Heated Mattress Pad Amp Draw
Get more and spend less when you buy Twin, Heated Mattress Pad. 5 Amp Fuse; 4 Amps Low Amperage Draw; Pre-Warms Your Bed for a Better Night s.
- The Sunbeam Quilted Heated Queen Mattress Pad features an exclusive wiring system that senses temperature variances and adjusts throughout the blanket to allow for highest peace of mind and a sound, restful night of sleep.
- May 26, 2013 - what's the power usage off the tag of your electric blanket or heated mattress say? Heated blankets are low amp draw and very efficient appliances. Wave inverter, there will be no problem with a blanket or mattress pad.
I got one of these last year, and my current climate is hardly cold, but it makes crawling into bed so much nicer when it is chilly, or cold.They must be pinned to the mattress to keep from getting folded and pinching the wires. I have a thin Mexican blanket under the sheet, on top of the heating pad, and only if trying, can I notice the heating wires.The 12 volt power cord is sturdy and the plug itself fits tight and does not warm up like many do when passing this much current.It draws 6.2 amps at 12.8 volts, but it cycles on and off depending on temperature and where the controller is placed, as the thermistor is in there.
So keeping the controller well outside the covers will allow it to produce maximum heat if neededIt does not click on and off like many electric blankets. It is silent.It takes a while to warm up. No instant heat. I have fallen asleep with it on and woke up a few hours later completely overheated.
Then open the window and crank up my fans to cool back down as the mattress itself has absorbed so much heat at that point.Most times I crank it on high an hour or 2 before climbing in bed and then turn it off shortly after climbing naked into a 110 degree bed, which is almost an obscene amount of luxury for Van dwelling.How much battery power it will use is completely dependent on the ambient temperature and the setting on which you use it. For 8 hours the max it could possibly use is 50 amp hours, which is significant. But really on Lower settings with proper blankets actual consumption will likely be 12 to 25 amp hours overnight. I usually am well under 15 amp hours as I only use it before climbing into bed, then turn it off and crank it back upto high when My alarm clock goes off and I hit snooze for the next hour. If it is super cold out I will keep my clothes under the covers with me and dress in bed, and not have to deal with the extremes so much.They have narrower (and wider) models for those with narrow beds, and these consume less current as well.Note that this adds a considerable load to the house battery, and to the alternator which might be the only recharging source. Insuring the house battery gets a full charge one a week becomes more important if one relies on this heat source too much, and alternators are not really good at taking a battery back above 80%. A full 100% recharge via alternator is a rare occurrence indeed.
Wrcsixeight, is there anyway to limit the amp draw? It pobably won't be a problem for me though. I only intend to use it for 1/3 hr to warm the bed on cold nights before I climb in.Willy, I love the pup method. I've had a dog most of my life. Last year I lost my lab to coyotes. It was terribly sad.
She was a fantastic friend. I want another but I want to travel and visit places where a dog would not be able to go all the time. I wouldn't know what to do with her while going into a museum or food joint if it was hot outside. There is no real way to limit the amp draw of these and still have an effective product. The fleece blanket you are looking at is either on or off. Trying to limit the current to it wiring in a timer might put you into the price range of the mattress pad which has the controller that effectively does limit amp draw.It will take longer than a half hour to heat the bed though. These are not like household 120v electric blankets which are toasty in minutes.On mine turning the thermostat all the way up, at least last night, did not run the heater all the time.
I was plugged in and can hear the charger's fan slow down and speed up with the cycling of the unit. When I did crawl into bed, about 2.5 hours after turning on the mattress pad to high, it was 52 in my van, and 112 under the covers( very overkill), and I turned it down to the minimum, and couldn't use blankets. Then I turned it off.20 minutes should be enough to take the edge off so you are not climbing into an icy mattress which will suck the heat out of you, but I think an hour is more reasonable. Once you do add your bodyheat to the blanket's heat it does not take long until blanket shedding occurs.In such temperatures where you will need the heated blanket, your new ARB fridge will be running very little, perhaps 5 minutes out of every hour, so it offsets a significant portion of battery usage.I was leery of the mattress pad, as I was used to household electric blankets, but I got to say after use, a hot mattress is better than just a warmed blanket.I'd really like to have a dog too. One of these days when I run across the right puppy I'll re arrange my life for one.
