Quote:
Originally Posted by markdi
are the modern blankets safe ?
I have one bought in 2011
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Yes, incredibly so. The blankets produced since 2005 all have timers to limit the on time, and all are double insulated, with failsafe controls.
The older blankets with their resistive controls (think rheostat) or fixed/variable bimetallic contact controls could fail
on, and create unsafe conditions. Typical failures were contacts that arc-welded themselves shut.
Newer ones use a uProcessor based controller, with a fail "open" condition the norm. The timers also cannot be bypassed easily, making a safer-than-ever blanket.
The elderly were especially vulnerable with the older blankets, and most nursing homes ban the ones without a timer function.