A warning has been issued to anyone who uses a hot water bottle.
Temperatures are starting to plummet across the UK as winter approaches. Consumer expert Alice Beer appeared on today's edition of This Morning to share important advice to people looking for alternative ways to warm up amid skyrocketing energy bills.
The expert was contacted on Instagram by a parent whose child suffered third degree burns after her hot water bottle split. Alice explained this was a common issue as Chelsea and Westminster hospital see people suffering burns from hot water bottles at least once a week.
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She added: "Half of hot water bottle injuries need skin grafts and surgeries. These are not surface burns, these go really deep." Alice explained a hot water bottle with normal usage lasts up to three years before people should look to replace it.
She urged anyone with a hot water bottle to check their date of manufacture to check how long they have had it. Alice brandished a hot water bottle on the show and demonstrated how the date of manufacture will not be known to most people because it is hidden.
She said: "You don't know about it because this is a brand new hot water bottle in a fluffy cover. Why would you ever take it off unless it got dirty. I'm sorry, but I think this is the worst system for printing a date because it's so confusing.
"Inside you have got a daisy wheel date. It's got 12 segments and in the middle of this one you have got a 22. This one was made in 2022. Then you have 12 segments around the outside and those are the months.
"You can tell the month it was manufactured from when the dots end. It's got dots in eight segments so it was made in August."
The number of dots in the segments indicate the week it was made. Alice's hot water bottle had three dots in the segment so it was made in the third week of August 2022.
Alice also urged people to not pour boiling water in their bottle. She also explained people should remove the cover when filling up a hot water bottle so you can check its condition.
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