Browse Close Search Wirecutter For: Search.Search Wirecutter For: SearchReviews for the real world. If you would rather get an electric blanket, we recommend the. Like our favorite mattress pad, it has the best digital controls we’ve seen, and it comes with Sunbeam’s safety locking plug to keep cords firmly attached. Made of a plush velour-like material, the Velvet Plush is softer than some of the other blankets we tested. Even though we felt the wires, they didn’t make us uncomfortable while sleeping.
What swayed us most was that Sunbeam heated bedding overall had the fewest safety complaints among Amazon reviewers at the time we checked, and the Velvet Plush was the most comfortable of the Sunbeam electric blankets we tried. If you can’t get the Sunbeam Velvet Plush, we also like the, which has more flexible (and thus less noticeable) wires than the Sunbeam. This blanket was slightly more comfortable to use, but the dual controllers on the queen and king sizes are less ergonomic than Sunbeam’s and require two separate outlets. We also found slightly more safety complaints—such as reports of smoking wires or overheated controls (but not fires)—from Amazon customers about Biddeford blankets and pads. The number was very, very small (seven complaints out of 2,000 reviews, at the time of original publication), but it was still more than for heated bedding from Sunbeam.
To learn how heated bedding works, I spoke with Dick Zimmerer, a retired engineer and product manager who has worked for several heated-bedding manufacturers and now runs, a website with heated-bedding information and reviews. Our research and testing showed that in most cases you’re better off with a heated mattress pad rather than an electric blanket. Pads are better at masking the heating wires, and your body and the rest of your bedding insulate the warmth. They’re also easier to, because they lie flat and won’t bunch or fold—as electric blankets can—which could cause overheating.But blankets are better if you already use a specific mattress topper with your bed or don’t want to add extra padding to your mattress. If you want to use heated bedding only occasionally, it’s easier to swap an electric blanket on and off the bed than it is to change the mattress pad.If you have an old electric blanket or mattress pad, you might want to replace it. Heated bedding made since the late 1980s gets less hot and has more built-in safety features,. You should probably replace your bedding if it isn’t or certified, if it hasn’t been, or if it isn’t in good working order.
(Heated bedding shouldn’t show signs of wear, fraying, damage, or discoloration on the cords, controllers, connections, or outer material.) How we picked and tested. All heated bedding follows a similar design: A system of insulated wires is encased in a blanket or mattress pad, and a power cord with one or two controllers attaches to an external port on the bedding. The wires heat up, and a series of safety mechanisms and thermostats regulate the temperature. We found that by and large each bedding company has a single heating system it uses in all of its offerings. That means all blankets and pads from a given manufacturer will reach similar temperatures—what differs from model to model is the outer textile and the control style (dial versus digital, number of heat settings).We considered only UL- or ETL-certified models. Regardless of the model or manufacturer, customer reviews on Amazon and other sites indicate that the heated bedding category has a high rate of defective products. Generally, the reports we saw weren’t safety complaints (though those kinds of complaints were present in very small numbers) but rather reports of bedding that didn’t turn on out of the box or stopped heating after a short period of use.
The majority of heated-bedding manufacturers offer five-year warranties on their models; we eliminated from consideration any pad or blanket that had a shorter warranty.All the electric blankets we found were made from polyester—likely because polyester is less prone than cotton or wool to stretch or shrink when laundered, which could warp the wires. We found mattress pads made from polyester, cotton/polyester, and 100 percent cotton. As we note in our guide to the, cotton does a good job of wicking sweat and moisture away from the body, which makes the bedding feel more breathable.
This effect is important for heated bedding, which may be more likely to cause you to sweat slightly from the warmth (though you should never keep your bedding so hot that it makes you sweat profusely). Polyester tends not to absorb moisture as well as cotton, so it may make you feel more sweaty.We looked only at electric blankets meant for use on a bed. These blankets are designed to be used while lying flat, not wrapped around your body or bunched up (because too much heat can build up and ). You should not use any of these blankets while lounging on the couch—for that purpose, many manufacturers sell smaller heated throws meant to go across your lap.We eliminated mattress pads that had no internal padding (“fill”), because this feature is necessary to mask the feel of the wires.Since we couldn’t dig up many comparative reviews of electric blankets or heated mattress pads, we made a list of every electric blanket and heated mattress pad we could find on the sites of, and other retailers, ending up with 21 models from nine companies.
