HN Explorer

Ask HN: Failsafe Electric Blanket?

6 points by andbberger ↗ HN
I've been looking for an electric blanket and have been appalled to find that a large amount of products on the market appear to be obscenely dangerous, despite apparently being UL/ETL listed.

This I've gathered from the consistency with which the amazon listings come with 1-star 'burnt my house down' reviews with pictures, and more importantly that one of the largest vendors, Sunbeam, _still_ sells blankets they know to be defective, _and_ never recalled an older model they know to be even more defective[1]!

That they are still selling them implies a regulatory failure as far as I am concerned. And if they can get away with it, so can everyone else, so no blanket for me.

Which is a real shame because holy wow, electric blankets are so much more efficient than space heaters.

In conclusion, someone please do a disrupt and sell me a blanket

[1] http://www.safetyresearch.net/blog/articles/jury-finds-sunbeam%E2%80%99s-improved-electric-blanket-circuit-still-doesn%E2%80%99t-fail-safe?fbclid=IwAR0Ayoa1n7oz-xW78CZBRwYshnlLBr2Huu0uPEk0E7YhVmTnXvtAAlvatcw

14 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 44.6 ms ] thread
tomxor
Or you could just get a hot water bottle... seriously, they are £5 and will never catch on fire. Not continuous but they keep you pretty damn warm for a good hour before needing a refill. Sometimes it's better to just keep things simple.

You also don't need to worry about quality / safety of manufacturing, it's a simple rubber mould - very difficult to get wrong.

andbberger
you really need a power source to be an alternative to a space heater. i want to sleep with this thing
Someone
Still easy to get wrong, I would say. If the lid comes of accidentally or the bottle shears when you lie on top of it, the hot water can burn you.

A few iterations of cost cutting without much regard for safety (why is that skin so thick? Why do we buy premium quality materials?) will easily give you such a device.

tomxor
> A few iterations of cost cutting without much regard for safety (why is that skin so thick? Why do we buy premium quality materials?) will easily give you such a device.

It's not a complex profit making product, it's a single piece of rubber, it's not gona suffer from washing-machine syndrome (hot water bottles predate them by centuries).

The modern rubber design was patented in 1903, you find the exact same design everywhere today - If anything is a time proven piece of technology it's the frickin hot water bottle trust me.

Someone
“hot water bottle recall” gives me several examples of unsafe water bottles.

It also gives me https://www.productsafety.gov.au/about-us/videos/hot-water-b..., which says:

”Every year, around 200 people are admitted to hospital with serious burns related to hot water bottles.

These are not just superficial burns. Some burns can even require skin grafts and weeks of hospitalisation.”

And that doesn’t even talk of faulty water bottles, just of faulty use. Among the things it suggests are to buy a new hot water bottle at the start of each winter, and to only use a hot water bottle to heat the bed – take it out before you get in.

tomxor
That sounds like a very low proportion of users compared to most things, and as you say - due to miss use.
Doxin
A nicer solution is to get a bag-of-pits, like magic bag. You stick them in the microwave to heat them up in minutes, they retain heat for hours, and there's no risk of spilling near-boiling water.
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ksherlock
try a mylar space blanket. It completely disrupts the electric blanket market by not using electricity.
croo
I'm the third person chiming in without answer as I cannot help you with the electronic blanket. Sorry :)

On a side note I found that if you exercise regularly your body temperature will be MUCH more stable and higher thus possibly eliminate the need for the blanket.

thedevindevops
Just checking but you've tried a throw on the bed?
andbberger
It's rather cold in my room. Looking for space heater alternatives.
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