6 ms·
Also discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30024127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30024127 We now use "Wheat Bags" ... cloth bags, usual
by ColinWright 5y ago
Also discussed here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30024127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30024127
We now use "Wheat Bags" ... cloth bags, usually cylindrical, filled with wheat. Heat in a microwave and use where one would use a hot-water bottle, but without the danger of a leak.
- Sparkle-san 5y agoI recently discovered Warmies[1] which is essentially this but inside a stuffed animal and scented with lavender and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm low-key obsessed with them. [1]https://warmies.com/ https://warmies.com/
- phreeza 5y agoOne of those (or similar, I think cherry seeds) caught fire in my microwave once.
- ColinWright 5y agoIndeed. It needs to be heated for 30 seconds, then "stirred", heating again, etc., and the temperature needs to be limited. We had one catch fire, but we patched it and it's good to go again. I still prefer them over hot water containers. We have some that are floppy and flexible, ideal for wrapping around the back of the neck and over the shoulders.
- jgrahamc 5y agoI have one of these that has cherry stones in it. I much prefer the hot water bottle for two reasons. Firstly, I fully understand the failure mode of the hot water bottle and have rarely seen one fail; on the other hand the "cloth thing that catches fire inside the microwave" is not a failure mode I really want. But most importantly, hot water bottles are really hot and much better at keeping me warm.
- ColinWright 5y agoWe've had more than one hot water bottle fail and it's resulted in one case in a soaked bed, which was unpleasant and difficult to deal with. I much prefer the failure mode of "catches fire in the microwave". The fire is small (and mostly just a smouldering edge of fabric), easily contained, easily put out, and the failure is easily avoided. We've used both and settled on the wheat bag, but I recognise that other people will make other choices, and that's fine.
- monkeybutton 5y agoNever had one catch fired but definitely overdone it before and had it forever smell vaguely like burnt popcorn.
- drewzero1 5y agoI tried to heat two rice bags at the same time once and they melted together. I didn't think about the fact that they had used synthetic fabric! I'm so used to doubling the cooking time because our microwave is only 600 watts (compared to the usual 1000-1200 watts).
- NikolaeVarius 5y agoWhy wheat? The point of using water is that it can store alot of heat.
- ip26 5y agoI think they are usually husks of some type. Cheap, smell nice, conform to body, doesn't transfer heat fast enough to hurt you, and for some reason heats up in microwaves.
- GordonS 5y agoYou can get ones with some lavender inside too - my kids love them!
- QuercusMax 5y agoNot husks - those don't have enough heat capacity. I've used ones made of corn and rice too. It's heating up the actual grain seeds, which I guess have a fair amount of water locked in the starch matrix. It always is a little steamy coming out of the microwave.
- jonnycomputer 5y agoRice works. Can just put in a sock and heat in microwave.
- tempest_ 5y agoWe made these as gifts for our parents when I was in elementary school. You can pop a clove or two in as well to mask the rice scent.
- jonnycomputer 5y agonice idea!
- PeterisP 5y agoIf it's not dry husks but full grain, they're mostly water by weight anyway, so you get almost the same heat storage but different other properties (no leaks, slower dispersal of heat).
- mikro2nd 5y agoAnd they're not ice-cold sometime around 3 in the morning! They stay at around body heat, so still give the feeling of being warm.
- themodelplumber 5y agoYep, this is a huge benefit over water bottles. I tested out both and it's nice to have water as a backup but the residual heat effect has a longer tail-off.
- teachrdan 5y agoIf you want to really spoil yourself or your partner, place the hot water bottle in bed about an hour early -- and then, just before going to sleep, refill it with fresh hot water. I find that between the bottle itself and the surrounding sheets and mattress, a lot of heat is absorbed in that first hour. Pre-heating everything should keep the hot water bottle warm until morning. I find this to be an unreasonably effective life hack.
- yakshaving_jgt 5y agoI wasn't aware that this was a thing that happened. I use a hot water bottle now — the typical flexible rubber one, encased in a little wooly jumper. I typically go to bed around 01:30 with the hot water bottle under the covers near my feet, and it's still warm around noon. I'm getting at least 12 hours of warmth from mine each night.
- SamBam 5y agoHuh? Water has a significantly-higher specific heat capacity than these dry powders, so will definitely stay warm many, many hours longer. I can say this with experience: the hot water bottle I put in my bed at midnight last night was still warm at 7:30am, while the buckwheat cushions I got my kids stay warm 15 minutes tops, no matter how hot I make them in the microwave. Even with the very best dry microwavable pillows, there will be at least a 20x difference in heat capacity. And your premise doesn't make sense. A hot water bottle under the blankets will also be at body temperature after (many) hours. There's no reason for it to get colder than the wheat pillows. And the fabric covering feels just as warm.