We then focused on the most popular models with the highest customer reviews on Amazon and other retailer sites. Since many people opt for heated bedding to save on energy costs, we eliminated models that were extremely expensive (over $150 for a queen-size blanket or pad).This process led us to three mattress pads and five electric blankets that we decided to test:Heated mattress pads.Electric blankets.We tested each item on a queen-size bed with two sleepers for at least a single night, and in some cases over multiple nights. We used cotton sateen sheets and a midweight comforter. The bedroom temperature remained between 66 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit during testing.For each blanket and mattress pad, we assessed the following:. How noticeable were the wires?.
Did the bedding reach maximum temperature within approximately 20 minutes?. How comfortable was the bedding material?.
Were the controls easy to see and adjust in the dark?We didn’t measure the exact temperatures each blanket or pad reached, because the temperature would be affected by ambient room temperature (which we couldn’t control), how insulated the bedding was, and other factors. Instead, we subjectively assessed whether each blanket and pad achieved a toasty, sheets-fresh-out-of-the-dryer feel at the highest setting.Finally, we laundered the winners according to their care instructions to confirm that they didn’t shed excessively, stretch, or shrink when washed. Our pick: The best mattress pad.At the time of publishing, the price was $138.The was the cushiest mattress pad we tested, with virtually undetectable heating wires. Its digital controls offer more temperature settings along with a useful preheat function, and it conveniently needs only one outlet even for queen and king pads with two controllers. It’s one of the only models we found with a moisture-wicking all-cotton top, and we think its quilting will help keep the fill from shifting (better than in other pads, at least).
The Premium Quilted also has an extra safety feature we didn’t see on other pads that keeps the connector port securely attached at all times. And overall, we’ve found that Sunbeam heated bedding has fewer customer complaints about safety issues.Ironically, of the three heated-bedding manufacturers whose items we tested, Sunbeam actually uses the thickest, stiffest wires (they’re about as thick as the cord of a USB charging cable).
But the Premium Quilted’s 9 ounces of padding—the most of any mattress pad we found—made the internal heating wires virtually undetectable, and the soft, quilted top improved the feel of the mattress. The pad we tested from Perfect Fit also masked the wires well, but we encountered more customer complaints about safety issues with heated bedding from that brand. The Sunbeam Premium Quilted pad was also cushier than the Perfect Fit pad. Nine ounces of padding helps mask the heating wires in the Premium Quilted pad. We didn’t feel the wires underneath.Among the pads we tried, the Premium Quilted’s digital controls had the most temperature settings, with 20 options.
You probably don’t need that level of granularity—we doubt you’ll notice a real difference between heat settings “7” and “8,” for example. (None of the bedding items we tested allowed programming of exact temperatures; they offered only numerical settings.) The Premium Quilted was also the only mattress pad we tested that had a dedicated “preheat” option: After you choose your desired setting, the controller will kick up to the highest setting to warm the bed quickly and then drop back down to maintain the temperature you want. You can achieve the same effect by setting the controller to high and then manually adjusting later, but the preheat setting saves a step. The queen- and king-size pads come with two controllers, so couples can control the heat on their respective sides of the pad.We also liked that the digital controls produced a soft, green backlit glow—controllers on other models had brighter lights. Though they were low-lit, an extremely nearsighted tester had no issues reading the numbers in the dark without his glasses. We also found the controls smaller and more ergonomic than those on other models, fitting easily in the palm.All queen, king, and California-king mattress pads and blankets from the brands we tested have two controllers, allowing you to regulate each half of the pad separately.
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But Sunbeam’s design uses a single outlet for both controllers—Biddeford and Perfect Fit’s mattress pads and electric blankets both require two separate wall outlets for their dual-controller models.The Premium Quilted was one of the few pads we found made of cotton (the rest were all polyester). We didn’t feel a significant difference in breathability between this pad and the polyester ones we tried, but this pad’s material could be a more important factor for someone who tends to sweat a lot at night.
