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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To remind people NOT to use hot water bottles?

488 replies

Laptopsas · 21/09/2025 22:40

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

Picture of Sharon Portingale smiling

Hot water bottle warning after woman suffers severe burns

Sharon Portingale woke up with an oozing blister and still has mobility problems, two years on.

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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Lizziecubs · 28/09/2025 11:26

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)

Skibbgirl · 29/09/2025 10:58

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.

angelspike2025 · 29/09/2025 11:58

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!

Fountofwisdom · 29/09/2025 12:04

NuffSaidSam · 21/09/2025 22:41

Agree. The wheat bags are so much better, safer and easier to use.

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!

scalt · 29/09/2025 12:34

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?".

purpleygirl · 07/10/2025 15:19

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

nomas · 07/10/2025 15:22

purpleygirl · 07/10/2025 15:19

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

Children should never fill up HWBs.

taxguru · 07/10/2025 15:24

Laptopsas · 21/09/2025 22:46

Rubber hot water bottles have only been around for 100 years or so and every year there are well publicised stories of them exploded and causing severe burns.

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!

taxguru · 07/10/2025 15:27

Skibbgirl · 29/09/2025 10:58

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.

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.

luckylavender · 07/10/2025 15:28

Lifeinthepit · 21/09/2025 22:51

I would always have rolled my eyes at this sort of post in the past, until my HWB exploded and gave me huge scalds on my thighs a few years ago. My own fault for using too hot water too many times but I never thought it would burst. Now I use an electric underblanket.

Because they’re as safe as houses

purpleygirl · 07/10/2025 15:49

nomas · 07/10/2025 15:22

Children should never fill up HWBs.

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

nomas · 07/10/2025 15:51

purpleygirl · 07/10/2025 15:49

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

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

purpleygirl · 07/10/2025 15:57

nomas · 07/10/2025 15:51

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

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

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