Electric blankets.

[La Poste]

Howdy.
I have just found out my ageing father sleeps all night with his electric blanket on, apparently the manufacturer states it is safe to do so.
Does anyone have any opinions about how to make this as safe as possible?
I am going to wire a smoke alarm in (trouble is he is deaf), maybe have a special socket for the blanket with a low current tripping RCD.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[roukel01]

I had a look inside my wife leccy blanket the other day becasue it wasn't working. Ours also stated it was ok to use all night, when I opened it up, I was suprised by the fandangled saftey cutout system it had in place. If the manufacturer states its safe to use, and its a decent make, I wouldn;t worry too much about it.

 

[jaresquire]

Takes me way back to my first flat, impossible to heat by earthly means - the leccy blanket was my only refuge - untill I met the wife..

 

[La Poste]

I will haveto check the make and model number.

 

[cbw]

And then when she became 'the wife' you needed a new blanket!

 

[jaresquire]

Now my kids keep the bed warm and push me out to the sofa

 

[La Poste]

Do they even have an earth?
Are they all double insulated?
I guess the new ones are much safer than the old one but these days you never know.
Made in China and all that.

 

[cbw]

You would never wet the bed again!

 

[La Poste]

You would never wet the bed again!

Very funny.

 

[Adam W]

Given the amount of fires these things seem to cause I'm frankly amazed the 'ban everything brigade' haven't tried to ban them yet.

 

[La Poste]

Given the amount of fires these things seem to cause.

That's what I mean.
I think a smoke alarm in the same room is mandatory.
Why do they catch fire?

 

[Adam W]

I would imagine because they've worked perfectly well for the last 40 years or so so the owner sees no need to waste money splashing out on a new one.
There was a story in the papers during last year's "big freeze" of some old dear who was trying to use a 100 year old electric heater, and yes that worked perfectly well until it burned her house down.
In short I reckon you could do a lot worse than to have an electric blanket PAT tested every few years.

 

[La Poste]

Great post.

In short I reckon you could do a lot worse than to have an electric blanket PAT tested every few years.

What do you think of these:
Kewtech Corporation | PAT Kit 1 | PAT Testing

Are they worth a look in for a small amount of PAT testing around the house?
I have the insulation/continuity tester allready.
Cheers.

 

[Adam W]

I don't see what tests it does that you don't get from your multifunction tester and you could probably make one yourself, but for £40 you can't go too far wrong.

 

[MNR]

About the fire alarm I have recently fitted fire alarms with a vibrating pad and white strobe light pad that goes under the pillow in a refurb in an old peoples home, maybe worth having a look at?