Its all-cotton topper is quilted vertically and horizontally in 6½-by-6½-inch squares, a design that will prevent the fill from shifting, better than vertical-only seams would. The Premium Quilted pad was one of the only models we found with this type of quilting. We like the locking mechanism on the plug that fastens into the blanket’s port. It helped keep the plug from dislodging from the blanket (an issue with some other pads).Sunbeam’s heated bedding also includes a feature we didn’t see on the other manufacturers’ products: The plug that attaches the controllers and power supply to the bedding has a firm locking mechanism that hooks onto each side of the connection port. While plugging or unplugging the controllers takes a little more effort as a result, this design ensures that they won’t come loose or disconnect. This feature is useful both from a functional perspective (you won’t accidentally disconnect the plug and turn off your bedding’s heat if you kick it while sleeping) and as an extra safety feature (a loose connection port could cause overheating or sparking).As we noted above, all the pads and blankets we considered and tested are UL- or ETL-certified models, meaning they are fully tested for fire hazards, overheating, and other safety concerns, and should perform safely when new.
That said, we have seen fewer complaints for Sunbeam bedding overall. When we read through all the one-star reviews for 10 different Sunbeam heated-bedding products (out of a total of more than 8,000 reviews), we found only two that cited any sort of issue related to safety. This was the lowest number of safety complaints among the brands we considered for testing.The Premium Quilted mattress pad warmed up about the same as the other pads. After 10 minutes at the highest setting, it made the bed comfortably warm; within 20 minutes it had reached its maximum temperature, which was toasty but not sweltering. The pad was responsive when we adjusted the temperature to a lower setting, and it cooled down quickly after we shut it off.Sunbeam also makes a that is very similar to the Premium Quilted, with an all-cotton top and digital controls, but a bit less padding. All heated bedding nowadays has insulated wires and electronics that are protected from getting wet; the waterproofing on this Sunbeam pad is intended to prevent a large amount of liquid from reaching your mattress.
So if you also need a pad for protecting your mattress from spills, this model might be a better option than the Premium Quilted. Long-term test notesOur correspondent in chilly Buffalo, New York, is going on his second winter using our pick.
So far, he reports that it has been easy to wash and maintain, and that it’s still working great—he and his wife are happily using different settings and the dog keeps cozy in between. Flaws but not dealbreakers. All the heated bedding products we considered had a sizable number of negative Amazon reviews—about 10 to 15 percent of all reviews—citing defective products. At the time we checked, the Sunbeam Premium Quilted Heated Mattress Pad had the highest Amazon customer rating of the pads we tried but also had its share of negative reviews. These complaints included reports of mattress pads that didn’t work out of the box, stopped heating on one side after a few uses, or stopped working within the warranty period (as noted above, Sunbeam’s products had virtually no complaints regarding failures that caused safety concerns).After washing and drying the Premium Quilted pad, I noticed that a segment of the seam attaching the mattress pad top to the elastic skirting had unraveled. But this damage may have been caused by the lint trap in my dryer ripping the pad.
I also dried the pad for longer than the washing instructions specify.Like all the manufacturers of the heated bedding we tested, Sunbeam offers a five-year warranty. I called the warranty line about the ripped seam. After a few frustrating sessions of being told “We are experiencing unusually high call volume” followed by a hang-up, I got through. A rep told me Sunbeam would send me a shipping label to mail the mattress pad to a service center, and the company would either repair or replace the pad within two to three weeks at no cost. I also used Sunbeam’s online warranty, but the company took five days to respond.Some reviewers also complain that their feet brush against the port at the base of the mattress pad, where the controllers attach.
The top of the port is about 6 inches from the lower edge of the mattress, so your feet would come in contact with it only if they reach almost to the end of your bed. A good budget mattress pad. If you don’t mind sacrificing some cushioning, an all-cotton top, and digital controls, the offers the same benefits as our top pick but costs about $50 less.
It’s a good option if you think you’ll use a heated pad only during the coldest weeks of winter and you don’t mind possibly feeling the wires within.Containing only 5 ounces of fill, Sunbeam’s Quilted pad has less padding than our top pick but offers the most of any of the under-$100 models we looked at. In our tests this pad was comfortable overall, but we could feel the wires when we ran our hands over the top, and the wires were slightly noticeable when our testers were lying on the pad, especially when sleeping on their sides (though the wires weren’t jab-in-the-rib uncomfortable). Thicker flannel sheets helped mask the feel of the wires better than thinner sateen sheets did. This pad has only vertical quilting, in contrast to the square quilting on our main pick.Sunbeam’s Quilted pad has vertical quilting seams spaced 7 inches apart, a design that doesn’t contain the padding as much as in the Premium Quilted. This pad also doesn’t offer cushioning beyond concealing the wires, so it won’t make your bed feel much softer than it already does. In addition, it’s made of polyester, so it won’t wick moisture like the cotton top on the Premium Quilted.The Quilted Heated Mattress Pad did heat as quickly as our top pick, reaching its maximum temperature within 20 minutes.
