree burns to my abdomen because of a degraded water bottle- it burst with no pressure on it, and the pain and annoyance of burnt guts has taught me my lesson. So yes they are replaced every 2-3 years. The rubber degrades with age and whilst it's never happened before- I can be 100% sure it will never happen again.

I voted YABU and now I’ve read all these terrible replies about scalds and burns 😢 ….

slopes off to put bottles from 2009 in the bin

This never used to happen 30 or 40 years ago they must be using poorer quality rubber these days.

I am so so glad I’ve read this thread.
I have been taking a big risk with my children’s safety - and mine. I had no idea.

Thank you!!!

I was the same until I had not one but two hot water bottles explode on me this year! I was unlucky that it happened twice but very lucky not to suffer any serious injury as I was able to catch it and chuck it away from me quickly both times!

They definitely don't make 'em like they used to.

Wow, they don’t make them like that anymore I mean to last.

Get one of these, they don't use much electric, it's not as restricting as a heated blanket
I have it on my lap or sometimes put my feet on it

amzn.eu/d/ehIKrzt

I use a plug in heat pad instead now or a heated disc (it's the cats technically but I use it more!)
The plug in heat pad is brilliant

So you use plastic rather than natural rubber?

We've tried wheat bags. They're wet and attract bugs, eventually.

We have a microwave thing for Ds2's bed but don't use it very often because it doesn't seem to be very good for the microwave. It all but finished off our old one.

I'll stick with renewing hot water bottles every few years and reminding DH not to burp them on his belly if he values his bollocks.

Mine leaked in my sleeping bag when camping. Fortunately it just got my feet (which I quickly moved!) and not my 4yo child who was sharing the double sleeping bag with me. She often hugged it but because she was asleep I moved it to my feet that night. Thank goodness.

Fortunately my feet were on top, not underneath and I moved quickly, so no burns, and no horrifically burnt child by an absolute fluke. A soaking sleeping bag when camping in the rain was as bad as it got, though I was shaken up.

It was about 2 years old and in a fluffy cover.