[LesleyS]

Do any of you have them....? My daughter has asked if she can have one because she feels cold in bed at night, despite extra weight bed spreads etc.

How safe are they and is there a particular brand I should look for?

Have any of you swapped cotton sheets for flannelette as well?

[jubjub]

All my friends use flannelette sheets in winter, and a couple have leccy blankets, but none for the kids yet... maybe get her a wheatbag or two instead? Mind you if your daughter is older and past making any nasty messes overnight, then i suppose a leccy blanket would be fine! Briscoes have a sale on them this weekend, so do Farmers...

A recent thread on another forum has highlighted a few issues with leccy blankets, and the recommendation is to get them safety checked every year before you start using them again.

Oh, and I dont change to flannelette I just dont like the stuff!

[nippa&pippa]

Instead of using electric blanket or flannel sheet for my kids, I used fleece blanket under bedsheet as made huge difference as mattress tend to be cold without fleece blanket in winter and my MIL notice it the difference after one night I forgot to put fleece blanket on after washing bedding!

[kowhai]

I will be putting the childrens electric blankets on their beds tomorrow. OH and I used ours for the first time last night. ( I recommend the one with the sheepskin overlay - very cosy ! ). Over the childrens EB I place a pure wool blanket and then flannelette sheets.

I have bought all my electric blankets from Farmers. Important to have the correct sized E.B for the bed size. All their brands are very reputable. Childrens blankets come with a safety " trigger " ie the blankets switch off automatically if the temperature is too high. Some EBs are waterproof too but are more expensive.

They should be checked yearly - as previously mentioned. I store mine loosely rolled ( not folded ), and will manually check. Actually I may very well take them for a WOF. Can't be too careful eh.

[lockstock]

Up until yesterday I would have chuckled and thought 'southern softies' at the mention of an electric blanket. After freezing my wotsits off all night and feeling really cold and miserable all day, I'm reading with intense interest and total commitment. I never realised I could feel this cold - and it's not even proper winter yet. Or is it? Suddenly and electric blanket, flannelette sheets and a fleece underblanket sound very, very appealing.

How I miss my Rayburn back in Wales.

[mossum]

missing that wall to wall heat here too !

Being a lady of certain years ( prematurely i may add ) I very considerately lye on mt husbands side of the bed untill he gets in .. I then retire to my own (cool) side . He's happy & so am I ... I'm now referred to as the " hot water wife ":p

Vic

[Moorf]

We didn't have a leccy blanket till we moved to this house... we've got a dual control one so I have have my side toasty and OH can have his lukewarm side :D It can be washed in the washing machine too which is an option I definitely wanted and auto cut-off timers as I worry that I'll get zapped in the night and so it'll stay on for a bit while i nod off :o ... got it in Farmers - around $200 but worth every cent.

[JandM]

Hot water bottles, anybody?

[Familyofmonkeys]

Hot water bottles, anybody?

Got them unpacked ready :yes ....but as we are in modern house this winter am hoping it will never get cold enough to need them. Don't want another winter waking up in the morning to temperature below WHO miniumum healthy temp. Don't own electric blankets and there is no way OH would let me buy any....would cost a fortune for whole family :exit

[irishliz]

Yes I used hot water bottles last night and tonight for the kids and they were delighted. Happy memories of my childhood brought back as well. Put fleecy blankets under the sheets and then wrapped the kids pj's in the hot water bottles in their beds (two for each and rotated them from youngest to oldest). Pj's nice and hot when they came out of bath and then they slipped into their cosy beds. I don't leave the water bottles in their beds though so they were all transferred over to ours so must go and enjoy!

[nippa&pippa]

More posts on this thread I am reading and I am thinking what is going on? Is north island colder than south island at moment as we are still using summer duvet and not yet using winter duvet, blanket or electric blankets yet :confused: and only heating we are using is logburner to warm house :exit but plan to bring heater out for kids' room soon to keep temp above minimum of 18'c.
Since we have stopped drying the washing in the house and have worked hard to reducing condensation in the house, the house have become very noticeable warm. No more cold and damp air in the bedrooms which was coldest part of house.