Like the Premium Quilted pad, it requires a single outlet, features the same locking mechanism on the connection port for added security, and carries a five-year warranty. The queen- and king-size pads come with dual-sided controls.
The simple dial-based controls offer just 10 temperature settings, so you sacrifice some precision, but we doubt this is a big deal for most people. This pad doesn’t have a preheat function, so if you want to warm your bed you’ll need to set the pad to high before getting in and then turn down the temperature later.
Our pick: A good electric blanket. All of the electric blankets we tried had varying issues ranging from unpleasant fabric to particularly noticeable wires. In our test group, the was the best, as its overall combination of softness, performance, controls, and safety features helped it edge out the competition.Made of 100 percent polyester, the Velvet Plush has a very soft, brushed texture that feels like a thick velour. Of the Sunbeam blankets we tested, it had by far the most pleasant texture, with a velvety-soft feel. (We found the texture of our runner-up from Biddeford more pleasing against the skin, but we also encountered slightly more customer reviews mentioning a safety concern with that company’s heated bedding.) On its own, the Velvet Plush is a midweight blanket, and it didn’t feel heavy or stiff on top of our testers. The Velvet Plush blanket has the same type of controllers as our favorite mattress pad. The queen and king sizes come with two so that couples can adjust the heat on their respective sides of the blanket.In our tests the Velvet Plush got hot and toasty within 20 minutes, similar to the other blankets we tried.
Heated Mattress Pad
It has the same digital controller style as Sunbeam’s Premium Quilted Heated Mattress Pad, with 20 heat settings, more than most of the other tested blankets provide. Sunbeam is also the only brand that offers a preheat function, and the Velvet Plush has that setting (the blanket rapidly warms to the highest setting and then drops to your desired level).Like all Sunbeam heated bedding items, this blanket requires a single outlet even for the dual-controller versions. Tested blankets from other manufacturers required two separate outlets. It also has the safety latched plug for the port at the base of the blanket (another feature exclusive to Sunbeam bedding).What ultimately helped the Sunbeam Velvet Plush edge out blankets from other manufacturers was the overall lack of any customer reviews citing safety issues with a Sunbeam heated bedding product. As noted, we read all the one-star reviews out of a total of more than 8,000 reviews of Sunbeam heated bedding products (including this blanket), and only two mentioned an issue that could be construed as a safety problem.
( says that after the owner ran their Sunbeam blanket on high for 10 hours, the heating wires melted to the outer blanket material. The we found says that a child woke up with a small, blistered burn after sleeping under the blanket.) All the bedding we considered and tested is UL- or ETL-certified and thoroughly tested for safety, but we gave extra weight to the fact that Sunbeam bedding items have so few safety-related negative reviews on Amazon.You can feel the wires in this blanket—but we could feel the wires in all the blankets among our top contenders, and the Velvet Plush’s wires were relatively less noticeable than those of some other models. Once the Velvet Plush was on the bed, sandwiched between a comforter and top sheet, the wires were much less bothersome but still noticeable (particularly around our toes). Even so, we still slept comfortably. Since the blanket lies on top of you instead of under you, the wires don’t have the potential to create pressure points or dig into your body.The blanket’s soft, velvety texture was somewhat slippery, and it shifted a bit when we paired it with sateen sheets. This was not an issue when we used flannel sheets, which gripped the blanket better, and it would likely be less of a problem with percale sheets.We think the wires in this blanket might shift more over time than those in other blankets (like the Biddeford we tried).
The channels sewn into the Sunbeam design are wider, which can allow the wires to shift from side to side, possibly leading to hot and cold spots.Besides that, the Velvet Plush has the same flaws as all Sunbeam blankets, and all electric blankets in general, as we saw a sizable number of owner complaints citing products that didn’t work out of the box, stopped working a short time after purchase, or heated only on one side. A softer blanket that needs two outlets. In many ways we preferred the feel of the. Next to Sunbeam’s offerings, though, Biddeford’s controls were more awkward, and at the time we checked, this company’s heated bedding had a few more customer reviews mentioning a safety concern.Biddeford’s dual-controller blankets (queen size and larger) require two separate outlets and plug into two ports at the bottom of the blanket. This design makes for a lot of cords in the bed area. Also, we found the ports at the base of the blanket easier to loosen or disconnect accidentally since they don’t have an extra locking mechanism like the Sunbeam connector. For the queen- and king-size versions of the Biddeford blanket, which come with two controllers, you’ll have to plug the controllers into separate outlets.