- 2Gkashmiri 5y agowait what? you mean dry bags.... ooooo
- ColinWright 5y agoYes ... more discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30025026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30025026
- fredley 5y agoI find they don't keep their heat nearly as long as hot water bottles.
- kayodelycaon 5y agoI’ve done this with rice. :)
- themodelplumber 5y agoI use these too, though ours are made with corn for some reason. I guess the friends who gifted them were hanging with the corn crowd on craft-Pinterest or something. They smell like sweet Corn Nuts when heated, which is a pretty pleasant effect. We do have a cylindrical one but the two biggest are shaped like mini pillows, more rectangular patterned. Combine them with a lap blanket, hot tea, brand new thick winter socks, insulated slippers, a hoodie, 50 push-ups before work and a 400W zone heater, and you will be able to survive my office in the winter :D
- rambambram 5y agoExactly this haha. Even a relatively mild workout keeps my body warm for hours. For cycling in the winter (which feels especially cold after a warm bed) I used to take cold showers before going outside. I can really recommend this, as the outside temperature feels way more pleasant this way. Instead of shivering the whole trip, I actually enjoyed going outside. Besides, it mentally wakes you up like nothing else. Edit: and indeed, don't forget the winter socks! I prefer them in wool. Also a baggy fleece sweater/vest made of polar fleece (which I can't find anywhere anymore) with the thickest and highest collar possible.
- germinalphrase 5y agoWe use rice, but same idea.
- groby_b 5y agoBonus points, they're shaped like cute animals and super-fuzzy. Harder to do with a water bottle. (There are covers, but who wants a soppy teddy bear?)
- AndrewOMartin 5y agoNegative points. I come home and think my flatmate has put a puppy in the microwave.
- boringg 5y agoAlso known as "magic bags" if you want to buy a premade one to put around your neck!
- hilbert42 5y ago"...use where one would use a hot-water bottle, but without the danger of a leak." Very interesting. Did you find any noticeable difference between the longevity of its heating as compared with water? The reason I ask is that the specific heat of water is higher than that of wheat so water should retain the heat longer. BTW, I'm familiar with hot water bottles, they were all the rage when I was a kid before electric blankets became commonplace. P.S.: I can't say I ever had one leak but I reckon I'd have come close. After some use, they'd start to perish around the filling point/screw stopper. The idea was to always keep an eye on it and once one noticed the first signs of perishing then not to gamble too long before replacing it.
- ColinWright 5y agoMy impression is that they don't last as long, but definitely for long enough. People think that if you need to heat them more often then it's less efficient, but if the heat doesn't last as long then almost certainly they take less energy to heat up in the first place. It's all about transferring energy/heat from one place to another.
- Cass 5y agoI've used a bunch of different pillows (cherry stone, wheat, etc) and found that, while the initial heat is great and feels better than a hot water bottle, they only stay properly hot for about five to seven minutes. Once when I had a bad back pain day, I put the microwave next to the bed so I could keep a constant reheating cycle going.
- 5y ago
- joncp 5y agoYou can just fill a sock with dry rice and tie it off. It's cheap and easy and the hot rice smells good too.
- drewzero1 5y agoThey can certainly still leak, but the consequences are different. Instead of getting wet and risking water damage you have to sweep and vacuum wheat (or in my case rice) out of everything. Still, much less harmful to electronics and wood floors.
- hammock 5y agoHow about a big slug of cast iron? :)
- drewzero1 5y agoI forgot about this until now - when I was a kid we had a block of cement, basically a patio stone, sitting on top of the woodstove. When I went to bed, since my room was unheated, I would wrap the cement block in cloth and put it by my feet in bed. I kind of miss that cozy feeling, but then at the same time I don't miss how cold the rest of the room was. If I woke up to a 50 degree room now I'd probably never want to get out of bed!
- voltagedivider 5y agoIt wouldn't play nice with water and microwave ovens. I guess you could heat it on the stove or in a regular oven instead.
- goodpoint 5y agoit would get cold pretty quickly compared to water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_specific_heat_capacities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_specific_heat_capacit...
- brummm 5y agoThey are very traditional and common in Germany. I remember making them in primary school and selling at something like a "bake sale".