[kowhai]

More posts on this thread I am reading and I am thinking what is going on? Is north island colder than south island at moment

Im just a wimp ! I think its just the decadence of snuggling between toasty sheets esp when the rain is lashing against the windows - like right now.
I also love hot baths in the middle of summer too. Not very good for the national grid I know.:uhoh

[Familyofmonkeys]

More posts on this thread I am reading and I am thinking what is going on? Is north island colder than south island at moment as we are still using summer duvet and not yet using winter duvet, blanket or electric blankets yet :confused: and only heating we are using is logburner to warm house :exit but plan to bring heater out for kids' room soon to keep temp above minimum of 18'c.
Since we have stopped drying the washing in the house and have worked hard to reducing condensation in the house, the house have become very noticeable warm. No more cold and damp air in the bedrooms which was coldest part of house.

All we have had here in Auckland for last few days has been non stop torrential rain with very little sunshine in between to warm anything up :( It is not really cold here, but without some nice sunshine to warm things up in morning it just stays cool and damp all day so houses not warming up much during the day without some heating and gets colder at night too.

[nippa&pippa]

Had frost overnight and children's bedrooms temp reader show the lowest temp at 14'c during some point of night :exit
So tonight I have whip out their extra duvets and heaters out...no wonder why Eliot wasn't happy to stay in his cot last night that he end up sleeping between us so we can get some sleep :roll

[Mels]

Can you use electric blankets from the UK with just an adapter OK?
- as we are all 'nesh'. southerners :)

Mels

[boatieman]

Ah yes electric blankets I remember those were they not used in the UK in the last century??? maybe around the late 1960's. But yet behold they are an advancement in the household living standards of the average NZhouse. Soon to be discovered is the continental quilt of European origin. Me thinks this maybe of use in Ye olde worlde of New Zealand

[Leccy-Lee]

LOL, tis true, a kiwi was so excited explaining his "New thing" he had fitted to his home recently, its apparently the latest thing and "not yet common at all" but as he said "i like to be at the front of new technology and ideas".
Wow i was well impressed, sounds amazing so far... then i found out his "new thingy" was:

Double Glazing....!

LOL ah bless NZ, have they discovered the Earths round yet? He really genuinely didn't believe me when i explained its as old as the hills, and pretty much standard in Europe for years.. Doh

[Moorf]

Ah yes electric blankets I remember those were they not used in the UK in the last century??? maybe around the late 1960's. But yet behold they are an advancement in the household living standards of the average NZhouse. Soon to be discovered is the continental quilt of European origin. Me thinks this maybe of use in Ye olde worlde of New Zealand

See that's what happens when you move to a different country... things are.. errmm... different.

[Moorf]

LOL, tis true, a kiwi was so excited explaining his "New thing" he had fitted to his home recently, its apparently the latest thing and "not yet common at all" but as he said "i like to be at the front of new technology and ideas".
Wow i was well impressed, sounds amazing so far... then i found out his "new thingy" was:

Double Glazing....!

LOL ah bless NZ, have they discovered the Earths round yet? He really genuinely didn't believe me when i explained its as old as the hills, and pretty much standard in Europe for years.. Doh

Double-glazing is often heard in the same sentence as "new-fangled" around these parts too :laugh

[kanatakiwi]

Can you use electric blankets from the UK with just an adapter OK?
- as we are all 'nesh'. southerners :)

Mels

I think these are one of the things you should NOT use with adaptors. I tried it with my ones brought over in the shipping container, and it worked fine the first few times, then one night put on a spectacular fireworks display and blew the fuses to smithereens. I wondered if the blanket had picked up some moisture while in the container for 3 months, but as it is a high user of electricity, it could be dangerous. the adaptor/transformer was very hot when I dfd use it (before it blew up and sent sparks flying everywhere!!):uhoh

[Mels]