We found this design annoying compared with blankets that have only one plug and need just one outlet.Biddeford products are all UL-certified, and they should meet all safety requirements when new and in good working condition. But we did find relatively more Amazon reviews citing safety failures with Biddeford blankets and mattress pads, namely incidents involving smoking or overheated controls (but no fires). The total number we found was quite small—only seven out of some 2,000 total reviews—but it was more than Sunbeam’s. Given that people tend to have fire safety concerns about electric bedding, we think most shoppers will value the lower complaints number for Sunbeam’s bedding. The vertical channels in the Biddeford blanket help keep all the wires securely in place, so you don’t end up with the bag-full-of-wires effect.Overall, the Biddeford Comfort Knit is more comfortable than the Sunbeam Velvet Plush. It’s made from a soft, slightly stretchy polyester fleece that felt nicer against our skin and gripped our sateen sheets. The wires were less noticeable and held in place with more channeling seams.
We didn’t notice any significant difference between the Sunbeam and Biddeford blankets in how quickly they warmed up, how warm they got, or how well they maintained the temperature.Like Sunbeam, Biddeford offers a five-year warranty on its heated bedding items. We found a similar amount of general complaints citing dead-on-arrival products and blankets that stopped working after a short period of time. Safety of electrical bedding. The combination of electricity and bedding naturally makes some people nervous. But engineering and fire safety experts told us that today’s heated bedding is very safe when certified by an independent testing lab (UL or ETL), kept in good working condition, and used correctly.Heated bedding is “way down there” on the list of common causes of household fires, said John Drengenberg, the consumer safety director at UL. Many people use heated bedding during the winter months to save on heating costs (by heating the bed instead of the room or the entire home). As, the US Department of Energy says you can save up to 1 percent of your bill for every degree you set your thermostat back for at least eight hours.
For example, lowering your thermostat from 68 to 58 overnight during the winter could reduce your heating bill by 10 percent. Exactly how much you save depends on how you heat your home and your actual heating costs (check your 2015–2016 bills). Calculating based on national estimates of heating expenditures from the, those savings could range from $63 (natural gas) to $148 (propane) for this winter.To find out how much electricity heated bedding consumes, we measured the power draw from each of our four picks using a. We ran each pad or blanket on its medium setting on an empty bed, with flannel sheets and a midweight down comforter, for four hours. We doubled the result to estimate how many kilowatt-hours the blankets and pads use over an eight-hour night, and then multiplied it by the. (To find your actual rate, check your utility bill, or the EIA’s statewide averages.) Brand and modelHeat levelEst.
Kilowatt-hours used over 8 hoursEst. Nightly cost ($0.13 per kWh)Total cost for 16 weeks of winterSunbeam Premium Quilted Heated Mattress Pad10 (of 20)0.35$0.05$5.10Sunbeam Quilted Heated Mattress Pad5 (of 10)0.36$0.05$5.24Sunbeam Velvet Plush Heated Blanket10 (of 20)0.41$0.05$5.97Biddeford Comfort Knit Heated Blanket5 (of 10)0.22$0.03$3.20Our tests showed that our picks consumed just 3¢ to 5¢ worth of electricity per night, and might use around $3.20 to $6 total if run every night for 16 weeks between November and March. Your results will vary based on your bedding’s settings, the insulation of your bedding, and your own body temperature, but overall our picks consume fairly little electricity. Care and maintenance.
Electric blankets and heated mattress pads can tolerate machine washing and drying, but they require special handling. These aren’t “throw in the weekly wash” items. Don’t launder your heated bedding more than absolutely necessary.Regardless of the model, disconnect all the controllers and cords from the port before laundering. You should wash and dry only one item at a time. Never dry clean, iron, or use bleach on heated bedding.Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for washing and drying; in general, they’ll tell you to wash the bedding on a short, cold cycle and machine dry for only five to 10 minutes on low, and to hang dry to finish. Long or too hot drying cycles could damage the wiring; in particular, manufacturers don’t recommend using commercial dryers, which are often hotter than residential dryers.When storing heated bedding, disconnect and carefully wrap the controller cords.
