To remind people NOT to use hot water bottles?

[Laptopsas]

There is another thread running about cold weather and hit water bottles are being recommended as safe. They are not.

Get a heated throw or the microwaveable bags.

If you must use one, don’t use boiling water.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5068468-to-remind-you-all-to-throw-out-old-hot-water-bottles

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5176765-water-bottle-exploded

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kd7k2e48jo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxnez4zxkno

Not only boiling water I hope, that perishes the rubber inside so you wouldn't know. Always hot water or some cold in first.

The Europeans have sex lives: the British have hot water bottles.

This was from a book “how to be a Brit”, and the illustration was of an old pottery hot water bottle.

Does anyone remember the lovely book “Phoebe and the Hot water bottles”? It was a children’s book in the 1970s, in which Phoebe has a single father who gives her a hot water bottle every time she is good, and she has one hundred and fifty-seven of them. She plays with them like dolls, and at night she is “the warmest little girl in the world”.

The book is now sadly discredited and out of print, because she uses the hot water bottles to put out a fire, and as a reward, she is given her very own puppy, which she had always wanted. Oh how times have moved on…

If the bottle is exploding then you are overfilling it and not letting the air out of the top.

I remember a story from when I was little about some faries that were freezing and a child gave them her hot water bottle so they all climbed in under the cover and warmed their toes!!

By the way, are you (OP) Susie from Big Brother, in about 2007? She was a dour rather posh contestant, who was always moralising to her younger housemates about something or other, and one thing she warned them about was the danger of hot water bottles.

I've found a video of someone reading Phoebe and the Hot Water bottles. It's well worth it for 1970s nostalgia, and for unconventional uses of hot water bottles.

If it is such a safety issue using beyond 2 years why not just put a clear expiry date on them instead of a secret code!

(rhetorical question, I know you are not responsible for HWB date stamping!)

Just checked one of ours in a cupboard nearby and it says 2012 🤪 (we have older ones upstairs). Reckon if they have lasted this long with no signs of wear and tear they are good for a few years yet!

@scalt Yes I remember that book. I loved it! thanks for sharing the link!

You sound like a scaremongerer.

What’s your next advice thread going to be:l, here are some suggestions.

• Don’t have baths, you can drown
• Don’t drive a car, you can crash
• Don’t fly in a plane, you can explode
• Don’t cross a street, you can get run over

Or you could just get out of your bedroom and away from your PC and get some fresh air.

Yep, OP doesn’t know how to use safely a HWB and therefore thinks no one else can either..

I’ve had two significant burns/scalds as a result of hot water bottles. YANBU

No, they’re not. I’ve had more heat from a red pepper than a wheat bag.

You're perhaps not cooking it long enough then.

Cooking it long enough to get it hot would cause a fire.

I can't say that's been my experience. Luckily I've been able to heat it for the advised amount of time which leaves it nice and hot, but not on fire. I assume that's the experience of all the people who regularly use them. I can't imagine they'd continue to be sold if ineffective or on fire were the only options!

Probably something to do with the manufacturing process and it being hard/expensive to mould variable numbered dates into the rubber surface.

How many minutes does your wheat bag say to microwave it for and how many minutes are you actually heating it for?

E.g. this one says heat for 60 seconds

warmies.co.uk/products/warmies%C2%AE-fully-microwavable-bottle-marshmallow-grey

We use hot water bottles, never had a problem but we keep an eye on their condition and are careful with them. We don't have a microwave, so I guess there's no way to heat an alternative.

My big ones say two minutes and I heat them for two minutes.

The neck shape ones say 90 seconds and I do 90 seconds.

The hand ones say 45 seconds and I do 45 seconds. Although tbf these ones are never properly hot just warm.

It'll obviously be different in different wattage microwaves so maybe that explains why some people are dealing with lukewarm bags and others are catching on fire! I've never had either problem luckily.

I don’t have a microwave for a wheat bag. I use hot water bottles, replace them regularly and don’t have the water too hot.

It’s like a lot of things - people need to use common sense. But that is something people are generally doing less and less.

You realise people get burns w wheat bags too?

Well, if they're genuinely hot and stay hot then fair play to you.

I was gifted the one I linked and it's one of the better wheat bags I've used but it still doesn't compare to a hot water bottle for me.

My wheat thing was too hot to touch to start with. Then too cold to be effective about 30 secs later. And It smelled weird once the lavender smell went away. Like overcooked porridge.
Then it went mouldy.

If they are exploding, then you probably didn’t make sure to get the air out after pouring in the water as you were sealing it up. And using water that is too hot.

I have once had one expire and leak during the night - back when I was growing up at home, we were broke and HWBs were never replaced. But it was lukewarm water so more a cold wet patch annoyance than a scalding situation (no spare bed to go to or spare bedding to use…it was the 80s).