Alice Beer urged Britons to be careful with old hot water bottles
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Alice Beer gives energy saving tips on This Morning
Wind, rain and freezing temperatures mean winter is very much here, forcing many households to switch on the heating or find other, cheaper ways to stay warm at home. Cosying up with a hot water bottle is just one way to avoid feeling the chill, though according to Alice Beer, they can be dangerous in some cases. She issued a stark warning to This Morning viewers urging them to make some simple checks before using hot water bottles.
She told presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield how a member of the public had reached out to her after her 15-year-old daughter suffered severe burns from a hot water bottle.
Alice explained that the water bottle was in a cover and had been stored in a cupboard for some time.
While the young girl thought it was perfectly safe to use, the rubber exterior was torn allowing boiling water to seep out onto her stomach.
The consumer journalist revealed that while it sounds like a freak accident, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital admit at least one person per week with injuries of this kind.
As well as being prone to wear and tear, Alice noted that hot water bottles have an “expiry date” and should be replaced every three years on average.
She explained that the date can be found on the bottle, though you “don’t know about it” as it is incredibly difficult to decipher.
Underneath the typically fluffy cover is the manufacturing code inside a daisy-wheel, which tells you when the item was made.
Alice said: “I think this is the worst system of printing a date ever. It’s so confusing!”
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Speaking to Holly and Philip, the journalist revealed that the wheel has 12 segments – each of which represents one month.
Inside the wheel is a number which indicates the year it was made. In this case, the bottle had the number 22, meaning it was manufactured in 2022.
The last segment on the wheel was a number eight for August and contained three dots. Alice noted that this means the bottle was made in the third week of the month.
She branded the complex coding “ridiculous”, adding that she’d congratulate anyone that would know how to decipher it without some guidance.
If you can’t find a date on your hot water bottle, it is either “too old” and should be replaced, or it is not from a trusted manufacturer.
Alice added that the easiest way to tell whether your hot water bottle is safe is by the smell and feel of it.
She explained that a “strong rubbery smell” and thick, rubbery feel is best as it means it is well insulated.
Anything other than this means it is likely made up of other additives and will be “more prone to perishing”.
The consumer expert noted that taking the cover off is really the only way to check whether your hot water bottle is safe.
She urged Britons to “be careful” and follow the following steps before cosying up with one this winter:
- Look for the date on the rubber casing
- Always fill the bottle up without the cover on it
- Never use boiling water to fill the bottle up
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