Electric Blanket Current Draw
You should roll or gently fold the bedding to avoid pressing, bending, or warping the wires. For this reason, you shouldn’t store heated bedding in compression bags, vacuum-seal it, or keep it underneath heavy items.
The competition. Heated mattress pads: We wanted to love this pad. Perfect Fit’s Soft Heat line of bedding uses wires so fine, they are basically undetectable, and in our tests the slightly textured topper was comfy though not cushy. Soft Heat bedding uses low-voltage DC power instead of AC power, which the company says makes the bedding safer. According to UL’s John Drengenberg, that low voltage (18 volts) means you can’t get shocked (a very small risk with heated bedding in general), but it doesn’t on its own eliminate fire risk. Each controller, however, has a 4½-by-2-by-1½-inch box that converts the power supply from AC to DC—on queen-size pads and up, this means two boxes and two separate outlets.The real concern for us was a series of Soft Heat blanket and mattress pad claiming that the connector ports—where the controllers attach to the bedding—overheated, scorched, browned, or melted. In, a reviewer says they got minor burns on their skin from coming in contact with the overheated port.
We found 60 reviews (out of more than 7,000 total reviews for Soft Heat bedding) that cited these kinds of problems. That’s less than 1 percent overall, but the consistency of the reports raised concerns for us, indicating the possibility of a quality-control issue or design flaw. John Roth, Perfect Fit’s CEO, told us the browning, melting, and overheating were likely caused by a poor connection due to broken or pulled wiring, or a pinched or folded connector. He said this damage could create increased resistance and overheating, leading to scorching, but would never cause a fire.: This pad is similar to our top pick but has only 6 ounces of fill and features waterproofing meant to protect your mattress from spills or other accidents. (As we note in the safety section above, all heated bedding has insulation that protects the wires and electronics from moisture—the waterproofing in this pad prevents liquid from reaching your mattress.) We didn’t test the Waterproof Heated Mattress Pad for this guide, but Wirecutter writer Mark Smirniotis has been using it and finds it comfortable. Of the 6 ounces of fill, he said: “It isn’t luxurious, but it’s definitely fine.
I thought I felt the wires when I first slid into bed, but didn’t really notice once I got comfortable.” Some people opt for this pad because they have pets that sleep on their beds, an arrangement that safety experts don’t recommend because claws and scratching could damage the wires.: This all-cotton pad has wireless controls and three customizable “heat zones” per side, letting you select different heat levels for your head and shoulders, your back, and your legs. We decided not to test it because we don’t think that customization is a feature most people need; this model also has less padding than our main pick, and it comes with only a three-year warranty.: This was the cheapest heated mattress pad we came across, but we didn’t test it because it has no internal padding.: This polyester pad has 5 ounces of padding, the same amount as our budget pick. But it had lower customer review scores than our budget pick at the time we checked, and it requires two separate outlets, so we didn’t test it.: A new, “smart” heated mattress pad, the smartphone-controlled Eight Sleep Tracker not only warms your bed but also logs data about how you sleep, lets you set wake-up alarms, and more. It’s the only heated mattress pad we found that lets you program it to heat up at a set time each night.
But at its current price of around $300 for a queen, it’s definitely not for most people, and the sleep tracking and other features take it way outside the scope of a heated mattress pad. It has only a one-year warranty, too. Electric blankets: We liked this blanket overall, as its fine wires were undetectable, and the soft, fuzzy outer material made it the most comfortable blanket in our tests. The slightly textured topper was comfy though not cushy.
But we eliminated it for the same reasons as we did the Soft Heat Micro-Plush Heated Mattress Pad,.: This is Sunbeam’s thickest electric blanket, so we thought it might perform the best at concealing the heating wires. But the material was so heavy, it tented easily when we used it between the sheets, and the shaggy texture reminded us of Muppet fur.: The outer material of this blanket reminded us of the thin, scratchy blankets you get on airplanes. The cheap-feeling, flimsy material did nothing to mask the inner wires, so lying under it felt like sleeping under a pile of cords.: We skipped this blanket because it had few customer reviews and was significantly more expensive than the competition.: BioSmart Solutions claims that its blanket uses low-voltage DC power and produces “infrared heat” that “warms the body from the inside out” and allows the body to “re-generate and repair itself.” We didn’t test this blanket, because in addition to the pseudo-scientific claims, at nearly $300 for a queen, it’s extremely expensive.