I think these are one of the things you should NOT use with adaptors. I tried it with my ones brought over in the shipping container, and it worked fine the first few times, then one night put on a spectacular fireworks display and blew the fuses to smithereens. I wondered if the blanket had picked up some moisture while in the container for 3 months, but as it is a high user of electricity, it could be dangerous. the adaptor/transformer was very hot when I dfd use it (before it blew up and sent sparks flying everywhere!!):uhoh

OK - maybe not good to use them then :no

thanks for the warning :eek:

Mels

[IanW99]

I think these are one of the things you should NOT use with adaptors. I tried it with my ones brought over in the shipping container, and it worked fine the first few times, then one night put on a spectacular fireworks display and blew the fuses to smithereens. I wondered if the blanket had picked up some moisture while in the container for 3 months, but as it is a high user of electricity, it could be dangerous. the adaptor/transformer was very hot when I dfd use it (before it blew up and sent sparks flying everywhere!!):uhoh

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your electric blanket was meant for 110V and not 240V which is why you needed a transformer.

Electric blankets from the UK don't need the transformer and although I would recommend the plug is changed instead of using an adapter then there shouldn't be any real problem with them (assuming in good condition).

You of course should have your electric blanket tested every 12 months to ensure that it is safe.

Ian

[kanatakiwi]

true. the transformer could have been the problem, although it was the correct one for high voltage items.

[ers99w]

Do they not have ceramic heaters in New Zealand? They are perfect for heating small spaces like bedrooms.

Two came in a box from Long's drugstores here in San diego, Ca, and I paid around $15 total for both. they came in handy at night (it DOES get down to 35 degrees F here!) when my roommates and I were huddled in our rooms but we didn't want to heat the whole house up.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Do they not have ceramic heaters in New Zealand? They are perfect for heating small spaces like bedrooms.

Two came in a box from Long's drugstores here in San diego, Ca, and I paid around $15 total for both. they came in handy at night (it DOES get down to 35 degrees F here!) when my roommates and I were huddled in our rooms but we didn't want to heat the whole house up.

We have some halogen and ceramic heaters....they only cost about $35 each, are very cheap and efficient to run (only takes a few minutes to heat a room up)....but don't seem to be very popular here for some reason :confused:

[NZ Hopeful]

Apologies in advance for this post..... but after listening to how nice your weather has been all through our dreary winter it is my pleasure to report the hottest day of the year so far in the UK! :raebanana :exit

[slider]

Electric blanket? More like air conditioning and cold beer :cheers :D
Glorious here. Summer has arrived in the UK :cool:
Apologies to those of you suffering from the winter chill :exit

[Kate D]

[QUOTE
You of course should have your electric blanket tested every 12 months to ensure that it is safe.
[/QUOTE]

Ok, I gotta ask. WHO tests such a thing...? Is it Jo Public turning it on and ensuring it doesn't blow up after 10 mins or are there WOF equivalent types for the sole purpose of checking electric blankets to give them the all clear..?

I say this more from curiosity as the renter of a heated, double glazed house (but still with a throw around my shoulders listening to that howling Wellington wind tonight...) but really, who?? Honestly, I'm baffled!

Kate

[cappuccino]

I read somewhere that the fire station have a regular testing service. Not sure if this is correct or not though.

[slider]

I should imagine any competent electrician is capable of testing an electric blanket.
Might be worth PMing one of the sparkies on the forum such as Leccy-Lee

[mgbridges]

Instead of using electric blanket or flannel sheet for my kids, I used fleece blanket under bedsheet as made huge difference as mattress tend to be cold without fleece blanket in winter and my MIL notice it the difference after one night I forgot to put fleece blanket on after washing bedding!

When you say fleece blanket do you mean something made out of wool or fleece as in the stuff a fleece jacket is made out of? I think I need to do something to make DS's bed a bit more snug and we all dislike flannelette sheets and I just know he would fiddle with an electric blanket! He does have a hot water bottle when he goes to bed but is now waking up in the middle of the night saying its gone cold! :(

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese

[kowhai]

I have stopped my youngest from fiddling with his electric blanket controller by placing it at the foot end of his bed. Killjoy mum.