To remind people NOT to use hot water bottles?

Thank you, no my parents weren’t neglectful and I wasn’t scarred. I was filling it from the hot tap in the kitchen.

Hopefully your parents weren't neglectful and that you aren't scarred.

Indeed. I don’t know how I came to be doing it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Because they’re as safe as houses

Nail on the head.

Similar to the "advice" never to use warm water to defrost car windscreen. I've been doing it for 40+ years and never broken a windscreen yet. Common sense says to use "warm" water rather than boiling hot.

Far too much nanny state these days which makes people incapable of thinking for themselves, making things worse.

Anyone with half a brain and common sense knows not to use boiling hot water, so even if it bursts, they won't get burned!

Children should never fill up HWBs.

I remember scalding my arm while filling up a water bottle when I was a child

Indeed, risk has been removed from our lives to the point of absurdity.

Once upon a time, people looked both ways before crossing the road.
Now, if they get hurt, their first thought is "who can I sue?".

I used wheat bags until we got an infestation of little bugs which the pest controller traced back to a microwaveable wheat hwb. Never again.

I use a hot water bottle now but one did perish and burst in the bed a couple of years ago, scalding my ankle. So now I’m very careful never to use boiling water and also replace bottles every 3 years. The rubber does perish over time and people keep hot water bottles for decades for some reason. They are actually pretty cheap to replace!

I worked as a carer and went to one of my visits to find him microwaving a hot water bottle with boiling water in as “it wasn’t hot enough”
I asked him if he wanted lava instead!

Seriously ... this is 'nanny state' advice IMHO; the sort of thing that denigrates people's common sense. The only time I would suggest someone not use a hot water bottle is if they have learning or physical difficulties in case they might inadvertently hurt themselves.

Hotwater bottles. I have fond memories of my hot water bottles. Car shaped ones etc. it should be obvious not to fill with boiling water! Who would? Doesn’t make sense. Hot does not mean boiling otherwise they would be called boiling bottles wouldn’t they? As mentioned you don’t fill them to the brim. Less than half full. You make sure there is no airspace left before you screw them shut. In a non heated bedroom with ice inside the windows which as children we marvelled at the ice patterns yelling Jack Frost has come! We loved our hot water bottles. It was and still is a winter delight. Improper use of anything is lack of common sense. How can a hot water bottle explode! Overfilling it and leaving the air in. Would you climb a ladder when nearly vertical? Would you hold a sharp knife by the blade? Would you not use a fire guard with young children around? Would you automatically down a drink of tea without taking a sip to test it first? Then there are chip pans, falling asleep with lit cigarette! Walking around with knives in your hand? Who remembers to point the blade downwards? You don’t? Not leaving saucepan handles hanging over front of cooker when full of boiling food! Do we ban saucepans! These days risk has been removed from our lives and there is no awareness of the dangers in life. Just look before you leap! Remember that one! For those who have had exploding hotwater bottles, stop putting in explosives! (Boiling water)

i saw the same
confused

Found out that the hot water from the tap in the bathroom is hot enough. I unfortunately didn’t put in the stopper properly the other night and it leaked (warm) badly. User error.

Can you recommend which one please.

It makes me sad that mumsnet got rid of the laughing reaction - the only suitable response for posts like this 😂

You’d have a fit in the Netherlands then. They put (metal) hot water bottles in babies’ cribs for the first week of life/until the baby has learnt to regulate their own body temperature.

I love a good hot water bottle but even we didn’t follow that advice.

We use the electric hot water bottles as the are so safe and gorgeous and warm.

We have traditional HWB too and leave a little cold water in the end before filling with water from the kettle. I believe there is more danger in the filling of HWB than of them exploding. I know 2 people who scalded themselves filling the one inch wide neck of the HWB, it's not like filling a flask as the HWB won't stand on its own.

And not remotely hot!

I was in Boots the other day and remembered this thread, so I looked at the hot water bottles on sale. Every one was dated 2022. So is the advice 2 years after manufacture (in which case all those bottles should be thrown out) or 2 years after you start using it?

I didn't say biscuits, I said packets of nuts. A packet of nuts labelled 'may contain nuts'.

What? Nut allergy anaphylaxis can cause death so of course biscuits are labelled for those who are so sensitive that cross contamination could kill them. That’s really not the flex that you think it is.

We are living in a time when people apparently need warning that coffee is hot and a packet of nuts may 'contain nuts' so I wouldn't necessarily blame the hot water bottles.

Perhaps the quality of manufacture is poorer than years ago and that is why there is now a problem.