Can You Use an Electric Blanket Under Your Duvet?
Electric blankets are a great way to keep warm for less through winter. A quality electric blanket is thick and cosy and - as it heats your body directly rather than heating the whole room - will use much less energy than regular central heating. If your bedroom gets cold through the winter, you’re right to think that electric blankets are a great solution for this problem, but what you might not know is that you can now find electric blankets that you can use under your duvet for extra cosiness!
Some – but not all – electric blankets can be used under your duvet. The issue with many electric blankets is that, if you put them under your duvet, they can overheat. To avoid this, you need to pick up an electric blanket with overheat protection, which shuts the blanket down if it starts to get too hot. Luckily, many electric blankets are specially designed to be used underneath your duvet and can maintain a comfortable heat even when they’re covered by a duvet. Most heated mattress covers and fully fitted electric blankets are designed to be used under your duvet, so you can use them with complete confidence. They should come with overheat protection as a failsafe (it’s always worth double-checking this before you buy, though) but if you get a quality electric blanket, such as this Which? Best Buy award-winning fitted blanket from Homefront, it should be so well-engineered that it shouldn’t overheat anyway. Note that not all types of electric blankets are designed to be used under your duvet. Unless you read otherwise, most heated throws and electric overblankets are designed to be used on top of your duvet, so you shouldn’t use them underneath it.
Fully fitted electric blankets act like fitted sheets in and of themselves, so can you use them with your existing mattress cover? Usually, the answer is yes, but only if your mattress cover is fabric. If your mattress cover is made of plastic or memory foam, you shouldn’t use them with an electric blanket. If your mattress cover is made of fleece or another soft fabric, simply pop your electric blanket over the top of it for an extra snuggly sleep!
You should never use fitted electric blankets with memory foam mattresses. It isn’t a safety risk, but putting an electric blanket over your memory foam mattress will stop the mattress from moulding to your body properly. This means that you won’t feel any benefit from your memory foam mattress. As for using electric overblankets and heated throws on top of your duvet with memory foam mattresses, you should consult your mattress manufacturer. Some brands of memory foam mattress say that heat can affect the shaping of memory foam mattresses, but others say heat doesn’t affect them.
It’s not recommended to use fitted electric blankets with adjustable beds. Fitted electric blankets are carefully designed so that their heating elements are evenly spaced out inside the blanket. This helps spread the heat evenly throughout the blanket which helps prevent overheating. When adjustable beds raise and lower, they can pinch these heating elements together and cause them to bunch up. This can damage your blanket and lead to it heating inefficiently. If you use a heated throw on top of your adjustable bed and duvet, make sure the blanket is kept well away from the bed while you adjust it so that the power cord and heating elements don’t get trapped inside your adjustable bed’s hinges.