It’s freezing cold and the heating is probably cranked – but with energy bills higher than ever most of us are probably using every trick in the book to keep warm without relying on costly gas and electricity.
Either way, it’s that time of year where the hot water bottle is dusted off and given a run out – but you might not know they don’t last forever, and in fact you need to check a set of numbers that show you if it’s still safe to use.
If it’s old, it might not be so reliable and in fact could even be a dangerous explosion risk.
Read More: Every driver filling up hit with petrol and diesel warning
Hot water bottles actually have an expiration date printed on them which shows you just how old they are.
But it’s not like a ‘use by’ date on the side of a pack of sausages. The numbers printed on a hot water bottle have a ‘code’ which needs to be worked out to tell if it’s still safe to keep cuddling up to.
And depending what that date is, it could be a very expensive mistake to keep on using it because it may burst and scald you with its boiling contents.
Consumer journalist Alice Beer said that an old hot water bottle burst and scalded a woman’s 15-year-old daughter. She explained that the water bottle was in a cover and had been stored in a cupboard for some time.
(Image: Alex Evans)
While the young girl thought it was safe to use, the rubber lining was torn allowing boiling water to seep out onto her stomach.
She continued that while it sounds like a freak accident, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital admits at least one person per week with injuries of this kind.
Alice noted that hot water bottles have an “expiry date” and should be replaced every three years on average.
How to check your water bottle’s expiration date
On the funnel of your hot water bottle, there should be a small flower symbol printed into the side of the rubber. This daisy sign will have a number in the middle which shows the year that it was made.
Around the number are 12 petals, one for each month of the year and inside those petals will be some dots. The dots, which can have up to four in each petal, are to demonstrate the week of the month that it was made. It’s an oddly precise system for a flower logo.
So if your hot water only has one dot in the first petal, then that shows it was made in the first week of January. If it has 13 dots in four petals, then it means the first week of April.
If your hot water bottle doesn’t have the daisy sign, it will have a BS safety standard, such as BS 1970:2012. To be honest, if it uses that standard it is definitely time to throw it away and buy a new one because that standard was replaced far longer than four years ago.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Yorkshire
