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Set your washing machine to a particularly gentle cycle at 30°C and use a mild laundry detergent. To ensure the heated underblanket has a long life, it should not be washed too often. Instead, remove small marks by hand. Here’s what I found after several nights testing the best electric blankets, starting with my favourite. (And if you’re looking for other ways to improve your sleep this winter, you could consider upgrading your pillow next). How does an electric blanket work? The electric blanket has six heat settings that cost between less than 1p and 8p per hour to use, and three timer options of one, three or nine hours. It connects to a mains plug but has dual control so you and anyone you share a bed with can control your own heat settings.
Better blankets have elastic skirting but cheaper models use straps, which can be fiddly. More timing options and heat settings can also make a difference. The best electric blankets let you set different temperatures for your upper and lower body (since feet tend to get colder). If you sleep with a partner, look out for the dual control function, which allows one side of the bed to heat up independently to another. Under blankets operate a bit like mattress toppers and tend to come with elasticated straps or as a fitted sheet, so you can secure them to your bed and drift off on top of them. Many can run for up to eight hours at a time, so you stay warm all night long. Over blankets and throws All the heated blankets on our list have auto-shut off settings, which turn them off after a certain amount of time, minimising the risk of any accidents. Some even let you decide how long they run for, thanks to nifty in-built timers. We also tested an electric blanket, which buttons up, allowing you to wear it like a poncho to retain heat. Aside from the extra design features that make them wearable, these ponchos operate in an almost identical manner to electric throws, with a range of temperatures and a timer. Electric blanket features At the Good Housekeeping Institute, our experts made up a double bed to test each electric blanket on, measuring how evenly temperature was distributed as well as whether the warmth fluctuated or remained consistent over an extended period of time, across different heat settings. We measured energy consumption, too.Dr Stanley says switching on an electric blanket around half an hour before bed should make it perfectly cosy to get into, letting you drift to sleep naturally, but you should set it to turn off some time after you nod off. All the blankets I tested were able to warm up the bed in 30 minutes or less, costing less than 3p at today’s prices. What makes a good electric blanket But perhaps the biggest incentive is the high cost of electricity. At the time of writing, a typical 2000W electric heater in your bedroom could cost 68p an hour to run. By contrast, a 100W electric blanket would cost less than 4p. The Homefront offers dual control, which helps save on energy. The LCD control pad was simple to use and, on top of choosing which side you want to heat, you can also differentiate between body and legs, with nine different temperature settings for each.
Where the blankets had dual controls, we also looked at how accurate the settings were on each side and if there was any temperature crossover when the settings were different.Given the current economic climate, it’s understandable that you may be looking for more cost-effective ways to stay warm and save on your heating bill. Electric blankets can come in handy here, as they're becoming increasingly more energy efficient. Under blankets, for example, can run for up to eight hours, so you could opt for this at night instead of central heating, while a throw can keep you warm while working from home. If you sleep with a partner, look into dual controls so you can each control your own side of the bed. You might also want the option of a timer to help with energy saving (though electric blankets are pretty low cost to run all night anyway). There’s something luxurious about this 100 per cent cotton Dreamland electric blanket, a far cry from the cheap polyester feeling of some brands. Unlike others on this list, there’s no elasticated skirt or straps, instead it relies on a rather effective anti-slip grip on the underside. I found that some cheaper blankets had a tendency to come lose or crease up when I moved around at night; this one was fine. I liked the feature that adds extra heat to the area around your feet: in all honesty, I found in general keeping my feet snug and warm quite nice, whereas too much heat on my body made me feel stuffy and affected my sleep.
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