Electric Blankets and Mattress Pads14 Good Safety Rules All brands of warming bedding contain recommendations for safe use of theirproduct. Most of them are quite similar to those found below because a rather extensive list of safety recommendations must be issued with each product in order to conform to the UL standard. UL (Underwriters Laboratories®) is a safety certification organization that has been testing products and writing standards for safety for over 100 years. They evaluate almost 20,000 types of products each year and their worldwide companies serve over 100 countries. Good Safety Practices for Electric Bedding: Do not use warming bedding with infants or very small children, people with disabilities, anyone who is immobile or cannot operate the controls properly, anyone insensitive to heat or anyone who cannot understand these directions. Never run the control cords between the mattress and the box springs. (This advice is similar to the advice about never running an appliance or lamp cord under a rug.)
The cord could become damaged by friction or the heat from the electricity in the cord could be trapped there with no place to escape eventually becoming a fire hazard. Never pinch any of the heating wires or the control cords in any way. Therefore do not use automatic bedding with adjustable beds, Murphy beds, pull-out sofas, or reclining chairs where any electrical cords or heater wires could become pinched in the mechanisms. Do not use heated bedding on a "hospital" type adjustable bed where the heated wires could become entrapped in the "fold" which would lead to overheating and could become a fire hazard. Do not use a heated blanket and a heated mattress pad at the same time. Wrapping the cord around the controls may damage the cord. Loop loosely when storing. The heated area of any warming bedding should always lie flat. That is, it should never be bunched up, folded or balled up (e.g. between the mattress and the footboard) such that the heat generated in the middle of that ball has no place to escape.
Do not allow pets to be around your warming bedding. A sharp claw or a tooth may puncture the wire insulation or damage the wiring itself. Do not use pins around warming bedding. They can puncture the heater wire insulation. Turn off the bedding appliance when not in use. Never iron your electric blanket or electric mattress pad. Ironing may melt the heating wire insulation. Never dry clean or use cleaning fluid on your product. Dry cleaning solvents may damage the heater wire insulation. Do not use an electric blanket or electric mattress pad on a waterbed. Finally if you observe your electric blanket or electric mattress pad operating unusually or improperly (e.g. seems too hot in one area or you see a scorch mark) call the manufacturer. All of them provide customer service centers with toll free numbers to answer questions about their products (see our Contact Information page). It may seem that there are many rules for using these appliances but they are mostly common sense.
If you follow these general rules, there will be little chance of anything going wrong with your product. Things You MUSTKnow When Buying Electric Bedding. 1. Before You Buy – A MUST Review: the Lead Page of the Buyer's Guide offering: Major considerations before your purchase; Links to all of our Reviews and Ratings sections 2. Ready to Buy? If you want to see a list of retailers carrying each of the major brands of Heated MATTRESS PADS this year, click Heated Mattress Pad Retailers OR for Heated BLANKETS, click Stores Selling Electric Blankets. The Electric Blanket Institute’s Consumer Guide and Blog text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 3.0 United States License. For any reuse or distribution you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. This information has been developed over many years of testing and is presented freely for educational use only and without any warranty of any kind.
It is not a substitute for the safe usage practices of your individual product. See our Policies Page for other information including advertising and affiliate linkage. Sorry, all information presented applies only to products sold in the United States. We cannot help with other products.If you turn your thermostat down at night to save money, sliding into bed can be a very chilly proposition. Heated mattress pads warm up your bedding from underneath and are a great alternative to electric blankets — particularly if you prefer to use a comforter as your top layer. The Textiles Lab at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute evaluated three electric mattress pads to see which will keep you warm. All of the pads we tested come with dual controls on their queen or king sizes, so there's never any argument over "too hot" or "too cold." Plus, these are energy efficient — even the biggest electricity user was quite low (just 7 cents per night, or $2.10 per month). See our reviews here.)How We TestedWe evaluated each mattress pad in our climatology chamber to see how fast it reached warm temperatures and how evenly it distributed heat.
We set the room to 55 degrees, turned each pad to its highest setting, and then allowed it to heat up until the temperature became stable. When it did, we shut it off and timed how long it took each to cool down.We timed how long it took each mattress pad to reach 70 degrees, how long it took each to cool below 62 degrees, and the average maximum temperature that each reached (at one-minute intervals).We checked plug temperature (for safety) and measured electricity use. All of the mattress pads we tested come with a 10-hour automatic shutoff and comply with electrical safety standards for electrically heated bedding.To gauge durability, we washed the mattress pads according to each manufacturer's instructions and observed any changes. We looked specifically for shrinkage and changes on the surface, such as color change, pilling, and other signs of physical degradation of the fabric.We assessed the instruction manuals for user-friendliness and tested the controls to see how easy it was to operate them.
Finally, we asked consumers to rate the mattress pads' controls, appearance, and softness of the fabric. Overall, our consumer testers found that dial controls were easier to use than button controls.Use and Care TipsRemember that as with any electrical appliance, you should take proper safety precautions.Be sure to follow your mattress pad's washing instructions carefully to avoid damage to the wires.For heated mattress pads, make sure that no wires migrate under the mattress, as this could lead to shorts in the system. Home & Garden Products La-Z-Boy Recalls Power Supplies Sold With Popular Lift Chairs The Best Foam Mattresses You Can Buy Online Thousands of Himalayan Rock Salt Lamps Recalled Keurig Is Making a Machine That Brews Alcohol Infomercial Favorite MyPillow Just Got an "F" from the Better Business Bureau IKEA to Pay $50 Million After Dressers Kill 3 Boys Yankee Candle Issues Recall After Multiple Reports of Glass Candles Shattering The Best Silk Pillowcases to Help You Get Your Beauty Sleep