To remind people NOT to use hot water bottles?

My dad has a stoneware "pig" hot water bottle its about 75 years old he uses it all winter. We used to get it in our beds when we were sick its the best bedwarmer you can get! The only damage that does is waking up the whole house when it falls out the bed!

According to the safety guidelines

Apparently you should use kettle boiled & cooled water (as the minerals in tap water make them perish more quickly)

Use them with a fitted cover

Always check before filling that it looks ok & the stopper is done up properly.

Always let the excess air out.

Cherry stones sound like an interesting option though!

You’d have to prise my hot water from my warm, dead hands!

I have nerve pain in my feet and a hot water bottle on them is the only way I can get to sleep. I also have a long one that I use for back pain.

I know not to put boiling water in them so I’ll accept the small risk and keep using them. I use one at least 3 times a day!

Life is too short for this. You can injure yourself doing literally anything.

Used correctly, hot water bottles are pretty safe and very cosy. I also like heated throws. And the odd open fire. I live dangerously.

Had you expelled the air before putting the lid on @Laptopsas ?

I don’t use one very often but when I do I have always filled it with just boiled water! I thought that was the whole point…

This is a useful reminder about the risks as mine is a few years old now.

Then I suggest you contact the nurse and the advanced practitioner and tell them you know better than them.

Do try not to persuade them that heated throws aren't also dangerous though, or you might come across as a bit silly.

I have a heated electric wrap (uses a tiny amount of electric compared to heated blanket and has an auto shut off too) and it’s great!!

But she didn't say 'use them safely' & tell people what that involves, she just told people not to use them!!

Here, I'll put the bits you seem to be missing in bold...

"John Davies, nurse at Swansea Bay University Health Board - home to the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, says he sees around 30 patients with hot water bottle burns every year.
"During the fuel crisis I think people will be using hot water bottles to keep warm rather than putting the central heating on. They are safe to use if you look after them properly," he said.

Janine Evans, an advanced practitioner occupational therapist at the centre where Ms Cowell was treated, said you should not fill hot water bottles with boiling water - and use cooled water from a kettle instead."

So no need to 'remind people not to use them'.

I have to admit I think you posted this last year and I haven't used one since, because we have wheat bags (cherry stone bags BTW don't have the smell, and work fine - they smell nicer than rubber hot water bottles as well.)

But two years? Since when has that been the advice? I am sure we used the same ones for decades running. My grandparents would always give us hot water bottles when we went to stay and I can't imagine they were buying new ones every two years. It seems incredibly wasteful to throw them out.

We always did boiling water if you had a cover on the bottle, or hot-tap water if it was an uncovered one. There were warnings on them saying not to use boiling water but my mum reckoned it was to do with scalding yourself when filling it and just to be careful.

The only thing I miss about the hot water bottle is the feeling of it - there is something about the pressure of water and the shape of it which isn't replicated with a bag. I don't think the cherry stones stay hot for as long either.

Remind people that they have an expiration date and that they need to be used properly, surely that's enough and better than banning them.

My mum has had to stop using hers as she can no longer do it up properly (arthritis) 😌 & it soaked her bed a couple of times very luckily she was in the habit of putting it in her bed while she faffed around getting ready ready for bed so it didn't hurt her .

Surely this is the same as never drinking hot tea when holding a baby? No need to ban tea (or babies).

In the OPs defence, I'm in my 40s and only found out recently that hot water bottles have expiry dates, and that you shouldn't use boiling water in them. So there are stupid folk (like me!) who can find posts like this useful. Thankfully they're not something we really use anymore, and I've never used one for my kids, but it's still helpful to know for future, even if it is something I should have known years ago!

Well done for letting her know & kudos to them for getting rid of them. I hope the company donating them hadn't done it knowingly & they were informed so they don't do the same again!!

I'd guess it doesn't have a date on it if made in the 70's.

modern ones perish quickly, my 70's one was good for decades! I only stopped using it as I went travelling & packed it up before I left & it's still in another country!

the newer ones aren't as well made & I think perish much more quickly. The dates on them are easy to find.

I have never heard of a hot water bottle exploding before but I do remember reading about mini chicken kievs exploding over someone when they were removeing them from the oven 🤔

Here you go, British Safety Standard, look for the kite mark!

https://www.hotwaterbottleshop.co.uk/pages/bs-1970-2012?srsltid=AfmBOooWDZK0x1PxWl5UbsU0BXDMy-QLiJLUTSSCuBhCG7vTcaFE_LIL

That's one thing I won't do, put a HWB in the bed with a plugged in EB, it's either/or

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